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So we ended up with the quite the finish here. Lots of bad baseball down the stretch. Lots. Remember: The top 10 picks are protected if you sign a free agent who is given a qualifying offer. Plus, the worse you finish in the overall standings the more money you get to spend in the draft. Yay, incentivized losing!

1. Astros: 51-111
Just in case they were worried about the Marlins catching them, they lost their final 15 games to ensure the No. 1 pick for the third draft in a row.

2. Marlins: 62-100
Kudos to Henderson Alvarez for his final-day no-hitter. In fact, the Marlins swept the Tigers in that season-ending series and won five of their final six, allowing just seven runs over those six games.

3. White Sox: 63-99
Tried hard to catch the Marlins, going 7-21 in September and losing five of their final six. Went 2-17 against the Indians, although no truth to the rumor that the Indians will share their playoff shares with the White Sox.

4. Cubs: 66-96
Ended up tied with the Twins, but get the higher pick based on 2012 record. And boy did they fight hard to get that fourth pick. Lost six of their final seven and 12 of their final 15.

5. Twins: 66-96
Lost 10 of final 11. Too bad they beat the Tigers in extra innings on Sept. 23 or they would be drafting one slot higher. In Sunday's finale, ensured defeat with three errors. In the sixth inning. Nice job, Twins!

6. Mariners: 71-91
Went 6-14 over their final 20 games to slide from a bubble team securely into a top-10 position. Lost their final eight extra-inning games, proving there's an art to successful tanking. Namely: A bad bullpen helps.

7. Phillies: 73-89
It looked like they would jump out of the bottom 10 but then lost nine of their final 11. No wonder Ryne Sandberg got the job for next year! The final game was huge, as the Phillies came up big with a 12-5 loss to the Braves.

Now, this is where things get really interesting. We had a four-way tie for spots 8 through 11. The tiebreaker is 2012 record. So ...

8. Rockies: 74-88
Those two one-run wins over the Dodgers on Saturday and Sunday didn't help, but the tiebreaker gives them the edge. Not that they'll be pursuing Robinson Cano or anything.

9. Blue Jays: 74-88
How nervous was GM Alex Anthopoulos watching the Jays nearly rally from a 7-0 deficit on Sunday? They did beat the Rays twice on the final weekend but still lost 12 of their final 19.

10. Mets: 74-88
The Mets had the most to lose if they finished out of the top 10, since they presumably could be pursuing some of the big free agents this winter. Luckily the offense came through with three straight 4-2 losses to the Brewers (before winning the season finale 3-2).

11. Brewers: 74-88
Well, this is what a 15-12 record in September will do to you. No Kyle Lohse for the Brewers this offseason!

12. Padres: 76-86
Yes, Padres fans, there were 11 teams worse than yours.

13. Giants: 76-86
The Giants went 10-5 over their final 15 to at least avoid becoming just the second World Series winner (after the 1997 Marlins) to finish in last place the next season. So there's that.

14. Angels: 78-84
A 21-7 stretch in August/September ruined any chance the Angels had of finishing with a top-10 pick. So if they went to throw $250 million at Cano, it will cost them their first-round pick.

Here are my choices for the 2013 American League All-Star team:

Catcher: Joe Mauer, Twins (.324/.404/.476, 11 HRs, 47 RBIs, 5.2 WAR)
There's not a real clear choice, as Mauer played just 75 of his 113 games behind the plate, but he's the best hitter among the catchers and threw out a league-leading 43 percent of base stealers. Carlos Santana has good offensive numbers, but he played a lot of first base and DH and struggled defensively. Jason Castro's fine season was buried in the Astros' awfulness, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia has hit .272, raising his average 50 points from last year, while bashing 40 doubles and 14 home runs. If he had played a little more behind the plate -- he started 95 games -- he might have been my choice.

First base: Chris Davis, Orioles (.287/.370/.637, 53 HRs, 138 RBIs, 6.7 WAR)
Davis is the easy choice in a weak year at first base in the AL. The only other two first basemen to slug .500 were Edwin Encarnacion, who spent a large chunk of his time at DH, and Brandon Moss, a platoon player. Davis joined Babe Ruth and Albert Belle as the only players with 50 home runs and 40 doubles in a season.

Second base: Robinson Cano, Yankees (.313/.383/.514, 27 HRs, 106 RBIs, 7.6 WAR)
In a year when so much went wrong with the Yankees, Cano was the one constant, missing just one game and putting up his usual excellent numbers. Now the Yankees have to decide exactly how much they're willing to pay for those numbers. Teams like the Dodgers and Nationals could pursue the free agent this winter.

Third base: Miguel Cabrera, Tigers (.347/.441/.637, 44 HRs, 137 RBIs, 7.1 WAR)
Despite the injury issues that have slowed him in September (.265, just two extra-base hits and seven RBIs), Cabrera remains the likely MVP winner, thanks in part to a .397/.529/.782 mark with runners in scoring position. It's a deep position with Josh Donaldson having his own MVP-caliber season, Manny Machado catching everything at the hot corner and Evan Longoria and Adrian Beltre once again doing everything, but it's hard to deny Miggy's dominance with the bat.

Shortstop: J.J. Hardy, Orioles (.262/.305/.432, 25 HRs, 74 RBIs, 3.6 WAR)
There's not an obvious guy at the position. Hardy is good defensively and has power, but that .305 OBP lowers his offensive value. Yunel Escobar may have had the best year on defense, but a slow start dragged down his offense. Elvis Andrus plays great defense and has 41 steals but doesn't give you much at the plate. Jed Lowrie stayed healthy and hit but lacks range. In the end, I went with Hardy, who has played 157 games and gives you a little on both sides of the ball.

Left field: Mike Trout, Angels (.323/.431/.554, 26 HRs, 94 RBIs, 9.1 WAR)
OK, I cheated a little bit since Trout actually started more games in center than left. But the state of left field in the AL is pretty pathetic, with Alex Gordon and Michael Brantley the only other two rated as even 2.0 WAR players.

Center field: Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox (.297/.355/.421, 8 HRs, 52 RBIs, 5.7 WAR)
Ellsbury also stole 52 bases in 56 attempts, the second-best percentage ever for a player with at least 50 steals. Orioles fans will argue for Adam Jones, who has 33 home runs and 108 RBIs, but he's drawn just 25 walks so his OBP is a mediocre .318 and his defense doesn't match Ellsbury's.

Right field: Shane Victorino, Red Sox (.297/.354/.456, 15 HRs, 61 RBIs, 6.2 WAR)
He's been solid offensively -- including hitting .303 and slugging .515 while having to bat right-handed against right-handed pitchers after a hamstring injury prevented him from batting left-handed. He has been terrific defensively with 24 Defensive Runs Saved, the sixth-best total in the majors at any position. Again, nobody with big numbers here on offense, especially with Jose Bautista's season-ending injury, but Victorino is a worthy selection.

Designated hitter: David Ortiz, Red Sox (.308/.395/.565, 30 HRs, 103 RBIs, 4.3 WAR)
At 37, he's still going strong with his seventh 30-homer, 100-RBI season. Hall of Famer? He's up to 431 career home runs and 1,429 RBIs.

