TuesdoLinks: Orioles Slam Trout's grand birthday

Josh Mayhood's Library of Mike Trout Hagiography

Mike Trout turned 26 yesterday (having a very messy team party), and we all awoke to a Josh Mayhood inspired world of inspiration. How about about some mind-bending milestones?............

To recap, what we have enjoyed witnessing is a Trout performing as few players ever have in history..........

Mike is only 26, but has proven to be unstoppable. Well, except by himself............

A byproduct of his consistent greatness is that the very stat that is becoming most useful to measure all-around relative success is becoming synonymous with the Trout brand. Like Rickey Henderson and Stolen Bases, Babe Ruth and Home Runs, Ty Cobb and batting average, in the national dialog Trout means WAR..........

Mike Trout, the youngest player to ever hit a home run on 4 of his own birthdays............And 8th most home runs by his 26th birthday. (As the first reply points out, imagine if he had not been hurt this year.)............But Trout stands alone at 26 with his combo of home runs and stolen bases............

And this all adds up to "Mike Trout is a Hall of Famer right now. No, he doesn’t have the 10 years of service necessary, so, technically, he can’t be. But what Trout has done in his seven seasons is so overwhelming, so otherworldly..."...........and it goes on and on............

(Shhh!...As he silently runs under the waves working his way back to being a qualifier, Mike Trout is currently tied for 5th in all of Baseball in fWAR.).............

And to think, ESPN's need to fuel 24/7 sports coverage has actually damaged Trout's potential national standing..........

Bryce Harper hit his 150th carer home run at the same age, down to the day, as did Mike Trout...............

The Astros and Tigers are still having chats about Justin Verlander moving. What I find missing in the link though would be waiver wire rules. Wouldn't Verlander have to pass by Billy Eppler before his name got to the Astros (by reason of having the weaker record)? And if Eppler couldn't make a deal, would Verlander return to the Tigers and be locked there for the rest of the season? Why would Eppler allow the Astros to pick up more pitching depth?..........

This is cute. On the one hand we get another Fan blogger stepping up and noting how Mike Trout has fended off yet another challenger, this time Aaron Judge.....It's easy to write that now, since Judge has utterly collapsed post ASG. But Judge did collect a home run on Sunday.....And that single home run puts Judge right back into the mix for a 2-man AL MVP race...........

But, in the world of Main Stream Sports writing, that makes perfect sense. Why? Home runs. That's why Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge are on track for two of the greatest rookie seasons of all time. Never mind that there are only about 50 games (1/3) left in the season, and Bellinger sits at 3.3 bWAR whereas Judge is at 5.3 bWAR - neither having a shot in hell of getting near Trout's 10.8 bWAR. You see, out of all that amazement that Trout delivered all over the field in his rookie season, only 30 home runs contributed to that amount of production..........

And to see, using eyeballs, just how incredible Trout's rookie season was in comparison to others, check out the interactive charts over at FanGraphs..........

Managers might not be consciously aware it very much, but they are trending away from bullpen management that results in the coveted "Save"..........

Did you, like me, forget that there was a sale still going on concerning the Marlins? Jeffrey Loria wasn't getting ALL the money he wanted, but it was close enough to sense a deal was imminent. Well, time keeps slipping by with no action and Commissioner Manfred is pissy about that. Silly Manfred. He must have forgotten that if Loria completes any deal before March of 2018 he owes back to the taxpayers 5% of the proceeds of his sale. Loria is in absolutely no hurry..........

Noah Syndergaard had his Game of Thrones moment. Got fried by a dragon.....He was a pretty good sport about it..........

On the one hand, Jake Arrieta is having a distinctly non-Arrieta season. The worst over his past 5 years with the Cubs. Maybe somebody hasn't told him that, since he feels confident in getting paid this offseason. Then again, there are many teams such as the Angles where even that would be a big upgrade..........

Some teams have all the luck. Washed out MLB pro first baseman/DH Ike Davis has decided to reboot his career as a pitcher, and his debut in the AZL is lights out.....for the Dodgers organization..........

Major League Baseball really really really needs the existing cable model for content broadcast to remain intact. That's how they fund and value their franchises. In other words, the ownership and Front Office business strategists are all doomed dinosaurs and cannot admit to the threat of extinction..........

______________________________

Yep, kid. It's just a baseball. They are everywhere. And they are not very tasty............What goes up, and all that..........The Onion gives us a ballpark food excursion that rings all too true..........The Nats found a new way to make a couple of bucks. They probably get paid only on rainy days..........The Wrigley Field grounds crew have invented a new extreme sport. Watch carefully right about second base..........