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Boston Red Sox: Closer look at Mookie Betts v. Mike Trout for AL MVP

By Tracy Katzke

Oct 7, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Boston Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts (50) hits a single against the Cleveland Indians in the sixth inning during game two of the 2016 ALDS playoff baseball series at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 7, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Boston Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts (50) hits a single against the Cleveland Indians in the sixth inning during game two of the 2016 ALDS playoff baseball series at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Oct 10, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts (50) rounds third base to score a run in the eighth inning against the Cleveland Indians during game three of the 2016 ALDS playoff baseball series at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox right fielder Mookie Betts (50) rounds third base to score a run in the eighth inning against the Cleveland Indians during game three of the 2016 ALDS playoff baseball series at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports /

The “Experts’” Faulty Logic

While the consensus of many “experts” is that Trout’s selection as 2016 AL MVP was the correct choice, the logic utilized in reaching said conclusion appears to be faulty. First, it is important to realize that the MVP is not a lifetime achievement award. In addition, it is not awarded to a player simply because many feel said player is the best baseball player on the planet and, as a result, is deserving of an annual acknowledgement of this fact.

In a November 18, 2016 article written by Sam Miller and retrieved from ESPN.com, Miller states, “On Thursday, Mike Trout won his second AL MVP award. This is the outcome I had hoped for: The best player won the award that most closely corresponds to the question, “Who was the best player?” It’s the outcome that the BBWAA had avoided in three of the previous four seasons, when Trout was (by Wins Above Replacement, and in all three of the most prominent public models of it) the best player in baseball but the runner-up in MVP voting.”

Miller further explains this reasoning when claiming, “…concluding that Mike Trout is the most valuable baseball player in the world should be one of the easiest decisions an MVP voter gets to make in his or her life. It is certainly about time that Trout won a second award. There is no credible argument that would suggest Trout isn’t the best player in his league, or that he wasn’t this year. Over his five-year career, he has led the AL in Wins Above Replacement five times.

This seems to imply that Miller is advocating for Trout, at least, in part, based on what he has produced over the past several seasons. Annual awards are awarded, well, annually, and as such, should be entirely based on a player’s performance within a given season, with no consideration of said player’s performance in previous seasons. It appears that Miller is not basing his selection, entirely, on the player who contributed the most value toward winning games this season. If that’s the case then we have distinctly different definitions of the term “valuable.”

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