Mike Trout Is Better At Social Distancing Than You

It's been a while since I've had the chance to remind everybody that Mike Trout is the best. Except for my wife, she hears it everyday. It turns into a whole "why don't you just marry him then" conversation ending with me asking about who gets the baseball memorabilia in the divorce while working on my proposal to Mike. It has to be special to get him away from his wife and looming Trout baby. And may their first child be a masculine child. Maybe something romantic like proposing on the jumbo tron at an Eagles game.

Okay, that got away from me, just, right off the bat. My point was that Trout is the best. We knew that about the baseball side of things. But this guy even crushes social distancing while still being nice to, get this, strangers.

Point in case

ok, but here's something hilariously wholesome my friend just sent me. his friend saw mike trout at a grocery store and took a selfie – but, a social distancing selfie

and trout commented back

genuinely the best shit. i love it pic.twitter.com/YLfAyIoGgX

— Alex Chamberlain (@DolphHauldhagen) March 26, 2020

Trout is out there shopping for the right combination of super foods* that make him a mythical creature and is still willing to take selfies with fans. Just six feet away so it looks like an awkward photo bomb. Still, he was not only happy to do it but followed with a tweet of his own to be safe. Did he steal all of the toilet paper out of her cart while she was texting her friend? I'd prefer to think not.

*The super foods to make you Mike Trout do NOT include the five pound bag of sour patch kids and the picante flavored corn nuts. But my research continues on...

Now we know Mike is out there not shaking hands and eating healthy. Is he staying fit?

Mike Trout, on MLB Network, says he works out with Albert Pujols every day. "Six feet," Trout says. "A little distance."

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) March 26, 2020

Of course he is. And he's getting Albert Pujols out of the house. Which is important for older guys. Watching Price is Right everyday will ruin you.

BBA AL Stan Musial 2014

Once again, it's Baseball Bloggers Alliance award season! It's a lot like the BBWAA award season with different names because they get litigious with their free time. The fine staff here at Off Base will guide you through our ballots over the next few days. Now up, the AL Stan Musial or how Mike Trout learned to stop running and love hitting bombs.

And here we are again. I've been a member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance since 2010. Back then I used to have to telefax blog posts from the computer lab at the university. I had to walk eight miles, uphill, in the snow to get there. They were simpler times. The BBA has come a long way since it was founded in 2009. It has over 200 blogs voting on these regular season awards. And I feel confident that for the third consecutive year, the BBA will do what the BBWAA has not been able to do just yet. And that's give Mike Trout another first place finish for being the most valuable baseball player on the planet.

1. Mike Trout
This comes as no surprise. When given the option of voting for Trout, much like being offered Carvel ice cream cake, a reasonable person always jumps at the opportunity. Trout led all of baseball again in Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement. But unlike previous seasons, I can't yammer on about Trout putting up the greatest season ever for his particular age, in this case his 22-year-old baseball year.

His 7.8 fWAR was the worst of his three year career and the first time he dipped below the 10 WAR mark. He made some interesting adjustments in his third full season. Adjustments that hurt him in advanced metrics but will help him win his first BBWAA AL MVP. He struck out a ton. After hanging around a 19-22% strikeout rate, he jumped to 26.1% and finished Sept/Oct with a 32% rate. That said, if you tried to pitch Mike down, like most pitchers are want to do, he destroyed baseballs. Trout set a career high with 36 homers and 111 RBI. And maybe more importantly, the Angels had the best record in baseball making Trout an almost slam dunk for AL MVP.

He did stop running. Only 16 stolen bases compared to 33 last year and 49 in 2012. His AVG fell to .287 after .323 in 2013 and .326 in 2012. The .377 OBP was a career low too after hanging around .400 the previous years. And some of that can be explained by a 27 point drop in BABIP. Also, we're just picking nits here. Nobody is really questioning that Trout is the best in baseball. But now there's a legit scouting report on him and it will be interesting to see how he adjusts next year.

