It takes a lot to out-Madden Madden…but with dripping pantothenic acid, Jerritol Green has done it!
I read the criticisms the other day in a windy article on ESPN.com, written by a blogger named Keith Law.
ESPN claims that Trout merits the MVP award — despite Cabrera’s possible Triple Crown — on the basis of WAR. This is not the kind of war that Ted Williams fought in twice amidst his Triple Crown-style seasons. Or the war that brought Willie Mays into the Army during his career.
It is that relatively new “Moneyball” style of crackpot Sabermetrics stat described as wins above replacement. Whatever that means.
Mike Trout’s WAR numbers are juggled into a figure higher than Cabrera’s.
Oh, my goodness!
WAR — and there are versions disseminated by both websites Baseball-Reference.com and fangraphs.com — includes more skills than pure hitting and hitting for power. Stolen bases are considered, a number that actually can be counted.
Fielding likewise counts.
Just how fielding figures in … well, you look and watch. And then guess, and perhaps the guess works. Or doesn’t. And then the figure person tries to measure how an ordinary replacement player might compare to the established high-skilled player.
Once upon a time, the MVP was not decided on the basis of some imaginary numbers that are jammed into a murky, invented stat such as WAR.
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1. BDCNo! It was decided over brandy stingers at Toots Shor's. Not that I would mind trying that method.
The Angels have a better record than the Tigers!!!
Not if you feed it poison.
But Detroit will probably win their division and LA won't. It's like my wife and her older brother: I'm three years older than her, and she's a year younger than him. But the family invariably thinks of my brother-in-law as being "older" than me, even though he's actually two years younger.
a murky, invented stat such as WAR.
Would WAR get more respect it had a different name, like "Player Wins" or something? (Naaah.)
...as opposed to triple crown stats which were handed down from God.
Yeah, but we're feeding it spoonfuls of sugar, salted pork, and quiche, and watching it grow.
The tigers have learned from Jack Morris. They are playing to the standings.
Yes, but Miguel Cabrera has made the White Sox worse than the Rangers and A's.
I have to say that this is the trolliest article of this sort that we've seen so far, at least from the excerpt.
EDIT: Ah, it's from a Detroit source. Those people aren't expected to make sense on this topic.
I haven't read the article, so I don't know if Law did or did not do this. But it seems to me that if I were debating the issue, I would find it much easier to make a convincing case by not using WAR as my linchpin, or even by not referring to WAR at all.
"Extreme Wins" might do the trick.
I'm not a fan of "Storyline" MVP's, but if you believe in them, this would be as good as any.
There are, of course, other angles jumbling up the issue. The Tigers would be better off with Miggy still at first, Prince DH-ing (he is every bit as bad at first as we feared Miggy would be at third), and Delmon Young playing for the Astros. I don't know how that changes the value of Miggy having the surprising versatility to make the move he made.
EDITED FOR GRAMMAR
Which of the TC categories measures that again?
The sad thing is, the Astros would probably be better off this way as well.
I'd say that in terms of his 2012 MVP value, treat Cabrera the same as any other third baseman; he didn't contribute actual tactical versatility this year. In terms of contract or trade value, it's a different story; the "strategic" versatility helps his teams a lot.
1) Cabrera has played 23 more games! Before I checked just now I figured it was half that.
2) Cabrera has 50 extra points of OPS; and you might be a little suspicious of park adjustments that give Trout a higher OPS+ (seriously, why doesn't the Halo House have a rep. as an extreme pitcher's park?)
If you basically look at OPS, baserunning, and fielding; ignore adjusted OPS; and give Miggy a significant bump for those 23 games--then, I think, assuming the Tigers make the playoffs AND the Angel charge falls short--then you can reasonably vote for Cabrera.
Maybe "Epic Wins"
No, it's the War on Terror!
There is one good argument against Trout -- his twitter handle is Trouty20. Trouty? Really? This is the best we can do for a guy whose last name is Trout?
If such a scenario actually came to pass, would there be a playoff game or would the A's get the nod due to their 10-9 season series advantage over the Angels?
There are no tiebreakers used anymore except for HFA. Of course that's all they were ever really used for -- even in the old system, two teams tied for the WC would have had a playoff game.
EDIT: to clarify. The use of a tiebreaker in the old system only came into play if two teams tied for the division lead but that record also qualified them as the wild card team. In that scenario, since both made the playoffs, MLB decided to determine who was the division winner and who was the wild card based on a tiebreaker. The only impact of that was a potential impact on HFA.
