Spilt Beans about one ASG roster spot on FOX MLB Saturday?

[Pharos04]

Despite it being released tomorrow at 2pm on TBS, while watching the Sox-Yankees game on Fox today, Youkilis grounded out in the 2nd inning and Tim Buck mentioned something about his first trip to the All Star Game. So I'm assuming that all the networks have the actual roster that is being announced tomorrow. But did he just make another idiotic mistake on national television by spilling to everyone (mostly to Boston fans since i'm sure we're the only ones who care if Yooooouuuuukkkkkk makes it to the ASG) about someone already being selected? Just an observation of course

[oddball]

It's between him and Morneau (if I got that spelling correct), so saying that Youkilis is going to the All Star game is a no brainer. What's your problem with someone stating the obvious?

[Shumway]

They spilled the beans on the starters already during the broadcast of the game. It's all Sox and Yanks, with the exception of Ichiro, Hamilton, and Mauer. Ridiculous.

[Sabrejeff]

Isn't it pretty obvious with the vote totals anyway? It's fairly unlikely any second place vote-getters will get enough in 24 hours to overtake the leader. Of course he could've used the "as of right now" or "if voting ended today" disclaimer and you might have missed it.

And who are you talking about, Joe Buck or Tim McCarver? Or is "Tim Buck" your nickname for the two idiots?

[Brass]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

[epper]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

....how could he be "underrated" if he's the defending gold glove winner?

[Milo Meningocele]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

....how could he be "underrated" if he's the defending gold glove winner?

Good point; that's pretty much the pinnacle of defensive recognition.

[oddball]

If you want to talk underrated 1B you need to talk about Casey Kotchmann. The boy can hit and has a glove. He may not go deep that much right now, but he is clutch. But as far as "leaking" out the information... unless there were players within 100 or so votes of each other going into the final day of voting, it's not like it's a surprise who's in and who's not. Usually the closest votes are 100,000 difference going into the last day. And really does it matter who starts as they are in there for 2 innings, it's not like they're playing a full game. It's a glorified exhibition game.

[See Red]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

....how could he be "underrated" if he's the defending gold glove winner?

Good point; that's pretty much the pinnacle of defensive recognition.

Yeah, you can't really be underrated and win the Gold Glove... but I'm not sure people know just how good he is, especially about his MLB record 238 straight games without an error, which is mind boggling.

[DDR]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

....how could he be "underrated" if he's the defending gold glove winner?

Right, but they only gave him a Gold Glove. Somebody gets one of those every year. They ought to bronze his jockstrap and brand "YOUK" on every first base in the game. And take down that gaudy #42 on every team's retired number section and put up the more sexually appealing #20.

[infrared41]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

....how could he be "underrated" if he's the defending gold glove winner?

Good point; that's pretty much the pinnacle of defensive recognition.

Yeah, you can't really be underrated and win the Gold Glove... but I'm not sure people know just how good he is, especially about his MLB record 238 straight games without an error, which is mind boggling.

How could we not know? That team is crammed down our throats by every network with a baseball deal. We don't know "how good he is?" From what I hear every time the sawx are on TV, Youkilis is the best first baseman since Lou Gehrig. It's too bad his teammates don't love him as much as the media does. The guy is a solid player but you put him anywhere but Boston and Morneau is the starter...as he should have been.

[epper]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

....how could he be "underrated" if he's the defending gold glove winner?

Good point; that's pretty much the pinnacle of defensive recognition.

Yeah, you can't really be underrated and win the Gold Glove... but I'm not sure people know just how good he is, especially about his MLB record 238 straight games without an error, which is mind boggling.

How could we not know? That team is crammed down our throats by every network with a baseball deal. We don't know "how good he is?" From what I hear every time the sawx are on TV, Youkilis is the best first baseman since Lou Gehrig. It's too bad his teammates don't love him as much as the media does. The guy is a solid player but you put him anywhere but Boston and Morneau is the starter...as he should have been.

check.

mate.

[See Red]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

....how could he be "underrated" if he's the defending gold glove winner?

Good point; that's pretty much the pinnacle of defensive recognition.

Yeah, you can't really be underrated and win the Gold Glove... but I'm not sure people know just how good he is, especially about his MLB record 238 straight games without an error, which is mind boggling.

How could we not know? That team is crammed down our throats by every network with a baseball deal. We don't know "how good he is?" From what I hear every time the sawx are on TV, Youkilis is the best first baseman since Lou Gehrig. It's too bad his teammates don't love him as much as the media does. The guy is a solid player but you put him anywhere but Boston and Morneau is the starter...as he should have been.

How do you figure that one? Youk's been better in almost every aspect of the game but RBI's and that's because he's had less chances.

