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Friday, 02 July 2010

All-Star voting is done.

Did you vote? Did you vote more than once? Did you use your 20 email addresses to vote 500 times?

As I understand it, there are now 34 players on each roster. One of the complaints that you hear every year is about the rule that each team must have a representative. I think this is pretty much a non- issue, for two reasons:

  1. The All-Star Game is an exhibition for the sport/business/product; I think it's reasonable that an exhibition should have representatives from every team in the league;
  2. There are now 34 freaking roster spots; anyone complaining about the Baltimore Orioles getting a representative is complaining about a roster spot that didn't exist two years ago.

While we breathlessly await the results, here's an attempt at picking 68 players and not screwing up too badly:

CA Joe Mauer isn't having his best year, but he's still obviously the premier catcher in the AL.

1B Justin Morneau is the obvious choice, leading the league in OPS, though the competition is very strong: Miguel Cabrera, Kevin Youkilis and Paul Konerko all having great seasons, while Billy Butler might be KC's best player. The struggling Mark Teixeira did well in voting but looks like he will come up short.

2B I think Robinson Cano is the MVP of the American League to this point. The only second sacker who's even close to him is Dustin Pedroia, who's on the DL.

3B Evan Longoria leads voting, and has probably been the best, although Adrian Beltre is very close and that A-Rod guy has been pretty good too.

SS Derek Jeter leads voting, and should be the starter. He's having an off-year, but no shortstop in the AL is having an All-Star calibre season so what are you going to do.

OF It appears that Carl Crawford, Ichiro Suzuki and Josh Hamilton are going to start, and that's a pretty good group. You could make cases for Brennan Boesch or David DeJesus or Alex Rios or Shin-Soo Choo, but I'm not going to be petulant about it; no outfielder is an MVP canadidate at this point.

DH Vlad the Impaler leads the league in RBI, and is the "Duh" choice here.

The complete roster, then:

1B Justin Morneau (MIN)
1B Kevin Youkilis (BOS)
1B Miguel Cabrera (DET)
2B Robinson Cano (NYY)
2B Dustin Pedroia (BOS) Ty Wigginton (BAL)
3B Evan Longoria (TBR)
3B Adrian Beltre (BOS)
3B Alex Rodriguez (NYY)
SS Derek Jeter (NYY)
SS Alex Gonzalez (TOR)
IF Mike Young (TEX)
CA Joe Mauer (MIN)
CA Mike Napoli (LAA)
DH Vladimir Guerrero (TEX)
OF Carl Crawford (TBR)
OF Alex Rios (CHW)
OF Josh Hamilton (TEX)
OF Ichiro Suzuki (SEA)
OF Shin-Soo Choo (CLE)
OF Brennan Boesch (DET)
OF David DeJesus (KCR)
SP David Price (TBR)
SP Jered Weaver (LAA)
SP Andy Pettitte (NYY)
SP Ricky Romero (TOR)
SP Jeff Niemann (TBR)
SP Jon Lester (BOS)
SP C.C. Sabathia (NYY)
SP Cliff Lee (SEA)
SP Francisco Liriano (MIN)
RP Jose Valverde (DET)
RP Neftali Feliz (TEX)
RP Andy Bailey (OAK)
RP Mariano Rivera (NYY)

Over in the National League,

CA The bad news is that it appears that Yadier Molina will start, despite an awful year the plate. The good news is that nobody is really going to get screwed; Miguel Olivo, who's having a wonderful year for Colorado, will likely be picked as a reserve, and there's no one else who screams "All-Star".

1B Albert Pujols leads in voting, and is among the leaders in all three Triple Crown categories. You can make a case that Adrian Gonzalez has been even better, but it's not worth getting worked up about. Joey Votto has also been awesome; it's been a great year for first basemen in both leagues.

2B Chase Utley has been the best and leads voting; he also has a torn ligament in this thumb, which means that either batting average leader Martin Prado or the Reds' Brandon Phillips will probably start.

3B Despite what you might read or hear in New York, David Wright is really, really good. He may or may not get voted in as the starter, but it's irrelevent because Placido Polanco's on the DL. Scott Rolen and Ryan Zimmerman are also having wonderful seasons.

SS Hanley Ramirez is leading the vote, and with Troy Tulowitzki on the DL with a broken wrist is pretty obviously the top choice. Rafael Furcal may have played himself on to the team with an awesome June.

OF Ryan Braun, Andre Ethier and Jason Heyward have been voted in. Heyward's on the DL and won't play; he should be replaced by someone who can play centre field, probably Jayson Werth. Lots of other guys are having fine years, including Matt Holliday, Andrew McCutchen, Colby Rasmus, Angel Pagan and Josh Willingham.

1B Albert Pujols (STL)
1B Adrian Gonzalez (SDP)
1B Joey Votto (CIN)
2B Chase Utley (PHI) Martin Prado (ATL)
2B Brandon Phillips (CIN)
3B David Wright (NYM)
3B Scott Rolen (CIN)
3B Ryan Zimmerman (WSN)
SS Hanley Ramirez (FLA)
SS Troy Tulowitzki (COL) Rafael Furcal (LAD)
IF Kelly Johnson (ARI)
CA Miguel Olivo (COL)
CA Brian McCann (ATL)
CA Nick Hundley (SDP)
DH Andre Ethier (LAD)
OF Andrew McCutchen (PIT)
OF Jayson Werth (PHI)
OF Angel Pagan (NYM)
OF Colby Rasmus (STL)
OF Corey Hart (MIL)
OF Josh Willingham (WSN)
SP Ubaldo Jimenez (COL)
SP Josh Johnson (FLA)
SP Roy Halladay (PHI)
SP Yovani Gallardo (MIL)
SP Adam Wainwright (STL)
SP Chris Carpenter (STL)
SP Tim Hudson (ATL)
SP Roy Oswalt (HOU)
SP Tim Lincecum (SFG)
SP Mike Pelfrey (NYM)
RP Carlos Marmol (CHC)
RP Billy Wagner (ATL)
RP Francisco Rodriguez (NYM)

 
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