CarHen did not see eye-to-eye with the AL players and Leiland.
Looks like Perez, C, KC finished 2nd in players voting.
And Leiland went with Castro, C, Hous as a 3rd catcher instead of Norris, P, Hous as a 14th pitcher.
Perez of KC (above) drops Santana, P, KC.
Robertson is on the ballot as pitcher #13.
Pitchers Santana (above) and Kuroda dropped by Leiland (?) in favor of his own guy Verlander and a lefy releiver Cecil cuz Leiland thinks he can create a better roster for in-game strategy. Granted, there is a shorage of AL lefties. CarHen only had one (Sale) on his flawed roster.
Infielders Hardy and Machado get the vote over Lowrie and Donaldson.
Outfielders Gordon and Hunter get the player vote over McLouth and Elllsbury.
Lieland went with Zobrist, not Longoria, as the TB player because apparently worried about an outfield injury in the late innings and wants a utility guy and a pinch-runner.
Maybe it is a good strategy, but who would he pinch-run for? Fielder or a catcher. So he is going to keep Zobrist and a catcher on the bench for the sole purpose of pinch-running in the 9th inning?
I think this is silly cuz I am sure Machado or Kipnis can play the outfield in a rare event.
Perhaps Leiland forgets about the all-star rule for catcher re-entry. If Perez is injured, Mauer can come back into the game. So Castro is there really only to allow PH and PR for Perez.
AL position players:
East-10, Central-8, West-3
AL pitchers:
East-2, Central-5, West-5
BALT 4
TOR 3
BOST 2
NYY 2
TB 1
total .... 12
DET 6
CLE 2
KC 2
MN 2
CHI 1
total ..... 13
TEX 3
SEA 2
OAK 1
LAA 1
HOUS 1
total ..... 8
33, with one to go. At least 5 of the 6 tigers were elected. Verlander might be a Leiland choice. So it is not his fault. Same with the 4 Orioles.
Oakland had ZERO players on the original 33, Colon is an injury replacement. It looks like a technical violation.