Zach Wilt: Comparing Nelson Cruz to Frank Robinson

Nelson Cruz's career year couldn't have come at a better time. The Orioles slugger will likely finish the season with the Major League lead in home runs, assuming Jose Abreu doesn't go on an absolute tear. He currently sits at 40 homers, seven more than his previous career-high in 2009 and his 108 RBIs are also more than he's ever driven in, he finished with 90 in 2012. Cruz has totaled more doubles and taken more free passes this year than he had in any of his previous nine seasons in the big leagues. Do you think he had something to prove this season? While Adam Jones would have had my non-existent vote for Most Valuable Oriole, it's tough to argue with the Orioles writers, who selected Cruz for the honor on Sunday at Camden Yards. Without Matt Wieters, who put together one of the strongest 26-game stretches offensively in his career before he went down with an elbow injury, and Chris Davis, who went from being a 6.1 WAR player in 2013 to a 1.8 WAR player this season before being suspended for amphetamines on Sept. 12, the O's have relied heavily on Cruz. And Cruz has delivered in a big way. As I glance in amazement at his statistics and league rankings, I can't help but think of another couple numbers: one-year, $8 million. That contract has got to be one of the best in recent history. 29 other GM's should be jealous of the deal that Dan Duquette signed this American League MVP candidate to in late February after every team seemed to pass on him. According to FanGraphs.com's WAR to dollar scale, Cruz has put together a season valued at $21.5 million. Has there ever been a deal so unfair to the rest of baseball? One other comes to mind. Let's travel back to the sixties. Before the 1966 season, the Cincinnati Reds acquired pitchers Milt Pappas, Jack Baldschun and outfielder Dick Simpson from the Baltimore Orioles in exchange for Frank Robinson, the 1961 National League MVP. Robinson was a six-time All-Star when he arrived at his age 30 season in Baltimore. He attended five more in his six years with the Orioles. Much like Cruz, Robinson hit the ground running in his first season in Baltimore. He slashed .316/.410/.637 with 49 homers and 122 RBI, leading in all five of those categories, winning both the '66 AL MVP award and the Triple Crown in the process. While he wasn't signed as a free agent, like Cruz, the trade with the Reds is still viewed as one of the most lopsided in MLB history. Robinson hadn't won a World Series in his ten years with the Reds, but in his first season in orange and black, he led the Birds to the first in their franchise history and picked up MVP honors in the fall classic after hitting .286/.375/.857 with a pair of homers and three RBIs. Cruz is no stranger to postseason heroics either, he's hit 14 homers in 34 postseason games with the Rangers and was the Most Valuable Player in the 2011 American League Championship Series after hitting .364/.440/1.273 with six long balls and 13 RBI. He'll have a chance to add to the resume next week. While I fully expect Mike Trout to win the MVP award in the American League this season, you could easily make a case for Cruz. He's second in RBIs, sixth in slugging percentage and has struck out 52 times less than Trout this season. He's been an incredibly important part of the Orioles success this season, a year in which many predicted them to finish in the cellar of the AL East. How closely will Cruz's season continue to mirror that of Robinson in 1966? If it were up to him, I would assume he'd prefer to finish behind Trout in exchange for Baltimore's fourth World Series championship.

Zach Wilt blogs about the Orioles at Baltimore Sports Report. Follow him on Twitter: @zamwi. His views appear here as part of MASNsports.com's season-long initiative of welcoming guest bloggers to our pages. All opinions expressed are those of the guest bloggers, who are not employed by MASNsports.com but are just as passionate about their baseball as our roster of writers.