[infrared41]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

....how could he be "underrated" if he's the defending gold glove winner?

Good point; that's pretty much the pinnacle of defensive recognition.

Yeah, you can't really be underrated and win the Gold Glove... but I'm not sure people know just how good he is, especially about his MLB record 238 straight games without an error, which is mind boggling.

How could we not know? That team is crammed down our throats by every network with a baseball deal. We don't know "how good he is?" From what I hear every time the sawx are on TV, Youkilis is the best first baseman since Lou Gehrig. It's too bad his teammates don't love him as much as the media does. The guy is a solid player but you put him anywhere but Boston and Morneau is the starter...as he should have been.

How do you figure that one? Youk's been better in almost every aspect of the game but RBI's and that's because he's had less chances.

True. And with Varitek having an off year "Youk" is the now greatest player in the history of the game. Please excuse my error. What was I thinking? All that aside, don't you have to be a Red Sox fan for at least 5 years before you can start referring to the players as "Youk" or "Tek?" Just curious. I've never been a frontrunner so I don't know how it works.

[See Red]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

....how could he be "underrated" if he's the defending gold glove winner?

Good point; that's pretty much the pinnacle of defensive recognition.

Yeah, you can't really be underrated and win the Gold Glove... but I'm not sure people know just how good he is, especially about his MLB record 238 straight games without an error, which is mind boggling.

How could we not know? That team is crammed down our throats by every network with a baseball deal. We don't know "how good he is?" From what I hear every time the sawx are on TV, Youkilis is the best first baseman since Lou Gehrig. It's too bad his teammates don't love him as much as the media does. The guy is a solid player but you put him anywhere but Boston and Morneau is the starter...as he should have been.

How do you figure that one? Youk's been better in almost every aspect of the game but RBI's and that's because he's had less chances.

True. And with Varitek having an off year "Youk" is the now greatest player in the history of the game. Please excuse my error. What was I thinking? All that aside, don't you have to be a Red Sox fan for at least 5 years before you can start referring to the players as "Youk" or "Tek?" Just curious. I've never been a frontrunner so I don't know how it works.

That's cute -- rather than actually defend an argument you made you make it a point to attack the fandom of somebody you've "known" for, what, three years? God forbid I refer to a player by their nickname.

What's the point of making that post? To lump everyone into a generalization? The Red Sox have been successful, with them will come the bandwagoners... I'm not one of them. I grew up in Connecticut watching the Red Sox before I ever knew what football, basketball, or hockey even was.

I've explained this to you before... many times. But I guess in the absence of any reasoning behind saying some of the ignorant things you say you keep resorting to personal attacks.

[infrared41]

A Red Sox fan or not, Kevin Youkilis deserves to be in the All-Star Game. His defense at first base is actually very underrated.

....how could he be "underrated" if he's the defending gold glove winner?

Good point; that's pretty much the pinnacle of defensive recognition.

Yeah, you can't really be underrated and win the Gold Glove... but I'm not sure people know just how good he is, especially about his MLB record 238 straight games without an error, which is mind boggling.

How could we not know? That team is crammed down our throats by every network with a baseball deal. We don't know "how good he is?" From what I hear every time the sawx are on TV, Youkilis is the best first baseman since Lou Gehrig. It's too bad his teammates don't love him as much as the media does. The guy is a solid player but you put him anywhere but Boston and Morneau is the starter...as he should have been.

How do you figure that one? Youk's been better in almost every aspect of the game but RBI's and that's because he's had less chances.

True. And with Varitek having an off year "Youk" is the now greatest player in the history of the game. Please excuse my error. What was I thinking? All that aside, don't you have to be a Red Sox fan for at least 5 years before you can start referring to the players as "Youk" or "Tek?" Just curious. I've never been a frontrunner so I don't know how it works.

That's cute -- rather than actually defend an argument you made you make it a point to attack the fandom of somebody you've "known" for, what, three years? God forbid I refer to a player by their nickname.

What's the point of making that post? To lump everyone into a generalization? The Red Sox have been successful, with them will come the bandwagoners... I'm not one of them. I grew up in Connecticut watching the Red Sox before I ever knew what football, basketball, or hockey even was.

I've explained this to you before... many times. But I guess in the absence of any reasoning behind saying some of the ignorant things you say you keep resorting to personal attacks.

My argument for Morneau is simple. His stats, for all intents and purposes, are the same as those of Youkilis with one minor exception. Morneau is putting up the same numbers as Youkilis in a lineup that hasn't included the likes of David Ortiz, J.D. Drew, Manny Ramirez, Dustin Pedroia, etc. The point being that Youkilis is not one of just two players that can kill you in The Red Sox lineup. Morneau has Joe Mauer and a bunch of guys named Brendan Harris batting around him. It would be foolish to say that The Red Sox lineup is the reason Youkilis has the numbers he does but there is no denying that hitting in that lineup is a little easier than hitting in the Twins lineup. All things being equal (which in this case they pretty much are) I'll take the guy who does the same with less. That would be Morneau.

