The usually hopeful time between Super Bowl and “pitchers & catchers” brought a double dose of sad news from NL Cy Young Award winners.

Brandon Webb is retiring, nearly four years since he last pitched in the majors. Webb becomes the 27th modern pitcher to retire with 80+ wins before age 30, but none thereafter — and arguably the best of that bunch, based on WAR per 250 innings:

80+ wins before age 30 / No wins in rest of career

(Stats are since 1901 and through age 29.)

Webb and McLain are the only Cy Young Award or MVP winners on this list. (Smoky Joe Wood might have won such an award in 1912, had one existed.) Webb won the Cy Young in 2006, then finished 2nd in 2007 (when he tossed 42 straight scoreless innings) and again in 2008. I believe that Webb, Fergie Jenkins and Warren Spahn are the only one-time CYA winners who also finished 2nd twice (thrice for Spahnie).

Webb’s 31.7 WAR in his first 6 years ranks 16th in modern history. And only Webb, Hideo Nomo, Tom Seaver and Don Sutton began their careers with 6 years of at least 160 strikeouts; Tim Lincecum can join that club this year.

Here’s another list: Pitchers with 20+ WAR through age 29 and less than 1 WAR thereafter. Once again, stats are since 1901 and through age 29 again, this time sorted by WAR:

20+ WAR before age 30 / Less than 1 WAR in rest of career

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Another Cy of Disappointment

The other cleat was dropped by Chris Carpenter. The 2005 CYA winner is likely out for the coming season — and maybe done for good — with a recurrence of the nerve problem that limited him to six games last year. (Three of those starts came in the postseason; is there another pitcher with 3+ postseason starts and no more than that in the regular year? Or no regular-season wins?)

Carpenter is 95-44 with St. Louis, and holds franchise records with a 133 ERA+ (tied with three from the ’40s dynasty), a .683 winning percentage, and 10 postseason wins. He’s the only pitcher since Bob Gibson to notch 20+ WAR as a Cardinal. (Redbirds fans expect to see Adam Wainwright join that club this season.)

In 18 postseason starts, Carpenter is 10-4 with a 3.00 ERA, and his team is 13-5. His best was probably a 3-hit, 1-0 road shutout against his ex-teammate, Roy Halladay, in the 2011 first-round clincher (the game where Ryan Howard blew out his Achilles). In the only Cardinals postseason shutout since 1987, Carpenter walked none and let just 2 runners past 1st base. He followed that up with three strong starts in the World Series, including game 7. He’s the only pitcher since Curt Schilling in 2001 with 3 Quality Starts in a World Series.

It looks grim for Carpenter, but if he does try a comeback, he certainly knows the drill. After missing all of 2003 — his career record was then 49-50 with a 4.83 ERA — Carpenter in the next three years went 51-18 with a 3.10 ERA, winning one CYA and placing 3rd when Webb won; he was 2nd in NL wins and 5th in WAR in that span. Then came a 2007 Opening Day injury (two years before Webb’s similar fate) that cost him almost two full seasons — whereupon he roared back to win the 2009 ERA crown, coming thisclose to another Cy despite missing a month.

P.S. Surprised? Out of 121 modern pitchers who logged 20+ WAR in their 30s, over 40% had (like Carpenter) less than 10 WAR through age 29, including seven who didn’t even pitch in their 20s.