The question about Trout's MVP candidacy will mainly be whether or not he's unanimous. He won't be in the BBWAA because regional writers were dying to make a case for anybody else so Josh Donaldson and Victor Martinez are bound to steal a few votes. I feel slightly more confident in my BBA brethren.

2. Michael Brantley
Brantley has been a solid Major Leaguer for the Indians since 2011. And then in his 26-year-old season, everything came together. Twenty home runs, 23 stolen bases, a .327/.385/.506 line. He was Mike Trout lite in 2014. That's certainly good enough for second. Everybody raise your hand if you had Corey Kluber and Michael Brantley finishing in the top two for AL Cy and MVP. Everybody with their hand up is a dirty, dirty liar.

3. Jose Bautista
Joey Bats continues to be super productive and flies under the radar. Is it because he doesn't hit for a high average? Is it because he's Canadian? I assume players have to convert if they play for Toronto. Maybe we'll never know but Bautista is a beast.

4. Victor Martinez
This begins the portion of the ballot where offense gets the nod over defense. My apologies to Alex Gordon and Josh Donaldson. Four players had a wRC+ (adjusted Weighted Runs Created) over 160 this season. Andrew McCutchen 168, Trout 167, Martinez 166 and Jose Abreu 165. Now, Martinez and Abreu contributed little to negative a lot on the defensive side of the game but you do have to score to win. Martinez hit .335/.409/.565 and I have a weakness for players that reach base over 40% of the time.

5. Jose Abreu
.317/.383/.581 with 36 home runs and can fake first base. I have fantasies about the Cuban defector only signing a one-year deal with the white Sox and being a free agent this winter. What would the bidding look like? I imagine it would be enough to put a nice bid on Cuba when it eventually forecloses.

6. Alex Gordon
What can I say? Elite outfield defense and a .266/.351/.432 line. He might not be the superstar prospect the Royals thought they had but this ain't bad either.

7. Corey Kluber
He was the best pitcher in the AL. By a super thin margin.

8. Felix Hernandez
He was debatably the best pitcher in the AL.

9. Adrian Beltre
Is everybody on board yet? Honestly, do you realize that Beltre is going to the Hall of Fame? He's at 70.8 fWAR. He's the most dependable superstar that few realize is a superstar. I plan on him inviting me to his induction ceremony since I've been on this bandwagon for quite some time.

10. Miguel Cabrera
Or Kyle Seager. But Seager called tails.

LVP. Matt Dominguez
The former Marlins prospect was supposed to have the glove for third base but the bat was questionable. Unfortunately, the glove didn't live up to its billing and the .215/.256.330 line more than lived up to the questionable bat part of the equation. His -1.7 fWAR tied NL LVP Dominic Brown's mark for "ugh."

Bill Ballou Doesn't Value Mike Trout

After Miguel Cabrera crushed Mike Trout in 2012 AL MVP voting, it was clear that Trout wouldn't stand a chance at winning an MVP unless his Angels were playoff bound. And while Trout got better in 2013, the Angels got worse. Trout led all of baseball in Wins Above Replacement by a healthy margin again, general awesomeness and questions about whether his neck is a neck or just more shoulder. But he was doomed to finish second in AL MVP voting behind Cabrera for a second straight year. And finish second he did.

Trout trailed Cabrera by over 100 points (385-282) in 2013, which was a bigger margin than 2012 (362-281) when Cabrera won the frigging Triple Crown. So what changed this year? Well, Trout cut his 21.8 K% to 19.0% while raising his 10.5 BB% to 15.4% and raked an impressive .323/.432/.557 slash. Cabrera hit .348/.442/.636 in 64 fewer plate appearances while playing a very different version of third base than Manny Machado played. I could further detail how Trout was the much more valuable player than Cabrera but the Tigers made the playoffs and the Angels did not. And isn't that the definition of value? How well the rest of your teammates play or how your team's roster was constructed by people independent of you? That's how the BBWAA slides the numbers on their abacuses.

