Cleveland Indians: Albert Belle slamming Mike Trout is old-school at its best
Hearing former Cleveland Indians slugger Albert Belle critique Mike Trout is old school baseball at its best.
As the Cleveland Indians play the New York Yankees in the American League Wild Card round, one of the fun off-the-field debates centers around who will win the MVP.
Jose Ramirez, who WAR leads baseball, is prime candidate, So is pitcher Shane Bieber, who already looks to have the Cy Young award locked up.
Former Indians slugger Albert Belle believes Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu should take home the hardware.
Belle was asked for his opinion when calling into to ESPN Cleveland’s Really Big Show. Belle gave his reasons for believing Abreau dissevered the award, and then proceeds to bag on Mike Trout–and it’s old-school baseball at its best.
"“I just like guys who’ve been hot the whole year. I’m always going to bag on Trout. I think he got hot when the team was like 13-25, they were in last place, so he got hot and basically brought them out of the cellar.”"
Trout, regarded as the game’s best player and a three-time MVP, hasn’t appeared in the postseason during his 10-years a big leaguer.
Bell continued, via The Land on Demand 8:14 (subscription)
"“You know what, Mike Trout can’t carry a club. They keep saying how he’s the best player, you would start a franchise with him. He has the greatest job in the world. He’s from the east coast, form Jersey, he wouldn’t become a free agent to play for Philly because he doesn’t want that pressure on him, so he’s out on the west coast, where he’s going to be in an Angels uniform for his whole career He’s going to pile up meaningless stats, and he’s going to be a Hall of Famer and all of these saber-idiots, they love it. And the guy’s going to strike out next year, in a 162 games, if he plays, he’s going to strikeout 175 times and he’s going to walk 100 and they’re going to be like, ‘He had a great year.’ And I’m like, ‘No you didn’t, not when you strikeout 175 times and you can’t carry your team to the playoffs.’ That’s not a great year."
To add to Belle’s point, the Angels added World Series hero Anthony Rendon, who had a fantastic year for the Angels, and still, even in an expanded format, the Angels didn’t come close to sniffing the postseason.
Pitching has certainly been a problem through the years. The Angels posted a 5.03 team ERA this season, which was 25th in baseball.
It’s always interesting to hear Belle’s opinions on sports because he talked so little during a 10-year MLB career in which he belted 389 home runs.
And as far as the MVP goes, I still can’t help but think how Belle was robbed in 1995. By hitting 50 home runs and 52 doubles in a strike-shortened 144 game season, Belle posted one of the best offensive season in the history of baseball.
Yet it was Vaughn who got it, for batting .300 with 39 home runs and co-leading the league in RBIs (with Bele) with 126. Vaughn also struck out a league-high 150 times.
Belle led the league in homers, doubles, slugging percentage, total bases and runs and only struck out 80 times.
In his career, Belle fanned 100 or more times in just two seasons. One of those campaigns was very early in his career. Trout’s fanned over 120 times seven of his 10 seasons. He was well on his way to doing it in 2020, but the season was only 60 games long.
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Trout’s an unbelievable talent, who has a remarkable 1.000 OPS after 10 years of play. But hearing Albert go old school on eight-time All-Star will never get old.