2010 MLB All Star Game

[JayJaxon]

I have to say I am bothered by the fact that the vote leaders (especially in the NL) are not the best players. Should Troy Tulowitzki get screwed because a bunch of idiots voted for Jimmy Rollins? We all know that when something is left up to a vote, fair usually goes out the window. But it's kinda ridiculous with some of these. I would love to see who you think should start in the All Star game this year. I am going to post mine after a little more research.

[See Red]

I have to say I am bothered by the fact that the vote leaders (especially in the NL) are not the best players. Should Troy Tulowitzki get screwed because a bunch of idiots voted for Jimmy Rollins? We all know that when something is left up to a vote, fair usually goes out the window. But it's kinda ridiculous with some of these. I would love to see who you think should start in the All Star game this year. I am going to post mine after a little more research.

Wouldn't be the first time he got screwed because a bunch of idiots voted for Jimmy Rollins.

I know who's going to be the starting pitcher for the National League!

... probably Roy Halladay.

[BBTV]

It's the All Star game, not the All Guys Having The Best Season Game. That doesn't have a convenient abbreviation like ASG. I totally see your point, and I agree that it's beyond absurd for a guy who's missed most of the season due to an injury to be considered a top performer, but technically, it's just about the fans voting for who they want to see, for any reason. I'm not the biggest Jimmy Rollins fan by any stretch, but he's a "star" player on a team in a huge market, therefore he's going to get some votes. The whole ballot stuffing and on-line voting stuff is crap though. Come to think of it, the whole game is outdated and is crap. But that's for another topic.

[TFoA]

I think the Phils are actually on track to have 6 or 7 starters. Announcers are claiming its because Philly's sold out every game and the fans at Citizens Bank Park are puttin in votes like hotcakes. My guess is that it's probably because they were scoring a bajillion runs during the early part of the season.

But yeah, this is one time where I'm actually intrigued by the vote, especially for the starting pitcher's spot. You really can't go wrong between Halladay, Ubaldo The Monster, or Lincecum. Those 3 have been out of their damn minds so far.

[BBTV]

The manager decides the starting pitcher IIRC. Do fans even vote for pitcher?

[JayJaxon]

I get what you are saying BBTV, but it turned into the All Guys Having The Best Season Game when Selig decided to make it count. If it didn't count for anything, I doubt I would care as much. But I want the NL to win this year, and I think some fans are semi-retarded. That is why I wanted to post my ballot and others can post theirs, so they can say I'm semi-retarded as well

[infrared41]

Does it even matter? The All-Star game is irrelevant and a colossal bore.

To answer BBTV, managers and coaches pick the pitching staffs and the starters.

[JayJaxon]

American League

1B Justin Morneau- He is the league leader in AVG. He also leads all 1st Basemen in Slugging, and On Base Percentage. Teixera is batting .221 which is good for 74th in the AL. I want to give an honorable mention to Miguel Cabrera. He has Morneau in homers by 3 and RBI by 12 at the time of this writing, but Morneau has him by 79 points in OBP and is still out-slugging him.

2B Robinson Cano- His .363 average is good for 2nd in the league. He tops all 2nd basemen in hits, doubles,RBI, OBP,OPS, and slugging. He is the true leader in homers with 11. Wigginton is listed as a second basemen and he has 13 but he has played everywhere this year.

3B Evan Longoria- He has the 2nd highest AVG for 3rd basemen at .335. Adrian Beltre has put together a good season but Longoria has him in pretty much every category that matters. Jose Bautista has slammed 16 homers but his average is 75 points lower than Longoria's.

SS Alex Gonzalez- He leads all shortstops in homers, doubles, RBI, slugging, and OPS. Jeter has a better average but Gonzo is out slugging everyone. Plus it is hard to snub a guy that has had the kind of year he has.

C Joe Mauer- He is leading all catchers in pretty much everything.

OF Ichiro- He leads all outfielders in hits and average. He is just the same Ichiro he always has been.

OF Austin Jackson- He is second in these categories. He is a red hot rookie that deserves to he there.

OF Magglio Ordonez- He is in the top 3 or 4 in most categories and his OBP is .403. I had a real hard time picking between him and Vernon Wells. Another honorable mention would go to Alex Rios who has 11 Homers and is batting .312.