Starting pitchers: Max Scherzer, Tigers (21-3, 2.90 ERA, 6.6 WAR); Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners (14-6, 2.66 ERA, 7.0 WAR); Chris Sale, White Sox (11-14, 3.07 ERA, 7.0 WAR); Yu Darvish, Rangers (13-9, 2.82 ERA, 5.7 WAR); Anibal Sanchez, Tigers (14-8, 2.64 ERA, 6.0 WAR)
Apologies to Bartolo Colon and Felix Hernandez, and even Clay Buchholz, who went 12-1 with a 1.74 ERA in 16 starts.

Left-handed setup guy: Neal Cotts, Rangers (7-3, 1.13 ERA)
Cotts was one of the great stories of the season. He hadn't pitched in the majors since 2009, having Tommy John and four hip surgeries in the intervening years. He pitched in 25 games for the Rangers in Triple-A last year and started there again this season before getting recalled. In 55 2/3 innings, he's allowed just eight runs and 35 hits while striking out 63.

Right-handed setup guy: David Robertson, Yankees (5-1, 2.07 ERA)
For those worried about replacing Mariano Rivera as Yankees closer, the bigger question may actually be: Who replaces Robertson as the eighth-inning guy?

Closer: Koji Uehara, Red Sox (4-1, 21 saves, 1.10 ERA)
Apologies to Kansas City's Greg Holland, who has a 1.23 ERA and 46 saves, and Texas' Joe Nathan, who has a 1.41 ERA and 43 saves. But Uehara, who began the year in middle relief, has put up one of the most dominant relief seasons ever, limiting batters to a .129 average with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 100-to-9.

Earlier, I presented the 10 best decisions of 2013. Here are my 10 worst decisions -- moves that were clearly questionable when made. And, no, all 10 do not involve the Phillies.

10. Angels give $125 million to Josh Hamilton. It's easy to forget that Hamilton hit 43 home runs and finished fifth in the MVP voting with the Rangers last season. But that was fueled by a huge first half. A big increase in strikeouts compared to 2011 and an increasingly poor approach at the plate were warning signals that he could be a risky investment. Hamilton salvaged his season a little in the second half, but he's still a guy with a .304 OBP and the Angels will be on the hook for $30 million a season in 2016 and 2017 -- his age 35 and 36 seasons.

9. Rockies give rotation spot to Jeff Francis. Francis had a 5.00 ERA with the Rockies in 2010. He had a 4.82 ERA with the Royals in 2011. He had a 5.58 ERA with the Rockies in 2012. The Rockies thought it was a good idea to give him 11 starts. Look, if three guys get hurt and you have to use Francis to fill in, OK. But 11 starts? He went 2-5 with a 6.61 ERA.

8. Yankees have no backup plan for Derek Jeter. Knowing Jeter's return from last October's broken ankle didn't have an exact timetable, and knowing his defense was an issue even when he was healthy, the Yankees needed an alternative plan -- and, no, Jayson Nix and Eduardo Nunez weren't good ideas. I advocated early in the season that the Yankees go after defensive whiz Brendan Ryan, a move the team finally made in September. Nix, a .214 career hitter entering the season, didn't hit much and Nunez, a terrible fielder, rated at minus-28 Defensive Runs Saved, the worst total of any player in the majors.

7. Brewers pretend Yuniesky Betancourt is still a major league player. Giving Betancourt 396 plate appearances is kind of like giving up. Betancourt hit .280 with six home runs and 21 RBIs in April. Fake! He was still Yuniesky Betancourt and has hit .189/.215/.287 from May 8 on -- that's 284 PAs. Once it became obvious that April was a fluke, why keep him around all season?

6. Royals count on Jeff Francoeur for more than clubhouse leadership. The Royals believed so much in Francoeur that they traded super prospect Wil Myers to keep Francoeur in right field. Even though Francoeur hit .235/.287/.378 in 2012 and was worth minus-2.3 WAR. As in, way below replacement level. Francoeur played 59 games, struck out 49 times, drew eight walks, hit .208 and was mercifully released on July 5. There also was the Chris Getz problem at second. Or Ned Yost batting Alcides Escobar second for nearly 300 at-bats despite a .274 OBP. Or that Carlos Pena pinch-hit appearance ... if you get the idea that Yost had a bad year, well ...

5. Royals give Wade Davis 24 starts. Part of the controversial Myers-James Shields trade, Davis had pitched very well for Tampa Bay out of the bullpen in 2012, but the Royals decided to return Davis to the rotation, where he had mediocre results in 2010 and 2011 (4.27 ERA). Giving Davis a chance to start wasn't the worst idea, although he wasn't that great as a starter in Tampa considering the Rays' great defense and a pitcher's park. He was better in relief because his fastball ticked up in shorter outings. The big problem here was Yost kept running Davis out there despite a 5.67 ERA and .320 batting average allowed. The Royals have allowed the fewest runs in the AL, but what if Bruce Chen had joined the rotation before mid-July?

4. Mariners think it's a good idea to play Michael Morse and Raul Ibanez in the outfield. Together. OK, we'll be a little fair to GM Jack Zduriencik, who did reportedly acquire Justin Upton, only to see Upton veto the trade. He also pursued Hamilton. So Morse was kind of a Plan C or Plan D, the hope being his bat would make up for his lousy defense. Nope. Morse's defense was predictably awful, plus he didn't hit. When Franklin Gutierrez spent the year raising sheep in Australia instead of playing center field, that forced the Mariners to use Ibanez regularly in left field, giving them two of the worst (the worst?) corner defenders in the majors.

3. Giants stand pat with Barry Zito. OK, he beat Justin Verlander in Game 1 of the World Series, which pretty much justified that $126 million contract all by itself. While it was understandable to open the season with Zito in the rotation -- he was at least serviceable last season before his clutch postseason performances -- you couldn't assume Zito would roll 30 starts again. Zito went 5-11 with a 5.75 ERA as the Giants gave him 25 starts. But that ERA comes courtesy of help from pitcher-friendly AT&T Park. Zito went a stunning 0-9 on the road with a 9.56 ERA and .401 average allowed. Basically, on the road, the average hitter against Zito was Ted Williams.

2. Angels sign Joe Blanton. Considering Blanton had a 4.79 ERA in the National League over the three previous seasons, the odds that he would perform better moving over to the American League seemed slim. There may have been some belief that Blanton's fly-ball tendencies would work in Anaheim. Wishful thinking. He went 2-14 with a 6.04 ERA. Meanwhile, the Angels let Ervin Santana go, and he had a great year for the Royals.

1. The Phillies go Young. Let's see. Delmon Young and Michael Young were worth a combined minus-2.8 WAR in 2012, with the Defensive Runs Saved statistic suggesting both were lousy defenders. Ruben Amaro flouted advanced metrics and acquired both players. They combined for minus-2.3 WAR while with the Phillies. On a perhaps related note, the Phillies have allowed the second-most runs in the NL.

