Of course, but those things are of minimal importance when compared to striking the ball.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Would you say Trout and Miggy were close offensively?

No, but that's purely my subjective opinion. It is, however, one apparently shared by the major league pitchers who have been asked which of the two they preferred to face.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Very minimally.

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Well, Frank, allow me, but I think you will agree, it depends on the situation. If Trout were Ozzie Smith on defense, I think he probably would have and should have won the MVP.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

If Cabrera was a DH, then defense it taken into account.

Yea, and this is what bothers me. Not that you have the opinion, but that this is at the heart of the debate. We're not even all debating the same thing because no one knows the definition of MVP and 'how' people should vote on it.

But I think the point is just to get people talking about baseball. And it's working. That award doesn't really mean shit for either of those guys. They'll still make their millions.

Anyway, here is my view of defense. It's insignificant outside of a very few outliers where a guy played a critical position like short or catcher or maybe even second or center, but was so overwhelmingly better than everyone else it could not be denied.

Trout is a damn good outfielder. No one argues against that. But if he were replaced by just an ordinary guy, like, say, Alejandro DeAza, how many games do you think it would have actually affected? Maybe the two games where DeAza makes errors to cost his team also just happen to be the games where he hits grand slams. Baseball is a funny game. And that's sort of where Rick's comparison to predicting the weather comes in, yeah, the predictive model is more scientific than me just saying "sunny and cold", but if the results are the same, what difference does it make?

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

What is the definition of MVP? Was it the same definition in 1940's and 50's as it is today? There was seemingly no math back then, though all the numbers were right there on the state sheet. Why aren't you this adamant about Al Kaline finishing 2nd to Yogi Berra in 1955? Should we just go back and give the MVP to whomever had the highest WAR in a given year?

No.

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Brick & JORR vs. Bucky has been an enjoyable read.

Thank God for Bucky and his generation they are saving the world

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

What is funny is I think I'm younger than him.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Not yet, but I have high hopes.

Gen X'ers like you aren't doing it. Millennials like me and IMU will.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Not doubting the possibility of that

You spelled Miguel Cabrera's name wrong

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I have seen the light, and have a new deli to try:

Why isn't the guy who invented Batting Average considered a "stat nerd"? The triple crown stats are still stats! They just ignore lots of useful information; we now have data from every action in every single game, that we didn't have 100 years ago. It's willfull ignorance. In what other critical thinking field would the exclusion of additional data be considered admirable?

It took all day but you finally convinced me. Trout is the MVP.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

Voting on the AL MVP hardly qualifies as a critical thinking field.

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Trout reportedly showed up to camp with some extra muscle to the tune of a total body weight of 240 lbs. He isn't even pretending its all natural. He weighs more than Josh Hamilton now who is at 225.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!