Moderatoren » There's no contest in the baserunning or defense departments.

Beyond leading Martinez in batting average Taijuan Walker Jersey , Betts also has him beat in on-base percentage (.432 to .400), OPS (1.057 to 1.029) andOPS+ (179 to 174). Betts has 28 stolen bases to Martinez's five, and he's one of the AL's most valuable overall baserunners. He's also second among AL outfielders with 21 defensive runs saved.Because Baseball Writers' Association of America voters aren't given a "clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means," MVP debates don't stop at the WAR rankings.Hence why there are also cases for Mike Trout, Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Alex Bregman, Khris Davis and Matt Chapman in addition to Betts and Martinez.And yet http://www.diamondbacksfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-greinke-jersey , both WAR and the Vegas odds point to Betts as the man to beat.Perhaps things would be different if there were an outcry for BBWAA members to subscribe to logic that Martinez must be named the MVP if he earns the Triple Crown. But if it even exists, such an outcry is difficult to hear.Which brings us to the other inevitable part of this article: My, how things have changed since 2012.Paul Sancya/Associated PressThe AL MVP battle between Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout six years ago had the same basic setup as this year's Martinez vs. Betts battle, but it inspired completely different arguments.Cabrera was the guy chasing the Triple Crown who succeeded with a .330 average, 44 homers and 139 RBI. Trout, meanwhile, was a sabermetrician's platonic ideal of a baseball player. He slashed .326/.399/.564 with 30 homers, 49 steals Brad Boxberger Jersey , 19DRS and 10.5 WAR to Cabrera's 7.1.Cabrera winning the AL MVP in a landslide, however, was reflective of the logic of the day. Although his backers also brought up the Detroit Tigers' playoff berth, the Triple Crown was the main draw."I think [Cabrera and Trout are] both fantastic players, tremendous players, both of them," Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost told reporters that October, "but if Cabrera wins the Triple Crown Daniel Descalso Jersey , he has to be the MVP, absolutely."Mind you, the notion that a Triple Crown must equal an MVP wasn't historically accurate. That didn't work for Chuck Klein in 1933. Nor for Lou Gehrig in 1934. Nor for Ted Williams in 1942 or 1947.Still, that didn't stop HISTORY from assuming an all-caps role in the matter. This was the Triple Crown, after all. Its roots as the ultimate measure of hitting excellence went deep. To boot, Cabrera was the first to wear it since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967.In the face of all this, Trout's supporters tried to push that he'd actually been a better hitter than Cabrera (true), as well as more clutch (also true) and generally more of an impactful player (see above). Coupled with how his Los Angeles Angels actually won more games than Cabrera's Tigers Ketel Marte Jersey , his MVP case should have been hard to deny.However, making those claims required pointing to statistics that hadn't yet broken into the mainstream. Writers and fans reacted accordingly. WAR, especially, was either dismissed as "obscure" or mocked via repurposed Edwin Starr lyrics.But if nothing else, the Cabrera vs. Trout debate broke down the wall that stood between new-school statistics and the mainstream. And rather than being forced back out, their role in the argument has only increased in the ensuing years.WAR, in particular, is now referenced on baseball cards and in TV broadcasts. Heck http://www.diamondbacksfanproshop.com/authentic-zack-greinke-jersey , it even appears on stadium scoreboards. Those same scoreboards are also bound to reference all manner of Statcast data, which has completely revolutionized (read: "geek-ified") how baseball is discussed over the last four years.In an environment such as this, Martinez simply can't be granted the same kind of treatment that Cabrera got back in 2012. To do so would be to engage in blatantly out-of-touch behavior.This is not to suggest that Martinez has no shot at winning the AL MVP. His numbers are damn impressive, andMLB.com'sMike Lupicaand The Athletic'sKen Rosenthalhave (rightly) opined that his transcendent effect on the Red Sox lineup can't be ignored.Regardless, 2018 will succeed in doing something that should have been done back in 2012: It will render the Triple Crown from a supreme achievement to a mere oddity. Stats courtesy of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs. New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom's 2018 National League Cy Young Award was barely out of the box when it became apparent the hardware was unfit for display.Per ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Mets had to return deGrom's prize to the manufacturer after it was damaged during shipment to the team's spring training complex in Florida:Jeff Passan JeffPassanJacob deGrom NL Cy Young Award was damaged as it was shipped from New York to Florida. Four of the 11 letters in OUTSTANDING on the front are chipped and there is a slight chunk of wood missing in the back. The Mets are returning the award to the manufacturer for repair. nxZFDJSWX2DeGrom formally received his trophy last month during theBaseball Writers鈥?Association of Americadinner in Manhattan. The right-hander became the Mets' first NL Cy Young winner since R.A. Dickey in 2012.In true Mets fashion, they can't even celebrate the one good thing that happened to them last season without something going wrong.