Bud Selig has officially announced that he'll step down as commissioner in January 2015. Jerry Crasnick will assess his legacy (hey, if Bowie Kuhn made the Hall of Fame I suspect Selig will eventually as well), but here are five key issues for the next commissioner to address.

1. Instant replay and quality of umpiring

We finally get expanded replay next season, so that should help resolve some of the controversial and blown calls. It remains to be seen how effective and efficient the system will be, but it can be adjusted as necessary. Just as importantly, the new commissioner has to work to improve consistency of ball/strike calls and reduce the episodes of ump rage.

Right now, the best umps (Eric Cooper, Chad Fairchild, Phil Cuzzi) get about 90 percent of ball/strike calls correct, according to our pitch data; the worst umps (Wally Bell, Tim Welke, Kerwin Danley, Jerry Meals) are at 86 percent. That difference may not seem like a lot, but that's a spread of 10 incorrect calls per 250 pitches. Even a 90 percent correct rate means the best umps are missing about 25 to 30 ball/strike calls a game. Maybe the human eye can't do better, but MLB needs to pay its umpire better, and in particular pay minor league umpires a living wage, so you can recruit from a wider field of candidates.

2. To DH or not to DH?

This ridiculousness has gone on too long. You simply can't have one sport with two leagues playing under different rules. The answer seems to be pretty obvious: Get rid of the designated hitter. There were only four full-time DHs this year: David Ortiz, Victor Martinez, Billy Butler and Kendrys Morales. They all batted at least 500 times as a DH. Nobody else even had 300 plate appearances (including Adam Dunn, who played a lot of first base). With so few teams actually using a DH, the resolution should be pretty clear. OK, so Butler is the youngest of those four and signed through 2015. No DH starting in 2016.

3. Oakland and Tampa Bay stadium issues

Look, both organizations have shown they can compete and win in spite of their lousy ballparks and low revenue. Part of the problem is that other teams are tired of propping up the Rays and A's. "The key here is to recognize that without the revenue-sharing dollars, we wouldn't even be able to compete or do what we're doing," Rays principal owner Stuart Sternberg said in August. "The other owners are looking at this and saying, 'How many years is this going to be? How much money is this going to be to a failing situation?'"

Oakland's problem is more easily solved. The A's want to move to San Jose; the Giants hold territorial rights to Santa Clara County (given to them years ago by the A's). A three-quarters majority vote of all owners can return those rights to the A's, but Selig has refused to call for a vote, wanting unanimity, including the Giants. Well, of course, the Giants would vote against it. The new commish should side with the A's here and get them, literally, out of the sewage.

4. Tanking

I've written about this issue. Buster Olney addressed it the other day. The current collective bargaining agreement makes it beneficial for teams to lose -- either to get a higher draft position (and thus more money to spend in the draft) or finish with one of the 10 worst records and thus have a protected first-round pick when signing free agents. What kind of sport essentially encourages tanking for 10 or more teams?

This season, we'll likely finish with 10 teams and maybe 11 winning 90 games ... and seven to 10 losing 90 games. You don't want to read too much into one season, but it's possible we'll see more seasons like this: Contenders and non-contenders, which makes for a less interesting sport. Back in 2004, only five teams won 90 and six lost 90. That's a healthier sport.

But the draft rules tie into another problem. For the most part, the owners love the new rules and capping the amount teams can spend in the draft. Why give more money to amateurs when you can pocket some of that money instead and buy new leather seats for your private jet? The long-range issue here is obvious: You risk talented athletes choosing other sports as signing bonuses decrease. The new commissioner should find ways to get more athletes playing baseball, rather than potentially pushing them towards a different sport.

5. The schedule

Nobody likes the fact that interleague play is now a constant throughout the season, but that's unavoidable with 15 teams in each league. But the unbalanced schedule creates issues of teams competing for the same thing (a wild-card spot) while playing vastly different schedules.

My own personal pet peeve is that the season drags too long into October. Last year's World Series games in Detroit were played in brutally cold weather. Depending on which teams advance, you're often playing your most important games of the year in your worst weather. The World Series can be as much a test of ability as a test of weather fortitude. There isn't a good solution, unless your shorten the regular season or the playoffs, add some doubleheaders, or -- god forbid -- play some World Series games during the day. The weather in Detroit in the afternoon last October was quite lovely. At night? Not so much.

We're making the MVP cases today for the five top AL contenders. Here's the case for Mike Trout, and here are the previous arguments for Chris Davis, Josh Donaldson and Robinson Cano.

1. Trout is the best all-around player in baseball. Period.

2. All the talk about how to define most valuable is just silly. By definition, the best player is the most valuable player. If you were to poll all the general managers and asked, "Which player's 2013 season would you most want on your team?" Trout wins easily.

3. OK, some numbers. Baseball-Reference Wins Above Replacement: Trout 9.1, Donaldson 8.1, Cano 7.4, Miguel Cabrera 7.3, Davis 6.1. FanGraphs WAR: Trout 10.2, Donaldson 7.7, Cabrera 7.7, Davis 6.4, Cano 6.0. It's closer than last year between Trout and Cabrera, but even if WAR isn't perfect, it's difficult to argue against margins of 1.8 wins and 2.5 wins.

4. Trout is hitting .325/.433/.562. Trout easily trumps the other three at the plate in terms of on-base percentage and Cabrera's advantage over Trout at the plate is not as large you as may believe. In terms of wOBA (which is not park-adjusted), Cabrera leads .454 to .424 (they're 1-2 in the majors). Yes, Cabrera has 18 more home runs and four more singles, but Trout has 13 more doubles and eight more triples. Trout has 15 more walks and leads in steals, 33 to 3. In terms of estimated runs created, Cabrera is at 154, Trout is at 151.

5. Once you adjust for parks and position, you could argue that Trout has been the more valuable offensive player. In terms of offensive WAR, Trout leads Cabrera 9.9 to 9.0 at Baseball-Reference. At FanGraphs, Trout leads Cabrera, 69 runs created above average to 64.

6. Hey, sorry Tigers, fans, but the whole season counts and Cabrera has one home run and one double over his past 20 games.

7. Defense and speed matter. Trout actually doesn't rate that well this year in Defensive Runs Saved at -8 (FanGraphs likes his defense a little better, thus the higher WAR on their site), but at least he plays a prime position in center field. Cabrera and Davis don't offer anything in the defense and speed department and Cabrera has no range at third base even if he does catch what he gets to.

8. Trout has hit .328/.460/.550 with runners in scoring position. He's close to 100 RBIs (92) even though he's hit just 44 times in the No. 3 slot, the rest first or second.

9. You can argue Trout is more feared than Cabrera. (Or gets fewer pitches to hit due to a lack of lineup protection.) For example, in late and close situations, Trout has walked 23 percent of his plate appearances. Cabrera has walked 18 percent of his.

10. Trout's teammates are worse. Why should he be denied the MVP Award because the Angels had Joe Blanton and Jerome Williams in their rotation instead of Max Scherzer and Anibal Sanchez?

