Some All-Star Thoughts

Today’s selection of the American and National League All-Star teams didn’t bring that many surprises.  Of course there are some guys who weren’t picked that should’ve been, but those seemed to be fairly limited this year.  Especially in the AL, where they only have two spots available for backup position players (Leyland squeezed in a third by making the Final Vote all pitchers), one of which had to be used on the token Astro, and there were four! third basemen worthy of backing up Miguel Cabrera in the game.

Not really too many issues with the starters either.  I’m not sure what the obsession with Jose Bautista is.  I’ve long thought he’s perhaps the most overrated player in the game, but I guess that’s what happens when all of Canada votes for one player.  Not overly enamored with J.J. Hardy at shortstop, either, but the options were pretty limited this year, so that’s easy enough to get over.  The only NL starter that could be considered “undeserving” is Bryce Harper, but the guy’s a sensation that people want to see.  No problem with him getting elected by the fans.

There are some burning issues I have with this group of All-Stars, though…
Bruce Bochy putting Yasiel Puig on the Final Vote is a total cop out.  He didn’t want to use one of his selections on Puig because, I have a sense, he agreed with all the players who took issue with the fact he was even in the discussion after just 30 games in the Majors.  It wouldn’t have been fair to select Puig over someone just as deserving who’s been doing it all season.  I think Bochy knew that.  But putting it in the fans’ hands wasn’t any better.  It’s obvious that Puig’s going to win the vote.  By a wide margin.  Bruce, just make a decision!  Either you want him on the team or you don’t.

Completely ridiculous that Bartolo Colon was only named to the team as an injury replacement.  Oakland didn’t have anybody elected by either the fans or players, so Jim Leyland was obliged to pick an A with one of his manager selections.  That should mean he’s selected BEFORE injury replacements are named.  What’s the difference if one of the other pitchers was named as the injury replacement.
Surprised Leyland went with five setup guys as the Final Vote candidates.  That means Adrian Beltre, Evan Longoria and Josh Donaldson will all be sitting at home next Tuesday.  I understand why he picked Zobrist as the Ray (utility guy to use late in the game), but I would’ve taken Longoria (and probably Beltre instead of Jason Kipnis).  Simply because of that logjam at third base.

The Omar Infante Award goes to an American Leaguer for the first time.  This award was created in 2010 when they expanded the rosters by one and Charlie Manuel for some reason picked Omar Infante as an NL reserve.  It goes to the player who’s selection is the biggest head-scratcher because he really shouldn’t be there (and it can’t be a token team representative).  Other previous winners include Ryan Vogelsong in 2011 and Bryan LaHair last year.  This year the award goes to Blue Jays reliever Brett Cecil.  He’s left-handed.  That’s the only reason I can think of why he’s on the team.  I’ll all for including setup guys, but the Cecil pick confuses me.  And Steve Delabar is on the Final Vote ballot.  That’s two setup guys from a last-place team.  Seems a little absurd.

Now that they’re using the DH in the All-Star Game every year no matter what, I have an idea for how the NL DH should be chosen.  It should be the leading vote-getter that didn’t finish first at his position.  Yadier Molina and Buster Posey were 1-2 overall in the NL for a while.  It ended up being a moot point because Posey’s going anyway, but imagine if he had finished with something like 7 million total votes, more than most of the starters, and wasn’t even named an All-Star?

There should be more than one Brave on the National League roster.  Justin Upton was among the top three in the outfield for a while, so it looked like Atlanta was going to end up with two.  But the closer is the only guy from a team that’s been in first place all year worthy of being on the All-Star team?  Highly doubtful.  If you don’t want to take Upton, take Freddie Freeman, who’s on the ballot for the Final Vote.  Allen Craig’s going as an extra first baseman.  It should be Freeman, though.

Biggest snubs in the NL are:Ryan Zimmerman and Gerardo Parra.  They’re not even on the ballot for the Final Vote.  No issue with Pedro Alvarez going at third base or Ian Desmond representing Washington on the Final Vote, but no Parra at all is just wrong.  Hopefully he’s first in line as an injury replacement.
The selection of Allen Craig pretty much locks it up that Paul Goldschmidt will be the NL’s starting DH.  As for the starting pitchers, that should be pretty easy.  It would be a crime if it’s anybody other than Max Scherzer and Matt Harvey.

As for the lineups, here’s the way I would set them up:
AL: Mike Trout-LF, Robinson Cano-2B, Miguel Cabrera-3B, Chris Davis-1B, Jose Bautista-RF, David Ortiz-DH, Adam Jones-CF, Joe Mauer-C, J.J. Hardy-SS, Max Scherzer-P
NL: Brandon Phillips-2B, Carlos Beltran-RF (very curious to see what kind of reaction he gets from Mets fans), David Wright-3B, Joey Votto-1B, Paul Goldschmidt-DH, Bryce Harper-CF, Carlos Gonzalez-LF, Yadier Molina-C, Troy Tulowitzki-SS, Matt Harvey-P