And they've proven it by making exactly zero All-Star teams combined? Yes, may... Right now, Correa isn't even the best SS in his league, let alone baseball. Hell, he's closer in WAR to Zach Cosart than he is Manny Machado. Meanwhile, if his career ends this afternoon, Trout is going to the Hall of Fame. Right now, he and Correa are not comparable. They might be... might. You're giving up the surest sure thing there ever was for "might"... And while Springer is indeed having a very nice season, Trout leads all OFers in WAR by more than a win. And he's missed 13 games in three full seasons; Springer's missed 129 in two full seasons. Oh, and, again: Trout is two years younger. I can't tell if you're overrating potential or somehow underrating Trout - I mean, would you trade JJ Watt for Jamies Winston and Gerald McCoy? That's about the equivalent deal for the best player in football - and Texan fans would burn the city to the ground if Rick Smith made that deal. Mike Trout is the best player in baseball; he's 24 and under reasonable club control through 2020. I'd be hard-pressed to think of a modern era example of a player of that quality coming on the market (Alex Rodriquez?). The haul would have to be historic.
Trout is going to the Hall of Fame if his career ended today? You lost me there... One exaggeration to disprove another...
His HoF Monitor is already 75; likely HoF'er = 100. And he ranks 28th all-time among CFers in WAR after just three full seasons. He's finished 1st or 2nd in MVP voting each of the last four years - and was ROY one of those years. Yeah, he's moving into solid Cooperstown territory. That's why I can't figure out if juicystream is overvaluing potential, or underrating Trout. And with a tragic ending to his career at 24........
He isn't too far off base with that comment. Trout already has a MVP, ROY, and in his other three seasons he was #2 in the MVP voting. Not saying it's a given, but it would be close.
Springer is a man among boys. He has skills that other OF just don't have. The sky is the limit Correa is also very talented. However he seems to be playing at a time that the AL is stocked with great young shortstops. It will be much more difficult for him to seperate himself from the pack.
Quite a few guys were HOF bound in their mid-20s to 30 and it never happened...Dick Allen, Dale Murphy, etc....
OK. Then Trout is... a god among men. Well, except for Trout and a handful of other, better OFers. Am I insane? I get that this is an Astro forum and there'll always be a bias toward the hometown nine... but are people this clueless about how truly once-in-a-generation great Mike Trout is?
Our system was ranked dead last and none of those 3 were seen as much more than footnotes to begin with. They came out of nowhere, and still weren't seen as top prospects. Here they are at the start of 2010, in the worst system in baseball. http://www.minorleagueball.com/2010/1/12/1248715/houston-astros-top-20-prospects Before that, they were a 7th round pick, a 20th round pick, and a nobody. They were never Top 100 guys, or even considered close. Of course, that rarely happens, especially 3 guys at about the same time. The Angels have one guy like that in Matt Shoemaker, though obviously not a superstar, he's a pretty solid pitcher. Kole Calhoun is another that had to prove himself. Nate Smith could be in the bigs, he just hasn't been promoted. Of course, he isn't the GB pitcher that Keuchel was.
My bad, when Trout won ROY he was #2 in the MVP voting. So in his first 4 seasons he has one MVP and three times he was #2 in MVP (along with the ROY). I'd be surprised if this has ever been accomplished.
Career WARs: Dale Murphy - 46.2 Dick Allen - 58.7 Those were accumulated over a combined 33 seasons. After three full seasons, Trout's WAR is 42.6
Yeah, like I said they completely flamed out around age 30. Those are just the 2 I thought of off the top of my head. Through age 30, OPS+ Trout: 169 Allen: 165 Murphy: 132 Trout gets a huge bump on D over Allen, not much at all over Murphy. Of course, if you subscribe (as I do) to the Koufax rule of ~6 seasons being one of the best ever, then Trout is pretty damn close to a HOF. I don't think he's there quite yet. Trout could also have drug problems and shoot someone in the Caribbean this offseason ala Cesar Cedeno.
BTW, before this gets out of hand... I'm not suggesting *I* would trade Correa/Springer/McCullers for Trout (I'd give it serious thought...) - I'm taking the Angels' perspective on this. The Astros are not going to be granted exclusive negotiating rights with Anaheim until the two teams come to a fair agreement. Houston would be competing with 28 other teams. If the Astros offered Correa and the Orioles offered Machado, and the Red Sox offered Bogaerts, and the Indians offered Lindor... Correa doesn't even get you a seat at the table.
Making an all-star team isn't indicative of you being an all-star caliber player, nor is failing to make a team indicative of not being one. Springer has put up all-star caliber numbers when healthy for his 2 years in the bigs. Correa probably deserved to be an all-star last year in a remarkably weak AL SS class. Oddly enough, this may be the strongest class ever (Lindor, Correa, Boegarts, & Machado is the deepest field since ARod/Nomar/Jeter days that also flashed Tejada/Vizquel). They went with 5 SS on the 2002 team, Definitely think they will go for 4 this time around. You realize how terrible of an analogy the NFL is? So vastly different is the sport and the salary system, and Jameis Winston hasn't proven himself as anything more than an average QB. I'm not even looking at potential. I'm looking at what the players are right now. You are underrating how good Correa and Springer have been, while also underrating the value of team control and salary amounts.
while yall j*zz on yourselves over trout Altuve with another hit, trout might be the best player ever or whatever But this year, Altuve who plays for the Houston Astros, is the best player in the AL
But, Buck... not only is Trout not 30 - you wouldn't even *generously* round him up to 30. [i[He's 24.[/i]. Through age 30, Murphy had totaled 1.360 games; Allen 1,219 - both nearly double Trout's total so far. You've basically compared two guys who played through their prime years - age-wise, Trout hasn't even hit his prime. That's why I used WAR - it's accumulates. Trout's played 730 games; he has a 42.6 WAR. Dale Murphy (through his first 714 games): 13.5 Dick Allen (through his first 748 games): 31.5 You're comparing apples to bowling balls. He's closer than Carlos Correa.... Do you think JJ Watt goes into Canton tomorrow? That's the level Trout is on right now; he's baseball's JJ Watt (right down his white, crew cut, milquetoast, too-good-to-be-true personality).
