As far as the looking better.. Smackie said the same thing. What pictures are you guys finding to make this claim? Granted, Bryce has a douchey 19-year old beard in a lot of photos, but Trout looks like a pastey doughboy in every photo that just popped up when I googled him. It's a wash at best.
Obviously, I was joking. I was referencing the discussion amongst the scouts in "Moneyball" when they were down to the ridiculous things like "looks like a baseball player" and "He passes the eye candy test. He's got the looks, he's great at playing the part" although I give them full credence on the "ugly girlfriend means no confidence" line. Totally true. Plus it's a sign of poor vision.
I don't follow much national media, but is Trout vs. Harper a big debate outside of this message board? I really hope not as I'm assuming that will quickly lead into the ever-so-tired east coast bias rantings that everyone (i would hope) is tired of.
What spurred my post was a ridiculous discussion on one of those ESPN talking heads shows that fill the afternoon with yelling and buzzers and bells. They were asked "Trout vs Harper - who's the better player?" and every East Coast writer said "Well, I haven't seen Trout play yet, but definitely Harper. He has all the tools" and I thought to myself (1) how is sports writing your job and you haven't seen Mike Trout play this season and (2) how do you say you like the guy you've seen because he "has all the tools" when the other guy you haven't seen has better numbers in the 4 offensive categories AND plays center field. Ridiculous.
Anyhow, only Bill Plaschke (LA Times) said "The only true thing you guys said was that you 'haven't seen Trout play yet' because you all made ridiculous arguments that aren't based on anything other than hype."
Made me think of this thread...so whether it's East vs West or not, I can tell you I've seen them both play, a lot, and while I'd like either as a franchise player, I'm taking Trout over Harper, and it's memorialized here for all to reference later.