Dr. Giganto

So, the All-Star teams were announced this weekend, and it proves just how terrible a process it is. LEt's look at the AL team (since I know a lot more about the AL than the NL) position by position...

Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez - Pudge is a nice player and all, and he's one of the best catchers of all time. But to think that the starting catcher should be anybody besides Joe Mauer is absolutely ridiculous. Mauer is batting .391. .391!!! For a catcher, that's ridiculous. Also, his OPS is over 1.000, which is ridiculous for a catcher (I've caught the OPS bug, I must admit...). In fact, Pudge shouldn't even be the back-up. Victor Martinez and Ramon Hernandez both have much better numbers, and Jorge Posada and Kenji Johjima are comparable. Poor choice by the fans.

Who it Should Be: Joe Mauer


First Base: David Ortiz - This is one of the big problems with the All-Star process: The DH is a position in the AL (there are so many full-time DHs now), but since the game is in an NL park, there's no DH spot on the ballot. So, because of this, David Ortiz gets voted in as the first baseman, even though he doesn't play first base. However, the problem is, what's the use in voting for a starting DH, even though he won't actually be able to "start" the game. It seems to me like pitchers never hit in the All-Star game anyway (since they dont throw more than 1 or 2 innings,and there are so many good hitters you can bring off the bench to hit for them, so they might as well use the DH anyway. Another problem is that Jim Thome was actually left off the ballot, because they have two quality 1B/DH players.

As for the numbers themselves, David Ortiz is obviously a very good choice if DH's count as 1B's. He may not be the best choice, however. Jim Thome has the same number of HR's, with more runs scored and higher batting average and OPS. And Travis Hafnber has a much higher OPS than both of them. Either of the three is fine, but I think Thome has been fantastic and deserves the nod.

Looking at people who actually play first base on a regular basis, the choice basically comes down to Paul Konerko or Jason Giambi. They have the same number of runs scored, Gimabi has 4 more HR's, Konerko has 1 more RBI, Konerko has a higher batting average, but Giambi walks much more, so he has a much higher OPS. I think it's Giambi by a nose.

Who Should Start (excluding DH's): Jason Giambi

Who Should Start (DH's included): Jim Thome


Second Base: Mark Loretta - I believe the top two vote getters were Loretta and Robinson Cano, which shows the Northeast bias in these things. Loretta and Cano are both nice players and are having pretty good years, but I dont think either has been the best 2B in the Al this year. Tadahito Iguchi of the White Sox has 17 more runs scored than Loretta, 6 more HR's, 4 more RBIs, 3 more stolen bases, a lower BA, but a higher OPS. Cano actually has the highest OPS among regular AL 2B's, but his peripherals aren't spectacular. And, he is batting .325, which is nice. I guess he's having a better year than I thought. Brian Roberts has a comparable OPS to Cano, and has very little power, but has 20 SB's. Jose Lopez also has a slightly lower OPS than the other two, with the best power numbers of the bunch. I think Loretta is 5th in the running here, and it's a toss-up between Iguchi, Cano, Lopez, and Roberts. I've heard that Iguchi is a poor fielder, and I know Cano is a poor fielder, so it comes down to Lopez and Roberts. One has a bit of power, one has a lot of speed. Tough choice, but I'll go with Lopez. Unfortunately, playing on a mediocre Seattle team, most MLB fans dont really know about Lopez.

Who Should Start: Jose Lopez


Shortstop: Derek Jeter - Jeter is having arguably his best season to date. Despite having 12 fewer HR's than Miguel Tejada, Jeter actually has a higher OPS. He has 12 more SB's than Tejada, and is batting .341. Tjada though, is no slouch, batting .312. The OPS's are comparable, and chicks dig the long ball, so I'll give the nod to Tejada here. But Jeter isn't a terrible choice.

Who Should Start: Miguel Tejada


Third Base: Alex Rodriguez - A-Rod surprisingly leads all AL 3B's in runs scored, RBIs, and OPS. He's having a terrible year in "clutch" situations (walk-off HR vs. Atlanta notwithstanding), and a poor year in the field as well. He's got legitimate competition from Joe Crede and Troy Glaus, but I think the fans actually made the right choice here.

Who Should Start: Alex Rodriguez


Outfield: Manny Ramirez, Vladimir Guerrero, Ichiro Suzuki - 3 guys who have been good for years, and are all having pretty good years. Manny is a no-doubt-about-it choice, lkeading all AL OF's in OPS and HR's, and 2nd in RBIs. Ichiro is batting .355 with 27 SBs and stellar defense. Good choice. Guerrero is having a good year, but Vernon Wells leads him in runs, HR's, RBI's, SB's, BA, and OPS. I think Wells is the obvious choice for 3rd OF.

Who should start: Manny Ramirez, Vernon Wells, and Ichiro Suzuki


Bench: Paul Konerko, Jim Thome, Robinson Cano, Troy Glaus, Miguel Tejada, Michael Young, Joe Mauer, Jermaine Dye, Alex Rios, Grady Sizemore, Vernon Wells - There are 11 total bench players. We already covered Thome, Tejada, Mauer, and Wells. First things first, you need a back-up at each position. For the back-up catcher, you could go with either Martinez or Hernandez. Martinez has more runs scored and higher BA and OPS. Hernandez has more HR's and RBI's. We'll give the edge to Martinez for now, but Hernandez is close.

