Posted on 07/05/2011 5:06:20 PM PDT by rhema
Derek Jeter will go to his sixth straight All-Star Game as a member of the starting lineup, and his twelfth All-Star Game lifetime. Whether he deserves to be there is, of course, a matter of opinion. If your opinion is that the All-Star Game is the place for the current season’s best and brightest, the absolute best players in baseball this season to step up, then Jeter has no business being in the starting lineup this year.
Even if he is on the threshold of a career milestone—his struggles since last season to one side, there isn’t anyone in or near baseball who suggests he won’t reach it—it’s just a little difficult to accept that a man earned an All-Star berth at all, never mind in the starting lineup, because (at this writing) he’s six hits from becoming the only man to become a 3,000 hit man with every last one of those hits coming in a Yankee uniform.
Until he went on the disabled list with a strained right calf, Jeter was seen as a pronounced liability to his team. You can only imagine how that must have weighed upon a scandal-free man who had performed so long, so well, in baseball’s most festering pressure cooker. At this writing, with Jeter in Trenton on rehab assignment, the Yankees have gone 14-4 without him, and stories have abounded that the Yankee clubhouse was a lot “looser” in Jeter’s absence, without the weight of his decline to trouble it. Wasn’t that once the unthinkable?
With one or two moments of exception otherwise, the talk was whether Jeter was finished at long enough last, and how would the Yankees–who’d spent last offseason in difficult if not contentious contract negotiations with their franchise face—go about shepherding Jeter off the field, even slowly, considering the two and a half years remaining on the contract, not to mention young Eduardo Nunez’s performance stepping into the injury breach, and assuming the Yankees actually had the real stomach for it.
Now Jeter’s an All-Star starter?
By any measurement you care to deploy, there are American League shortstops this season worthier of the starting berth. Perhaps the prime among those men is Asdrubal Cabrera of the Cleveland Indians. Oh, it’s been said, but who’s paying to see Asdrubal Cabrera? Oh. We get it. The All-Star Game is about fame, not performance. But we can’t explain Jose Bautista, playing in fame-challenged Toronto, finishing as the leading vote-getter across the board. Or that Cabrera’s team surprised almost everyone around the game by jumping into and ahead of the American League Central race early enough that a) they generated some of the best copy, on the road as well as at home, that they’d generated since letting Cliff Lee and CC Sabathia go; and, b) a mild swoon hasn’t pushed them out of it quite yet.
The Indians may not be able to keep pace down the stretch, but the All-Star Game isn’t played down the stretch. I can see no earthly reason why a man whose bat (at this writing) is good for an .846 OPS, who’s produced 102 runs, and who bears a .661 offensive winning percentage, should not have been selected over a man whose bat (at this writing) is good for a .649 OPS, who’s produced 59 runs, and who bears a .425 offensive winning percentage.
Which brings us to whether your opinion is that the All-Star Game, as often enough it does become, is something of a lifetime achievement award. Jeter isn’t the first player who’s going to the starting lineup as a legacy candidate. Reality check: Jeter got the votes because of what he’s been, not who he is now. So what if he’s been a shadow of his formerly formidable self? his voters seemed to be saying. He’s Derek Freaking Jeter! He’s been the Yankees all these years! He’s going to get that three freaking thousandth freaking hit! Maybe within a week or so. By Gawd that makes him . . .
A Hall of Famer in waiting.
Not a valid 2011 All-Star starter.
It’s a shame, because this year the fans got the All-Star voting right for the most part. Most. There’s no excuse for not voting Andrew McCutcheon (Pittsburgh Pirates) into the National League’s starting lineup, but there would have been outrage if—as it looked until a few days ago—Russell Martin (the Yankees) had outpointed Alex Avila (Detroit Tigers) for the American League’s start behind the plate . There’s no excuse to elect Josh Hamilton (Texas Rangers) to the American League’s starting outfield ahead of Jacoby Ellsbury (Boston Red Sox), but picture the outrage, even among people who despise anything New York, if Troy Tulowitski (Colorado Rockies) had hung in to keep the shortstop lead he lost over the final voting weekend to Jose Reyes (New York Mets).
On the other hand, managers Bruce Bochy (world champion San Francisco Giants) and Ron Washington (defending AL champion Texas Rangers) have some splainin’ to do, too. Allowing that they had little enough room to work with, Bochy should be made to explain why he chose among his reserves Carlos Beltran (Mets), who’s having a fine comeback season, over McCutcheon, whose having double the season Beltran’s having. Unless, of course, you dismiss his 4.6 Wins Above Replacement through this writing, which just so happens to be third among all position players Show-wide. And Washington should be made to explain why Ben Zobrist (second base, Tampa Bay Rays), who’s having a measurably better season, wasn’t picked among his reserves but Howie Kendrick (second base, Los Angeles Angels), who’s having a solid season otherwise, was.
Still, the worst of it is McCutcheon. He isn’t even on the final-man vote ballot. At least Zobrist is.
