Alex Bregman for MVP

Those are only positive counting stats. Alvarez has made a ton less outs at plate. I prefer Alvarez's counting stats when looking at both positives and negatives.

 

The media narrative has already been written: https://www.mlb.com/news/2019-mvp-cy-young-award-roy-poll-leaders

 

Just like the nba. Not his turn yet.

 

The intentional walks thing is silly. I don't think Richard Justice actually believes it should be important, but he knows that other people do. In Justice's case for Bregman as MVP, which I posted earlier in this thread here, there's this quote:

Teams simply do not have to pitch to Trout because there are easier options behind him. Houston’s lineup may be baseball’s deepest, making it hard to pitch around any of the hitters in the middle.
“Trout doesn’t have the lineup behind him that Alex does,” Bagwell said. “It’s not, 'Forget it, we’re not pitching to Alex.' He’s not going to get those unintentional intentional walks. With our lineup, they can’t do that.”​

 

A great final week could do it, but I'm thinking raising is average over .300 and matching Trout's 45 HRs. 6 games left, and he probably rests for 1. An 8-20 finish gets him to .300.

If he had a league average BABIP, his average would likely be over .300 and his OPS might be more in line with Trout's.

 

1) Verlander (24 first-place votes) -- His microscopic 0.806 WHIP is the second lowest by a starting pitcher since 1961. Only Pedro Martinez’s 0.74 WHIP in 2000 was lower.

2) Cole (11 first-place votes) -- He’s 14-0 with a 1.87 ERA and 18.0 K/9 since May 27

Those are 2 of the most ridiculous stats I've ever seen. Wish they could be Co-Cy Youngs.

 

Wish JV had those numbers last year (should have won over the far less durable Snell), and then Cole took it this year. Back-to-back, and 3 in 5 years (Keuchel 2015). Oh well. Hope both can get a CYA as an Astro.

 

That can’t be real, right? 4 months of 2K’s per inning is impossible. Right??

 

So as of this morning, Bregman sits at 8.2 War vs. Trout 8.3 War.

Bregman much like Cole has thrust himself into not only a worthy runner up, but quite possibly the most deserved of the two players for MVP.

Durability had to factor into the equation, some folks may dismiss it, but you can’t be a value to a team if a guy is sitting on the bench.

 

Sadly some people will use durability as a case for trout and say that bregman only has similar stats to him bc he played in more games

 

Bregman is doing his thing in games that matter. That should mean something.

The Angels haven't played in a meaningful game for most of the year. They're 33 games out for crying out loud. So if Trout doesn't play they're still a crappy team. They're still toilet paper.

You could argue the 'Stros would still be good without Bregman. OK. However would they be in this position without him? The answer to that is not just no but HELL NO!!! Where they're at is way more valuable than where Trout and the Angels are. Thus Most VALUABLE Player!

That said Trout will still win MVP because these dumb ***** that vote have already made up their mind.

 

You can make a legit argument for Trout having 5 MVPs already, he inarguably should have 4.

Even if I personally would vote for Bregs at this point, Trout has been screwed enough. It's not as if he isn't deserving, you can make a very easy argument he's still been the MVP even with the missed time.

 

man its a blessing to have multiple guys on this team who are talented mvp caliber players at full health. definitely not going to take these astros years for granted. we probably won't see a team like this again. If breg wins it great, if not he still has plenty of time to get his. A ws mvp won't be a bad consolation if it comes down to it

 

MVP is an individual award. All Bregman has to do is hit three more homers. He does that and the objective measures of who helps his team win more games goes away. Trout's injury has given Bregman a chance to win MVP. I want him to win it, and not get it because pro-Bregman narrative beats pro-Trout narrative.

MVP of World Series and and championship rings are individual awards for players on great teams. If Bregman wants an award for being great and being on Astros this season, he's can win another championship ring, and fight the other Astros for the MVP of the W.S. award.

 

Cole has 216 strike outs in 141 innings since May 27. Around 13.78 K/9

 

I don't know... No MVP winner has ever played in as few a games as Trout *and* been on a bad team. Right or wrong, I think those are going to be factors.

The other potential narratives that could be factors: 1) do writers have voter fatigue with Trout? He's only won 2 - but he's literally finished top 2 every single year of his career except 2017 (when he missed significant time and... finished 4th, LOL - Trout is bananas); 2) if the Astros are locks to win CY (definitely) and ROY (likely), how will that positively/negatively affect voters? There are some that might think it's cool they win the triple crown; others, not so much.

I know this: Bregman seems hellbent on making a real push as he's playing out of his mind right now. The best player, on the best team who did not miss time and will have comparable numbers......... I'm not sure it's ultimately enough but I think his case is pretty doggone good.

 

That seems more humanly possible. Damn Richard Justice and his fake news.

 

Bregman for AL MVP.

 

That's what I argue. But you have to pay attention to the Astros to get it. I think the loss of Bregman would have been much devastating to the team than the loss of, well, we've pretty much experimented with the loss of just about everyone else. His average wasn't great in the first half, and he knew it and wasn't happy with it, but he kept getting on base and keeping that slugging percentage up, and that was big for the team. He walked a lot, but that's something that helps the team, and that's what he could keep doing while he wasn't squaring it up as much. And he held out long enough to fix his swing, and now he's tickling .300, and still doing all the rest of it. AND playing half 3B/half SS.

The difference between the Astros and Angels is so great that they're basically not playing the same game. No one cares about the Angels unless you're using them to pad your wins, and the Angels know they don't have any chance of anything. The Astros are at the top being chased by everyone else, and Bregman (especially recently) has done a ton by himself to make sure they stay in that top spot.

Most valuable? Absolutely. Best? If you don't only look at select offensive stats and you don't consider every team to be fighting on a level playing field, I'm not immediately going to cede that one to Trout, either.