Display posts from previous
Sort by

Re: General Discussion

4937 by rusty2
2. The AL MVP, non-Trout division

The great thing about announcing these finalists the week before the award is that it gives the public, at large, proper appreciation of the seasons that will fall just short of actual hardware. Let's say Mike Trout runs away with the AL MVP, as most of us are anticipating. At least now, the sensational seasons of Victor Martinez and Michael Brantley are -- for a few days, at least -- headlines, not footnotes.

I'm pretty surprised Jose Abreu (.317/.383/.581 slash line with 36 homers and 107 RBI) wasn't an AL MVP finalist, but his team's spot in the standings probably didn't help his cause, and there's simply no faulting the inclusion of Martinez and Brantley in the top three. Martinez, at age 35, hit .335 with a league-best .409 OBP, 32 homers, 103 RBIs and just 42 strikeouts. An insane season. And Brantley was arguably every bit the all-around impact player that Trout was, with less of the name recognition and, obviously, a team with fewer wins. To the numbers we go.

Brantley: .327/.385/.506, 20 HR, 23 SB, 154 OPS+, 7.0 WAR
Trout: .287/.377/.561, 36 HR, 16 SB, 167 OPS+, 7.9 WAR

Trout will win it, but I don't think many people realized just how close those two guys were. Well, thanks to this declaration of finalists, now you know.
Post Reply

Return to “Cleveland Guardians”