Any guesses on what Trout's 2012 card will cost?

I'm thinking at least 13m

and no, I don't mean Kilgore ...

probably similar to Kemp's this season. Although he doesn't pass the "rest of game injury only" threshold, which is a minus.

probably similar to Kemp's this season. Although he doesn't pass the "rest of game injury only" threshold, which is a minus.

Yes, I think you have a key point. However, I think Trout will still be around $11.5 to $12M. He does it all.

I agree that it should be similar to Kemp from this year. He'll clearly be a 1 with a good arm, plus he'll have similar offensive numbers. Some differences between the two:

1) As mentioned, Trout's injury possibilities will be slightly more.
2) Kemp slugged slightly more.
3) Trout will be about a 2R compared to Kemp's 2L. This is a positive, in general, in value determination. However, Kemp only faced a very low 22% lefties in real life, so he got a nice bump in expected output that Trout won't get (normal is 32%).
4) Trout's stealing possibilities will be better (maybe *2-6,11/19-15, compared to Kemp's *4-6/19-14).

All said, I'll guess he'll be about 12.5 (slightly lower than Kemp). This is a bit of a shame, because it's impossible in Strat to replicate the "off-the-charts" defense and base-running that Trout has. If it were possible to differentiate between 1 centerfielders or 1-17 runners, Trout would get a boost in value. All the metrics coming in from the respected analytics sites show Trout as SIGNIFICANTLY higher in added value from defense and base-running than Kemp '11.

IDK about Trout's arm.

Being in SoCal, there's no doubt he's a stud. He can do it all.

But I'd be surprised if he's a - arm. From what I've seen, I think he's a 0.

(Since he gets to almost every ball in the OF, he's never really had to showcase his arm... )

and the snubbing of Trout starts already, losing a gold glove award to Adam Jones.

He'll have plenty more to win...

(Since he gets to almost every ball in the OF, he's never really had to showcase his arm... )

That reminds me of Richie Ashburn in his prime. He rarely got to showcase his arm because he lead the league in outfield putouts nine times, and holds the National League record for outfielder with most seasons of five-hundred plus putouts is four. (The American League record is only one held by Dom DiMaggio, Chet Lemon and Dwayne Murphy.)

Because Strat doesn't have a .5 Fielding rating, it's underrated here.

and the snubbing of Trout starts already, losing a gold glove award to Adam Jones.

It didn't help Trout's case that he was moved to LF in late-game situations as Peter Bourjos was/is a better defensive CF than Trout. Having said that, I still believe that Trout should have won the Gold Glove.

The Angels should have quite a tremendous defensive OF in 2013 if they stick with Bourjos in CF and move Trout to one of the corner spots.

If you have two good centerfielders and you want to utilize them in late-game situations, someone has to play left. He wasn't getting moved because of Bourjos being superior--he had the flexibility to play both.