MVPs for 2019

Both 2019 MVPs have Southern California zip codes: Mike Trout and Cody Bellinger. But their paths to the honor differed greatly.

No one questions Trout's talent, he could well be the best player in all of baseball. But he's not getting a Player of the Year trophy -- or as the CFL so nicely names it, the Most Outstanding Player. And value is not necessarily measured by statistics. 45 home runs, 104 RBIs and league-leading on-base and slugging percentages speak loudly. They scream "best." Now, the problem: Trout played on a Angels club that never spent a day in 1st place during 2019. Despite Trout's excellence, the boys from Anaheim did not contend: three games back on May 2nd, they were slipped farther and farther back as the season rolled on. Sorry to say, the one thing Trout didn't do was something he could not control -- he didn't play a meaningful game in the last five months of the season. So, it's hard to measure "value" when your team is not battling for a post-season spot. Alex Bregman, DJ LeMahieu, Gleyber Torres, and Nelson Cruz did. They would have had my votes, not Trout. We're reminded once again of the line Ralph Kiner quoted about Branch Rickey from the early 1950s Pirates: "We could have finished last without you." Ralph went to the Hall of Fame -- but never the post-season. And the highest he ever finished in the MVP voting was 4th.

Bellinger had no such baggage as he turned in his second brilliant season in three with the Dodgers -- who topped the NL West each time. LA won 106 games and never fellow under .500 or spent a day out of first place after April 15th. Wire to wire, they were the best regular season time in the league. And since MVP is based on those 162 games, Bellinger is choice that makes sense. Would the Dodgers have finished first without him? Hard to say, since he played in nothing but meaningful games.

We have this kind of discussion almost every year. With baseball unwilling to define "valuable," perhaps it's time for an MOP -- a Most Outstanding Player, or Player of the Year. Go ahead and honor a great all around talent, call it The Ted Williams Award and give it out the day after the MVPs are named. Cap the Award Week with one more trophy, open to everyone, pitchers and position players and give to someone who excelled -- without considerations to how well or poorly his club played. That will end this almost-annual silliness once and for all.


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