The AL voting is as bad as I have ever witnessed. Lets go over the starting lineup, shall we?
C Joe Mauer Twins
1B Kevin Youkilis Red Sox
2B Dustin Pedroia Red Sox
SS Derek Jeter Yankees
3B Alex Rodriguez Yankees
OF Josh Hamilton Rangers
OF Manny Ramirez Red Sox
OF Ichiro Suzuki Mariners
DH David Ortiz* Red Sox
*injured, will be replaced by the Rangers’ Milton Bradley.
Can’t complain about Mauer because the AL has no good catchers. Youkilis & Morneau are a dead heat - personally I would vote for the guy who DOESN’T get in fights with his teammates but whatever. But come on folks, Dustin Pedroia over Ian Kinsler??? Idiotic doesn’t even begin to describe this selection. Speaking of idiotic, Derek Jeter!!! Michael Young is better than him in every category except Number of Games Played in New York. Arod and Hamilton deserve the votes, and I’ll give Ichiro a nod even though this isn’t his best year, but Manny has no business being there. His hitting just isn’t enough to account for his awful defense. No way he belongs over Grady Sizemore. And Ortiz was having an awful year even before he got hurt.
Things are better on the NL side -
C Geovany Soto Cubs
1B Lance Berkman Astros
2B Chase Utley Phillies
SS Hanley Ramirez Marlins
3B Chipper Jones Braves
OF Ryan Braun Brewers
OF Alfonso Soriano Cubs
OF Kosuke Fukudome Cubs
DH TBD
The only problem I see here is Fukudome, who should be forced to buy a ticket to get into the stadium. Him over Matt Holliday is just laughable.
The real problem I see is that you have these big concentrated fan bases for the red sox and yankees, as well as the rabid asian fan base that roots for their players regardless of team. This leads to an all star game where 7 of the 9 starting AL players are either yankees, redsox, or asian. If the fans don’t start voting for the player playing the best, I say we revoke their voting privelages and let the managers decide.
If it helps at all, Holliday will start in place of Soriano. Doesn’t address your quality objections, but at least he gets to be an All-Star starter.
The fans are going to vote the way they are. I just wish the MLB would drop the home field thing and stop pretending the game matters - it’s inconsistent with the goal of the game as an exhibition for fans and it’s not possible to have it both ways.
Sorry, dude. It’s the All-STAR game, not the All-Statistically-Good-Players Game.
If I want to see Carlos Delgado at first base (don’t ask why, let’s just play pretend), and I can get enough people to agree with me, then we see who we want to see, regardless of whether who we want to see is A BIG USELESS OVERPAID LEAKY PAPER BAG FULL OF DRIPPY SUCK.
[sub]deep breath
woooooosah[/sub]
Stat-heads be damned.
Everybody wants to see Jeter. Michael Young is dead last in the American League the important statistical category of People Who Know Who The Fuck This Michael Young Character Is.
And while I hate the Red Sox, Pedroia is a hell of a lot of fun to watch.
If I had my way, home-field for the World Series would be determined by the outcome of my newly instituted Happy Scrappy SuperSkills Competition where each team sent one representative to do all sorts of stuff and the aggregate score for each league determined a winner.
And yes, the centerpiece of that competition would be the Pitcher’s Home Run Derby.
There is one good sign. I love the fact that Corey Hart and Evan Longoria were picked as the last 2 choices. A decent argument could have been made for Pat Burrell in the NL.
But at least even Yankees fans were smart enough to not vote Giambi in!
I suppose it depends on your definition of “All-Star” is. IMO, the people having the best seasons (combined offense and defense) are the stars, not some red sox and yankees players who peaked 5 years ago.
You don’t like the All-Star Game as is? Fine- feel free to start your own. Call it the Bill James Game, and invite the players your favorite statisticians prefer. See if anybody is interested.
I don’t have (much of) a problem with the All-Star game. I have a problem with people who vote for players on their team while ignoring more deserving players on other teams. And I think Bill James would probably do an excellent job selecting All Star players.
It could be worse. Here’s the National League starting lineup as voted by the fans for the 1957 All-Star Game:
Johnny Temple, 2B
Roy McMillan, SS
Don Hoak, 3B
Ed Bailey, C
Frank Robinson, LF
Gus Bell, CF
Wally Post, RF
Stan Musial, 1B
The first 7 were all from the Cincinnati Reds.
That was the impetus for removing fan voting from the All-Star Game process. It hasn’t been so bad since they brought it back, but as you note, it still favors teams like the Yankees and Red Sox, and as long as fan voting exists it will likely continue to do so.
Actually, you’d THINK fan voting favors the Yankees and the Red Sox, but that’s not really true. It favors guys who’ve been very good in the past, whether or not they’re any good this season.
In the Seventies, it was obvious that National League fans voted more and cared more about the All-Star Game. Every time a mediocre former National Leaguer was elected to the American League All-Star team, that became obvious.
It’s not actually called the “Game To Honor Guys Who Are Having A Great Year For The First Time Ever”.
True, star players who are slumping badly should get a year off. But looking at the AL starters, I don’t see anyone in that position. Even Ortiz (before he got hurt) was showing good power numbers after a horrendous early part of the season.
Exception to the “voting favors N.Y. and Boston” gripe: Corey Hart of the Brewers is voted to the last NL spot over David Wright of the Mets. Last time I checked, they’re having fairly similar years (Hart has a slightly higher BA, Wright has a few more homers and considerably more RBIs).
Of course (ritual gripe) the All-Star Game has lost some luster overall since the start of interleague play.
I am intrigued by your ideas, and wish to buy tickets to your event
(that is, as long as at least one event involves breakable targets like in the hockey shooting accuracy competition)
You don’t know the same “everybody” I know, then. I know nobody, outside of Yankee fans, who wants to be subjected to another All-Star Weekend’s worth of Captain Clutchy, especially in a season where he doesn’t deserve the spot.
I completely agree. If it’s going to “count” in that it affects the World Fucking Series, then ditch the fan voting, ditch the one-player-per-team, and ditch anything else that hinders the league from putting forth its best possible roster. There’s no room for discussion on this, AFAIC.
If I’m at all representative of other Red Sox fans, the only place we want to see Jeter is in the stands. Or home on his couch. Or on the back of a milk carton.
Ah, I can’t get too worked up about Jeter over Michael Young. To be honest, all the AL SS are having mediocre years at best. Yes, Young’s been a little better than Pretty Boy, but he’s having his worst year of the last six. There have been a lot worse selections (like Fukudome, and possibly Pedroia).
Same with Manny over Sizemore - Manny’s having almost (not quite) as good a year as Grady, but still, he’s Manny. The one who has a real beef is J.D. Drew, to be honest. They should put him at SS.