National League

1B Albert Pujols- he leads all first basemen in homers, RBI, hits, and he is 2nd in average.

2B Martin Prado- The best second basemen in the NL right now is this guy. Despite Utley's 6 homer advantage, Prado leads all two-baggers in RBI. He also leads the NL in hits and average. Not just 2nd basemen, the whole NL. He also leads 2nd basemen in runs scored.

3B Casey McGehee- He leads the league in RBI with 41. He leads all 3rd basemen with 58 hits. He is top 5 in OBP and homers, top 3 in slugging, and is tied for the league lead in doubles for a 3rd basemen. Placido Polanco has 5 more points on his average, but that is it.

SS Troy Tulowitzki- Nobody gets the All Star shaft quite like Tulo. He leads all shortstops in average, runs, on-base percentage, slugging, and OPS. Ryan Theriot has one more hit than he does, otherwise he would be first in that too. Any questions?

C Ryan Doumit- I love McCann, and if he picks it up over the next few weeks I would love to put him in this spot. But for right now, this is the guy. he leads all catchers in batting average, slugging, hits, and OPS. He has more doubles and is tied for the league lead in homers with McCann. He is second to McCann in on base percentage, and second to Molina in RBI. But Doumit deserves some love.

OF Ryan Braun- He leads all NL outfielders with a .318 Average. (Ethier needs to catch up with his at-bats to qualify again) He also leads outfielders in hits. He is top 5 in several categories.

OF Jason Heyward- He is second in NL outfielders in on base percentage. He leads all NL outfielders in OPS with .988. He is tied for lead in RBI with 38. He is top 4 or 5 in homers and slugging. He is also 2nd in walks to Josh Willingham.

OF Andre Ethier- Even after being out for a while, he is among the league leaders in hits, RBI, and homers. If he continues to do well, no doubt he gets in.

Honestly, half a dozen guys could go in these slots for outfield. But only one would be a Phillie, maybe.

[TFoA]

The manager decides the starting pitcher IIRC. Do fans even vote for pitcher?

Oh you're right, they don't. Pardon my senior moment.

[raysox]

Jay, your list is good. But one thing, looking into the other stats, Carl Crawford is beating Austin Jackson in nearly everything, and his defensive playing is also gold glove caliber.

/homer

Also, Austin Jackson, who? This is honestly the first I've heard of him.

[JayJaxon]

Jay, your list is good. But one thing, looking into the other stats, Carl Crawford is beating Austin Jackson in nearly everything, and his defensive playing is also gold glove caliber.

/homer

Also, Austin Jackson, who? This is honestly the first I've heard of him.

I know with the outfielders it is really hard to pick. Austin Jackson is a rookie for the Tigers. He is second in AL outfielders in hits and average and it top five in the league in both categories. Crawford, Rios, and Wells make a strong case as well.

[LC]

I've noticed something on Braves Live, and I'm curious if any other Braves fans have caught this, and if any of the other media nationwide are saying this-

I'm not sure how big of an impact, if any, this makes, but Fred Hickman continues to tell Braves fans that they can "Vote 25 times per computer". Obviously it's 25 times per email address, as I have voted 50 times already on this same computer. If people at home are going by this, couldn't it maybe be putting Braves players at a bit of a disadvantage, or is voting more than 25 times fairly uncommon?

[JayJaxon]

There are some people out there with nothing better to do than to vote tons of times. I have voted my 25 times, and each time I had to enter a code but it kept my previous choices. So although there is something in place to keep people from voting thousands of times. As long as you have an e-mail address available that hasn't voted yet, you can vote as many times as you want.

[OnWis97]

If I had my way, those with the best seasons would start and fans would not vote. But MLB makes no secret when saying "it's for the fans" that the fans have no obligations when they vote. They can vote for their own team at every position, the "biggest name", or whatever.

Case in point (and I know it'll look like I, as a Twins fan am whining, but this is a solid example), Mark Teixera over Morneau and Cabrera. Years ago, I'd have been fuming, but I've come to accept that it's not about which is having a better year. People want to see Teixera despite the fact that he's flirting with the Mendoza line. And anyone who denies that it is any other reason than that he's a fairly big-name Yankee is kidding themselves. So what? Casual fans that just want the biggest name and either don't know or don't care what kind of a season that person's having tune in just as much as the stat-hounds. More people want to see Teixera. It's not how I'd do it, but so be it.

