Los Angeles Angels: About that controversial Mike Trout article

People are certainly passionate about the Los Angeles Angels and Mike Trout and we may have learned that the hard way.

Oh boy, this is a first. Usually we leave the sports debates for our social media platforms, and of course, we always keep it civil. However, this one had so many different people respond and engage in a debate that it only seemed fitting to make an article. The subject at hand being Los Angeles Angels center fielder, Mike Trout.

The article was posted a few days ago and is titled “Los Angeles Angels: There is a legitimate case for not voting for Mike Trout“. That title in upon itself is going to churn some reactions, and it certainly did, with a lot of people missing the point I was trying to make.

The entire article is about three outfielders — George Springer, Joey Gallo and Austin Meadows — who are having phenomenal seasons and are in the same echelon thus far as Trout. Heck, all three guys actually have better numbers than Trout in certain areas.

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The article presents a situation in which these three outfielders, who all deserve all-star votes, get the votes over Trout. It is not pushing it as cold hard fact, or even declaring that Trout is not an all-star. The premise is this: for the first time, maybe in his entire career, it isn’t absolutely crazy to pick three other outfielders than Trout.

Trout will still be an all-star and will receive the most votes in the American League, and rightfully so. We stated such in the article. However, knowing that Trout is going to make the all-star team regardless, it is not a crazy thing to do to vote for those other three guys to give them representation as well.

At the end of the day, if we ignore past accolades (which should happen in all-star voting, it is about 2019, not career) then these guys are in the same ballpark as Trout. Nobody is saying they are better players, the argument simply was that they are up there.

Now, I saw several different responses on Twitter, a lot were hostile, some were constructive. Some spun this as me saying that Trout isn’t the best player in baseball, despite literally leading the article calling him the best player in baseball.

That led to some saying the article was contradictory and clickbait. Which again, you can be the best overall player but not have the best overall season through two months (although he leads in WAR). These guys are in the same ballpark as Trout but that does not mean they are suddenly better players than him.

But all-star voting is about current performance, not overall talent or accolades. And about it being click bait, it is an opinion. In my eyes, clickbait is something that is misleading and has a title that infers such.

Look at Tommy La Stella as the perfect example. La Stella is not the best second baseman in the American League, that honor goes to Jose Altuve. However, he is having the better year thus far, so he would deserve the all-star nod. Both can be true: Altuve is the better-proven player but La Stella is more deserving of an all-star vote.

The title, which we named earlier, is not saying that Trout isn’t an all-star. It is saying that there is a case to be made for such, in which we made the case in the article. Does not make it concrete facts, heck, it is an opinion after all. The title suggests there is a case to be made and we make the case.

This is not some anti-Los Angeles Angels bias, as I am a Dodger fan. That is important for transparency sake. I am a baseball fan and journalist first. While homerism is certainly something that everyone suffers from, I will not let that affect my opinion and writing on a team that has no connection to the Dodgers aside from geographical location.

I should mention that not everything I write about the Los Angeles Angels is going to be positive. It is not fair to paint everything in a perfect light, like some fans like to do. The same can be said for the Dodgers. I am the first to argue the Dodgers’ faults to fellow Dodger fan who only see the team in a positive-only light.

As always, I appreciate the dialogue and all feedback that is sent my way, positive or negative. That is what this job is all about.

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Hopefully, this can clear it up for people who saw the previous article and were outraged. There are only so many characters allowed on Twitter and this response seemed fitting.

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