Miguel Cabrera Triple Crown Watch

[TGO]

He has tied Hamilton (who has been out with an awful sinus infection) for the league lead in HRs and now leads the league in all three categories. He's up .07 BA points on Trout, tied for HRs, leading RBI by 7 over Hamilton.

[Malike]

He will probably win the Triple Crown, and lose the AL MVP.

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[Can_of_corn]

He will probably win the Triple Crown, and lose the AL MVP.

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I hope so, well the second part at least.

[Malike]

I hope so, well the second part at least.

There is no way, IMO, that Trout doesn't win it. If Cabrera does, the little bit of faith I have left in humanity will be gone.

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[Can_of_corn]

There is no way, IMO, that Trout doesn't win it. If Cabrera does, the little bit of faith I have left in humanity will be gone.

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If the Tigers catch the Sox and the LAAoA miss the playoffs I can see it.

Of course I lost that last little bit of faith years ago.

[TGO]

Well, if he wins the Triple Crown and not the MVP, Cabrera can at least take solace in the fact that he's in good company (with Ted Williams and Lou Gehrig).

[callahan09]

If he doesn't win the triple crown, when was the last time somebody held the lead in all three categories this late in the season?

[Moose Milligan]

Can't say I'm a huge fan of Miguel Cabrera but that has to do with what he's done off the field instead of on it. That said, it'd be cool to see a triple crown winner.

[Frobby]

For some reason, I find myself rooting against him. I don't know why.

On O's Extra, they were interviewing Jim Presley the other day and they asked him who was the best hitter he had seen in his career in baseball, and he immediately answered that it was Miguel Cabrera. Pretty strong endorsement from a guy who has been in the game for as long as Presley has.

[Can_of_corn]

For some reason, I find myself rooting against him. I don't know why.

On O's Extra, they were interviewing Jim Presley the other day and they asked him who was the best hitter he had seen in his career in baseball, and he immediately answered that it was Miguel Cabrera. Pretty strong endorsement from a guy who has been in the game for as long as Presley has.

I know why I am rooting against him. Like Moose I find his off the field exploits off putting.

[Frobby]

I know why I am rooting against him. Like Moose I find his off the field exploits off putting.

Yeah, I suppose that is it. Frankly, I had forgotten about some of those events until I thought about it some more.

[DrungoHazewood]

I'm torn. It would be cool to have a triple crown winner. And it will be marvelous to see how the holy writers twist themselves in knots explaining how the big, slow slugger who's 100% the opposite of the guys they worship will get the MVP over a far better player just on the basis on waaaay old school numbers. But I don't really like Cabrera and Trout is a clearly superior player.

It would be fun reading someone like Murray Chass explaining how the triple crown is too much to overlook even when the guy can't run, can't field, can't bunt, gets arrested for awful things, and isn't even in the playoffs.

[Nigel Tufnel]

The weird thing is, the narrative seems to be that there's some kind of argument between old school types (who favor Cabrera) and numbers people (Trout) about who should win the award. But there's kind of a long history of rewarding things like defense, speed, and intangibles in the voting. I mean, you've got winners like Rizzuto, Marion, Groat, Gordon, Fox, Versalles, Munson, Wills, Frisch, Larkin, etc. The voters have ALWAYS tried to make some kind of adjustment to account for things beyond the triple crown stats.

You could almost say that Trout is the old school candidate, especially if the Angels make the postseason.

EDIT: 1934 is another example. Lou Gehrig won the triple crown, but the Yankees missed the playoffs and Gehrig finished FIFTH in the voting. The writers gave the award to Mickey Cochrane, who was on the pennant winner, played a key defensive position, and I guess had intangibles or something. Charlie Gehringer finished second in the voting, likely for similar reasons.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1934.shtml#ALmvp

It's funny, though, that the voters have historically only seemed to give this extra MVP credit to middle infielders and catchers, and not to centerfielders.

[TGO]

The weird thing is, the narrative seems to be that there's some kind of argument between old school types (who favor Cabrera) and numbers people (Trout) about who should win the award. But there's kind of a long history of rewarding things like defense, speed, and intangibles in the voting. I mean, you've got winners like Rizzuto, Marion, Groat, Gordon, Fox, Versalles, Munson, Wills, Frisch, Larkin, etc. The voters have ALWAYS tried to make some kind of adjustment to account for things beyond the triple crown stats.

You could almost say that Trout is the old school candidate, especially if the Angels make the postseason.

EDIT: 1934 is another example. Lou Gehrig won the triple crown, but the Yankees missed the playoffs and Gehrig finished FIFTH in the voting. The writers gave the award to Mickey Cochrane, who was on the pennant winner, played a key defensive position, and I guess had intangibles or something. Charlie Gehringer finished second in the voting, likely for similar reasons.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1934.shtml#ALmvp

It's funny, though, that the voters have historically only seemed to give this extra MVP credit to middle infielders and catchers, and not to centerfielders.

Cochrane was also the manager of his team that season, so there's the intangible, I guess.

[TGO]

Hamilton is back and has taken back the HR lead, 43-42. Encarnacion has caught up with a HR against the Rays and 2 against the Birds.

BA

1. Cabrera (DET) .327

2. Mauer (MIN) .323

3. Trout (LAA) .323

4. Jeter (NYY) .320

HR

1. Hamilton (TEX) 43

2. Cabrera (DET) 42

Encarnacion (TOR) 42

4. Dunn (CHW) 41

5. Granderson (NYY) 40

RBI

1. Cabrera (DET) 133

2. Hamilton (TEX) 124

3. Willingham (MIN) 110

4. Encarnacion (TOR) 107