No. Robinson Cano put up .314/.382/.454 while playing in Seattle. I hope Altuve wins, but it is close in terms of production.
FWIW, Altuve leads oWAR 6.6 to 6.2, which is really more relevant to Silver Slugger since defense isn't included. The difference is steals, but I don't know how much weight voters typically give that. I hope his story as one of the shortest players in history will help his case.
I hope you guys are wrong, but I'm preparing to be disappointed. It would be a shame for Cano to win based on his pedestrian season(by his own standards, of course), while Altuve has had an offensively historic season at 2B when considering stolen bases.
Cano has the same OPS+ he's had over the last 4 seasons. His numbers look worse because he now plays at one of the top pitchers parks in baseball. Really isn't a strong argument either way. Cano had a slightly better OBP, but Altuve got his OBP with more hits, which is slightly more valuable than walks. Really splitting hairs between the two, I would give it to Altuve because of the steals, its best offensive player, not best hitter. But if Cano wins I can't really complain.
By the way, where was the national outrage when Morneau only took one at bat the last game of the season and did not play at all the next to the last game? When Altuve was scheduled to sit the final game, it was a front page link on ESPN and comments were blasting him and the Astros right and left. I did not see anything about Morneau. EDIT: Actually Morneau sat the last game as well. His one at bat was in the 8th inning as a pinch hitter after the batting title was well in hand since Harrison had already finished 0-4.
The Rockies even said they were holding him out to preserve his lead. Typical media, they have a narrative they want to run with and they do so. Anti-Lunhow is the de facto stance now.
I'm sure the front office is smart enough to figure out why the media hates them, and they're also smart enough to figure out how to turn it around if they really had an issue with it.