Trout not winning the MVP was a foregone conclusion. By how much, now that's where it was going to get interesting. And, holy shit, Bill Ballou hates Mike Trout. Mr. Ballou was lucky enough to be given an AL MVP vote by the BBWAA for his work at the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, which I've been told is not a publication about Morse code and baby antelopes. Ballou, a member of the Boston chapter, had an interesting MVP ballot. Trout was listed on all 30 AL MVP ballots but managed to only reach seventh (7th!) on Ballou's punch card. Ballou (quick google search says he is not, indeed, Salvador Dali's pet ocelot) had Chris Davis, Cabrera, Josh Donaldson, Robinson Cano, Adrian Beltre and Dustin Pedroia ahead of Trout. Trout's 10.4 fWAR (Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement) was two full wins more valuable than NL MVP Andrew McCutchen's 8.2 fWAR and some bigger math number than Donaldson's second best AL mark of 7.7 fWAR.

Ballou wasn't the only offender. Trout also received three third place votes and one fourth and one fifth place vote. Ballou was just the most egregious relunctator to the Trout MVP party this year. His reasoning echos that of others of his ilk. From a Sep 22 article...

If the award were Player of the Year, Mike Trout probably would be the winner. As an all-around player, Trout's abilities are
unsurpassed. He is both sides of the offense-defense equation. However, how valuable could he have been for a team
that is going to finish well out of contention? The Angels could have missed the playoffs without him

How valuable could he be for a team that didn't make the playoffs? Oh, 10 full wins valuable. His value counts regardless of whether the rest of his team is any good. Gas is going to cost the same whether you put it into a Cadillac or a lawn mower. There is a value for it. Unfortunately for Trout, the Angels have been less Escalade than John Deere for the past two seasons. If you wanted to get seriously literal about the term Most Valuable Player, Trout would win in a landslide considering he made less than half a million compared to the $21 million Cabrera made. But that would be giving voters way too much to consider.

Ultimately, it's all going to be on Trout to make the players around him better. He'll never win those individual awards unless his teammates step it up. Jerks.

2013 Team Awards: Los Angeles Angels

In order to review the 2013 season, the crackpot staff of Off Base is handing out awards to each Major League team. Please send us $19.95 for the shipping and handling of your team's Hello Kitty stickers awards. Here are the Most Valuable Player, Least Valuable Player, Cy Young, Cy Yuck, Rookie of the Year and Reliever of the Year for the Angels. *Guidelines, prices and participation may vary by author*

MVP: Mike Trout
Last year, Trout posted a 10.0 fWAR (Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement) which was 4.8 wins more than the next closest Angel, Torii Hunter. In 2013, Trout put up an even more ridiculous 10.4 fWAR good for 7.7 more wins than second place Howie Kendrick. Trout is the best player on the Angels and in baseball and should win every award from AL MVP to an MTV Video Music Award (highlights set to music) to both a daytime and nighttime Emmy (brilliance during televised games). He'll likely have to settle for the majority of Player of The Year awards handed out around the Internets including mine featuring a trophy made out of various kitchen appliances and cat hair.

LVP: The Angels Braintrust
It's unfair to squarely point the finger of shame at Jerry Dipoto and his front office without knowing how much influence Mike Scioscia still has and how much overruling is done by Arte Moreno. But for the second straight year, the Angels added one of the biggest and worst contracts of free agency to their payroll by signing the woefully underperforming Josh Hamilton. That move killed flexibility and cost the Angels a first round draft pick their shallow farm system desperately needed. Joe Blanton and Tommy Hanson were more punchline than answer to the rotation question.

Cy Young: CJ Wilson
Wilson had a fine season with a 3.51 FIP over 212.1 innings. So, at least, he's been a workhorse since joining the Angels. I wanted to make a case for Garrett Richards who posted a 3.61 FIP of his own over 103.1 innings as a starter. Richards also increased his GB% all the way up to 57.9 and hopefully he'll start missing more bats with his heater next season when he's guaranteed a rotation spot.

