Morning Mound Visit: sabermetrics news - 9/17/19

FanGraphs | Jay Jaffe: Mike Trout, unfortunately, is done for the year. And while there is little precedent for players with that few games winning MVP, it’s hard to see how Alex Bregman wins the prize for anything other than being the next best player on an excellent team. That being said, it does raise an eyebrow that he has now had injuries riddle the last three years, so while he’s still at a 10 WAR pace, it’s not over the full year. Here’s to hoping we see just that in 2020.

Baseball Prospectus | Rob Mains ($): Bill James made the point that the Yankees didn’t win all those World Series by bunting, the answer of whether home runs hurt in the playoffs is a complicated one. While they don’t hurt, it’s not entirely true that fully help either; if a team could score the same number of runs without them, one would guess they’d be equally as formidable.

The Ringer | Zach Kram: Michael Lorenzen of the Reds is becoming a model for two-way players and how they can be cultivated. He has a 69 ERA- and sure, just a 78 wRC+, but pitchers are treating him like a legitimate hitter, and with the team out of it, manager David Bell will look to give him more opportunities to grow.