Eric Karabell and myself take a closer at a survey that found Alex Rodriguez to be "The Face of Baseball." Say what?

As Mike Trout's lead over Miguel Cabrera in Wins Above Replacement continues to grow -- 8.6 to 6.9 on Baseball-Reference, 9.8 to 7.3 on FanGraphs -- it seems the Cabrera camp is actually starting to get a little more defensive than the Trout camp, which has more or less conceded that Cabrera will win the award, no matter how vociferous the debate should be.

For example, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports and the MLB Network, attempts to defend Cabrera's case by tearing down WAR:

Check out the WAR of Carlos Gomez (6.7, fifth best in baseball) and Gerardo Parra (5.1, tied for 20th best). Now it's possible they are indeed the fifth- and 20th-best players in baseball this year. But I doubt it. According to these figures, Parra is tied with Adrian Beltre and ahead of a plethora of other stars despite his mundane .725 OPS, and Gomez (.832 OPS) is ahead of everyone but Trout, Andrew McCutchen, Cabrera and Robinson Cano -- and he's barely behind Cabrera and Cano at that.

Even within the center-field ranks, WAR looks pretty suspect. Shin-Soo Choo, who has helped make the Reds go with his second-in-the-NL .425 on-base percentage, has a 3.7 WAR. One spot ahead of Choo is Mets rookie Juan Lagares, at 3.8.

It's a reasonable argument to bring up -- Gomez, Parra and Lagares benefit from outstanding defensive metrics that help their WAR total -- but not really germane to the Trout-Cabrera discussion, since Trout has been credited with -8 Defensive Runs Saved this season. (FanGraphs' defensive measurement has him at +6 runs.)

No, I think the MVP discussion, such as it is, is really about old-school basics: It's hard to convince some that Trout has been as good, or better, than Cabrera, when Cabrera has 20 more home runs and 49 more RBIs (his lead in batting average over Trout is down to 15 points).

First off, the 20 home runs. That's a huge advantage for Cabrera. But Trout has three more singles, 12 more doubles and eight more triples -- plus eight more walks, nine fewer double plays hit into and 29 more stolen bases. Based on those numbers, Cabrera's offensive advantage just isn't as large everyone thinks it is. In fact, Cabrera leads Trout in Runs Created by a slim margin, 147 to 143 according to Baseball-Reference. Put it this way: Cabrera only has 29 more total bases than Trout. Factor in steals, baserunning, double plays hit into, walks and defense ... well, is it really that surprising that Trout would have a higher WAR?

(Ballparks also play a small role here in WAR. Trout plays in a lower run-scoring environment, so the runs he creates are a little more valuable than the runs Cabrera creates. And, no, Comerica Park is NOT a pitcher's park; it's been a good place for hitters in recent years.)

So this gets us to RBIs. Cabrera has 133, Trout has 84.

It's not cool to trumpet RBIs these days -- are you ready to defend Brandon Phillips as the second-best player in the National League? -- but this is exactly what the Cabrera camp should be pointing out, because it's the crux of his MVP case.

According to Baseball-Reference, the average player with Cabrera's plate appearance total drives in 60 runs -- 73 fewer than Cabrera's total. Cabrera has had more runners on base than the typical hitter -- 405 to 346 -- but he's knocked in 90 out of those 405 runners (22 percent), plus himself 43 times.

Trout has knocked in 84 runs compared to the average of 65 for his plate appearances. Trout has actually had fewer runners on base than the average player -- 353 to 373 -- and he's driven in 61 of those 353 (17 percent), plus himself 23 times.

Cabrera is hitting .418 with runners in scoring position and .383 with men on base. With two outs and runners in scoring position he's hitting .466. In tie games he's hitting .351/.447/.696. When the margin in the game is greater than four runs, he's hitting .246/.306/.385 in 72 plate appearances; in other words, he's not piling up the stats in blowouts. It's almost like Cabrera tunes out when the game has been decided. Trout, meanwhile, has hit .331 with runners in scoring position and .309 with men on, good but not Cabrera. He's hit .471/.554/.843 in 83 PAs when the margin is greater than four runs.

That's your Cabrera argument -- that he's risen his game when runners are on base. He has been an RBI machine.

Of course, so has Chris Davis, who is now only nine RBIs behind Cabrera. By the way, here's one last stat to consider. Late and close situations, when the games are most on the line:

Davis: .329/.394/.817, 10 HR, 30 RBIs (94 PAs, 82 at-bats)
Cabrera: .264/.404/.444, 4 HR, 10 RBIs (89 PAs, 72 at-bats)

If you want to dismiss the "better" argument and bring in value ... well, that's a lot of clutch hitting there from Mr. Davis. Maybe he's your MVP?

Did you know that Mike Trout is in the midst of a historically productive season?

I want to talk about second-year players, and specifically, second-year hitters. There have been a lot of good sophomores across baseball this season: Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, Jean Segura, Andrelton Simmons, Starling Marte. And, of course, the best of them all: Trout.

By the time this season is over, it is likely that Trout will have put together the best season ever for a second-year major leaguer. Thus far, Trout is hitting .338/.435/.575 with 23 homers, 83 RBIs and 8.4 WAR (with 22 games remaining on the schedule).

Here's a look at the top 10 sophomore campaigns (for non-pitchers), as ranked by Baseball-Reference's Wins Above Replacement formula:

1. Rickey Henderson, Athletics (1980): 8.7
2. Snuffy Stirnweiss, Yankees (1944): 8.4
T-2 Mike Trout, Angels (2013): 8.4
4. Eddie Mathews, Braves (1953): 8.3
T-4 Ralph Kiner, Pirates (1947): 8.3
6. Joe DiMaggio, Yankees (1937): 8.2
7. Wade Boggs, Red Sox (1983): 7.8
8. Pete Reiser, Dodgers (1941): 7.4
9. Evan Longoria, Rays (2009): 7.1
10. Arky Vaughan, Pirates (1933): 7.0

That's a pretty interesting list. Six of these guys have been inducted into the Hall of Fame: Henderson, Mathews, Kiner, DiMaggio, Boggs and Vaughan. The rest were All-Stars at some point in their careers. Of those who were eligible to win Rookie of the Year in the previous season (after 1947, when the award was introduced), only Trout and Longoria actually won.

Two of the guys are still active, but let's look at Trout. I'm not going to compare Trout to the Hall of Famers. Yet. Certainly, he is an elite talent, but too many things can happen along the way for us to go ahead and include him in the Hall of Fame Class of 2033. (This is assuming, of course, that the baseball writers haven't stopped electing players to the Hall at this point.)

What about the rest of that list? Until Henderson came along, Stirnweiss had put together an incomparable sophomore season. In 1944, ol' Snuffy, who had been an All-American football player for the University of North Carolina, had a superb season as the Yankees' second baseman; the 25-year-old Stirnweiss hit .319/.389/.460, posted an adjusted OPS+ of 139, and led the league in runs, hits, triples, stolen bases and plate appearances. By any measure, that's a great season, but especially for a guy who had hit just .219/.333/.288 as a rookie in the previous campaign.

