Posted on 06/27/2005 1:20:17 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson
OK, baseball fans, who are your picks for this year's All-Star Game in Detroit? 32 players on a side, and each team must be represented.
I look at three criteria: 1) What a guy is doing this year; 2) What a guy did last year; and 3) What a guy has done throughout his career. (Factors 2 and 3 are the reason I put Pujols ahead Lee at 1B, even though Derrek Lee is the best player in baseball so far this year.) Here are my picks:
NATIONAL LEAGUE: 18 position, 14 pitchers (8 S, 6 R)
C: Paul LoDuca (FLA), Mike Piazza (NYM)
1B: Albert Pujols (STL), Derrek Lee (CHC), Carlos Delgado (FLA)
2B: Jeff Kent (LAD), Chase Utley (PHI)
SS: Omar Vizquel (SF), Felipe Lopez (CIN)
3B: Aramis Ramirez (CHC), Morgan Ensberg (HOU)
OF: Bobby Abreu (PHI), Miguel Cabrera (FLA), Jim Edmonds (STL); Andruw Jones (ATL), Carlos Lee (MIL), Jason Bay (PIT), Luis Gonzalez (ARI)
P: Roger Clemens (HOU), Pedro Martinez (NYM), Dontrelle Willis (FLA), Chris Carpenter (STL), Roy Oswalt (HOU), John Smoltz (ATL), Jake Peavy (SD), Livan Hernandez (WSH); Chad Cordero (WSH), Jason Isringhausen (STL), Billy Wagner (PHI), Brad Lidge (HOU), Trevor Hoffman (SD), Jay Witasick (COL)
AMERICAN LEAGUE: 20 position (inc. 1 DH), 12 pitchers (7 S, 5 R)
C: Jason Varitek (BOS), Jorge Posada (NYY), Ivan Rodriguez (DET)
1B: Mark Texeira (TEX), Mike Sweeney (KC)
2B: Brian Roberts (BAL), Alfonso Soriano (TEX)
SS: Miguel Tejada (BAL), Derek Jeter (NYY), Carlos Guillen (DET)
3B: Alex Rodriguez (NYY), Eric Chavez (OAK)
OF: Vladimir Guerrero (LAA), Johnny Damon (BOS), Manny Ramirez (BOS); Gary Sheffield (NYY), Torii Hunter (MIN), Ichiro Suzuki (SEA), Carl Crawford (TB)
DH: David Ortiz (BOS)
P: Roy Halladay (TOR), Mark Buehrle (CHW), Kenny Rogers (TEX), Bartolo Colon (LAA), Johan Santana (MIN), Jon Garland (CHW), Matt Clement (BOS); Mariano Rivera (NYY), B.J. Ryan (BAL), Eddie Guardado (SEA), Bob Wickman (CLE), Dustin Hermanson (CHW)
instead of Billy Wagner, I would put Brandon Lyons, the CL of the Diamondbacks on the NL team.
Albert Pujols is only the best player in baseball today. Period. No one at any position matches his numbers. No one.
I'm a loyalist so my favorites are Tigers.
Jeremy Bonderman is shaping up to be a top notch pitcher. (discounting last night)
Ivan Rodriguez is one of the best catchers out there not to mention he can swing a bat. Rondell White is pretty hot right now. Carlos Guillen should shape up pretty quickly now that he's back. Dimitri Young is always a threat. Nook Logan has a golden glove in his future. I really like what I see from Chris Shelton. Placido Polanco has been proving that he was a smart trade.
Offensively the Tigers are a top notch team but defense is where they're losing. They're 13 games behind the White sox and at .500. Tram says 2006 will be the year he's been shooting for a contending team. Personally I think he's on track.
Since the All Star game is about who is having the best year this year, Lee should be the starter. As of 6/27, his numbers are simply better than Albert's are.
It is?
Its supposed to be, yeah. There will always be a Cal Ripken type who gets voted in because they were great years back...but its supposed to be who you want to see the most. I want to see the people having the best year.
This year that is Derrek Lee at 1b for the NL (at least for the first couple of innings).
The All-Star game is just a beauty contest.
Well, make up your mind. Are we "supposed" to vote for the player having the best first half, or for the player we most want to see? (I was thinking the nature of the vote itself means it has to be the latter.)
I want to see the people having the best year.
Oh, now I see. In your mind, it's "supposed" to be the guy having the best first half. So, that's how you vote.
Glad to see we finally got that cleared up. ;)
White Sox... :D
Yeah, but with guys like Scott Rolen (5HR, .248 AVG 20 RBI) and Carlos Beltran (9, .262, 37) leading in their positions (those certainly don't look like All-Star numbers, but you'd never guess it by looking at the current balloting results) you don't have the best players of this year playing in the ASG.
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/allstar/voting
WHAT? NO PITTSBURGH PIRATES??
Whoops. Missed Jason Bay.
Baseball ping.
That guy killed the Cardinals yesterday. Good up-and-coming player. Mighta picked him even if I didn't hafta have a Pirates rep.
Begins and ends there. You want a lifetime achievement award there's the Hall of Fame.
Brandon Lyon is doing well, but Billy Wagner is doing even better (innings pitched, saves, walks/hits per inning pitched, batting avg. against). Plus, Wagner has been excellent for a number of seasons.
Actually, if I were to take a D'back pitcher, it might be the other Brandon, Brandon Webb, the starter.
The only D'back I took was Gonzo. Glaus would come close at third.
In any case, they're both going to start in this All-Star Game at Detroit, one at 1B, the other at DH.
Because the game is in Detroit this year, I took that as a "tipping point" in putting I-Rod and Guillen on the team. Varitek and Posada belong at catcher, but I-Rod is right there, too. Tejada and Jeter should be the top two shortstops, but I picked Guillen over Young of Texas because of the Detroit factor.
Inge would not be a bad choice as back-up 3B, but I had to have an Athletic, so I picked Chavez.
Pujols is a great player but I'd have to go with Barry if you consider him "in baseball", as he's in his own category, or otherwise ARod, who has a little less offense than Pujols but more speed and defense, especially when he's at SS instead of that media idol Jeter. Of course ARod is also Cursed.
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