bball123- I did not discredit the opinions of MLB players. In fact, in my post above, I mentioned that I believe players' opinions are very important for overall valuation of a player, including his work ethic, clubhouse presence and leadership qualities. As a front office executive, those would be extremely crucial aspects to a player's overall ability to help my team and I would certainly take them into account.
I'd be curious to know the basis by which the MLB players chose Cabrera. They saw him as the most valuable player in the league this year...why? Why do they feel that way?
I respect the opinion of the players a whole lot more than I respect the opinion of the sportswriters. But in the end, neither of those demographics make the decisions for the team. The front office personnel does. And the front office personnel would be prohibiting themselves greatly if they didn't look at the whole picture. The whole picture, when analyzing everything, tells a pretty obvious story- that Mike Trout is the MVP this year, for all the reasons that have been mentioned on this thread previously.
If an MLB player reads this forum I hope they post and provide some insight about how they feel and good, logical reasoning as to why they feel this way. As you said, everyone is entitled to their opinion. But I believe that all opinions should be formulated using good reasoning...not just in the case of baseball, but in all aspects of life.