Stirnweiss followed up with an even better year in 1945 (8.6 WAR), leading the league in batting average, slugging percentage, runs, hits, triples and stolen bases. But that was his high-water mark.

After the war (not Baseball-Reference WAR, the actual war: World War II), when players were returning from service, Stirnweiss posted uniformly below-average offensive numbers and finished out his career as a part-time player for the Yankees, St. Louis Browns and Indians. Clearly, his numbers were helped by the watered-down level of player during the war.

In his second season, at age 22, Pete Reiser tore apart the National League, hitting .343/.406/.558 and finishing second in the MVP voting (to teammate Dolph Camilli). Reiser led the Senior Circuit in average, slugging, runs, total bases, doubles and triples. He put together another fine year the following season, although he was injured in August while crashing face-first into the cement wall in St. Louis. He then spent three years in active military service. Reiser injured his shoulder in the Army, and though he returned to the big leagues in 1946, he was never quite the same. He retired in 1952 after 10 big league seasons, having collected 786 hits and posting a career line of .295/.380/.450

Longoria, of course, is still writing the next chapter of his career, but he's off to a brilliant start. After being named the AL's top rookie in 2008, Longoria followed up with a tremdendous second season, hitting .281/.364/.526 with 33 homers and 113 RBIs, and an adjusted
OPS+ of 133. Though he suffered from injuries in 2011 and 2012, Longoria is still only 27 years old, and he remains one of the brightest stars in the league.

What does this tell us about Trout's future? Let's not pretend to read too much into this exercise, but it's an impressive list. Of the eight players who aren't currently active, six of them put together Hall of Fame careers. The other two -- Stirnweiss and Reiser -- have war-related reasons as to why they may not be good comparisons.

Trout and Longoria, then, appear to be in pretty good company. Trout also has 22 more games to catch Henderson. Should Trout remain healthy, there is every reason to believe he'll end up at the very top of the list.

So, yes, Trout has been historically great this season. What's more impressive is that last year Trout also had the best rookie season of any player in baseball history; in 2012, he hit .326/.399/.564 with 30 homers, leading the league in stolen bases and runs scored. Trout posted 10.9 wins above replacement, a number that no rookie has come particularly close to touching.

The kid just turned 22 years old. I can't wait to see what Trout has in store for us next season.

Mike Trout is 22 years old and wrapping up his second full season as a major leaguer -- and he's already well on his way to a Hall of Fame career. Baseball-Reference.com credits him as being worth 20 wins above replacement over his career. A player starts to be legitimately considered for Cooperstown inclusion when he gets into the 50-60 WAR range, meaning Trout could put himself in that conversation with another three or four seasons of similar quality. Or, more realistically, another six or eight seasons of half his previous quality. Divide and add as you wish for your own amalgamation.

It seems as if this point has yet to be brought up and discussed. Sure, Trout and his luxurious WAR are cited on a near daily basis, but usually as a factor in the AL MVP debate against Miguel Cabrera, either last year's or this year's. The Angels have had a terrible season, making it even easier to ignore what Trout has done. And let's be honest: It does get a little boring hearing about WAR all the time.

In Trout, we are looking at this era's Ken Griffey Jr. -- a once-in-a-generation player who does it all in myriad ways. Trout has slugged 58 home runs before his 23rd birthday, becoming the 28th player in baseball history to have done so. He has stolen 84 bases, becoming the 12th player in baseball history to have stolen that many before turning 23. Additionally, he has stolen those 84 bases in 96 attempts, an 87.5 percent success rate.

Last year, Trout led the league in adjusted OPS (168), stolen bases (49) and runs (129). This year, he leads in walks (86) and hits (176) and ranks third in runs (95) and second in batting average (.338). Considering the type of historic season Cabrera is having, that Trout leads in any offensive statistics at all is impressive.

Trout also has a .435 on-base percentage and a .575 slugging percentage. Only seven other players in baseball history have had a .300/.400/.500 season before turning 23: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Al Kaline, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Mathews and Stan Musial. All of them are current or future Hall of Famers, putting aside Rodriguez's PED-related controversy.

We have yet to even get to Trout's defense. His advanced defensive metrics are down after a fantastic 2012 performance, which Mark Simon examined recently, but Trout has already put together a library of highlight-reel grabs just like Griffey. He robbed J.J. Hardy, Nate McLouth and Gordon Beckham of home runs last year, not to mention the numerous grabs he has made in the left- and right-center gaps.

Trout already rates as the 13th-best player in Angels franchise history going by WAR (20.0). He has already passed Rod Carew (17.3) and will pass Jim Edmonds, Torii Hunter, Howie Kendrick, Chone Figgins, Troy Glaus and Vladimir Guerrero if he has another similar season in 2014, which would leave him with the seventh-highest career WAR in Angels history. Jim Fregosi leads at 45.7. That, perhaps, is a goal for 2016. In later years, he will summit other franchise records.

Assuming Cabrera soon returns to the Detroit Tigers' lineup on a regular basis, Trout will continue to be an afterthought in the AL MVP race. He will be in the debate, for sure, but most fans -- and presumably, voters -- are enamored with what Cabrera has done offensively and rightfully so, as there has never been a back-to-back Triple Crown winner. Perhaps Trout should have won the MVP award last year, and perhaps he should win it this year, but he'll have plenty of time to collect hardware as his career progresses, assuming good health. Hank Aaron won only one MVP award during his long and illustrious career, but that doesn't stop us from considering him one of the greatest players of all time.

The important thing is to simply acknowledge and admire what we are seeing from Trout right now. He is the Halley's Comet of baseball -- someone who comes around very infrequently, the sight of whom is enhanced with a deep understanding of what came before him. No one knows if he will be able to keep up his current pace, nor how long he will be able to maintain it, all the more reason to take time out of your week every now and then to watch an Angels game.

We haven't done this in a while. If you haven't been paying close attention to the numbers, you may be surprised by some of these comparisons:

Player A: .265/.342/.496, 28 HR, 72 RBI, 132 OPS+
Player B: .283/.352/.468, 22 HR, 64 RBI, 134 OPS+

Player A is Evan Longoria, Player B is Kyle Seager. Longoria does hold the WAR advantage, 5.2 to 4.1, thanks to better defense, but Seager is quietly have another solid season at the plate.

Player A: .271/.359/.448, 22 HR, 117 OPS+, 1.0 WAR
Player B: .260/.370/.446, 17 HR, 131 OPS+, 3.1 WAR

Player A is Prince Fielder, Player B is Carlos Santana. Of course, I left out RBIs, and Fielder has 95 of those compared to 60 for Santana (Fielder has 81 more plate appearances). Has Fielder had a great RBI season? According to Baseball-Reference, the average major leaguer drives in 65 runs in 622 plate appearances, so Fielder is +30. Sounds good. But ... he's also had 98 more runners on base than the average hitter. In WAR, Santana moves ahead thanks to Fielder's poor defense and a positional adjustment for Santana, because he's played a lot behind the plate.

