Thursday, July 9, 2009

ALAll stars: Did we get it right?

Ah, the all star game. A time of complaints, and arguements about whether or not the fans got it right or not. Well, lets look at the rosters:
AL
C-Joe Mauer, Victor Martinez
1B-Mark Teixiera, Justin Morneau, Kevin Youkilis
2B-Dustin Pedroia, Aaron Hill
SS-Derek Jeter, Jason Bartlett
3B-Evan Longoria, Brandon Inge
OF-Jason Bay, Carl Crawford
OF-Ichiro, Torii Hunter, Curtis Granderson
OF-Josh Hamilton, Ben Zobrist

Lets look at the AL. Starting at catcher. I'd say 100% right. Joe Mauer is obviously deserving as the starting all star catcher, right now is argueably the MVP. Victor Martinez is having a great year as well. The best way to look at it is, is there a better catcher in the league then either one? Jorge Posada and A.J. Pierzkysnki are both having real nice years, but neither one is more deserving than the 2 that were voted in.
Lets move on to 1b. Mark Teixiera had a terrible April, but really turned it on after that. He bat .330 in June, and is batting .333 in July. Defenitley deserving. Justin Morneau is having a great season too. But, is he more deserving than Miguel Cabrera? Thats debatable. Moving on to Kevin Youkilis. He is having a very good season, but is he more deserving than Miguel Cabrera? I'd say no that, for sure. Is he more deserving than Paul Konerko? Probably. There are a good number of solid 1B's in the AL, so its tough. But I'd say, maybe except Cabrera over Youkilis, good job.
Lets move on to 2B. Here's where the big problems start. Dustin Pedroia over Ian Kinsler and Robinson Cano? I don't think so. Pedroia is having an ok year at best, while Kinsler has hit for great power, and Cano has hit for great average. Aaron Hill is defenitley deserving, but he should be starting, not a reserve. He's hit for great power and great average so far. I'd say they got it wrong, because Cano or Kinsler should defenitley be in instead of Dustin.
Lets move to SS. I'd say they defenitley got it right here. Derek Jeter was the leading vote getter, pretty well deservingly. He is 2nd in the AL out of shortstops in average and OBP only to the other SS, Jason Bartlett. He is also 2nd in the AL in HR's out of shortstops. While Jason Bartlett missed quite a bit of time, his .356 BA and .402 OBP make him deserving.
At 3B, Evan Longoria and Brandon Inge are representing for the AL. Although Inge has had great power, he has not hit for average, and that really makes me question that decision. Scott Rolen, Chone Figgins and Michael Young are all having better years, in my opinion. Evan Longoria, easy choice here. While his numbers have fallen and he has missed some time, he is still deserving of a spot. A guy you could make a case for, is A-Rod. Sure, his average is down and he missed a month..that being said he has really been coming on of late, and has hit for great power. So when it comes to 3B, I see 4 others that could have made it over Inge.
Moving on to OF. The first name that pops out to me, is Josh Hamilton. 38 games played, .254 BA, 6 HR's? And he's your starting CF? This is over guys like Torii Hunter (reserve), Ellsbury, Span, and Adam Jones? Thats terrible. I agree with Ichiro starting, who obviously is having a great season. Jason Bay should NOT be starting over guys like Adam Lind, Carl Crawford (reserve), Juan Rivera and Shin-Shoo Choo? Some OF's defenitley got robbed. Lind, Dye, Markakis, Rivera, Jones, Damon, Ellsbury....but not all of them could make it. Pretty poor job on OF's.

All in all, its still just an all star game. Sure, home field advantage is decided, but thats not the big picture...The guys that are best should be there. Period.

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