1. The Detroit Tiger's rotation includes: Justin Verlander (3.12 ERA), Nate Robertson (3.14), Kenny Rogers (3.72), and Jeremy Bonderman (3.65). That, my friends, is just plain unfair. Also, please notice how all those ERA's are lower than your AL All-Star starter's.
2. All the evidence you need for scrapping this one-player-from-each-team rule? The Kansas City Royals. Their All-Star representative is Mark Redman, he of an ERA approaching six. If you are a Royals fan, and God bless your soul if you are, wouldn't you prefer your team to just wallow in obscurity during the All-Star break then being embarrassed by the fact that Mark "5.59 ERA" Redman is the closest you have to an elite caliber player?
If Trot Nixon were a Royal, he'd be a 5-time All-Star.
3. Trot Nixon's OPS > Alex Rodriguez's OPS
4. Atlanta's Jeff Francoeur has an on-base percentage of .272, meaning he makes an out almost 75% of the time. And in over 350 plate appearances, he's drawn seven walks. Seven. Just to show you how mind-bogglingly awful all this is; Pokey Reese, widely regarded as one of the worst hitters to find regular playing time in recent history, has a career OBP of .307. And our boy Frenchy was on the USA's World Baseball Classic team. No wonder we lost. And no wonder the Braves suck.
5. Juan Pierre is on pace for 24 RBI. I think A-Rod once hit that many in one game.
Still with me? Alright, to the point:
Hitters
C- Brian McCann. Fan's pick: Paul Lo Duca. The NL's supply of catchers is incredibly weak. To my surprise, Lo Duca was a legitimate candidate here. Sadly, the best I can come up with is some dude named McCann who put up an OPS above .900 while playing part-time for the Braves. Just to review: Jeff Francoeur (OBP .272)? Full-time. McCann (OBP .417)? Splits time with Todd Pratt (OBP .255).
1B- Albert Pujols. Fan's pick: same. Hey, they got one right! He missed three weeks and is still on pace for 63 HR's and 165 RBI. Insane.2B- Chase Utley. Fan's pick: same. Come to think of it, it's kind of boring when the fans keep getting them right.
SS- Edgar Renteria. Fan's pick: Jose Reyes. I've criticized Reyes as overrated since he came into the league. The insistence of the Mets to bat him leadoff when he was getting on-base at a weak .300 rate were a major source of their previous struggles. So naturally, as Reyes pumped his OBP up to the .350ish range and increased his power, the Mets look like they'll finally win that blasted NL East. So why did I go with Renteria? It was essentially a toss-up and I was tired of agreeing with the fan vote.
3B- Miguel Cabrera. Fan's pick: David Wright. Again, close call. Wright has a few more homers, but Miggy's OBP clip is a good bit better (.437 vs .389). Plus the need-to-disagree-with-fan-vote factor comes into play.
OF- Jason Bay, Carlos Beltran, Adam Dunn. Fan's pick: Bay, Beltran, Alfonso Soriano. Yes, Adam Dunn is hitting .234. But his OBP (are you getting the feeling this is important to me?) is in the .370's, well above Soriano. So given their power numbers (HRs and slugging %) are essentially the same, it was an easy pick.
Reserves- Mike Barrett (C), Lance Berkman and Ryan Howard (1B), Dan Uggla, somehow (2B), Jose Reyes (SS), Wright and Scott Rolen (3B), Soriano, Carlos Lee, Bobby Abreu and Rockies' representative Matt Holliday (OF). Pretty similar to the actual reserves. Barrett got extra points for punching Pierzynski in the face. Yes, it was a dirty play and no, I don't care.
Pitchers - Jason Schmidt is my starter, and it was a very close call. You can also make legit arguments for Chris Carpenter, Brandon Webb, Bronson Arroyo or Brad Penny. Rounding out the starters are Chris Capuano and Chris Young. Amazingly, I'm leaving off studs like Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Dontrelle Willis, John Smoltz, Roy Oswalt and some guy named Josh Johnson. There simply wasn't enough room. Relievers are Trevor Hoffman, Tom Gordon, Jason Isringhausen and Billy Wagner.
By the way, if you're still reading this, you're probably a close, personal friend and I should invite you over to my house for dinner.
5 comments:
Yeah, there's a little White Sox bias on the AL team.
I agree with you on most of 'em, but you forgot the most important All-Star of them all. David freakin' Eckstein.
Instead of dinner, you can just mail me a $15 gift certificate to Moe's.
Poor Ecky just missed the cut at SS. I admire his on-base rate, but you really need more than 1 HR to overcome Edgar or Reyes. That said, either of those guys gets hurt and Eckstein will slide right in.
I know you're huge on OBP, but Eckstein also rarely strikes out and can help wear a pitcher down by extending his at bats. Plus he runs when he's walked. If that's not All-Star material, I don't know what is.
Um, you know my position on baseball... and I still read your articles (which were quite enjoyable)... so what's cookin' over at the Gooden Family Diner?
Aw crap. Peerzinskee actually won the online vote. For crying out loud, the AL leader in on-base percentage AND slugging percentage ISNT an All-Star. What does Travis Hafner have to do to get anyone's respect? (a: do anything of signifigance in the playoffs).
seriously, the average joe probably thinks scott podsednik and chris burke are better players than Hafner.
Oh and Mr. Lingual, we cook whatever we can conjure up. Wed night my mom and I basically made up a recipe for chicken spagetti and it was pretty good.
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