Player A: .233/.291/.448, 29 HR, 84 RBI, 1.5 WAR
Player B: .238/.299/.422, 19 HR, 62 RBI, 1.0 WAR

Player A is Mark Trumbo and Player B is Angels teammate Josh Hamilton. Trumbo has escaped criticism because he has more home runs and RBIs, but he's also another sub-.300 OBP guy in the middle of the Angels' lineup.

Player A: .243/.311/.433, 17 HR, 102 OPS+
Player B: .267/.316/.420, 18 HR, 98 OPS+

Looks pretty close, right? What if I told you one of these guys has 101 RBIs and has been touted as an MVP candidate by some (OK, at least one prominent national broadcaster), and the other guy has 60 RBIs.

Player A is Twins second baseman Brian Dozier and Player B is Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips. In terms of WAR, Dozier has the bigger advantage, 3.8 to 1.7. Look, Phillips is hitting .354 with runners in scoring position. He's also hitting .211 with a .249 OBP with the bases empty; those at-bats count, too. Phillips has made the fourth-most outs in the NL.

Player A: 209 IP, 145 H, 47 BB, 201 SO, 6.6 WAR
Player B: 187.2 IP, 158 H, 40 BB, 199 SO, 6.2 WAR

Pretty similar. Both are left-handed. One stat I left out: Player A has a 1.89 ERA, while Player B's is 2.97. Player A, of course, is Clayton Kershaw while Player B is Chris Sale. How can Sale be close despite an ERA a run higher? A few things. We're talking an NL pitcher versus an AL one, so Kershaw's run-scoring environment is a little lower. Home park: Kershaw pitches in Dodger Stadium, a good park for pitchers, while Sale pitches at The Cell, a hitter's park. Quality of opponents: Kershaw's opponents have averaged 4.20 runs per game compared to 4.51 for Sale's. Defense: Kershaw's is good, Sale's isn't. So why has nobody noticed Sale's season? He's 10-12. Put him on the Tigers and he'd be competing with Max Scherzer for Cy Young Award honors.

Player A: 193 IP, 180 H, 43 BB, 174 SO, 3.50 ERA, 4.1 WAR
Player B: 184 IP, 169 H, 50 BB, 172 SO, 2.98 ERA, 4.0 WAR

Cole Hamels is A, and Mat Latos is B. Of course, Hamels is 6-13 and Latos is 14-5, obscuring the fact that Hamels has been outstanding. Hamels was 1-9 with an ERA approaching 5 through May, and those bad starts (or good starts) stick in our memories. But since July, he's made 12 starts and posted a 2.17 ERA, allowing more than two runs just twice (though he has just four wins). He's still one of the best left-handers in the league.

One more:

Player A: 5-2, 1.48 ERA, 38 saves, 2 blown saves
Player B: 4-2, 2.19 ERA, 41 saves, 6 blown saves

Joe Nathan (A) and Mariano Rivera (B). By the way, Nathan's career save percentage since becoming a closer: 91 percent. Rivera's since becoming a closer: 90 percent, not including the postseason.

Eric Karabell and myself discuss the rankings of a few teams in ESPN Insider's Future Power Rankings project.

The New York Mets' rotation right now includes Daisuke Matsuzaka, who owns the worst ERA since 2009 of any pitcher with at least 300 innings. They just signed Aaron Harang, released by the Mariners after posting a 9.12 ERA in August.

Why would a team playing out the string give starts to two washed-up veterans?

It's pretty simple: The Mets have come down with injuries to their rotation and they want to limit Zack Wheeler's innings, so they'll use a six-man rotation in September to space out his starts. Unwilling to use some of the younger pitchers already on the 40-man roster -- who would have their own innings limits -- the Mets dug up whoever they could to fill their holes.

But it's not quite so simple; there's more to it than just protecting Wheeler. The Mets want to lose. Or, at least, I think they want to lose, because there is incentive to lose ... or lose often enough to finish with one of the 10 worst records in baseball.

Remember last winter when the Mets wanted to sign free agent Michael Bourn? And Bourn apparently wanted to play with the Mets? Bourn ended up signing with Cleveland because the Mets held the 11th pick in the first round -- and only the first 10 picks are protected if you sign a free agent who has been given a qualifying offer by his previous team. The Mets decided that signing Bourn and losing the pick wasn't worth it; the Indians, drafting fifth, signed Bourn and Nick Swisher, two free agents tied to qualifying offers.

Basically, by tying draft picks to free agency, MLB is encouraging tanking. No team wants to finish with the 11th- or 12th-worst record and lose that first-round pick if they sign an elite free agent -- which this offseason could include the likes of Robinson Cano, Jacoby Ellsbury, Shin-Soo Choo, Hunter Pence, Matt Garza, Carlos Beltran, Brian McCann and Ervin Santana. You don't think the Mets would be interested in a couple of those outfielders?

True, free agency has always been tied to draft picks, but two things happened in the latest Collective Bargaining Agreement. First, it used to be that the top 15 picks were protected when signing the old "Type A" free agent; there is a big difference, however, between the 10th-worst team, which is a team that usually finishes well under .500, and a middle-of-the-pack team, which is usually one on the fringes of the playoff race. This year, for example, the No. 15 team is Washington, currently a game over .500. The second major change was that each team is given a draft budget, based on money allocated for each pick. Finish worse and you get more money to spend on the draft.

That means September baseball will include Matsuzaka and Harang pitching their hearts out to help the Mets. You see, the Mets currently own the 10th-worst record in the majors. They are right on the border of no-man's land, "leading" the Phillies and Blue Jays by just one game. In fact, the race for the 10th spot is going to be nearly as heated as the race for the playoffs. Here are the standings in the race for No. 10 -- starting with the Astros and including how many games behind each team is from the team below them:

Team            W   L  Pct.    GB

1. Astros      45  92  .328   ---

2. Marlins     51  85  .375   6.5

3. White Sox   56  80  .412     5

4. Cubs        58  79  .423   1.5

5. Brewers     59  78  .431     1

6. Twins       60  76  .441   1.5

7. Padres      61  76  .445   0.5

7. Giants      61  76  .445   0.5

9. Mariners    62  75  .453     1

10. Mets       62  74  .456   0.5

11. Blue Jays  63  75  .457     1

11. Phillies   63  75  .457     1 

13. Rockies    65  74  .468   1.5

14. Angels     64  72  .471   0.5

The Twins, Padres, Giants, Mariners, Mets, Blue Jays and Phillies -- sixth-worst to 12th-worst -- are separated by just two games. In the 2013 draft, the Marlins drafted sixth and had a draft budget of $9.5 million. The Mariners drafted 12th and had a budget of $6.1 million. It's going to be a mad, mad scramble to lose just the right amount of games. Not that front offices right on the border will ever admit that.

The final standings are particularly crucial to clubs like the Mets, Phillies, Giants and Mariners, who would be willing to spend the money to dip into the free-agent market to plug holes. Like the Mets, the Mariners are desperate for outfielders. Ellsbury, an Oregon native, would be a perfect fit for their center-field hole; Choo would look great in a corner outfield slot. But the risk of losing that pick if you finish No. 11 has to be weighed.

