Bloops: 2011 All-Star Selections
Posted by Steve Lombardi on July 3, 2011
The rosters have been unveiled for 82nd All-Star Game. Have at it and discuss!
Posted by Steve Lombardi on July 3, 2011
The rosters have been unveiled for 82nd All-Star Game. Have at it and discuss!
July 3rd, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Brian Wilson. Seriously?
July 3rd, 2011 at 3:03 pm
Brian Wilson hasn't been very good, but he was the players' choice and not Bochy's (although Bochy probably would have put him in also). I'm very happy abut Vogelsong; this will actually inspire me to watch the All-Star Game.
July 3rd, 2011 at 3:04 pm
McCutchen's third in the majors in WAR and he doesn't even make the final vote? What about Teixeira? Also, there's no way Vogelsong makes it if Bochy isn't managing.
July 3rd, 2011 at 3:10 pm
It's a shame Lind didn't get much consideration. He's having a monster season despite being injured for a good chunk of it.
July 3rd, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Lets put it this way, Bruce Bochy cheated guys so his own guys could go. Tommy Hanson deserved to go AHEAD OF ALL 3 OF HIS GUYS!! Including lincecum and Cain!! Vogelsong and his 12 starts?? Gimme a break!! MLB should crack down on that garbage!! A manager acting worse than the fans who vote for their own team?? Hanson was 9-4, era in the 2.60 range and an opposing bat avg of .193. lincecum was 6-6 era over 3.10, Cain 7-4 era over 3.00 also, Vogelsong shouldnt have even been in the conversation because he only started 12 games and won 6. Was he starting out nice? YES< but an all star, while Hanson has a career year maybe gets snubbed?? Lohse goes 8-4 with a lower era than them Giants, he gets snubbed. The Phillies starters all deserved to go, the Giants, no way!! Jeter, no way, Chipper, no way. If theyre gonna let the players and managers get it wrong, they might as well let the fans just be the ones to get it wrong!
July 3rd, 2011 at 3:16 pm
Congratulations to the Rangers' C.J. Wilson on his first All-Star selection. Wilson is 8-3 with a 3.14 ERA (132 ERA+) in 17 starts. He also is combining two qualities very desirable in a starting pitcher: Among starters qualifying for the ERA title, Wilson's 7.65 SO/9 rate is the highest ever for starters with GIDP rates above 0.15 * IP. That sounds pretty arcane, so I'll put it another way. The (GIDP >= 15% of IP) list contains multiple seasons of Bill Swift, Geoff Zahn, Mike Hampton, Scott Erickson, Tommy John, and Zane Smith — all classic "finesse" pitchers with low strikeout rates. To judge from his first half of 2011, Wilson appears able to induce GIDPs at a very efficient rate, yet also get strikeouts when he needs them.
I'll also note that Wilson's teammate Matt Harrison (6-7, 3.30 ERA in 15 starts) has induced the same number of GIDPs in 27.2 fewer innings pitched. The Rangers' infield defense deserves a lot of the credit for how well Wilson and Harrison have pitched in 2011. Adrian Beltre in particular appears to be having a very good season defensively, and Kinsler and Andrus have been good though somewhat error-prone. Fittingly, Beltre has been chosen for the AL All-Stars as a reserve.
July 3rd, 2011 at 3:24 pm
I am very excited to see cain, lincecum, wilson, and vogelsong on this roster. i am glad that the defending world champions are being represented properly and i can`t wait to see vogelsong pitch (possibly for more then 1 inning according to bochy). i think this is going to be an awesome mid-summer classic and i hope the national can repeat.
July 3rd, 2011 at 3:48 pm
I am very happy Avila is getting the start over Martin.
I would have loved to see Andrew McCutchen get in though.
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:06 pm
I, too, cannot believe that Hanson was snubbed in favor of the Giants' trio. If there's any justice in the world one of those three will start Sunday and get scratched so Tommy gets a spot. Meanwhile, what is Russell Martin doing on the AL squad?
