From The Windup is FanHouse's daily, extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

While discussing the Cy Young on Sunday night, Joe Morgan said, predictably, that it was "Brandon Webb's to lose". In fairness, he's probably right. But ... I don't really think he should be. See, the Cy Young is all about perception.

Headshots via Getty Images
Well, not all about perception, but there's a pretty hefty chunk of voting attribution distributed towards the feeling of performance, rather than the strictly statistical discussion of how various pitchers have excelled throughout the season.

If that wasn't the case, then Randy Johnson would have won the Cy Young in 2004, when he very clearly outperformed Roger Clemens on the mound.

In an "ideal" world, there would be someone stuck squarely in the upper left quadrant above -- a pitcher with obviously dominant stats that were publicly recognized (because his team didn't stink). That rarely happens, though, and this year's Cy Young race is, when you really start breaking it down, one of the most intriguing we've seen in a few years.

After all, we have the heavy favorite in Webb, the best pitcher in the National League in Tim Lincecum, the discussion incumbent (Johan Santana), the early season surprise (Edinson Volquez) and a few darkhorses in Danny Haren and Ryan Dempster, the latter which is nothing short of shocking.

See, it's perception that led smart baseball guru types Bill James and Rob Neyer to create a formula entirely devoted to predicting the Cy Young balloting. Not "should win" mind you, but "will win" based entirely on what the voters tend to look for in their winner.

As you can see from the list, Salomon Torres is the eighth most likely pitcher to win the CY. I'm willing to bet he won't get any votes come the end of the year. But a guy who deserves some votes, or at least some Award-worthy buzz, for what he's done since the beginning of July, is CC Sabathia.

Are you on the MLB FanHouse page right now? Okay, look one story down. I'll wait, because writing works in real time.

If you are too lazy to move your hand or finger and scroll down to read (and God knows I've been running websites long enough to know how that works), Omar Vizquel could end up in Japan next season if nobody picks him up. Personally I think the Indians should pick him up for two reasons: one, to give him a bit of a "farewell tour" in the city he helped out for so long, and two, to move Jhonny Peralta out of short, because the guy can rake but he's got the playmaking ability of newborn calf.

Tonight's late night Dugout, which is nowhere near as hilarious as Tom Nieto working for Radio Shack, is after the jump.

Ah, Japan baseball. The refuge for the old, the infirmed and the Mr. 3000's of the world. (RIP, Bernie.) And now, it could be the home of Omar Vizquel, should no American team decide to retain his services next year.

"If I cannot find something satisfying here, there is a possibility I might end up in Japan playing ball," Vizquel said Friday. He would not be the first Venezuelan gaijin in the Japan Leagues, but he would be the most famous.

"I've played here long enough in America," Vizquel. "I've seen every team, every ballpark. I think it would be great to experience a new league and something new. I played in Japan in 2000 on the major-league all-star tour and I found it very cool - good baseball, good fans. Why not? It's a new culture."

I back this move, although I don't know how much I believe him when he states that it's because he's "seen everything".

Sure, that's a nice way of saying that he knows he won't get re-signed and it's entirely possible that the Giants will choose to discard him as they attempt to move their average offensive age below 48, but the reality is that going to Japan to play is not something he's choosing to do actively. Of course, he still has plenty of glove left, even if his offense is lacking, so it's hard to see him not contributing overseas.

Diesels and Sevens were the hot ticket metrosexual jeans for dudes when I was in school. I have no clue if they're still hip or if metrosexual is even kosher to say; my jeans are Wrangler. And I swear allegiance to all things Favre.

I don't care for $250 blue jeans and I certainly won't pay for them. But some people will, I suppose, otherwise Barry Zito wouldn't be modeling for True Religion, a designer brand of jeans for dudes. (Gracias to 'Duk for reminding me that I heard this on television the other night.)

The Zito ads will appear on the sides of buses in Japan. In San Francisco, a True Religion billboard is planned for a building near the intersection of Bush Street and Van Ness Avenue.

"It's crazy,'' Zito said. "I got a text message from (former A's teammate) Eric Byrnes that said, 'Dude, my wife just saw you on a billboard in Vegas. You've got to be (kidding) me!' "

Zito did not seek out this second career. He told his publicist, Kathy Jacobson, to refuse any endorsement offers - especially when he had an 0-8 record after nine starts.

"I can't be the `Seiko guy,' none of that," Zito said. "That just looks bad, like I'm not focusing on baseball. But Kathy said, `No, it's not an endorsement. It's not because of who you are or that you play baseball. This is a modeling gig.' "

Wow. What a humble guy. $126 mil is enough; 0-8 doesn't deserve any more money or endorsements. Gosh. Zen, like, really.

I do kind of respect, though, his willingness to take on a second career, even if said career is male modeling. It's pretty similar to what I've got going on right now, what with the office job that pays big bucks and the blogging on the side. Less glamorous, maybe, but similar nonetheless.