Cy Yuck: Joe Blanton
How bad was Blanton in 2013? Roughly the equivalent of treating food poisoning with a gallon of Mexico's finest Montezuma cursed water. Blanton's 6.04 ERA was the worst among pitchers with 100 innings pitched. Jason Marquis, Dylan Axelrod, Lucas Harrell and Scott Diamond were the only pitchers who managed to fielding-independently-pitch worse than Blanton's 5.12 FIP. I wonder how much Arby's shame eating Blanton has endured this young offseason.

ROY: Kole Calhoun
Red headed and left handed. If it was the 1920's, he would have been sold off to a traveling freak show. Instead, he hit .282/.347/.462 in 222 plate appearances. Calhoun had the second best OBP, SLG, wOBA and wRC+ on the team after that Trout guy. While JB Shuck received more playing time and rookie fanfare, it's Calhoun who might have a shot at being an average major league outfielder. Calhoun is no Gold Glover in the outfield but he has more of a general idea of what to do with a glove than Shuck who I'm pretty sure wore his as a hat for more than one inning.

Reliever of the Year: Michael Roth
The Angels bullpen wasn't great in 2013. In fact, only the Yankees, Mets, Phillies, Cubs and Astros had stats worse than the Angels' 3.90 FIP. I was tempted to give Reliever of the Year to David Carpenter since he only spent a third of an inning in the bullpen but his 108.00 ERA prevented that. Dane de la Rosa was the best of the bunch but his 1.1 fWAR would make him around the 34th best reliever in baseball according to WAR. Roth gets my vote for being a quick mover (drafted in the 9th round in 2012) and posting a 2.15 FIP. Of course, he had a 5.94 ERA over those 16.2 relief innings so it's not exactly a ringing endorsement either. It deeply saddens me to hope Brian Wilson's beard occupies this spot next year.

2012 BBA Award Ballot

It's time once again for the BBA (Baseball Bloggers Alliance) award balloting. The baseball award season is great because arguing about stuff is fun. The awards themselves aren't as important as we make them appear with the never ending coverage. Sure, a few MVPs will look good on your Hall of Fame resume or a CY Young will get you that bonus to restock the jet ski fleet at your other beach house.

But the voting matters more now than ever due to the Twitter era. The awards have become about the newfangled stat nerds (or sabermetric friendly crowd) and the old school baseball, "hey kids, RBI are cool" gang getting together for a 140 character or less battle to the death. Or something like that.

In order to show how serious I take the BBA ballot, I will not vote Mike Trout for every award even if he deserves it.

AL Stan Musial (top player)
1. Mike Trout
In the past 20 years, only Mike Trout (10.7 rWAR in 2012) and Barry Bonds (11.6 in 2001 and 2002) have had a 10.5 or higher Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement. Trout also broke records left and right for being too good too young.
2. Miguel Cabrera
The Triple Crown will probably win Miggy the MVP. You win this round, RBI.
3. Robinson Cano
4.Adrian Beltre
I wonder if people will notice him when he gets into the Hall of Fame.
5. Justin Verlander
6. Joe Mauer
Led baseball in OBP.
7. Edwin Encarnancion
8. David Price
9. Josh Hamilton
10. Austin Jackson

NL Stan Musial
1. Buster Posey
2. Ryan Braun
Had a better 7.9 fWAR in 2012 than his 7.6 fWAR in 2011.
3. Andrew McCuthcen
The Pirates blew his chance to win but McCutchen is a monster.
4. Chase Headley
He's a Padre.
5. Yadier Molina
I have no problem with Molina finishing higher. The youngest Molina is clearly the best Molina and Christmas is now a little awkward.
6. David Wright
The Mets are four games away from being mathematically eliminated in 2013.
7. R.A. Dickey
Too many Mets.
8. Aramis Ramirez
9. Clayton Kershaw
10. Matt Holliday

AL Walter Johnson (top pitcher)
1. Justin Verlander
2. David Price
3. Jered Weaver
4. Felix Hernandez
5. Chris Sale
Or Yu Darvish.