Even this use of a tiebreaker has been discontinued because there's now a huge advantage to winning the division. The only use of tiebreakers at this point is in determining HFA among teams with equal records. Every entry into the post-season is determined on the field just like it always has been.
Right. You just say: he's got similar TC stats, a bunch more steals at a great rate and plays a sterling CF.
Someone said above it's bizarre that Cabrera is getting all the old school support. If you dropped me in 2012 straight from 2001, I would have said it was the sabr crowd pushing Cabrera and the old farts pushing Trout. Weird all 'round.
PS: Napoli seemed to be getting ready for the postseason. Sigh!
But the Rays could make that into a three-way tie by sweeping the O's.
What do you do with a three-way tie for the last wild-card slot??
What do you do with a three-way tie for the last wild-card slot??
As a Braves fan, I'd like to see Bud decree that we just go back to last year's rules for one more year.
Meanwhile, 8-7 Rangers, bottom of 7. Look out, Napoli's up again this inning...
Cabrera is totally awesome and deserves no trashing ( well, perhaps for his various drunken driving escapades, but certainly not for his play)
But I think coin flips are out unless they've gotten through like 15 tie breakers without deciding who has the HFA.
In the 3-team scenario, they've come up with an interesting little twist. The basic format is that 2 teams will play a game, then the winner plays the 3rd team and the winner of that game is the true wild card. To make that kinda fair to the other two teams, one team gets to be the "top" team (best record against the other two, blah, blah) but they have a choice between hosting the first game and, if they win, hosting the second game ... or, essentially, taking a bye in the first round but having to be visitor in the 2nd round.
My understanding is Oakland is the top team in the A's, Angels, Rays scenario although there's some confusion because of how the rule is worded. Anyhoo, the A's will have to decide if they want to host the #3 team (Rays I think), win, then host the Angels; or just play the winner of that game. From an odds of advancing standpoint, you have to take the single game. From the owners' bottom line standpoint, you might want to take the home game option. I sorta wonder how many fans think it's better to have 2 home games than one road game.
Naturally, I'd prefer that they create a special three-way game per something I outlined awhile back...but as everyone knows, I also like the circus.
Little did I know at that time, however, that Budzilla and his boys would come up with a much more straightforward way to usher in the possibility of total on-field confusion....
Has there been more than one?
Astros was just shorthand for "somewhere else" because he's utterly useless. People keep wanting to project MLB-worthiness onto him, so he'd land somewhere.
Yes. He came home piss drunk the night before the 1-game with the Twins. His wife smacked him around a bit and Dombrowski had to pick him up from the police station. He subsequently got thrown out at the plate giving a solid 20% effort to lose the game.
Then, he had the fun in Florida.
Just for fun, here's a list of OF/1B/DH who had accumulated over 3000 PAs through age 26, since 1961, with an OPS+ under 100:
Player Year OPS+ PAWillie Davis 1966 99 3501
Jose Cardenal 1970 96 3429
Ed Kranepool 1971 93 3684
Bill Buckner 1976 99 3081
Rick Manning 1981 87 3631
Juan Pierre 2004 88 3037
Jeff Francoeur 2010 91 3444
Melky Cabrera 2011 93 3363
Delmon Young 2012 99 3564
Davis ended up having a fine career, if an odd one; he seems to have been helped enormously by the lowering of the mound in 1969. Kranepool had one of the odder careers ever. Manning and Pierre were fast glove men (or at least with glove reputations) and don't compare well to Young. Frenchy and Melky we know lots about. It seems the best chance for a decent career for Young, if he ever lives up to his potential, is to emulate Cardenal and Buckner. Both were erratic in their youth and both started to hit not just superficially better but truly better when they reached the Cubs. Hmmmn.
Well, his name is "Jerritol".
He was, but he also made a change in his approach in 1969: shortening his stroke and going up the middle and gap-to-gap instead of pulling everything and delivering a whole lot of warning track fly balls.
She was in Moonrise Kingdom? I totally missed that.
I know about that, but I don't see how that qualifies as "drunken driving." A crucial element is missing. I mean, I don't know how he got home from the bar, but he was arrested at his home (and eventually wasn't charged with anything).
When someone mentions "his various drunken driving escapades" you would expect to find more than one.
Fair enough. I only registered the "drunken escapades" part of it.
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