At first base, we run into the DH dilemma again. Let's assume we differentiate between 1B's and DH's. Assuming Jason Giambi is your starting 1B, then Konerko is your obvious back-up. And if Thome is your starting DH, then either Ortiz or Hafner is the obvious back-up. Justin Morneau is also a sleeper, with 22 HR's and 71 RBI's. We'll give it to Ortiz for now, but we will definitely find a way to get Hafner on the roster.

At second base, we have the logjam we ran into earlier with Cano, Loretta, Roberts, and Iguchi. Cano's not a terrible choice, but I think Brian Roberts is a better choice.

At short, Tejada just edged out Jeter for me, so Jeter is the obvious back-up. Young is ok, but Young has similar power numbers to Jeter, while Jeter has a much higher average and SB's.

At thrid base, Troy Glaus has been fantastic. He and Crede hav similar OPS and RBI numbers, and although Glaus has a much lower batting average, he's got many more runs scored and HR's. I'll go with Glaus.

In the outfield, I think Jermaine Dye, Alex Rios, and Grady Sizemore are good choices. However, Rios is hurt, so we need to pick a replacement. I think Carl Crawford got the shaft here. He's got a .322 batting average, a respectable OPS (same as Soriano!), 29 SB's, and decent power numbers. I think he's my 3rd back-up in the OF.

So, we've got Martinez, Konerko, Ortiz, Roberts, Jeter, Glaus, Dye, Sizemore, and Crawford as our back-ups. Unfortunately, that leaves us with only two spots for several deserving players. First things first, you absolutely MUST include Travis Hafner, the AL's OPS leader, who happens to have 24 HR's and 70 RBI's. The way I see it, there is one spot open for the following deserving players: Ramon Hernandez, Robinson Cano, Mark Loretta, Tadahito Iguchi, Joe Crede, Michael Young, Justin Morneau. With 3 DH's and 2 1B's already, I dont think it makes much sense to take Morneau. None of these players really stand out to me, so I would probably leave off the last bench spot and carry one more pitcher.

Who should be on the bench: Victor Martinez, Paul Konerko, David Ortiz, Travis Hafner, Brian Roberts, Derek Jeter, Troy Glaus, Jermaine Dye, Grady Sizemore, Carl Crawford


Starting Pitchers: Mark Buehrle, Jose Contreras, Roy Halladay, Scott kazmir, Mark Redman, Kenny Rogers, Johan Santana, Barry Zito - Let's start with the obvious error here. Mark Redman. He of the 5.59 ERA. It is absolutely ridiculous that Mark Redman is an All-Star. The "every team must have a representative" rule is ridiculous. The Royals are a terrible team and do not deserve to have an All-Star.

I generally consider ERA the most important stat for a pitcher, more important than wins, because run support and defense can affect a pitcher's win total, but the ERA is indicative of the pitcher's performance, and only the pitcher's performance.

Of the other pitchers, Johan Santana, Roy Halladay, Scott Kazmir, Barry Zito, and Jose Conteras are good choices. Rogers is an ok choice, but when you look at other members of his own team, you'll see he's not even the best pitcher on his own team. WHIP is a nice little stat too, but since only runners who score really matter, I prefer ERA over WHIP. Justin Verlander has as many wins, with a much lower ERA and an equal WHIP.

Also, the inclusion of Mark Buehrle is ridiculous. He has a much higher ERA than several snubbed players, and a higher WHIP than most as well. The only reason he is on the team is because Ozzie Guillen gets to pick his own guys to go, and Joe Torre set a bad precedent by picking his own guys over more deserving players in the mid-90's. The manager should not be the one who makes these decisions. It's ridiculous, and deserving players get left off in favor of less deserving players. Any of the following players would have been a better choice than Buehrle: Francisco Liriano, Mike Mussina, Nate Robertson, Dan Haren, John Lackey. Basically, I think Rogers, Buehrle, and Redman should have been left off in favor of Liriano, Verlander, and Mussina, while Lackey takes the spot of the vacated position player.

Also, the starting pitcher should definitely be either Liriano or Santana. Liriano has been lights out, but he didnt start all year. Let's give it to Santana for now.

Who should start: Johan Santana

Other Starting pitchers: Francisco Liriano, Justin Verlander, Mike Mussina, Roy Halladay, Jose Contreras, Barry Zito, Scott Kazmir, John Lackey

Relief Pitchers: Bobby Jenks, Jonathon Papelbon, Mariano Rivera, B.J. Ryan - Papelbon, Rivera, and Ryan are all obvious choices. Bobby Jenks is pretty good, but Joe Nathan is better (Nathan actually has slightly better numbers than Rivera this year, when you consider K's, ERA, and WHIP. So, I would replace Jenks with either Nathan or one of the snubbed starters/position players. This, again, is what happens when you allowe a manager to pick his own guys for the team. Also, when it gets to the bottom of the ninth inning, there is only one man who should be on the hill: Papelbon.

Who should close: Jonathon Papelbon

Other relief pitchers: Mariano Rivera, B.J. Ryan, Joe Nathan