NL Walter Johnson
1. R.A. Dickey
The most fascinating pitcher in baseball. Brought sexy back to the knuckleball.
2. Clayton Kershaw
3. Gio Gonzalez
4. Cliff Lee
He's so good and went 6-9. Pitcher wins are silly.
5. Johnny Cueto

AL Willie Mays (top rookie)
1. Mike Trout
The BBA should change the name of this award. This should be..what's more than unanimous?
2. Yu Darvish
3. Yoenis Cespedes

NL Willie Mays
1. Bryce Harper
Harper and Trout have ruined us for all future rookies. Both were better than advertised.
2. Wade Miley
3. Norichika Aoki

AL Goose Gossage (top reliever)
1. Fernando Rodney
Dogs and cats living together...mass hysteria.
2. Greg Holland
3. Darren O'Day

NL Goose Gossage
1. Craig Kimbrel
2. Aroldis Chapman
3.Kenley Jansen

AL Connie Mack (top manager)
I still don't really understand how to measure this one. It's easier to pick out a manger who is bad at his job than find one who is especially good at his.
1. Buck Showalter
2. Bob Melvin
3. Joe Maddon

NL Connie Mack
1. Davey Johnson
Jim Riggleman was so close!
2. Dusty Baker
3. Some other NL manager
3. Don Mattingly?

More to come on the end of season hardware after I'm wrong about everything. Everything except Mike Trout.

At Least Tigers Fans Are Faithful

If there is one thing that you can't say about Tigers fans, it's that they support their players. Even when details like defensive ability and baserunning are presented in front of them.

It's rather endearing that they show up to the game with crowns on carrying banners with sayings on them like the one in the picture above. It's also, well, slightly annoying to be honest. And that's even if I leave WAR out of the equation.

Captain Morgan Poses With Mike Trout

Sure, Mike Trout has only been the legal drinking age since August 7 but he's got the Captain Morgan pose down already. During some locker room shenanigans, this picture was taken with Vernon Wells, Torii Hunter and the rookie phenom hanging out with the famous rum captain.

In the tweet featuring the picture, Trout didn't give a reason for the visit from the booze icon. I just assume Captain Morgan and the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World had a bet to see who could get their picture taken with Mike Trout first.

Alcoholism would help explain a lot of the Tony Reagins general manager experiment in Anaheim.

Josh Hamilton's Vision Problems Caused By Energy Drinks

Did you know Red Bull can make you go blind?!?

10 seconds. It took me 10 seconds to go from zero to hyperbole. Nice.

Okay, energy drinks might not make you go blind but their main ingredient, caffeine, is responsible for the vision problems Josh Hamilton has been suffering from since last Tuesday. Too much caffeine and energy drinks can cause ocular keratitis which something, something, dry cornea, something, something, burred vision.

Hamilton missed five straight games but returns to the line-up and center field Monday night. Somebody might want to hand Hamilton a cup of water once in a while. With well documented addiction problems, you have to wonder how many Red Bulls Hamilton was consuming every day to give him blurry vision. My guess is Sam's Club pallet. He might cut back to two cases a day after the diagnosis...

Hamilton, 31, said he plans to back off the caffeine, which included chocolate after games and an energy drink before games -- not to mention what he was consuming all day long.

"I was loading up on caffeine, and I'm out there in the bright lights," Hamilton said. "I can't control my eyes. They are stuck."

I feel like with this information we were robbed of a "Jose Canseco off-the-head-home-run" type of situation with Hamilton.

But a healthy Hamilton is good news for Angels fans. The Rangers play the Wild Card holding on to by 2.5 games A's seven times in the last 10 games. Hamilton's 42 home runs is also tied with Miguel Cabrera for the AL lead. Hamilton in home runs and Joe Mauer in batting average are the two candidates with the best chance of blocking Cabrera from the Triple Crown. If Cabrera wins the Triple Crown, it could very well sway the old school BBWAA members to rob Mike Trout of his rightful MVP. Of course, that is a long post for another day.

