C Joe Mauer 1B Justin Morneau 2B Robinson Cano 3B Evan Longoria SS Derek Jeter OF Ichiro Suzuki OF Josh Hamilton OF Carl Crawford DH Vladimir Guerrero
National League Starters
C Yadier Molina 1B Albert Pujols 2B Chase Utley injured, will not play (Replacement is Martin Prado) 3B David Wright SS Hanley Ramirez OF Ryan Braun OF Jason Heyward injured, might not play OF Andre Ethier
AL Pitching Staff
SP CC Sabathia SP Clay Buchholz SP Fausto Carmona SP David Price SP Phil Hughes SP Jon Lester SP Cliff Lee SP Trevor Cahill RP Neftali Feliz RP Mariano Rivera RP Matt Thornton RP Jose Valverde RP Joakim Soria
NL Picthing Staff
SP Roy Halladay SP Ubaldo Jimenez SP Josh Johnson SP Tim Lincecum SP Tim Hudson SP Adam Wainwright SP Chris Carpenter SP Yovani Gallardo RP Jonathan Broxton RP Arthur Rhodes RP Brian Wilson RP Evan Meek RP Matt Capps
American League Reserves
IF Ty Wigginton 3B Adrian Beltre DH David Ortiz 1B Miguel Cabrera OF Torii Hunter 3B Alex Rodriguez SS Elvis Andrus 2B Ian Kinsler 3B Jose Bautista C John Buck OF Vernon Wells
National League Reserves
OF Chris Young IF Omar Infante C Brian McCann 2B Martin Prado OF Marlon Byrd 2B Brandon Phillips 3B Scott Rolen OF Michael Bourn OF Corey Hart SS Jose Reyes 1B Ryan Howard OF Matt Holliday 1B Adrian Gonzalez
I'm annoyed as hell that Miggy Cabrera lost the vote to start at 1st Base. He leads Morneau in runs, home runs, and RBI. It just grates me that every time there's a deserving Detroit player in one of these popularity votes, they always end up losing.
On the other hand, I am surprised that Valverde got recognition at all. He has been completely un-hit-able the past few months. But, while we all know every team has to be represented, is Matt Thornton really the best White Sox that could've been chosen? He gets a spot over someone more deserving, like Rafael Soriano.
Michigan against the SEC: 20-5-1 (7-3 in bowl games)
It's absurd that Joey Votto is on the 'last man on the roster' vote. You can make a great case that he should be starting. In fact, if the Reds continue their success, he'll get a lot of MVP votes.
As a Jays fan, it's hilarious to see John Buck as an All-Star. First of all, he only plays about four games a week. Secondly, his presence on this team is solely because he had a ridiculous two-week stretch in May and his usual mediocre self for the rest of the season.
Congrats to Arthur Rhodes for the first All-Star appearance of his long career.
Originally posted by Big BadIt's absurd that Joey Votto is on the 'last man on the roster' vote. You can make a great case that he should be starting.
I agree, that to me is the biggest absurdity of the all-star ballots. Votto is pretty much identical to Pujols in most stats and, while I have no problem with Pujols starting, Votto should absolutely be on the roster.
All the attention is going to the many emerging pitchers this year, but Votto is one of the breakout stars of this year and is a big part of the reason the Reds have been such a surprise. He's off to a pretty great start to his career - his numbers last year were pretty great too, but its his home runs and RBI that have jumped big time this season.
I can see why people might be upset that Strasburg wasn't named to the game, but Charlie Manuel's statement was very classy and it's hard to hold it against him. If he really IS that good, then he WILL be an All-Star for a long time.
With that said, I still don't rule him out for the game if one of the NL pitchers bow out or pitch on that Sunday.
MD: You have to win, no matter what. SC: Why didn't you try that this year?
I don't understand why there are two pitchers on the NL Final Vote ballot, especially when the NL roster has 3 closers already. If one of them wins, wouldn't the AL complain about the NL carrying an extra pitcher?
I'm assuming 1 or 2 more players will be named to the NL team. Prado has already been moved up to starter, leaving an empty reserve spot. If Heyward doesn't start, someone on the reserves will have to, leaving another empty reserve spot.
Who starts at DH for the NL? Ryan Howard or Adrian Gonzalez?
Also, Clay Buchholz has been put on the DL, so he's presumably out of the All-Star game as well.
Buchholz's dl stint should be retroactive to the 26th. So he may be eligible but the way this season has been going, I don't want any of the Red Sox players to go.
Originally posted by odessasteps "He’s my guy. He’s my player. My guy."
Via Phillie beat writer Todd Zolecki, Charlie Manuel's explanation as to why he picked Ryan Howard instead of Joey Votto for the All Star Game.
That's fine by me. Howard, even though he may be less impressive than others this season, has proven himself as a all star name the past couple of seasons. He, like say Ripken in the late 90's or Griffey in the last couple of years, can afford to go in based on name alone. Besides, who says he isn't having a all-star year? He's still on pace for a 30 HR, 110 RBI season with one of the highest batting averages in his career. And that's with Rollins injured a lot of the season and the rest of the lineup struggling. It may not be as good as his previous seasons, but it still is as impressive as most players are ever going to have.
If anything, I have a much bigger problem with Manuel selecting Omar Infante (1 HR, 22 RBI) over Votto (19 HR, 57 RBI). I won't go as far as Yahoo (sports.yahoo.com) did in saying it was the worst AS pick ever, but overall I do agree it's as baffling a pick as any I have seen in a long time.
