OT- Miggy front page ESPN story
http://espn.go.com/blog/spring-training/post/_/id/872/an-incredible-journey-for-miguel-cabrera
I really enjoyed this read and figured I would share it since there are a lot of Tigers fans/baseball fans around here.
I particularly liked Torii Hunter's quote about his biggest surprise since joining the Tigers is how happy Miguel Cabrera is.
I still don't feel like the guy ever got the credit he deserved for his season last year and found it (and still find it) insulting that many people thought Trout should have won the AL MVP. Maybe a few more seasons like it will wake everyone up to how great he is, a World Series title for the Tigers would be nice too.
Cabrera deserved the MVP, but you're out of your mind if you think Trout wasn't in the discussion.
I'll give you in the discussion, since there otherwise wouldn't have been one. But you're out of your mind if you actually think he deserved to win.
Not to mention Trout played in 20 some fewer games than Miggy. Trout is a great player but I wonder if he would have garnered the same amount of support was he not a rookie and feel good story.
I will admit that I do not have the same knowledge of all of these advanced sabermetric measures in baseball that many people do, but I am concerned with a stat such as WAR. How accurately can a single statistical measure evaluate a players value? Is this really a better way of judging a player than the judgement and analysis of a HUMAN BEING? Should we just change the MVP awards to the WAR awards? Death to the maths! /s. But seriously, I am pretty skeptical of WAR and many other stats like it. I believe it should be taken into account, but too many people want to say "better WAR = better player" and I think that is a dangerous statement to make.
1. Playoffs I think could matter because if the team misses the playoffs with the player, he's not as valuable as someone who helps the team go to the playoffs and generate more value by more home games and ticket sales. The Angels probably would have sold as many tickets without Trout. (yes, other factors, blah blah but w/e)
2. If playoffs shouldn't matter, being a rookie definitely shouldn't. That's like the Te'o effect. Just because your fake girlfriend fake died, doesn't mean you deserve a Heisman. (However clearly all of sports media disagrees).
3. That's why there's slugging percentage and OBPS, both of which Cabrera is awesome.
4. My personal most important factor if I had a vote would be to take the guy off the team and see how good they are. The Tigers would have been bottom of the central without cabrera. There were times last season that I think him and fielder generated like 70% of runs or hits or something I can't remember.
5. Also, lastely, sometimes I think these awards are cumulative. The guy had his worst season in 3 years (statistically) and still won the triple crown. That's crazy to me.
4. Take Miggy off of the Tigers and they do not go to the playoffs, take Trout off of the Angels and they still do not go to the playoffs. Both players had fantastic seasons last year, and both deserved to be in the discussion, and I think they picked the right guy for MVP. Here is to hoping he has another year similar to that and the Tigers make the playoffs again!
Miggy has already got a WS title, with the Marlins in '03. Totally okay with him winning another in Detroit though.
Yeah, I meant a WS for the Tigers, not Miggy personally. Guess that isn't that clear.
His numbers will only go up this year with V-Mart back protecting him. How about 3 straight MVPs for the Tigers?
I say f#@! Trout and the metrics. Baseball shouldn't be over thought. See Ball-Hit Ball. Cabrera does just that.
"Cabrera also is working on nine consecutive seasons with an adjusted OPS-plus of 130 or better. Here are the names of the only other players to do that before age 30: Cobb (11), Mel Ott (11), Mickey Mantle (10), Rogers Hornsby (10), Hank Aaron (9), Jimmie Foxx (9), Tris Speaker (9) and Pujols (9)."
If you aren't into Sabermetrics, OPS is "on-base plus slugging", or a measure of a players ability to get on base and hit for some power. I saw this in the article and thought this was an interesting bit or trivia as this is a select list. Indeed, Cabrera's career OPS is 0.956, which would be 5th among active players and 20th on the all-time list at the moment.
One interesting thing about WAR and its relationship to the MVP voting this year is that, if you sorted the list of the top 10 candidates my their WAR, the winner would be Trout (as someone mentioned) and the runner-up would be Robinson Cano. Miguel Cabrera would be a solid fourth in that sorting.