Kids, the point of this story is that too many Red Bulls and fudge bars will mess you up good. No more Red Bull and fudge parties. Get someone to buy you beer like normal high schoolers.

Legal notice: Off Base Percentage doesn't condone underage drinking but, if we did, we don't have any money for you to sue us anyway.

Why My Girlfriend Is Jealous Of Mike Trout

I recently wrote a post at Halo Hangout asking if the Mike Trout love has gone too far. My quick, and obvious, answer was "no." In fact, Trout probably ins't getting enough love. My girlfriend, on the other hand, disagrees.

According to her, a Yankees fan I might add, I write and talk about Trout too much. She's starting to get jealous. Of course, she has nothing to worry about as there are some pretty harsh words in the restraining orders his lawyers have sent me.

Okay, she might have a point. I did petition FanSided to change HaloHangout.com to MikeTrout.net. Or MikeTrout.org, I'm willing to write nonprofit about him just to get the word out. You can kind of see her point now, right?

Well, whatever. Trout is doing some amazing things this season. After a brief and disappointing stint with the Angels in 2011, Trout is putting up MVP numbers despite missing the first month of the season crushing Triple-A pitchers. I've already dusted off the spot on his mantle where I think his AL Rookie of the Year trophy should go. I have a spot picked out for his MVP trophy too but the cops respond to alarms promptly in some areas of Orange County.

He's leading the American League in stolen bases with 19. Now qualified for the batting title, Trout is second in AVG (.337) behind Paul Konerko (.357), third in OBP (.397) trailing Konerko (.431) and Joe Mauer (.415) and third in fWAR (3.4) just tenths of points behind Josh Hamilton (3.6) and Adam Jones (3.5).

He currently leads baseball in prom invitations sent by me at six, sorry Chase. Mike Trout is on his way to multiple All Star Games, MVPs and might even drag the Angels and Albert Pujols to a few World Series titles. How can you not love a guy who might be the next Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays? Mike Trout is almost an urban legend at this point in his career.

Yeah, maybe I write or talk too much about Trout. She has a point. And boobs. I'll try to tame my enthusiasm for the kid.

(Just kidding, Mike)

Bryce Harper Wore A Platinum Sombrero

Baseball phenom Bryce Harper had a bad game on Saturday. And that's being generous. Before I get to his awful night at the plate and some historical stats, let's keep in mind Bryce is just 19-years-old and not just playing Major League Baseball but playing it well. Most of us have had days that could have gone better when we were 19. When I was in college, I gave hobo in Little Five Points $5 to battle rap against a dog. Bad example, that was awesome.

Bryce wasn't so fortunate against the Yankees. Harper went 0-7 with 5 strikeouts and 0 that's a clown question bros. Disappointing all the way around. The Platinum Sombrero (5 strikeouts in a game) isn't that common in baseball. Harper's shiny Mexican hat is the 126th since Lefty Williams in 1918.

There was only one Platinum Sombrero in 2011 when Chris Davis accomplished the feat. Harper marks the third in 2012 following Cody Ross and the aforementioned, swing happy Davis. Davis must have been nodding in approval Saturday when Harper managed to only see 24 pitches in his 7 plate appearances and swung and missed 11 times. Eerily similar to my Little League career.

Harper is just a kid, though. So how bad was his night historically? Three players 21-years-old or younger have earned a Platinum Sombrero. The most recent, and next youngest at 20, was Jason Heyward in 2010. Roberto Meija did it as a 21-year-old in 1993 for the Rockies. But I think that's when Colorado was running a promotion where you got to play for them if you collected the most Count Chocula box tops. Sammy Sosa also did it as a 21-year-old in 1990 when he was a skinny kid playing for the White Sox.

Harper is going to have better days. Many, much better days. But I think this one single game, in its smallest of samples sizes, answers the most important question in baseball right now. And the answer is Mike Trout.