COMMENTARY

AL MVP vote not snarled by stats

— The eyes have it.

In a battle of computer analysis vs. people who still watch baseball as, you know, a sport, what we saw was what most voters saw as well:

Miguel Cabrera is the MVP in the American League this year.

“It means a lot,” he told reporters over the phone from Miami. “I’m very thankful. ... I thought it was gonna be very close.”

So did everyone. But the debate ended last week when the results were announced, with Cabrera earning 22 of the 28 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. It reinforced what Tigers fans have been saying all season: This guy is a monster.

It also answered the kind of frenzied cyberspace argument that never shadowed baseball 20 years ago but may never stop shadowing it now.

Statistics geeks insisted Cabrera was less worthy than Los Angeles Angels rookie center fielder Mike Trout. Not because Trout’s traditional baseball numbers were better. They weren’t. Cabrera had more home runs (44), more RBI (139) and a better batting average (.330) than Trout and everyone else in the American League. It gave him the sport’s first Triple Crown in 45 years.

But Trout excelled in the kind of numbers that weren’t even considered a few years ago, mostly because A) they were impossible to measure, and B) nobody gave a hoot.

Today, every stat matters. There is no end to the appetite for categories - from OBP to OPS to WAR. I mean, OMG! The number of triples hit while wearing a certain-colored underwear is probably being measured as we speak.

So in areas such as “how many Cabrera home runs would have gone out in Angel Stadium of Anaheim” or “batting average when leading off an inning” or “Win Probability Added,” Trout had the edge. At least this is what we were told.

I mean, did you do the math? I didn’t. I like to actually see the sun once in a while.

Plus he has intangibles

Besides, if you live in Detroit, you didn’t need a slide rule. This was an easy choice. People here watched Cabrera, 29, tower above the game in 2012. Day after day, game after game, he was a Herculean force. Valuable? What other word was there? How many late inning heroics? How many clutch hits? And he only missed one game all year.

“During the season, a lot of guys tell me I’m gonna be the MVP,” Cabrera said, laughing. “But they said the same thing to Trout.”

Yes, it’s true, Trout is faster, Trout is a better defensive player, Trout is a lead off hitter, and Trout edged Cabrera in several of those made-for-Microsoft categories.

But if you are going to go molten deep into intangibles, why stop at things like “which guy hit more homers into the power alleys?” (A real statistic, I am sorry to say.)

Why not also consider such intangibles as locker-room presence? Teammates love playing around - and around with - Miggy. He helps the room.

How about his effect on pitchers? Nobody wanted the embarrassment of him slamming a pitch over the wall. The amount of effort pitchers expended on Cabrera or the guy batting ahead of him surely took its toll and affected the pitches other batters saw. Why not find a way to measure that? (Don’t worry. I’m sure someone is working on itas we speak.)

What about the debilitating power of a three-run home run? How many opposing teams slumped after Cabrera muscled one out? How about team confidence? You heard everyone from Prince Fielder to Justin Verlander speak in awed tones about being on the same team as Cabrera. Doesn’t that embolden teammates and bring out their best?

How about the value of a guy who could shift from first to third base - as Cabrera did this past season - to make room for Fielder? Ask Manager Jim Leyland how valuable that is.

How about the fact that Cabrera’s team made the playoffs and Trout’s did not? (“Yes,” countered Team Trout, “but the Angels actually won more games.”) How about the fact that Cabrera played the whole season while Trout started his in the minors? (“Yes,” said the Trout Shouters, “but the Angels won a greater percentage with Trout than Detroit did with Cabrera.”)

How about this? How about that? The fact is, voters are not instructed to give more credence to any one category than another. Twenty-eight sportswriters, two from each AL city, decide, in their own minds, what is “valuable” and who displayed it the most.

They chose Cabrera.

By an overwhelming majority.

In the end, memories were more powerful than microchips.

Sports, Pages 21 on 11/23/2012

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