Somebody, anybody, give Barry Bonds a job. He's an interesting character. He'll bring fans into the stadium and sell merchandise. He'll hit you at least 20 homeruns in your DH or "bench" positions. The steroids and the media circus might be a detraction, but hey, you could add Amy Winehouse to your 40-man roster and get more production in the heat of constant scandal than you'd get from, say, Andy Marte. Andy Marte couldn't hit .200 if he had all season. Barry could probably do it in one game!

Whether or not he's good for baseball is irrelevant. He's good for The Dugout. MLB, pretend you're the NBA for a minute and put him on whatever team needs "stars." While you're at it, put Pete Rose in the Hall of Fame. And come up with about 12 new words that rhyme with "stained" or "game."

Is Barry Bonds retired? I'm not sure! Let's ask him! Tonight's Dugout is after the jump.

(spoiler: no)

If there's one thing someone like Barry Bonds (or, say, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro or Paul Lo Duca, to name a few) should never, ever, ever, ever be give the authority to do, it is influence young, impressionable baseball playing men.

But Barry, via LBS, thinks for some reason, should be decide to actually give up the pipe dream of getting another gig with a baseball team, that he might want to become a coach of a college baseball team. And he told the public this at the Giants 50th anniversary celebration (seen above).

I think the best position for me would probably be in a college - that's how I feel. I'd rather teach kids what they want to do and what to do to get to the major leagues. I see myself doing something like that moreso than doing something in the major leagues if that time comes for me to make that decision.

Yeah. And maybe Jeffrey Dahmer should have gotten a job with Emeril or Jesse James with BB&T. All seem like logical choices, historical hindsight be damned.

Then again, Barry Lamar is a pretty damn good hitter and if he has somehow managed to learn his lesson about bending the rules to get ahead, then he could prove a pretty good physical and moral mentor to students. But for the moment, well, maybe we should hold off on that.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Los Angeles Dodgers (58-58) at San Francisco Giants (49-66) 4:05 PM ET

Barry Bonds returned to the Giants last night. Somewhat.

He made a surprise appearance at a celebration of the Giants best outfielders of the last 50 seasons as part of their anniversary season in San Francisco. He made a Schwarzenegger type "I'll be back" proclamation when he stood at the podium, pointed at Joe Torre and said: "You heard me Torre, I beat you before and I can beat you again. I haven't retired. Thank you."

Could Barry Bonds make another surprise appearance at the ballpark today? As a pinch hitter? Somehow, I doubt Torre is worried with the Giants eight and a half behind them.

Do you remember where you were one year ago? I was on my aunt's couch in Aiken, South Carolina enjoying the air conditioning after spending a day in the 105 degree heat, watching the Pirates play the Diamondbacks on my computer. My brother was watching SportsCenter on my aunt's TV as the clock crawled past midnight. As they'd been doing all week, ESPN cut away from SC to play Barry Bonds' at-bat live. That meant that I got to watch the player I'd grown to loathe as a Pirate fan hit his 756th home run off of Mike Bacsik, along with the message from Hank Aaron and the truly touching speech from Bonds made with his godfather, Willie Mays, at his side.

Like everyone else, we here at FanHouse went crazy posting Bonds news and opinions. We made at least six posts on Bonds alone in twelve hours after his record-setting homer. One year later, you have to scour the internet for a reminder that this is the one year anniversary of the most sacred record in American sports being broken.

In the year since Bonds broke Hank Aaron's record, the Mitchell Report broke and the Roger Clemens circus started while Bonds has essentially been strong-armed out of the game by owners not willing to put up with the media circus that constantly surrounds him. Rather than deal with their problems, baseball seems content to use Bonds and Clemens as scapegoats and merely erase them from the public mind.

Barry Bonds never existed. Roger Clemens never existed. Steroids never existed. Move along with your life. Please take note of the rainbow in the sky, but not the flood rushing towards you.

It's been a while around these parts since we mentioned Barry Zito. After all, it's not really any fun to point out that the guy has been fairly successful (read: not a full on embarrassment) lately. Anyone can do that.

But now that he's sliding back into the lower levels of mediocrity, it's nice to note that things are so bad he's turned to tossing batting practice for the Giants (who are, mind you, not the most offensively minded team).

"It's always a great benefit throwing against hitters in game situations," said Zito, coming off a loss against Arizona in which he allowed six runs and five walks in five innings. "It's something I've done in the past in Oakland here or there. I've got 30 pitches on the side. Why not take advantage of the guys and get their feedback?"

Let's not use words like 'old school' (later in the article) and 'take advantage' like this is something everyone does, people.

Barry's doing it because he honestly can't figure out what the mess is going on -- like me on the driving range. Only I don't get paid eleventy billion dollars to hit on the driving range. So there's that.

Oh, and if you're curious how this relates to the trading deadline today, well, Barry Zito is the only untradeable player in MLB right now. So there's that too.