Your statement that Youkilis would have more RBI if he had more chances is based on what? You can't simply assume Youkilis would drive in those runs if he had the chance and then base you argument on that assumption.

The point of making that post was that I felt like it. This isn't the Harvard debate club and it wasn't an "attack." If memory serves, by your own admission you have been a hardcore Red Sox fan since 2003. You also said that you became a "serious" fan watching the Sox in the playoffs in 2003. I don't care if you grew up in the shadow of the Green Monster, if you say you've only been a serious Sox fan since 2003 and it was because of a playoff series, people are going to give you for being a frontrunner. Sorry but it comes with the territory. But that's beside the point. The truth is I was just goofing on you. In short, yes I was trying to be "cute."

Hope that helps.

[See Red]

It's not that I've been a serious Red Sox fan since 2003... even if that was the case, I was front running for an aging wild card team that was the Yankees' bitch? As I've described it, that was the first time I've had my "heart broken" by a sports team. I've been a Red Sox fan all my life... the 2003 season from start to finish is more or less when they overcame the Broncos in terms of importance and my fandom became a full out obsession, and baseball itself became a love of mine. Hope that helps.

Now, I like this kind of discussion. You raise some great points. I'd counter by saying Morneau hits in the clean up spot behind three guys with .360+ OBP's, so it's not such a bad position for him. Especially considering two of them are speedsters. Youk has done his work hitting either second, fifth, or sixth in the lineup -- mostly sixth and with zero protection from Varitek hitting behind him and with Lowell and Manny hitting ahead of him... two guys who can get on, and drive in runs themselves, but aren't exactly speedsters. Now, I can assume that Youk would be succeed in those opportunities because what he's done is a large enough sample size to suggest that his AVG with RISP (which is very very near Morneau's) isn't a fluke.

I tend to consider myself to be pretty good at putting aside my bias when it comes to the teams I like and the teams I hate. I'd even tell you Manny and Ortiz shouldn't be on the team... but I don't see how anybody can suggest Morneau should clearly be starting ahead of Youkilis when the numbers state otherwise. I understand the Red Sox have a better lineup but Morneau's hitting in a much better spot.

[infrared41]

It's not that I've been a serious Red Sox fan since 2003... even if that was the case, I was front running for an aging wild card team that was the Yankees' bitch? As I've described it, that was the first time I've had my "heart broken" by a sports team. I've been a Red Sox fan all my life... the 2003 season from start to finish is more or less when they overcame the Broncos in terms of importance and my fandom became a full out obsession, and baseball itself became a love of mine. Hope that helps.

Now, I like this kind of discussion. You raise some great points. I'd counter by saying Morneau hits in the clean up spot behind three guys with .360+ OBP's, so it's not such a bad position for him. Especially considering two of them are speedsters. Youk has done his work hitting either second, fifth, or sixth in the lineup -- mostly sixth and with zero protection from Varitek hitting behind him and with Lowell and Manny hitting ahead of him... two guys who can get on, and drive in runs themselves, but aren't exactly speedsters. Now, I can assume that Youk would be succeed in those opportunities because what he's done is a large enough sample size to suggest that his AVG with RISP (which is very very near Morneau's) isn't a fluke.

I tend to consider myself to be pretty good at putting aside my bias when it comes to the teams I like and the teams I hate. I'd even tell you Manny and Ortiz shouldn't be on the team... but I don't see how anybody can suggest Morneau should clearly be starting ahead of Youkilis when the numbers state otherwise. I understand the Red Sox have a better lineup but Morneau's hitting in a much better spot.

Fair enough. Looking at your argument I think I may have let my bias get in the way of the facts. Youkilis is a very good player but the way the media fawns over him is enough to drive anyone outside Red Sox nation completely crazy. I see he gets the start and my first reaction is BoSox fans are stuffing the ballot box. I think Morneau should get the nod simply because of the guys hitting around him but you make a great case for Youkilis. All things being equal again I guess we let the voters decide and that's exactly what they did. The best part of this debate is that for once people aren't asking how or why one of them made the team. They both deserve to be there.

With regard to your allegiance to The Red Sox, all I am doing is rattling your cage. I don't care how anyone becomes a fan of a team or what team they follow just as long as they are a baseball fan. If you're following the game that's good enough for me. The rest is just internet nonsense. It's all in good fun. Except when it comes to Michigan fans.