And I guess many of those people want it more than others. I voted once. I don't have any desire to do it a bunch of times. I'm going to a couple of games in June and will probably vote then if they pass 'em out, but that's about it.

(the only flaw in my above logic is that the game "counts", so stop counting it).

[infrared41]

If I had my way, those with the best seasons would start and fans would not vote.

This. 1000 times this.

Despite my current feelings towards the all-star game, as a baseball fan since the age of 7 (that's 42 years for those of you scoring at home) I feel like it's my "baseball duty" to vote every season. I vote one time and one time only. The only way I'll vote for a player on the teams I like is if I feel that player actually deserves it. Yes, it's every bit as ridiculous as it sounds.

The reason I bring this up is that these "vote for your favorite (insert team here)" campaigns that every team has drive me nuts. They harp on it all game long at Progressive Field. I suppose it was fine back when the Indians had players that deserved to make the all-star team but these days it's just embarrassing. That aside, the loyal Indians fans sit there every game and punch the hole for every Indian on the ballot. It's hardly an "all-star" game if a team that has great attendance and a good marketing department can get a player on the team while a more worthy player stays home. The upside I suppose is that there aren't enough people at Indians games these days to make a difference. But teams with great attendance can swing the vote and someone can get screwed.

The idea behind the all-star game was not to see the most popular players play against each other. The idea was to have the very best players in the game square off just so we could see what it would look like.

[NEW.ERA]

No love for Jose Bautista.

[mania]

American League

SS Alex Gonzalez- He leads all shortstops in homers, doubles, RBI, slugging, and OPS. Jeter has a better average but Gonzo is out slugging everyone. Plus it is hard to snub a guy that has had the kind of year he has.

Elvis Andrus leads all shortstops in average, OBP, stolen bases, and is tied with Jeter at 1.4 WAR (Gonzales is a shade below at 1.3), and actually plays SS (as opposed to Gonzales who stands there and hacks it up in the field).

[OnWis97]

If I had my way, those with the best seasons would start and fans would not vote.

This. 1000 times this.

Despite my current feelings towards the all-star game, as a baseball fan since the age of 7 (that's 42 years for those of you scoring at home) I feel like it's my "baseball duty" to vote every season. I vote one time and one time only. The only way I'll vote for a player on the teams I like is if I feel that player actually deserves it. Yes, it's every bit as ridiculous as it sounds.

The reason I bring this up is that these "vote for your favorite (insert team here)" campaigns that every team has drive me nuts. They harp on it all game long at Progressive Field. I suppose it was fine back when the Indians had players that deserved to make the all-star team but these days it's just embarrassing. That aside, the loyal Indians fans sit there every game and punch the hole for every Indian on the ballot. It's hardly an "all-star" game if a team that has great attendance and a good marketing department can get a player on the team while a more worthy player stays home. The upside I suppose is that there aren't enough people at Indians games these days to make a difference. But teams with great attendance can swing the vote and someone can get screwed.

The idea behind the all-star game was not to see the most popular players play against each other. The idea was to have the very best players in the game square off just so we could see what it would look like.

That bugs me as well. In Minnesota they specifically mention Mauer and Morneau at times, but they still say "vote for your favorite Twins." Should I honestly vote for Nick Punto? I guess that's my right. The game, after all, is for me.

I also vote only once, and while I don't want "all Yankees", I did vote for Cano...he was a no-brainer.

[BaltimoreFan]

Is it too late to start a campaign to get Ken Griffey Jr. elected as the AL DH? Right now he is about 400,000 votes behind Guerrero. I just think he deserves a better send off than a mid season retirement. He was the biggest superstar in the game when I was a kid.

[Lights Out]

IMO, either don't let the fans vote or don't make the All-Star Game count for anything. Frankly, the whole homefield advantage thing sucked the fun out of the All-Star Game. It's beyond stupid to see NL teams get screwed come October because players who don't play for them couldn't get it done in the All-Star Game again.

That being said, Ubaldo Jimenez deserves to be the NL starting pitcher right now, but it'll be Halladay, because he's a bigger name. Yet another reason why the All-Star Game shouldn't decide anything.