Sign Up
for the

Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Trout Likely Facing MVP Snub Once More Despite Another All-Time Season


Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports

How good does Mike Trout have to be to be to win an AL MVP award over Miguel Cabrera?

Unfortunately for the Los Angeles Angels phenom, the answer might just be “never good enough … until the Angels are in the World Series”.

After all, he’s already the best overall player in MLB once again in just his age-22 season, and is actually poised to top his historic 10.0 fWAR rookie season last year — and it wasn’t good enough then. Both ZiPS and Steamer has him finishing at 10.3 fWAR in 2013, an accomplishing that simply cannot be overstated.

Only one other player in the last 20 seasons has posted a 10.0-plus fWAR season — Barry Bonds. That’s the kind of company Trout finds himself in, which is to say that he’s in a class of his own.

And still, it will not be good enough. That’s because Miggy is also having what is likely going to end up being his best season ever, a scary proposition when you think about the fact that he’s been the best hitter in the game for some time now.  However, he’s never even come close to touching 10.0 fWAR in his career thus far, and though he might come close this year (he’s projected to finish at 9.1), we already know what’s going to hold him back.

That would be his whopping 13.9 fielding runs below average (or -20.5 UZR/150 … pick your defensive stats, it doesn’t matter really), of course.

As long as Miggy is a liability with the glove, the fact that is that he will never be a complete package like Trout. The argument is essentially the same as last seasons, so there’s little point in repeating it at length: Miggy is perhaps MLB’s biggest spectacle, but he hasn’t been its best player in either 2012 or 2013.

That distinction is important because as fans and Trout found out last season, it’s one that MVP voters make as well. It’s also the reason why the Angels outfielder has virtually no chance at winning the MVP this year, despite providing his team with the most overall value over the course of the season across all aspects of the game.

And you know, there might be a point here too.

As much as it might go against the “true” meaning of the MVP award, the fact is that the criteria for winning it is not strictly empirical, even though we now have very good data to calculate exactly how much value a player brings to each team. Whether it should be the case is an argument for the different day, but the fact is that voters also vote based on narratives and good ol’ unquantifiable context — mostly winning, as it were.

These are the facts: with Mike Trout, the Angels are an expensive, disappointing mess mired in fourth place. Without him? They’re basically the same mess, even if you took the 10 or so wins away from their record. On the other hand, the Detroit Tigers are World Series favourites with Cabrera, and without him (and his nine wins or so for the full season), they might not even make the playoffs.

Given that the context of teams playing the game in the season is to get the postseason, it’s at least not totally bewildering why voters would take a team’s finish into consideration, as there are intangibles that one player can bring that are not quantified be performance numbers that can turn the team around — just ask the Los Angeles Dodgers and Yasiel Puig.

Is that a fair way to assess who the most valuable player was when looking strictly at the season? Nah. Is it the reason why Trout won’t come close in MVP voting despite another all-time season? You bet.

Thom is an MLB writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him/her on Twitter @BlueJaysRant, or add him to your network on Google


Around the Web

ZergNet
  • James Chapman

    Trout’s problem is simple. He is putting together historic seasons at the same time Cabrera is putting up similar historic seasons. I know trout’s supporters use WAR has his biggest benefit, but that is a flawed statistic. The Wins Above Replacement doesn’t actually compare the value of the player to the player who would replace him. It compares him to a fictional player. I have no doubt that Cabrera’s wins above replacement player would be greater consider his replacement would be Don Kelly most likely. Trout’s replacement for LAA is a pretty darn good player in his own right.
    The final issue is the MVP should be the player most valuable to what his team does. Trout’s team is flat out doing nothing this season, despite his best efforts. Cabrera’s team is one of the best teams in the majors this season. Cabrera is a major reason for this. I can think of 2 “MVP moments” Cabrera has offered us in recent weeks. Facing Mariano Rivera in Yankee Stadium Cabrera hit homers in 2 appearances against the greatest closer in history. Those are big moments that helped his team stay in or win a game. He has also hit late inning homers against the White Sox, Indians and Royals in recent weeks. All of those are huge homers in a division race, ie, clutch hits.
    It’s one thing to have a great season with nothing on the line, which Trout is doing. It’s totally different to do so against the pressure of a playoff race, which Detroit is in (sort of, Cabrera’s performance is making the race more of a non-factor).
    Now, I have seen Trout’s name on many lists like “Who would I start a MLB baseball team with.”
    There is no doubt if Trout keeps his performance up he will be an MVP, but right now he is behind one of the best hitters / RBI men in baseball history. Cabrera’s season average of RBI’s will put him in contention to be the all time record holder in the stat by the time he is 40, if he keeps his average performance up. Trout is having a great start to his career, but he is just not at the same level as Cabrera in terms of importance to his team at this time.

From Our Partners

Partner with USA TODAY Sports Digital Properties