Comments on: 2012 midseason awards: AL MVP

By: craggt

craggt — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 12:09:32 +0000

He’s not the first half MVP but Austin Jackson’s all star snub is looking more and more ridiculous. Last night he extended his hitting streak to 13 games. If he continues to hit like this he might actually win a gold glove!

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 02:58:13 +0000

Actually, all indications were that the Angels were trying to keep up appearances so as to avoid bruising egos and so as to maximize whatever trade value an Abreu or a Trumbo might have had. If Trout didn’t get sick, the general understanding here in SoCal was that they weren’t actually going to send him to AAA. At very least, he was in AAA longer than he would have been because of his illness.

By: Matthew Pouliot

Matthew Pouliot — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:47:30 +0000

All indications going into spring training was that Trout was Triple-A bound. Maybe he could have changed their minds if he hadn’t been sick, but the plan was for a Wells-Bourjos-Hunter outfield.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:29:53 +0000

My bad, must have had my head up my ass.

By: georgia

georgia — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:26:37 +0000

Or a triple by stealing third right afterward.

By: mrfloydpink

mrfloydpink — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 00:21:05 +0000

I applaud this comment (plus your excellent comments on the Luke Scott article), except for one thing. Trout was sick during spring training–had the flu lost 15 pounds, etc. So the fact that Trout was not on the opening day roster was not really a product of the Angels having their heads up their asses, and choosing to start Vernon “sunk cost” Wells. It was because they wanted to get him some extra spring training to regain his strength.

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 23:23:56 +0000

You can’t go wrong with either player, but what puts Jason on top of Asdrubal IMO is defense. Don’t get me wrong, Cabrera has been great there too, but Jason just has 3 errors, his fielding percentage is in the top 3 in AL, and he is hitting 3rd in the order. And Jason is only going to get better. Where will either player be at by the end of the season? they are both fun to watch.

By: Matthew Pouliot

Matthew Pouliot — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 23:01:43 +0000

His OPS certainly undersells Kipnis, given that he’s been outstanding with RISP and he’s contributing on the basepaths as well. That said, I still gave more thought to putting Asdrubal on the ballot.

By: SteelyMcBeam6

SteelyMcBeam6 — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 23:00:46 +0000

I’d have to go with trout. .348/.403/.555, 10 HR, 38 RBI, 26 SB…..getting on base 40% of the time is absolutely insane. I have long since thought that OBP is the most important offensive stat. A guy can bat .300/.315 but the guy that bats .270 but has a .375 OBP is more valuable because he gets on base more prolonging innings and improving scoring chances. Especially a guy like trout who can walk and turn that into a double by stealing second.

By: Kevin Gillman

Kevin Gillman — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:55:41 +0000

I don’t care what WAR says, or BIT, or EIG, right now, and this is what we are talking about here, Jason Kipnis should be in top 10 of voting for MVP. Where would the Indians be at without him? Not contending for a playoff spot, that’s for damn sure. That right there is the stat that should measure how to vote for MVP.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:48:44 +0000

There is still half a season to go. A lot will change in the second half.

By: kwf1224

kwf1224 — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:35:43 +0000

I totally agree.

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:17:34 +0000

He does lead baseball in outfield assists. I wonder if the shift that the Jays use against left handed power hitters hurts his “stats” as Lawrie plays in short right field against those hitters.

By: paperlions

paperlions — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:10:37 +0000

Cano is already getting credit for that “value” of having played an extra 20 games, WAR isn’t a rate stat. In other words, Trout has provided MORE value than Cano while playing only 75% of the games and Trout would have a WAR of 6.3 if he had played the same number of games.

Trout has been more valuable than any other AL player this year….even though he missed 20 games because the Angels had their heads up their asses.

By: Ben

Ben — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:05:10 +0000

I’d just average bWAR and fWAR and declare Trout the winner. But that’s just me.

By: butchhuskey

butchhuskey — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:00:30 +0000

Surprised Bautista isn’t up there in WAR

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 21:58:38 +0000

It looks like WAR is at war with itself. In any statistical compendium such as WAR, the weightings used to aggregate the data are crucial. In the end, Matthew made a subjective decision about which WAR was probably most accurate. I suspect that MPV voters do not place a high emphasis on WAR, instead relying on their own subjective decision when they make their year end MVP votes.

As far as Lawrie is concerned, he sure covers a lot of ground. His range and quickness are phenomenal.