Mike Trout deserves his fifth MVP award but won't win his second

[Homebrewer]

By: Ted Berg | September 9, 2016 11:36 am

Mike Trout is the best player in baseball, but because he so happens to play for an otherwise lousy team, he is unlikely to win the American League MVP Award. Trout has led the American League in wins above replacement (WAR) in every one of his five big-league seasons, but if and when the 2016 hardware goes to some player with a better surrounding cast — Jose Altuve or Mookie Betts, probably — it will mark the fourth time in Trout’s five-season career in which he has not been named his league’s most valuable player after definitely being that.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/09/los-angeles-angels-mike-trout-al-mvp-2016-also-every-other-year-mlb

[Angelsjunky]

There are several of these articles floating around. Seems to be a hot topic.

I think Altuve will win it, but I don't think it is absolutely certain Trout won't. Here's a reason why he could: the "traditionalist" MVP voters (Triple Crown stats, playoff team) will split their vote between Altuve, Donaldson and Betts, maybe even a nostalgia vote or two for Ortiz. The sabermetric MVP voters--while far fewer in number--will largely vote for Trout. It may be that the splitting effect of the traditionalists will leave the largest chunk of voters to Trout.

[Troll Daddy]

These Trout MVP threads are all over the place here. 

Repeat Rinse Repeat 

[disarcina]

I say Altuve but the consensus is our little breakfast group was Mookie Betts.

Didn't really think he was in contention but has come on, I guess, the second half here.

1.) Betts; 2.) Donaldson; 3.) Trout; 4.) Altuve

I think Altuve was really leading heading into the second half but then somewhere along the line Houston fell out of a playoff spot and need to rally to get back into one.

If Houston is not in the playoffs -- Alutive takes a real tumble and falls below Trout -  who, as we all know painfully well, isn't playing for a contender.

Betts gets the East Coast bias vote -plus BAHSTON......Donaldson's team will be in the playoffs and he's got the numbers.

I still think Trout is the best ballplayer in either league.

[nando714]

Our teams sucks

no mvp

ger over it

[Ohtaniland]

Rick Porcello should be the league MVP.

[Dick B Back]

Sports news from USA Today... no.

I think they were the first newspaper with color pictures though, right?

[Ohtaniland]

16 hours ago, nando714 said:

Our teams sucks

no mvp

ger over it

Because of the east coast bias Scioscia won't get AL Manager of the year either.

Just because the team sucks shouldn't prevent him from being considered.

 

you see what I did there.

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

Through yesterdays games Altuve and Donaldson both have an OPS under .500 in September while Betts' is just under .600.  Trout meanwhile has an OPS of 1.281.  Obviously it's a small sample size but given it's the last month of the season if the other 3 continue to struggle while Trout has a good month that really could push the vote in his favor. 

[Ohtaniland]

20 minutes ago, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

Through yesterdays games Altuve and Donaldson both have an OPS under .500 in September while Betts' is just under .600.  Trout meanwhile has an OPS of 1.281.  Obviously it's a small sample size but given it's the last month of the season if the other 3 continue to struggle while Trout has a good month that really could push the vote in his favor. 

The problem with Trout is that his own team makes him irrelevant. The stadium alone prevents him from having triple crown type numbers. Arte is dropping the ball on helping make Trout even greater. 

[Catwhoshatinthehat]

If he was irrelevant he wouldn't be getting mentioned in the multiple articles discussing the top contenders for the AL MVP.  Do I think he'll win it - no because voters will hold the Angels record against him but I think if Altuve/Donaldson/Betts continue to limp through September so to speak while Trout has a great month that could get him enough votes in a tight race. 

[Ohtaniland]

13 minutes ago, Catwhoshatinthehat said:

If he was irrelevant he wouldn't be getting mentioned in the multiple articles discussing the top contenders for the AL MVP.  Do I think he'll win it - no because voters will hold the Angels record against him but I think if Altuve/Donaldson/Betts continue to limp through September so to speak while Trout has a great month that could get him enough votes in a tight race. 

Altuve/Donaldson/Betts are all involved in pennant races. That's the difference. The Astros, Blue Jays and Mets are all still alive and well in September. We on the other hand have trouble beating the A's.

[Stradling]

Well they were in a pennant race last September and yet they gave it to someone with inferior numbers last year. 

[Ohtaniland]

1 hour ago, Stradling said:

Well they were in a pennant race last September and yet they gave it to someone with inferior numbers last year. 

Strad, 2015 was a down season for the Angels. After 98 wins in 2014 best in the MLB to 85 wins and no playoffs was a huge factor. The Jays won the east with 93 wins so they were very good. The Angels team got a big black eye from the buzzsaw and lost some media mojo in the process. They've continued that downtrend so that plays into it as well. Historically the MVP is usually on a winning team the majority of the time.