Look, there's risk in tanking. The Astros tore everything apart a couple of years ago in beginning a complete overhaul of the organization, but how many fans will they lose with years of bad baseball and how many years will it take to win them back? But that's an extreme example. We're really talking only a few wins here -- 74 wins instead of 77. That's not going to have an effect on your fan base or season-ticket sales. (There's an argument that finishing over .500 provides more hope and could lead to more ticket sales over the winter, but right now none of these teams are pushing .500.)

So if you're a Mets fan or Phillies fan or Mariners fan, you have some standings to pay attention to in September. Enjoy the tanking.

The Los Angeles Angels find themselves in uncharted waters; this is a team that hasn't been bad for a very long time. Since Mike Scioscia took the reins as manager in 2000, the Angels have played near .500 baseball every season and have made the postseason six times. They entered each of the past two seasons with World Series aspirations, but they enter Friday's action with a 60-72 record, easily out of the playoff race and headed to their lowest winning percentage since 1999. As Buster Olney wrote Thursday, owner Arte Moreno may have to decide whether to keep Scioscia or GM Jerry Dipoto after the disappointing results.

Moving forward, the Angels have to determine what in-house options may be able to help the club in 2013. Before the Angels go to the market this offseason, they should know what each of their players is worth to them in 2014. Nobody likes to watch a bad team, especially after it's out of the race in August, but there are important things going on in Anaheim. The Angels have an opportunity to not only evaluate their future options, but to develop a few youngsters into players that fit on their 2014 roster.

With five weeks of baseball still to be played, the Angels will have time to collect information on position players like Kole Calhoun, Chris Nelson, Grant Green, Andrew Romine and J.B. Shuck. In the bullpen, the Angels have plenty of youngsters with good stuff who have yet to command at the big league level. We'll likely see a lot of these arms over the final weeks, with Scioscia hoping to find one or two he can comfortably pencil into next year's pen.

"It's not where we wanted to be, but it kind of is what it is right now," Calhoun said during a recent road series against the Yankees. "Each opportunity we get to be in the lineup -- all the younger guys -- is a chance to learn and show what you got."

With injuries to Albert Pujols, Peter Bourjos, Howie Kendrick and others, Scioscia hasn't always been given a choice on his lineups cards.

"You can't really sugarcoat what's happened," Scioscia said. "We've struggled in some key areas and had some non-performance in some key areas that really set us back, but the challenge is still there to go out and play good baseball. We have a lot of youth, a lot of young guys … and we're going to give them a chance to play and hopefully they'll play well."

One valuable chip going into 2014 could be infielder Green, whom the Angels acquired from Oakland in exchange for Alberto Callaspo last month. The club feels comfortable with Green at second base and occasionally at shortstop, and hopes to craft him into a usable third baseman. They believe in his offensive ability, and the next few weeks could tell the Angels if he can become a viable utility infielder.

The Angels will also soon have a logjam in the outfield. Bourjos recently returned from a wrist injury and joins Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton, Calhoun and Shuck. This offseason, Hamilton's cumbersome contract and Trout's troutness suggest that Bourjos, Shuck and Calhoun are vying for one outfield spot in 2014. Bourjos has been solid when he's been healthy this season, but he’s played in just 50 games. His value on the trade market will likely be way down as he enters his arbitration years, but the final stretch of the season could boost that value or encourage the Angels to keep him and move another piece. Shuck is probably nothing more than a bat to have on the bench, but Calhoun makes things interesting. During his time in the majors, Calhoun has shown an impressive set of tools, and some scouts believe that he could be an above-average major leaguer.

Eventually push will come to shove, and the Angels will have to make decisions about their outfield. September results could provide a foundation for the club's decisions.

Scioscia's bullpen has been consistently inconsistent. The club has seen flashes from Michael Kohn, Kevin Jepsen and Dane De La Rosa, but simply not being horrendous isn't exactly what you look for in the late innings. There may be some usable pieces in left-handers Buddy Boshers and Nick Maronde. Boshers has had success for the Angels early on, and despite a recent demotion to the minor leagues, Maronde should get another stab at the majors. The Angels traded Scott Downs to Atlanta last month, and Boshers and Maronde are both in-house candidates for lefty specialist positions next season.

The Angels' options aren’t exactly good ones, but they are options nonetheless. Halos fans might have little reason to pay attention to the standings as the 2013 season winds down, but every night provides an opportunity for a young player not only to further his development but to earn playing time in 2014.

Hudson Belinsky writes for the Halos Daily website. Follow him on Twitter @hudsonbelinsky.

You might recall on Aug. 16 when Mike Trout made a couple of "Web Gem"- worthy plays against the Astros, including this home run robbery. Maybe you saw the highlights on "SportsCenter." They were the sort of plays you'll see repeated many times.

You probably don't remember too much about the July 28 Angels-Athletics game in Oakland. There were a lot of highlights for the Athletics that day: 10 runs and 10 hits in a 10-6 win on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

It's the latter game that helps us understand why Trout's overall advanced defensive metrics aren't as good as last season.

We promised an updated look at Trout's stats when we took a peek at his surprising struggles a couple of months ago, and now seems a good time for that.

Trout stands at minus-8 Defensive Runs Saved, with all eight of those negative runs coming in center field (in his 343 innings in left, he rates as average, with zero runs saved, one run better than 2012).

But Trout is trending in a positive direction. Days like Aug. 16 have been big gainers. Trout was at minus-14 Defensive Runs Saved after that July 28 game, so he gained six runs.

But the overall body of work is still eight runs negative, after posting a plus-21 last year. How can that be?

Well, there have been more days like July 28 than last year. Trout had a rough defensive afternoon that day, though you'd never know it from a basic box score, because he wasn't charged with any errors. It started with a liner to left center by Yoenis Cespedes in the third inning, one that Trout got close to, but played on one hop rather than risk a high-reward dive. As it turned out, Trout juggled the ball upon handling it, allowing Cespedes to reach second, although it was ruled a double.

In the fifth, Trout fought the sun and lost on a high-hanging popup to center by Cespedes, the ball landing a couple of feet to his right for a single. An inning later, Stephen Vogt hit a fly ball to shallow center. Trout saw this one, chased it and missed it with a half-stumble, half-reach. He then collided with his left fielder, allowing Vogt to take second base easily.

These three plays were costly, not just to the Angels, but to Trout's defensive rating. The next day, his Defensive Runs Saved total was three runs lower.

Baseball Info Solutions helped us quantify that even further. Their group watches every play of every game and charts the location and speed for every batted ball. They turn the field into a grid and can tell you for any square in their grid how often a ball hit to that area is turned into an out.

The three balls to which we're referring were hit to spots at speeds that generated outs from center fielders 57 percent, 97 percent and 92 percent of the time, respectively, in all parks, with similar numbers when isolating it specifically to Oakland's home ballpark. When a center fielder misses two balls with out rates of 90 percent or higher, that's basically the defensive equivalent of a hitter going 0-for-7. Trout and Brian Bogusevic are the only two to have a game like that this season.