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:13 pm
@3
Nick, I agree with you about Andrew McCutchen in the NL. Which of the reserve outfielders do you think he should have replaced?
But who should Teixeira replace on the AL reserves? The problem is that Ron Washington can't take too many Yankees to the game.
Jeter this year an all-star is a travesty, but it has ever been thus since the fans have voted for starters.
Glad to see that Jose Bautista broke the all-time record for all-star votes with 7.45 million, beating Griffey's previous high
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:18 pm
Michael Young taking up a spot as "reserve DH" is the one that really has me scratching my head. Over Teixeira, Konerko, Youkilis, Victor Martinez? Or how about Ben Zobrist, who has hit just as well as young (nearly identical OPS) and is much, much better defensively?
Not that I'm really scratching my head, though. Young has a shiny batting average and Ron Washington is the AL manager, so it's not like anyone needs to wonder why he's there.
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:22 pm
@5 @7
Bus Stop and Johnny, your posts illustrate the whole all-star debate. One of you is ticked off at Vogelsong going and the other of you is happy.
Bochy, may be guilty of blatant favoritism, but all-star managers have always used the game to reward their own players.
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:24 pm
#10: "But who should Teixeira replace on the AL reserves? The problem is that Ron Washington can't take too many Yankees to the game."
He could've not taken Russell Martin as a third catcher. That's a pretty bad choice. (And if he wanted to have a third guy available to play catcher, he could've selected Victor Martinez.)
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:27 pm
@13
Agreed, DavidRF. The Russell Martin selecton is indeed odd.
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:29 pm
Also should've mentioned Jhonny Peralta among the guys who'd have been better picks than Michael Young.
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:33 pm
Russell Martin was a player's pick, no? Don't think Washington had any say in it
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:41 pm
@16:
Ah, ok then. Either way, a bad choice. Young too.
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Konerko was robbed.
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:43 pm
@6
Kahuna, you may be glad for C.J. Wilson, but compare his stats to Ricky Romero's.
Romero's ERA is 2.75 to Wilson's 3.14 in the same number of starts. Romero's ERA+ is 145 compared to Wilson's 132 and they have the same SO/9 ratio, 7.6.
The only difference is W-L record, Romero is 7-7, compared to Wilson's 8-3. The reason for Romero's record in terms of run support has been discussed in a recent thread.
The only statistic in which Wilson is superior to Romero is the least reliable one for a starting pitcher, wins!
So, Kahuna, why Wilson over Romero unless Wilson is one of Washington's boys?
Romero will probably get an invite because both Verlander and Hernandez are both pitching on Saturday, I think, and so will be ineligible.
July 3rd, 2011 at 4:58 pm
Halladay, Lee, AND Hamels! The three (relatively) uninjured of the four aces. (I have to say "relatively" because Hamels has what appears to be a minor injury.)
I forgot that the Angels have a player named Howard Kendrick. When that name jumped off the page at me, I thought I was seeing things that I may have also seen if there had been a player named Kyle Ryan.
July 3rd, 2011 at 5:23 pm
Just wanted to weigh in with a couple of stats on Teixeira:
-- 16 of his 25 HRs have come at home.
-- He's done rather poorly in high-leverage situations: .208 BA, .767 OPS.
-- Among AL players, he ranks 37th in WAR and 19th in Win Probability Added.
-- Among AL first basemen, he's 5th in WAR (tied with Casey Kotchman, who has 114 fewer PAs), 6th in WPA, 4th in OPS+ (well behind #3 Konerko).
It's a good season, but several AL first basemen are having better ones.
July 3rd, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Neil, I'm just acknowledging Wilson's selection, not necessarily advocating it. Romero truly has received horrible run support.
Besides being "one of Washington's boys," Wilson has improved his BB/9 rate substantially compared to last year, when he led the AL in walks, and maintained his K/9 rate. Romero's stats don't show the same obvious year-over-year improvement — in fact, his 2011 HR/9 rate is a bit worse than last year's. All that having been said, though, I wouldn't want to argue that Wilson is having a better season than Romero. He's not. Wilson has had a good first half for the ASG manager's team and is an intriguing "story."
