My AL MVP Vote Goes To....

I put this off for a while because I really wanted to gather as many statistics as I could before making a decision, and I apologize, this is going to be a long one. Living in Orange County, I saw a lot more of Mike Trout than I did Miguel Cabrera this season. Obviously I'm aware that Cabrera won the AL Triple Crown this year. Something that hadn't been done in 45 years, an amazing accomplishment for sure. But that shouldn't guarantee him the MVP award. It's Most Valuable Player, not Most Valuable Hitter. Trout set numerous rookie records and will undoubtedly win the AL Rookie of the Year award. But that too doesn't mean he deserves the MVP award. Let's dive into some numbers.

Defense-Simply looking at which player made more errors would be irresponsible. They play two completely different positions, so I went a little bit further than that. I went to overall fielding percentage. Trout had a total of 268 chances during the season, remember he was in the minors for the first month or so. Cabrera had 383 total chances. Clearly Cabrera is going to have more errors. He had more chances, and this was his first season playing 3rd base after moving from 1st. Cabrera's overall fielding percentage was .966 compared to Trout's which was .993 this year.

Another big stat in my mind is range factor. Range Factor is calculated by adding putouts and assists and then dividing that number by the total number of defensive innings played. To me, this gives a very accurate number on a player's defensive value. Trout's Range Factor was 2.70 and Cabrera's was 2.52. Again, I know they play different positions and Trout is going to have more chances to make putouts and Cabrera is going to have more assist opportunities. It's just one of the many things I considered when making my decision.

Offense- I don't think there is any reason to go over the big 3 statistical numbers. We all know Cabrera led the AL in home runs, batting average, and runs batted in. But it is worth mentioning that Trout was 2nd in average, .326 compared to .330. But let's extrapolate those numbers a bit. Cabrera struck out 98 times in 622 at-bats, Trout fanned 139 times in 559 trips to the plate this year. Cabrera also had 19 more extra base hits, but he also grounded into 28 double-plays compared to just 7 for Trout. Obviously it's easier for Cabrera to hit into double-plays since he's not a leadoff hitter and Trout is, but it's worth mentioning.

Also worth mentioning is the stat known as batting average on balls in play. Trouts BABIP this year lead the league at .378 while Cabrera checked in with a .322 average which is actually quite a bit lower than his .345 career average. This too can be attributed to Trout having significantly fewer at-bats than Cabrera, but to be honest, who knows how high it would have been for Trout had he played the full season.  Trout also lead the AL in stolen bases with 49 swipes while only being caught 5 times. Cabrera only stole 4 bases and was caught once this year. This again is a pretty unfair comparison because they are such different players, but it does need to be considered.

I hate the argument that Trout doesn't deserve the award because the Angels didn't make the the playoffs. Guess what, the Angels ended the year with a better record than Cabrera's Tigers did. Should Trout be "punished" because he played in a tougher division? That certainly doesn't seem fair. Think of this too, Trout played 50 games against AL West staffs that ranked 2nd, 4th, and 8th in AL ERA. Cabrera played 70 games against AL Central staffs that ranked 9th, 10th, 13th, and 14th in AL ERA. 

I also hate the argument that Trout's MLB leading 10.7 WAR automatically should give him the MVP award. Granted it's significantly higher than Caberera's 6.9 WAR, but it's not the end all be all. You can't argue with what Cabrera did at the plate this year. It's literally historic. We'll all be telling our kid's about his Triple Crown just like our parents told us about Yastrzemski's. But like I said earlier that shouldn't guarantee an MVP award. Ted Williams won two MVP's and two Triple Crowns, none of which happened in the same year.

If I had to vote, and I'm glad I don't, I'd vote for Cabrera. I feel he was overall more valuable to his team. This is what put me over the edge. While on the surface it looks like the Tigers would have more lineup protection for Cabrera, the stats tell me otherwise. As a team the Angels lead the AL in batting average while the Tigers were 3rd, .274 compared to .268. Not only that, but the Angels hit 24 more home runs than the Tigers did. I was fully prepared to vote for Trout until I saw these numbers. I thought his offensive output combined with his stellar defense gave him the overall value edge. But after considering all the aspects, Cabrera just eeks him out. People are saying that we should think about how bad the Angels would have been without Trout, and that's a great point. But think about how bad the Tigers would have been without Cabrera. In my mind, they both would have been much worse off, but the Tigers more so.

Like I said, I'm really happy I don't have a vote in this thing. In fact, I'd absolutely LOVE IT if they were named co-MVPs, but that isn't going to happen.... unless the Mayans really are right.

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