2012 MLB Regular Season Running Thread

Winning the Triple Crown and not winning the MVP has happened before. More than once. This wouldn't be the first time.

 

He should not win it because he is not as good a baseball player as Trout, who impacts the game in many more ways. Also he is a shitty 3rd baseman and a really shitty baserunner. No he should not win the MVP. But if he does win people should not be calling foul, as he has had a great year.

 

I think this would be the first time such a result didn't derive from the Triple Crown winner being a complete asshat.

Gee said it best on the last page, you can't go wrong here. It will sound like it's wrong, especially if Cabrera wins because then all the people who think they have objective proof of Trout's superiority will weigh in, but there isn't a right or wrong.

However, for anyone who sees down the stretch as being a big deal, it's Cabrera going away. His August and September numbers are insane while Trout's are good to very good.

 

Baseball is not just a one-way game. Cabrera is basically a DH who's forced to play the field, where his lard ass prevents him from moving more than two or three steps in either direction to reach ground balls that would be gobbled up by even ordinary third basemen. Take away the runs he's allowed from his RBIs and he wouldn't be close to a Triple Crown candidate.

Second, if you win the Triple Crown in a year when your own numbers in all three categories are far from historic, and there's a guy on another team who has had a better overall season, I think the Triple Crown loses much of its luster.

Trout dramatically impacts the game with his bat, arm, glove and legs. Cabrera, while a tremendous hitter, can't do dick unless he has the bat in his hands.

So how in the world is Cabrera the MVP?

 

Maybe they should change it to most valuable hitter.

 

FWIW, and I am on record for a long time saying it ain't worth much, the fielding stats don't consider Cabrera to be a negative at third base. I think we was like a 0.2 WAR there. As I said, it ain't worth much to me. But others who have seen the Tigers have also said he hasn't been that bad. There is also the very salient point that he willingly moved to third -- knowing it was going to be a rough time -- to accommodate Fielder's bat. That undoubtedly made the Tigers better as a whole.

 

Buck weaver has already debunked this. He refused to dh which actually made them worse.

 

Actually, he's a shitty infielder.

 

I feel like MVP campaigns have become like political campaigns. If you have an easy to understand, punchy slogan ("It's the economy, stupid" = "Triple Crown winner") then you're going to win. And maybe you should win. Maybe you really did manage to make your case in a way that everyone can easily understand, even if the reality is a little more complicated. ("Why is it the economy? And why are you calling me stupid?" = "Trout's WAR is better, especially when you consider his position, and RBIs shouldn't be a measure of anything other than random luck.") But if you're going to make a complicated argument with far more nuance, you're going to have to really be good at making your argument, because every time I turn on talk radio, all I hear are guys with super short attention spans saying "How can he win the Triple Crown and not be the MVP?"

 

True. Isn't he supposed to be locked away in a protective bubble somewhere?

 

To be fair, it isn't just the triple crown that is in Cabrera's favor. You can argue that both came down to the wire, but Cabrera's team is in the playoffs and Trout's is not and that is a factor for MVP.

Cabrera also has a higher OPS and he was producing in April while Trout was still in the minors. It's not Trout's fault that he wasn't playing for the Angels then, but it should still be an advantage for Cabrera.

I also think what Trout is doing is more interesting than a Triple Crown, to put together a season like this at his age, but Cabrera's case for beating him out for MVP goes beyond just the triple crown.

 

The Angels have a better record with a tougher schedule. The playoffs should be a complete non factor in this.