July 3rd, 2011 at 5:40 pm
All I have to say is CASTRO!!!
July 3rd, 2011 at 5:46 pm
I'm so glad Kemp jumped up to a starting spot. I'm also disappointed but not surprised that McCutchen was snubbed. No one has any idea how to value defense. Case in point, people think Kemp is a good defender.
July 3rd, 2011 at 5:53 pm
So I checked, and McCutchen is having a better year offensively than Beltran and Bruce, in addition to being a much better defender. I'm now a little bit angry.
July 3rd, 2011 at 6:08 pm
Funny. I'll take Zobrist and Pedroia over Cano and Kendrick so far this season.
July 3rd, 2011 at 6:16 pm
The next time anyone thinks about using "number of All-Star selections" in a Hall of Fame argument, I want them to remember that Ryan Vogelsong and C.C. Sabathia have made the same number of All-Star teams in the past four seasons.
I'm not even a Yankee fan or a C.C. fan, but just for the heck of it, C.C. since the start of 2008:
121 GS, 68-29, 3.07 ERA, 141 ERA+, 1.16 WHIP, 1 for 4 in getting selected to the All-Star team.
July 3rd, 2011 at 6:36 pm
No Ichiro or Pujols for the first time in their respective careers.
July 3rd, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Konerko was robbed, and Zambrano also! Just kidding about Z, but Konerko was robbed. Micheal Young is a deserving choice and glad he made the team.
July 3rd, 2011 at 7:03 pm
All AllStar games are boring and useless.
July 3rd, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Derek Jeter making the starting lineup is absolutely disgraceful. Jeter's actually one Yankee I respect, but Asdrubal Cabrera should be starting and Jeter should be watching the game from the bleachers or on TV
July 3rd, 2011 at 7:06 pm
@27, Colonel Duke -- Make your case for CC, by all means. But why build it on Vogelsong's back? He's been outstanding.
July 3rd, 2011 at 7:12 pm
Bip, I agree that Andrew McCutchen should be an All-Star.
Whether he's a better defensive OF than Bruce and Beltran, though, seems an open question. McCutchen has better advanced ratings than they do this year, but a half season is not telling. His dWAR was poor in his previous 2 seasons, while Bruce had the 4th-best defensive rating among NL OFs last year, and Beltran has had very good ratings for the past 5 years.
July 3rd, 2011 at 8:26 pm
Jeter getting voted in is probably the main reason why Teixeira isn't on the team. Rightfully, Asdrubal Cabrera should've started the ASG at SS, with Jhonny Peralta (or Alexei Ramirez) getting the backup spot. With so many other Yankees on the team already and given the need to have every team represented, Teixeira had to be left off. One reason why I think the fan vote should be mitigated by a players' vote and a managers' vote, like the NFL Pro Bowl.
Overall, my list of AL "snubs" includes Teixieira, CC Sabathia, David Robertson, Ricky Romero, Paul Konerko (travesty), Jhonny Peralta, Scott Baker, Dan Haren, Michael Pineda, David Pauley, and Nelson Cruz (another travesty, but since Hamilton was voted in, he didn't stand a chance.)
On the NL side: Tommy Hanson, Craig Kimbrel, Anibal Sanchez, Ryan Howard, Michael Morse, Carlos Marmol, Johnny Cueto, Francisco Cordero, and Andre Ethier.
July 3rd, 2011 at 9:06 pm
Teixeira doesn't deserve to be an All star. Man's hitting .244. For Teixeira to be an All-Star, you have to decide to carry 4 1B (out of 20 hitters) AND decide that Teixeira deserves it more than guys like Kotchman and Lind.
The only reason Teixeria gets any consideration is his HR total.
July 3rd, 2011 at 9:13 pm
@34
JP, a worthy list of "snubs". Nicely done. I agree with Konerko being the most obvious AL. I don't have strong feeling about the NL snubs.
July 3rd, 2011 at 9:29 pm
@ 32, Well-stated JA.