Some guys get to the all star game on name recognition alone.
It should be Peralta in the All Star Game, not Jeter.
Baseball’s all star game is a total joke. Has been since the “fans” got to choose the players. It is just who is the most famous. Guys having great years are left off while old timers having bad years get voted in, IE, Jeter here. He has not been an all star for two years.
As long as fans can vote (and multiple times) New Yorkers will always be able to dominate the choices.
So is the hall of fame.
Jack Morris, one of the best pitchers of the 80's can't even get close because a bunch of spoiled sports writers can't stand him.
I don't know writer Kallman's favorite team. He's a FReeper, so maybe he'll reply to you.
Twins fan here. Comparable to Jeter's unprepossessing season (especially compared to AL shortstops Asdrubal Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta), my Twins don't have any legitimate all stars, Mauer being hurt for most of the season and even now struggling to raise his BA. But even the Twins' mandatory, one-player-per-team pick -- Michael Cuddyer -- has much better stats than Jeter: .290 BA, 12 HR, 35 RBI vs. Jeter's .256 BA, 2 HR, 20 RBI.
Wasn’t Mike Schmidt voted to the all-star team, despite being on the DL list? It was so long ago, I forget. But it HAS always been a popularity contest. I used to respect the all-pro team in the NFL much more, because the players only got to vote. THEY knew who deserved to be there.
I’m a Tiger fan and I kind of question sending Alex Avila as starting catcher.
He’s a fine catcher and can swing a bat but I wonder how far his connections go. His father has worked in MLB administration for years and works for the Tigers now, plus his Godfather is Tommy LaSorda. Between them, I’m sure they bring a lot of votes.
Verlander, Valverde, and Cabrerra are good picks (of the Tigers)
.314 BA, 14 HR, 49 RBI vs. .256 BA, 2 HR, 20 RBI.
Nuff said.
Now Jeter’s an All-Star starter? A bitter Red Sux or NY Mut fan. Eat your heart out. Bwaahahaha ...This may come as a shock to you, but more than mere Met or Red Sox fans have questioned his making this year's All-Star starting lineup or team.
For the record, I am a Met fan since the day they were born and a Red Sox fan since the 1967 pennant race. (Ask not my bill for controlled substances in 1986!) I also respect Jeter's career and achievements. If I had the vote, I'd elect him to the Hall of Fame myself.
But he doesn't belong on this year's All-Star team.
Wasn’t Mike Schmidt voted to the all-star team, despite being on the DL list?That actually happened in 1989 . . . . after Schmidt decided to retire earlier in the season. (He did it pretty much because he realised he wasn't Mike Schmidt anymore, even if he was leading the National League in RBIs at the time he retired.)
Kallman answers his own question (or rant) right here. It wouldn't be the first time nor will it be the last ... /shrug
It just is what it is. Boo-Hoo ... there are far more pressing issues within MLB than whether a legacy player gets to start on the All-Star team in the waning year(s) of his career, such as the looming Hall of Fame consideration for recent 'juicers' (of which Jeter is NOT!)
-- MM
Kallman answers his own question (or rant) right here. It wouldn't be the first time nor will it be the last ... /shrugYou were right the first time---it was a question, not a rant.
It just is what it is.Until now, I wasn't aware that something being what it is equaled something being right.
Boo-Hoo ... there are far more pressing issues within MLB than whether a legacy player gets to start on the All-Star team in the waning year(s) of his career . . .It doesn't equal a suggestion that other pressing issues are any the less pressing to address a matter that just so happened to be a matter of the day on the day a commentary is written and published.
. . . such as the looming Hall of Fame consideration for recent 'juicers' . . .That is an issue that gets addressed as its relevance arises (such as, during Hall of Fame voting season and during induction week, to name two such occasions), aside from the fact that that's hardly the only pressing issue pressing upon baseball. (Just ask any Los Angeles Dodgers or New York Mets fans pondering their teams' actual or prospective financial collapses; or, any Houston Astros fan pondering his team's ownership situation and whether realignment speculation might indeed move the Astros to the American League.)
p.s. I still believe Jeter's performance this season does not deserve a 2011 All-Star berth.
Try it out and see. If there is ANY pause to think it over, then it's no. In my hall, the only people inducted would be clear, unquestionable immortals, and the great and near-great players on the outside looking in would serve as further testament to the greatness of those on the inside.
I don't have that much trouble with Jeter's being on the team. The fact that he's starting reminds me of the '57 NL voting results.
I am sure there have been times where a Pete Rose or a Cal Ripken or a Joe Morgan or someone got into the All Star game on the strength of their legacy, and someone having a great year got left out. That’s how it goes. Jeter is going to the Hall of Fame, he’s in the twilight of his career (still hard to believe how time flies), and so he’s getting his props. It’s not outrageous. It’s a testament to his star power, and 3,000 hits is still a meaningful number. 5 championships is no joke either.
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