re: Has Harper Surpassed Trout?

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Yes, he's done a good job accumulating WAR but there are a number of statistics that are trending the wrong way. He's struck out in 1/4 of his plate appearances over the last couple years. That's a very high number. He was -11 in DRS during the 2013 season and -12 in DRS in 2014. Last year, his defensive metrics were better but he was still only about league average in UZR and DRS. His stolen base number have deceased every year since 2012. In fact, he stole 11 bases last year yet he was caught more times last year (7) than all of 2012 (5 times) when he stole 49 bases. A legitimate case can be made that 2012 Trout is about as good as we'll get from him.

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I think those are all valid points. Trout is losing some of his early defensive and baserunning value and the Ks are pretty high. That said, an average CF still provides a good bit more defensive value than an average or even above average RF. Plus I think Trout is offsetting alot of that lost value with more power as he ages. And I agree that 2012/2013 might be the best we ever see from Trout because he was worth over ten wins each of those years and that is really hard to do.

If you like Harper more, I totally get it. He is an absolute beast and still making leaps, but I don't see how you can say a case can't be made for Trout. One season and two weeks isn't enough for me to say that Harper is definitively better than the greatest age 20-23 player ever (who happens to be 24 now).