Vogelsong is solid selection and a nice story. And his numbers for the 2011 season are superior to CC Sabathia's. (I know, different teams, but Col. Duke and others seem to take issue with Vogelsong. His numbers are very solid.)
Does Hansen have better numbers? Yes. But nothing terribly dramatic.
Playing time against Vogelsong?...Consider Omar Infante last year.
While it's great to watch the A-Rods and Fielders, I personally like the out-of-nowhere stories like Jose Bautista and Ryan Vogelsong. The guys who have been written off to mediocrity and then, BAM. One last little thing clicked and then success!
July 3rd, 2011 at 10:22 pm
@28
Wow.. I am surprised that no one caught my mistake before I caught it myself. I wrongly assumed that Pujols had been an all-star all ten of his season. He was not voted in for the 2002 season (a season in which he would finish second in the MVP balloting).
But I will say this about the MLB All-Star game:
Why did they have to add home field advantage in the World Series as an ingredient? Baseball's all-star contest was already the most seriously contested of any of the major professional sports. The hockey and basketball games are merely exhibitions - with nobody attempting any semblance of defense. The football Pro-Bowl has to take place after the season is over and has to change its rules to avoid players getting injured.
Of the four sports, only the Major League All-Star game can claim that its players are going all out to win the game. You know that when Pedro is on the mound that he is not going to cookie the ball up there. Mariano does not give his cutter the day off. Jose Batista will not be taking his at bats off.
Without a doubt the selections can be better - but at least you know that the players that are there are giving their all.
July 3rd, 2011 at 10:29 pm
No, they're not giving their all.
July 3rd, 2011 at 10:41 pm
I'd have liked to see Joey V get the start at NL 1st. Not that Me Fielder is having a bad season, I think that Joey is just a shade better all around.
July 3rd, 2011 at 10:47 pm
Shoot, I was just about to say that I'm not hearing any complaints about the three Brewers starters (Fielder, Braun, Weeks), and i like it! That's a feat, by the way, that not even Molitor-Yount-Cooper ever pulled off, somewhat surprisingly i think. (Of course, guys like Brett, Murray, Ripken, Whitaker, etc had something to do with that too).
As for #40, i guess i can live with one minor complaint -- altho, despite Votto's greatness, i do think that Fielder is having a better year, and is also more entertaining!
July 3rd, 2011 at 10:55 pm
@38
"Why did they have to add home field advantage in the World Series as an ingredient?"
Thomas, MLB is bipolar about whether the all-star game is for the fans or whether it is supposed to be a serious competition. Thay want something to be on the line, so home field advantage.
No question that of all the major sports' all-star games, baseball most closely resembles normal game conditions and that should be celebrated.
July 3rd, 2011 at 11:25 pm
My list of major snubs: Pedroia, Zobrist (so far), Peralta/Alexei, Gordon (so far), Sabathia, Iannetta/Montero, Victorino (so far), D. Hudson, Kimbrel, and the biggest of all, McCutchen.
July 4th, 2011 at 1:09 am
Paul Konerko has carried the White Sox all season.
...but Carlos Quentin gets selected......
Ron Washington is looking more and more, like a future "Commisioner Of Baseball".
July 4th, 2011 at 1:52 am
I find the Bruce pick kinda disturbing. Everyone talks about the obviously terrible omission of McCutchen, but you could even argue for someone like Michael Bourn (118 OPS+, 35 SB, plus the defensive advantage of a CF) over Bruce (124 OPS+).
July 4th, 2011 at 9:02 am
I think they should divide the fan voting for outfielders into left, center and right. Be more fun that way, and you wouldn't end up with George Foster playing centerfield between Greg Luzinski and Dave Kingman (although the NL won that game.) People like to criticize the fan voting, but I think they do pretty well. Remember, there are no instructions on the ballot to say whether we should be voting for the best player this season, or careerwise, or whatever. They did a pretty good job of discovering Alex Avila this year, for example, and seem to be voting more on the half-year stats than anything. (Alex Gordon should have been the left fielder, based on half-year stats, but he wasn't even on the ballot).
