/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/45829940/usa-today-8104358.0.jpg)
EDIT: You guys I forgot to put in the actual poll. It exists now.
Gomez was a top-5 player in baseball in 2013 and may have actually improved on his hitting in 2014. His advanced defensive metrics fell from "best in baseball" to merely "really really good", and coupled with the emergence of Jonathan Lucroy, was kept him out of MVP discussions. But here's a list of position players who have accumulated more Wins Above Replacement than Carlos Gomez in the past two seasons:
Mike Trout
Andrew McCutchen
Josh Donaldson
End of list
The Brewers front office is fair game for criticism, but Doug Melvin locking up Gomez for 3 years and 24 million was a franchise-altering move.
Gomez | PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | K% | BB% | DEF | WAR |
2013 | 590 | .284 | .338 | .506 | 24.7 | 6.3 | 26.5 | 7.5 |
2014 | 644 | .284 | .356 | .477 | 21.9 | 7.3 | 7.8 | 5.9 |
Steamer | 633 | .262 | .323 | .442 | 23.0 | 6.7 | 11.3 | 4.4 |
ZiPS | 572 | .277 | .336 | .482 | 22.6 | 6.1 | 10.1 | 5.0 |
On most of these I've qualified my pick with a few words. Here I'm all in on the OVER.