Felger & Mazz: Cabrera Vs. Trout For MVP -- Who Ya Got?
Felger and Massarotti opened the day discussing the race for American League MVP between Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Angels rookie outfielder Mike Trout.
In this day and age, there is a discrepancy between how statistics are looked at now compared to the past. Do batting averages and home runs matter more? Or is it the new sabermetrics side of things such as WAR? Depending on who is asked, a wide variety of variables will be taken into play on who is either the most deserving of the award, or like the award says, most valuable.
On one hand, we have Miguel Cabrera who was the first Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. He helped lead his team to the American League pennant and a World Series appearance. To the common eye, it looks like there is no possible way Cabrera could actually lose this race. On the contrary, he lacks the fielding and base running ability that Trout excels in. This is where the new age of statistics come into play.
On the base path, Trout was 49-for-52 on stolen base attempts. By new sabermetrics, Trout added 12 runs to his team where Cabrera actually cost the Tigers three. When it comes to defense, UZR is brought into play. Trout saved the Angels 11 runs where Cabrera cost the Tigers 10 runs. It seems that Trout leads a lot of these new statistics where Cabrera leads the old. Which stance do you take on this argument of who should win the American League MVP?