July 4th, 2011 at 9:04 am
I also liked the home field advantage thing, but I think they should add more pitchers to the All Star rosters so they won't have to worry about running out.
July 4th, 2011 at 9:23 am
"Why did they have to add home field advantage in the World Series as an ingredient? Baseball's all-star contest was already the most seriously contested of any of the major professional sports."
It's easily the most contested, and was before the silly "home field in WS" rule. As much I like the other 3 major sports, I have zero interest in watching any of their All Star games. As Neil L. said, baseball is only one that has any semblance of the actual sport..
The 2002 AS game? The problem? That would be the manager's fault for trying to get everyone in. Then MLB implements the WS rule to try (and fail) to make us believe that the game wasn't competitive enough prior. Fans were disappointed that the game was stopped because they ran out of players, not because they had a notion the players weren't trying. Yes, I was enjoying that game.
In a way, I was really hoping that the 2008 AS game would have suffered the same fate (postponement due to running out of players) just to see what Selig's answer would have been.
July 4th, 2011 at 10:09 am
With no Ichiro this year, Joe DiMaggio shall remain the only player to be in the all-star game every year of their career.
July 4th, 2011 at 10:18 am
No All-Star team is perfect, but in comparison to previous years, this is actually a very good All-Star team. A lot of good players were snubbed, but this is inevitable when three different groups of people create the team, and at least one from ever team must be represented.
Most position players that should have gotten on the team are included in the final vote. In other words, don't complain, go vote!
The biggest exception to this is McCutchen. Unfortunately, I think Pittsburgh is largely to blame. When you play for such a low-end team with little publicity, it's hard to get recognized by your peers. It's understandable that somebody as relatively unknown as McCutchen would get less votes than long-time producers like Beltran and Jones.
July 5th, 2011 at 2:52 am
Here is my question... Why is no one talking about Pineda being snubbed. The guy is 8-5 with a 2.65 ERA to go along with 99 K's and an ERA+ of 139 and a WHIP of 1.029. Not to mention a K/9 of 8.7
Seriously... Major Snub
July 5th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
General observation: Every year there's the same tired discussion and frequently outrage over that year's AS selections. If a fan thinks some omission is particuarly egrigious, they might even get worked up and state something like:
"OK, that's _it_ ; omitting {Player X, favorite of the fan} is the last straw, it's time to take the voting away from the fans and give it someone else..."
I think the main (but unstated) problem) is that no one is really sure on what qualifications a player should be selected for the ASG,and whom the game is playing for:
1) First half of the year - opens the door to mediocre players having a career hot streak at the right time
2) the last Calender Year - problem is, most people forget precisely how good a player was the last half of last year.
3) Over the course of their career - the acknowledged best player in the league at a position may be hurt or have a subpar year, or both (see: Joe Mauer, Albert Pujols)
4) Popularity -is the ASG being played for the fans or the players? Answer that question honestly and you can clarify a lot of the above questions.
Also, allowing people to vote up to 25 times is a bad idea, it's the equivalent to holding an election where the ballot boxes are left open on the sidewalk.
July 5th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
@52
Lawrence, with respect to your 4th problem, I feel that this is the biggest issue concerning the ASG. See my post @42.
July 5th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
I'm going to play devil's advocate here concerning "baseball is the ASG that most resembles the real game". How many of you have actually watched the NBA ASG lately? Yes, there's some hilarious events that'd never happen in a real game (Shaq playing PG), but the players seem to really go at it...especially so if the game is close in the 4th quarter.
I think the MLB ASG is awesome, but to say it's close to the actual game is somewhat lazy. When was the last time a starting pitcher was pulled after 2 IP?
July 5th, 2011 at 1:43 pm
@53 - Neil L, yes I agree with what you stated in #42 and was going to reference you, but forgot.
As you said, MLB is trying to have it both ways, with the starting ASG selections a popularity contest with the fans, and as a game competition that they want to actually _mean_ something.