In 2015 Donaldson had 135 at bats with RISP

In 2015 Mike Trout had 88 at bats with RISP.  

My point is that his own team has hurt his chances at multiple MVP's and he knows that.

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, CALZONE said:

Strad, 2015 was a down season for the Angels. After 98 wins in 2014 best in the MLB to 85 wins and no playoffs was a huge factor. The Jays won the east with 93 wins so they were very good. The Angels team got a big black eye from the buzzsaw and lost some media mojo in the process. They've continued that downtrend so that plays into it as well. Historically the MVP is usually on a winning team the majority of the time.

In 2015 Donaldson had 135 at bats with RISP

In 2015 Mike Trout had 88 at bats with RISP.  

My point is that his own team has hurt his chances at multiple MVP's and he knows that.

Claude you said the other two were in playoff hunts this year.  I pointed out that the Angels were in a playoff race last year.  Despite having that many more at bats by Donaldson, Trout still had better numbers.  

[Docwaukee]

3 hours ago, CALZONE said:

Because of the east coast bias Scioscia won't get AL Manager of the year either.

Just because the team sucks shouldn't prevent him from being considered.

 

you see what I did there.

Yes.  But I'm not sure you do.  

[Ohtaniland]

31 minutes ago, Stradling said:

Claude you said the other two were in playoff hunts this year.  I pointed out that the Angels were in a playoff race last year.  Despite having that many more at bats by Donaldson, Trout still had better numbers.  

Were we really in a playoff hunt last season or were we chasing, chasing, chasing at the very end and ran out of games. 

Again I bring to your attention the value of having a solid team built around Trout that puts him in a offensive juggernaut situation. Trout is getting cheated in so many ways. His stats long term will suffer because of Angels Stadium. Arte should've already had a nice new stadium by now. He has a nice TV contract and should've capitalized on that alone.

 

 

[Docwaukee]

In Toronto's last 66 games last year, the team went 46-20 and Donaldson had a 1.019 ops. 

For a 43 game stretch from aug 1st to sept 16th, the Angels went 18-25 and Trout had a .760 ops.  

The rest of Donaldson's team was way better, but when a 1.000 ops player like Trout rocks a .760 ops for a month and a half, and his team goes from first place at the end of july to 5 games back by mid september, then voters are going to look elsewhere.  If Trout was his usual self during that time, we probably make the playoffs and he wins the MVP.  

Timing matters for the MVP race almost as much as being in playoff contention.  

Trout had better overall numbers, but it was close enough to where other stuff became a factor.  

 

Just like last year, a player stole the round.  This is about the time of year where that could easily happen again.  

[Stradling]

1 hour ago, CALZONE said:

Were we really in a playoff hunt last season or were we chasing, chasing, chasing at the very end and ran out of games. 

Again I bring to your attention the value of having a solid team built around Trout that puts him in a offensive juggernaut situation. Trout is getting cheated in so many ways. His stats long term will suffer because of Angels Stadium. Arte should've already had a nice new stadium by now. He has a nice TV contract and should've capitalized on that alone.

 

 

Like you need to tell me about building a team around him.  I'm in favor of improving the team, you're in favor of complaining about money spent.  

[Angel Oracle]

Altuve, Donaldson, and Betts aren't exactly lighting the world on fire this month.   One would think that MVP candidates would be playing a lot better in crunch time.

[Ohtaniland]

1 hour ago, Dochalo said:

In Toronto's last 66 games last year, the team went 46-20 and Donaldson had a 1.019 ops. 

For a 43 game stretch from aug 1st to sept 16th, the Angels went 18-25 and Trout had a .760 ops.  

The rest of Donaldson's team was way better, but when a 1.000 ops player like Trout rocks a .760 ops for a month and a half, and his team goes from first place at the end of july to 5 games back by mid september, then voters are going to look elsewhere.  If Trout was his usual self during that time, we probably make the playoffs and he wins the MVP.  

Timing matters for the MVP race almost as much as being in playoff contention.  

Trout had better overall numbers, but it was close enough to where other stuff became a factor.  

 

Just like last year, a player stole the round.  This is about the time of year where that could easily happen again.  

Well if it's based on the timing then Gary Sanchez should run away with it.

[tdawg87]

6 hours ago, CALZONE said:

Because of the east coast bias Scioscia won't get AL Manager of the year either.

Just because the team sucks shouldn't prevent him from being considered.

 

you see what I did there.

[tdawg87]

40 minutes ago, CALZONE said:

Well if it's based on the timing then Gary Sanchez should run away with it.

[mulwin444]

CALZONE, you're going to get hate mail from Troll Daddy...nobody threatens his trolling monopoly and gets away with it 

[Angelsjunky]

If Trout were much better than Donaldson last year, then yeah. But he wasn't much better. He was arguably a little better.