Using baseball-reference.com as a source for single season WAR Position Players, which the site defines as: “A single number that presents the number of wins the player added to the team above what a replacement player (think AAA or AAAA) would add. Scale: 8+ MVP Quality, 5+ All-Star Quality, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Reserve, < 0 Replacement Level Developed by Sean Smith of BaseballProjection.com,” I would like to make my claim as to why Mike Trout should hands down win the AL MVP over Miguel Cabrera:
1 1.) Mike Trout’s WAR as a position player this year was 10.7, while Miguel Cabrera’s was 6.9. This signifies that as an all-around player, Trout contributed 3.8 more wins to the Angels than Cabrera did for the Tigers. Trout also appeared in 22 less games than Cabrera this year.
2 2.) Trout’s WAR of 10.7 for the 2012 season ranks him tied for 20th all-time in terms of single season WAR for position players (In other words, Mike Trout had one of the top 25 all-around seasons for a position player in MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL HISTORY). Cabrera’s year of a 6.9 WAR puts him tied for 496th place in terms of a single season.
3 3.) Counting Mike Trout, only 20 position players in the history of Major League Baseball have ever had a season with an overall WAR of 10.0 or higher: Babe Ruth (8 times), Willie Mays (6), Rogers Hornsby (5), Barry Bonds (3), Mickey Mantle (3), Ted Williams (3), Ty Cobb (3), Carl Yastrzemski (2), Honus Wagner (2), Lou Gehrig (2), Alex Rodriguez, Cal Ripken, Eddie Collins, Jimmie Foxx, Joe Morgan, Lou Boudreau, Robin Yount, Sammy Sosa, Stan Musial, and Mike Trout. The 16 players on this list that are eligible for the Hall of Fame are all in the Hall of Fame, easily.
4 4.) Based on the list of players in fact 3, the only other active position player to ever have a season with a WAR above 10.0 besides Mike Trout in 2012 was Alex Rodriguez in 2000.
5 5.) Since RBI became an official stat in 1920, 10 players have won the Triple Crown: Rogers Hornsby (1922 and 1925), Chuck Klein (1933), Jimmie Foxx (1933), Lou Gehrig (1934), Joe Medwick (1937), Ted Williams (1942 and 1947), Mickey Mantle (1956), Frank Robinson (1966), Carl Yastrzemski (1967), and Miguel Cabrera (2012). Miguel Cabrera is the only Triple Crown winner on this list to not lead his league in position player WAR the year he won the Triple Crown.
6 6.) Miguel Cabrera would not have led the NL in WAR this year as well, since his 6.9 would have fallen short of Buster Posey’s NL leading position player WAR of 7.2. Pretend Mike Trout never played in 2012, and Miguel Cabrera is still not the AL leader. Your AL leader in WAR is now Robinson Cano at 8.2.
7 7.) The American League has been around since 1901, and in that span, Miguel Cabrera’s 2012 position player WAR of 6.9 would have only led the AL 11 different seasons (1902, 1918, 1925, 1940, 1950, 1952, 1959, 1962, 1981, 1992 and 2006 and would have tied for the league lead in 1905). Trout’s 10.7 would have tied for or led the AL in all but 11 AL seasons ever.
9 9.) In fact, 8 different active 3B have combined for 13 seasons with a position player WAR higher than Cabrera’s 2012 total: Adrian Beltre (2004 and 2010), Alex Rodriguez (2004, 2005 and 2007), Scott Rolen (2004), David Wright (2007), Evan Longoria (2010 and 2011), Chone Figgins (2009), Chipper Jones (2007 and 2008), and Ryan Zimmerman (2009). The only CF in the HISTORY OF MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL to have a season with a WAR higher than Trout’s 2012 total were Ty Cobb (1917), Mickey Mantle (1956 and 1957), and Willie Mays (1965).
1 10.) Jayson Stark of ESPN shed some light on this issue a couple days ago. I need to acknowledge a great article on his part:
Overall, both players had memorable seasons for different reasons, but what Trout did over the course of the 2012 season is more MVP worthy than what any other active player has ever done over the course of a season.
