Both fangraphs and baseball-reference have Trout at 3.5 Wins Above Replacement so far this season in 48 games. That's less than a third of a season, which puts him on pace for about 11 WAR over 150 games.

How many 11+ WAR seasons have there been in the history of the game? 16. SIXTEEN. Except for Barry Bonds, it's been done once in the last 45 years.

Players with 11+ WAR seasons:

Babe Ruth (six times)
Rogers Hornsby
Carl Yastrzemski
Barry Bonds (two times)
Lou Gehrig
Cal Ripken
Honus Wagner
Ty Cobb
Mickey Mantle (two times)

He's 20 years old. The youngest players to post 11+ WAR seasons were Mantle and Gehrig at 24.

Ridiculous.

I'm gonna have to change my name again, to Trout4MVP.

Angels better lock him up before teams like the Yankees come around to try and turn him to the dark side!

Team MVP, or league MVP?

He's a lock for team MVP at this point, and among the top three for league MVP. I think Hamilton's his only real competition, and he's fallen off a cliff in the last month or so.

I was teasing you. I should have used a ;), sorry!

When you put it that way, it seems hard to believe that he'll actually be able to keep up that pace... but @#$! it will be fun to watch if he can do it.

Lock him up!!!!

Don't get too hung up on small sample sizes of defensive WAR. It doesn't work.

True, but he passes the eye test, and that will work for MVP voters if not for WAR.

Still, he's tied for 8th in offensive WAR. Not bad for a 20 year old.

I've seen talk that his numbers aren't sustainable because the league will adjust to him and because of his high BABIP. What those people don't seem to realize is how quick he's been to adjust to those adjustments, even within games. And his BABIP is quite a bit lower than his career numbers. Granted, those are minor league numbers, but his speed and uncanny ability to square the ball make me believe he'll be able to keep it up.

If trout bats .320 or higher and gets 50-60 SB with over 100runs and 15-20 homers maybe 70-80RBI's i think he'll place top 5 in the MVP voting.

Other things Arte wished he had done - put $100M into Apple stock back at the start of 2002, give Larry Page and Sergey Brin a couple hundred thousand in the late '90s as a startup investment to help develop a new search engine, not let Reagins trade for Wells, shell out for Beltran instead of scrambling with GMJ.

How about those Nats and O's?

Have you been watching the home town teams lately? :)

Haha, I wish. I actually live in Seattle now so I'm stuck with the Mariners. On the plus side I get to watch more Angels games since they play the M's more often than they did the O's. On the downside, it's a dreadful team with a stadium that's not as good (or as cheap) as Camden Yards.

Back on the plus side, it's not 100 degrees with 500% humidity right now in Seattle - which is nice.

"I've seen talk that his numbers aren't sustainable because the league will adjust to him and because of his high BABIP."

I'm not exactly sure how BABIP works, but doesn't it work under the assumption that the average BABIP is .300 and so if you're BABIP is higher, that means you'll regress to .300 at some point?

Isn't that...ridiculous? For guys that are incredible hitters, SHOULDN'T their BABIPs be well over .300?

Trout is a guy who is legitimately capable of hitting over .300. He has a BABIP of .400 or so, which is insane, but then, he's an incredible hitter. He's above average, and he should always be above average. Therefore, HIS BABIP average should NOT be .300, right? Particularly since he doesn't hit very many HRs, which don't factor into BABIP? And he's likely not a guy with a sub .300 BA, so a BABIP of .300 means he would have a BA quite a bit below .300?

How ELSE does a guy like Trout, who also K's a lot, keep his BA up?

If I got this right, it seems like saber-geeks don't use their heads very much...

I went to watch a game at Camden a few weeks ago and loved the park! There are a lot of friendly fans and I totally dug the vendors selling bags of peanuts for 2 bucks before you enter the park.

<Haha, I wish. I actually live in Seattle now so I'm stuck with the Mariners>

That's right. I had forgotten you moved to Seattle. IMO the talent in that organization is improving. Good pitching prospects on the way.

The Nats are the team to watch in the NL over the next few seasons though.

Yeah I'm sure the climate is better in Seattle. No sleepless nights for you anymore. Except for the rain I guess.

BTW Mike Trout is worth the price of MLB extra innings alone. Just saying..

There are more than just the peanut guys. Outside the Camden St entrance, there's usually a bunch of guys with grills cooking up brats and sausage and peppers.

I like it's because it's one of the few parks around today that don't think fans need to be distracted from the game with a concourse that doubles as a carnival.

You should change your screen name to exileinseattle.

Then again, that's a pain to read. :)