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.
I am a Met fan since the day they were born and a Red Sox fan ... How often do you see your shrink?Often enough to be well enough adjusted that I could afford a little magnanimity at the conclusion of the 2004 American League Championship Series. ;)
I grew up in NYC when Willie, Mickey and the Duke were still roaming their respective center fields.I grew up when, at home games at the Polo Grounds, Abbott was pitching to Costello, the Four Marx Brothers covered the infield (I have to jog the memory but I think first base was held down by Harpo), the Three Stooges patrolled the outfield, the Keystone Cops held down the bullpen, the Harlem Globetrotters came off the bench (had to be, because they sure couldn't swing the bats), the manager was Charlie Chaplin, the bench coach was Buster Keaton, the baseline coaches were Harold Lloyd and Fatty Arbuckle, and Ed Wynn the Fire Chief was the bullpen coach.
And that was just for 1962 . . .
On the other hand, rooting for the Mets and the Red Sox does help one learn that you're not entitled to a damn thing.
The only problem is the voters haven't been applying your standard and have let quite a few lesser players in.
Thanks, Blues. I was too lazy to Google it, but I knew some FReeper would know. I grew up a Reds fan, and never particularly liked the Phillies (They were in the other NL division anyway), but I always respected Schmidt and Carlton. I thought McGraw was an ass.
No doubt about that. I wish it were my standard. It's so simple and perfect. Greg Maddux is in. So is the Big Unit. Jack Morris...um--whoops, had to think about it.
True immortals, imo, require no thought. I have a few stats that still basically punch your ticket. For me, Jeter is not in the hall unless/until he gets 3000 hits. Once he gets that, he's in, just as Paul Molitor and Robin Yount punched their tickets with 3000 hits. 300 wins for a pitcher. Used to be 500 dingers, but the steroid era clouds all that. Then again, my method deals with that. Manny? Steroids makes me pause to think---the answer is no.
As someone who has no favorite baseball team, its obvious that Jeter being in the game at all is a complete joke. What an embarassment for MLB and any rare Yankee fan who actually has any insight into the way this appears. Pitiful.
I disagree; especially since that idiot Selig made the All Star game actually count for something.
To me, the all star game is for kids (if kids still even care about baseball). It's not about sabermetrics or rigorouss analysis. It's supposed to be a fun showcase of the game. Some aging stars get in, some don't. Some young phenoms get in, some don't. It's not that big a deal. It should be an entertaining exhibition.
And Ray Guy is a no-brainer for the NFL HOF. There's never been a better punter in NFL history.
A great fielding shortstop—what a novelty /s. By my standard, Ozzie Smith was not a Hall of Famer. Neither is Omar Vizquel. For me, a recent example of a Hall of Fame middle infielder is Roberto Alomar. For me, he was a no-doubt inductee, but it took two tries, I think because of his behavior. It’s not too much to ask for a Hall of Famer to display defense AND offense.
Hehheheee .. as a Yankees fan my take on this is that it never happened!!! /laughs
Completely erased from my memory, as if 2004 ACLS never existed ... oh well, as a still somewhat free American I am still permitted a certain level of dementia ;)
Then I’d like my guy — Joe Mauer — on the team, please. Forget that he’s hitting .236 as he returns from an injury. He’s a three-time AL batting champ (the first catcher in AL history to win a title), a three-time Gold Glove winner, was named AL MVP, has a lifetime .324 BA, and has won as many batting titles as all other catchers combined in Major League history.
I thought McGraw was an ass.Well, that doesn't make you a bad person. ;)
Me, I liked the guy. You had to love a guy who would say, when asked his opinion of AstroTurf, "I don't know, I never smoked AstroTurf." Second best crack about AstroTurf ever, behind:
If a horse can't eat it, I don't want to play on it.---Dick Allen.
I thought McGraw was an ass.Well, that doesn't make you a bad person. ;)
Me, I liked the guy. You had to love a guy who would say, when asked his opinion of AstroTurf, "I don't know, I never smoked AstroTurf." Second best crack about AstroTurf ever, behind:
If a horse can't eat it, I don't want to play on it.---Dick Allen.
Hehheheee .. as a Yankees fan my take on this is that [the 2004 ALCS] never happened!!! /laughsWonder what your takes might be on the 1963 and 1976 World Series. ;)
Completely erased from my memory, as if 2004 ACLS never existed ... oh well, as a still somewhat free American I am still permitted a certain level of dementia ;)There are those among us who'd say that as a Yankee fan you are still permitted a certain level of dementia. ;)
p.s. for what it's worth, in my opinion the single greatest team player in any sport, ever, wore a Yankee uniform. (Hint: Ninety-nine percent of the game was mental and the other half was physical.)
I'm sorry. Minnesota Twinkies don't count. :)
See the Ray Guy example. Nobody was as good as he was, but the closest he came to the HOF was as a finalist in 2008. Punters don't put up points on the scoreboard, but they can certainly affect the game.
BTW, love the Astroturf quote. Didn't Bill "Spaceman" Lee say something like that too?
Oh, and I’m not saying NO middle infielders of the 70’s were weak at the bat. Joe Morgan was great in the field, and had a solid bat, not to mention great base running skills. One of the best “all around” baseball players who richly deserved his place in the HOF. I’m just biased for Concepcion in particular.
love the Astroturf quote. Didn't Bill "Spaceman" Lee say something like that too?No, Lee is the one who said he sprinkled marijuana flakes on his breakfast pancackes. ;) I've got all three of his books. They're a kick.
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