As a Braves fan, I am glad to see Jason Heyward make the all-star team in his rookie season (though he may or may not play). I also think Troy Glaus is deserving of an all-star spot as well as him and Heyward have helped the Braves to their current position (but there are always all-star snubs in any all-star game in any sport and based on the roster selections for the most part, it is hard to argue against it).
Now, if they could only change the rules of the all-star game of the which league gets true home field advantage.
Votto got screwed. The guy is one of the best players in the game and has gotten no love. He is right there with Wright and Gonzalez in the MVP race so far. Pelf is starting Sunday so he wouldn't be able to pitch anyway. Omar Infante on the team is a disgrace. In the American league Liriano and Weaver were snubbed.
Originally posted by BoromirMarkI'm annoyed as hell that Miggy Cabrera lost the vote to start at 1st Base. He leads Morneau in runs, home runs, and RBI. It just grates me that every time there's a deserving Detroit player in one of these popularity votes, they always end up losing.
Morneau is as good as Cabrera or better in nearly every stat you did not mention, and on top of that is a significantly better fielder. The fans got it right.
Originally posted by Joseph RyderMorneau is as good as Cabrera or better in nearly every stat you did not mention, and on top of that is a significantly better fielder. The fans got it right.
Going into today's games:
Cabrera: .339 BA Morneau: .344 BA
Cabrera: 1.048 OPS Morneau: 1.051 OPS
His "lead" in these other categories are by the merest of fractions, while in the meantime Morneau trails behind in home runs and RBI. And while better defensively, it's not like Cabrera is a sieve out there. At the end of the day, only one of the two has a legitimate shot to win the Triple Crown this year: Cabrera.
No, the fans didn't get it right. They got it totally wrong.
Michigan against the SEC: 20-5-1 (7-3 in bowl games)
Morneau's .447 wOBA is slightly better than Cabrera's .440. I'll just concede you this one and call them basically equal in terms of hitting value. In fact they rank 1-2 in the entire league.
But Cabrera has the worst UZR/150 in the entire league (among 1B) while Morneau has the best. This can be meaningful as they do spend half the game standing at first base with a glove on their hand.
When I heard about Omar Infante, I figured that maybe to go with the increase in set-up relievers, an All-Star manager finally figured out that it may come in handy to have someone come off the bench and steal you a key base late in the game.. (what, the rosters are about 35 now?)
But before posting, I figured I should look up this guy's numbers, to see what made him a not-so-obvious choice.
Conclusion: Obviously Charlie Manuel shouldn't have done whatever he did in camera-phone range.
Obviously Votto should be there. I know it's tough to decide which first basemen to carry but with a DH spot this year you can afford an extra 1B and leave off another player (Infante).
Besides Joey Votto being left out the biggest head scratcher to me were the choices for teams that must have a representative. Capps is there because he's second in a meaningless stat. An ERA over 3.00 is HORRIBLE for a closer. Josh Willingham should be there. It's nice that a middle reliever got noticed but Andrew McCutchen is the best player on the Pirates by miles and I would've chosen Oswalt over Bourne.
I don't think Heyward deserves to be an All-Star. He was great for the first six weeks but since then he hasn't been any better than the other rookies in the league, much less everybody else. But I understand that it's the fan's choice for the starters. If Heyward doesn't play there are a number of deserving players like Gonzalez, McCutchen Willingham and the Reds are just getting disrespected all around because Jonny Gomes is having a great season.
When I saw Brian Wilson I figured he was the Giants rep but then I saw Lincecum made it. Why Wilson is in over Billy Wagner and Heath Bell I don't know.
I know Yadier Molina is a great defensive catcher but I have a hard time voting in somebody batting .229. That's 12th out of the 12 catchers with 200 at-bats or more.
Originally posted by Joseph RyderMorneau: 4.9 Wins Above Replacement Cabrera: 3.2 Wins Above Replacement [fangraphs]
Morneau's .447 wOBA is slightly better than Cabrera's .440. I'll just concede you this one and call them basically equal in terms of hitting value. In fact they rank 1-2 in the entire league.
But Cabrera has the worst UZR/150 in the entire league (among 1B) while Morneau has the best. This can be meaningful as they do spend half the game standing at first base with a glove on their hand.
This is in no way a snub, sorry.
UZR isn't the end-all and be-all of defensive statistics, but in this case all the defensive statistics agree that Morneau is playing better defensively than Cabrera. TotalZone has Morneau +11, DRS has him +7 (+ is good in both these stats, it represents runs saved defensively compared to an average player), and in a more basic stat, his range factor (Putouts+Assists) per 9 innings is 9.62 (league average 1B is 9.30). TotalZone has Cabrera -3, DRS has him -6, and his range factor is 9.21 per 9 innings.
So UZR, TotalZone, and DRS have Morneau 12.9, 14, and 13 runs better than Cabrera defensively.
I agree that they're basically a wash offensively; I have both worth +31 runs.
Also, Clay Buchholz has been put on the DL, so he's presumably out of the All-Star game as well.
I clicked on that, and now the great Folding@Home mystery has been solved: you're Dr. Pepper MD!
It is the policy of the documentary crew to remain true observers and not interfere with its subjects. "Well. Shit." -hansen9j Let's Go Riders! (1-0, T-1st West Division)
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Heh, I love it when an ump tells Bobby if he does something, he'll get ejected. More likely than not, Bobby will go out of his way to do it. My favorite was a game in Florida a few years ago. Bobby was screaming from the dugout.