Sports

AL’s rookie class could be best ever

Mike Trout (Getty Images)

Mike Trout turned 21 last Tuesday. His age matters to this conversation.

Tigers manager Jim Leyland recently politicked for his genius slugger, Miguel Cabrera, for MVP. But, with all due respect to Leyland’s expertise, Trout is having one of the most unique seasons in history. He just might be the best defensive player in the game, with one scout saying, “Honestly, I would pay to never watch him hit and he hits great.”

How great? Since the turn of the century, four AL players have reached 21 homers, 36 steals and 88 runs in a season: Jacoby Ellsbury last year, Grady Sizemore in 2008 and Alfonso Soriano in 2002. Each played at least 156 games. The fourth? That would be Trout. He didn’t play until April 28. He has played just 92 games (so it is not as if his stats aren’t going to keep growing). And, by the way, he led the AL in hitting at .340 — 16 points over the second-place Cabrera heading into last night’s games.

When Trout arrived, the Angels were 6-14, tied for the second-worst record in the AL. Since then, they were 54-41, which was second best, and there is little doubt he is the impetus.

“We have never seen anything like this when you consider the age,” said a veteran baseball executive. “There are only two other guys that won Rookie of the Year and MVP. One (Fred Lynn) came from the best college program in the country at that time (USC). The other (Ichiro Suzuki) already was an established star in Japan who came here in his late 20s (27). This is a high school kid drafted in 2009 dominating on both sides of the ball.”

It has pushed Trout into a debate for the best rookie season in history with, among others, Ichiro and Albert Pujols in 2001, Lynn in 1975 and Ted Williams in 1939. But his individual genius is obscuring that he is fronting what could end up being one of the best rookie groups one league has ever produced.

We are not talking about just where they will finish in this year’s Rookie balloting, though the AL race is deep in candidates. Consider that in most years Oakland’s Yoenis Cespedes would have the credentials to win the rookie award via production and impact (the A’s were 49-31 when he started, 12-22 when he didn’t). Trout and Cespedes are near locks to go 1-2 and voters are only allowed to cast votes for three players. Boston’s Will Middlebrooks had a shot, but recently fractured his wrist.

Texas’ Yu Darvish has the name recognition, but a less-costly import from Asia, Baltimore’s Wei-Yin Chen, is having a better season, and the same might be true for the White Sox’s Jose Quintana (unforgivably left off the Yankees’ 40-man roster last winter), Minnesota’s Scott Diamond and Oakland’s Jarrod Parker.

In fact, the A’s are bedeviling Trout’s Angels in the AL West because of their stellar rookie class: Cespedes, Parker, Chris Carter, Derek Norris, Tommy Milone, A.J. Griffin, Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle.

But this is about more than 2012. The NL has introduced some rookies with sterling long-term potential such as Washington’s Bryce Harper (who actually is struggling in the second half and now might not win Rookie of the Year), the Mets’ Matt Harvey and the Cubs’ Anthony Rizzo. But the volume of potential stars debuting in the AL, especially with the recent promotions of Texas’ Mike Olt and Baltimore’s Manny Machado, suggests the AL’s nine-year dominance winning in the inter-league standings could be under no duress (even with Houston joining the AL next year).

Machado and Olt will likely use up their rookie status, though they joined the party too late to threaten for awards. But their pedigree along with those of Trout, Cespedes, Darvish, Parker, Tampa Bay’s Matt Moore (4-1, AL-best 1.47 ERA in the second half) and perhaps Seattle’s Jesus Montero give this a chance to be one of the most impressive rookie contingents ever from one league. In his first week on the job, Machado, 20, replaced Trout as the youngest player in the league and won AL Player (not Rookie) of the Week.

Now only time will reveal if multiple players can sustain excellence and join, for example, the 2001 NL (Albert Pujols, Roy Oswalt, Adam Dunn and Ben Sheets) and AL (Ichiro, CC Sabathia, Soriano and David Eckstein) classes. In 1986, the NL featured Barry Bonds, Will Clark, Barry Larkin, Kevin Mitchell and Todd Worrell and in 1955 Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning and Ken Boyer all broke in, yet none of them finished in the top three vote getters.

Yanks can’t get Burn-ed by Lowe

The Yankees shunned a trade for Johan Santana after the 2007 season because they knew they were always going to prioritize CC Sabathia in free agency after the 2008 campaign. But the hierarchy was split on which other starter to add: A.J. Burnett’s power vs. Derek Lowe’s savvy.

The decision was made for the Yankees as Lowe’s initial asking price scared them off. Both the Yanks and Braves ended up bidding five years at $82.5 million on Burnett, who had a home base in Baltimore and wife scared to fly. So he picked the Yankees because there were nine games a year at Camden Yards and a much shorter drive from Baltimore to New York than to Atlanta. The Braves, with no initial plans for Lowe, gave him a five-year, $60 million contract.

Burnett pitched so poorly for the Yanks that they agreed to eat $20 million of the $33 million remaining for 2012-13 to complete a trade with Pittsburgh. And Lowe pitched so poorly for Atlanta (he joined Burnett in 2011 as two of the five qualified starters with ERAs 5.00 or higher) that the Braves ate $10 million of the $15 million he was owed to deal him to the Indians.

Now, in an ironic twist, Atlanta and Cleveland are paying all but the pro-rated minimum for Lowe to pitch out of the Yankeespen.

CC’s pain runs deep

If you were thinking about October in March, then probably the two Yankees pitchers you viewed as irreplaceable were Mariano Rivera and CC Sabathia.

Rivera threw off flat ground yesterday for the first time since his knee surgery, but Brian Cashman stated yet again that there is no chance the closer will pitch in 2012. Thus, the Yanks already know that the greatest end-game weapon in postseason history will not be part of their journey.

Sabathia, meanwhile, has vowed to return from his elbow injury on the day his DL stint ends. But you do have to wonder what version — if any — of their ace the Yankees will get for September onward.

Sabathia has now been on the DL twice this year, or as many times as the rest of his career combined.

Sabathia and Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay have been the preeminent workhorse power pitches of this era. In the 10 years from 2002-11, only finesse lefty Mark Buehrle (2,204) threw more regular-season innings than Halladay (2,194.2) and Sabathia (2,184). This year Halladay went to the DL with a shoulder injury and only in his last two starts (one run, 15 innings) has he looked anything like himself. And let’s face it, Sabathia has not pitched like an ace this year, more a dogged No. 2-3.

And, remember, the only Yankee signed longer than Sabathia (set through 2016 with a 2017 option) is Alex Rodriguez, and the organization already is horrified what A-Rod will look like for the remainder of his contract.