Trout doesn't have as many eye-popping catches in center as he did last season. In 885 2/3 innings in center last season, BIS charted him with 26 good fielding plays (think: "Web Gem" nominees) to 17 defensive misplays and errors. This season, the split is 12-to-16 in about 100 fewer innings.

The chart on the right looks at that in a similar way, putting BIS' grid to use again. Trout's success rate against balls hit with an expected out rate between 5 and 50 percent is way down this season. He's only caught 12 of 60 in center field. Had he caught them at last year's success rate, he'd have 22 catches.

What do we make of all of this?

This has been a season in which almost anything that could go wrong for the Angels has gone wrong. The team's outfield defense is one of those things that has taken a significant hit. Replacing Torii Hunter with Josh Hamilton and injuries to Peter Bourjos have had consequences.

Opposing hitters reached about 38 percent of the time on balls hit in the air with an estimated distance of at least 200 feet that stayed in the ballpark last season. That's jumped to 40 percent this season, but also of importance is what is happening when those balls fall in. They resulted in 224 doubles and triples last season. This season they're already at 224, with 30 games to go.

The Angels are on pace to catch about 40 more of those balls than they did last season, but that's not enough to make up for the increase in doubles and triples allowed.

Put it this way: The Angels' outfield was credited with 46 Defensive Runs Saved in 2012, second-most in the majors (the Braves had 55). This season, they're at minus-18. Only five teams rate worse. Trout has some statistical responsibility for that.

This doesn't necessarily make him a bad defensive outfielder, just as last year's numbers didn't necessarily make him a great one. One of the things that happens when we evaluate defense is that we form an early impression and presume the player is always as good as that impression. But defense, like offense, can fluctuate.

Good players can have good seasons. They can have bad ones, too. And right now, Trout's defensive season just isn't that good.

A few weeks ago, Jared Cross, who helped develop the Steamer projection system, wrote an ESPN Insider piece comparing the little advantages that Mike Trout held over Miguel Cabrera -- things like reaching base on errors, not grounding into double plays in double-play situations, hitting sacrifice flies or groundball outs that at least advance a runner.

At the time (the piece was published on Aug. 6), these little things added up to about 13 to 14 extra runs created for Trout compared to Cabrera -- or little more than a win's worth of runs.

I read through the comments and, frankly, they were a little depressing, with one common argument going something like, "This just shows what you idiot sabermetricians will do to try and prove Trout is better!"

Here's the thing about that complaint: Aren't the "little things" actually an old-school argument about players? You know, "He does the little things to help his team." I remember years ago I had to do a presentation to a group of people who worked on ESPN's baseball coverage, including some of the analysts then working for the network. I was discussing the merits of OPS as a better way to measure a player's offensive value than just batting average or RBIs; one of the former players suggested the stat was biased against the players who did the little things.

Well, you know, that player was actually kind of right; the impact isn't significant as that player probably wanted to believe, but the little things -- as Jared quantified -- can add up to create some value.

Trout's biggest advantage came via reaching base on error, worth 7.7 runs compared to Cabrera. Now, when a player reaches base on an error, he doesn't get credit for it. In fact, it counts against him -- it's counted as an out on his ledger. As Joe Posnanski wrote last week, "It's one of the dumbest statistical tricks in all of sports, maybe the dumbest ... If you hit the ball and reach base it should absolutely NOT be counted as an out. It’s not an out. No out was recorded. IT IS NOT AN OUT. Sorry, I am going off on a rant here."

Joe pointed out that, at the time, if you counted Trout's ROE as hits his batting average would be .350 and his on-base percentage .444. Right now, his average would be .343 based on the 10 ROE that Baseball-Reference credits him with (ESPN credits him with nine, more on that in a bit).

Even if you don't want to count a ROE as a hit, there is some logic to counting it towards a player's on-base percentage, in part because fast players tend to reach on errors more often than slow players, or so goes the theory. According to the ESPN Stats & Info database, the players with the most ROE this season: Andrelton Simmons (10); Trout and Norichika Aoki (9); Robinson Cano, Jay Bruce and Elvis Andrus (8); Starlin Castro, Jon Jay, Jean Segura, Eric Hosmer, Chris Denorfia and Alexei Ramirez (7). All with the exception of Bruce run pretty well.

Since 2009, the players with the most ROEs are Andrus, Marlon Bryd, Michael Cuddyer, Ramirez, Martin Prado, Brandon Phillips, Ryan Braun, Cano, Ichiro Suzuki, Michael Young, Hunter Pence and Adam Jones. Again, other than Cuddyer, I'd say all of these guys have at least average to above-average speed.

OK, back to Trout. I thought I'd check his ROEs this season and see if his speed actually came into play -- did the fielder rush his throw, for example?

April 28 -- Fielding error on Mariners shortstop Robert Andino. Slow roller that Andino had to charge. He actually looked like he was thinking of going to third to get the runner there but didn't come up with the ball. He had no shot to get Trout at first, however, and not sure if he would have gotten the runner (Andrew Romine) at third.

April 30 -- Throwing error by A's shortstop Adam Rosales. Chopper that Rosales had to charge and hurry his throw. A good throw gets him but Trout's speed no doubt forced a quick throw.

May 9 -- Throwing error by Astros third baseman Matt Dominguez. Routine grounder. Just threw it away.

June 17 -- Throwing error by Mariners second baseman Nick Franklin. Grounder way Franklin's left in shallow right, off-balance throw was in the dirt. Maybe has time to set himself with a slower runner.

June 19 -- Fielding error by Franklin. Franklin again ranges to his left but the ball goes off the heel of his glove. The Angels' analyst brings up the whole "with Trout running you're thinking of his speed" thing.

June 25 -- Throwing error by Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera thought about tagging the runner moving to third and that moment of hesitation cost him as he then rushed his throw to first and threw it in the dirt.

June 26 -- Fielding error by Cabrera. Boots grounder right to him.

June 29 -- Throwing error by Astros shortstop Jake Elmore. Chopper to Elmore's right, had to hurry the throw. Astros announcers bring up Trout's speed as a possible cause.

July 2 -- Fielding error by Cardinals second baseman Matt Carpenter. With a runner on first, grounder up the middle that Carpenter bobbled and then threw to first, too late to get Trout. This is the play that Baseball-Reference classifies as a ROE but ESPN doesn't (if he fields the ball cleanly he probably gets the force play at second).

Aug. 24 -- Fielding error by Mariners right fielder Endy Chavez. Had to run a long way but dropped a fly ball.

So that's nine (or 10) ROEs. I'd say that Trout's speed came into play on six of them, maybe seven if you want to include the Carpenter play. I'd say two of the plays -- the Andino error and the first Franklin error -- are often counted as hits.

Anyway, at least with Trout, it seems clear in watching the evidence that his speed has factored into his ROEs; it's not just random luck. Maybe we don't get as far as Posnanski suggests and count them as hits, but I'm in agreement that ROEs should at least count towards a player's OBP.

What do you think?