Be sure to vote for this summer's MLB All Star Game. You want to ensure your league has home field for the World Series, don't you?

[ May 30, 2003, 01:27 PM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

And how do we do that? Vote for crappy players in the other league? wink

So vote for your favorite Detroit Tigers or San Diego Padres! wink

Seriously though, who's everyone's picks for the All-Star game thus far? I'm still debating which pitchers I'd select if I were Dusty Baker and Mike Scioscia, but here's my position player picks:

National League
C: Javy Lopez, Atlanta -- If this were the All-Hottie Game, Michael Barrett would barely beat out Javy, but you can't argue with Javy's numbers.

1B: Todd Helton, Colorado -- Over Sexson and Thome, and Bagwell, whose numbers aren't quite up to his standards.

2B: Jose Vidro, Montreal-San Juan-Portland-Washington -- It's him or Jeff Kent, but for some reason, I like the plucky Montreal Orphans.

SS: Edgar Renteria, St. Louis -- If it weren't for the troika +1 of SS in the AL (Garciaparra, A-Rod, Jeter, Tejada,) he'd be the best in the bigs, I think.

3B: Mike Lowell, Florida (for now) -- God, I wish the Cubbies would get this guy, and soon!

OF: Albert Pujols, St. Louis -- By just a hair over Barry Bonds.
Corey Patterson, Chicago -- Breakout player of the year, and since I haven't included a homer pick yet, I'll do it now.
Sammy Sosa, Chicago

DH: Barry Bonds, San Francisco -- I know you can't vote for an NL DH, but this is my list and I'll do what I want to!

American League
C: Jorge Posada, New York -- No longer taking a backseat to Pudge.

1B: Carlos Delgado, Toronto -- I mean, how can you not? .324 AVG, 21 HR, 72 RBI , 77 H. No one else even comes close, I'm sorry Jason Giambi.

2B: Alfonso Soriano, New York -- Strikes out way too much, on pace for 154 K's and only 51 BB, but his power numbers are insane for a guy that skinny. Soriano over everybody.

SS: Nomar Garciaparra, Boston -- Garciaparra over A-Rod by a hair.

3B: Troy Glaus, Anaheim -- Since the Hillenbrand trade, it's Glaus over Hank Blalock and Robin Ventura.

OF: Manny Ramirez, Boston
Rocco Baldelli, Tampa Bay -- His K's give me pause, but no one else really stands out, and this guy is flat-out awesome. Seeing him play at Wrigley the other day really opened my eyes to this guy.
Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle

DH: Edgar Martinez, Seattle -- Who else?

It's a shame nobody knows who Vernon Wells is. Aside from being an excellent defensive center fielder, his numbers:

.292 BA, 82 hits (5th), 49 runs (tied-6th), 23 doubles (tied-1st), 14 HR (tied-9th), 60 RBI (2nd), 151 total bases (4th)

Wells is currently 12th in AL outfielders voting.

[ June 12, 2003, 06:11 AM: Message edited by: canmark ]

I vote based strictly on team loyalty and looks, in varying orders or importance.

AL, I pretty much vote a straight ticket of Red Sox, though I did vote for Bret Boone because I think he's a cutie. I wanted to vote for Bill Mueller, but couldn't find him on the ballot and was too lazy to go back and do a write-in. But next time I will.

NL, I know I voted for Ryan Klesko and Lance Berkman, strictly because I think they're hot. I forget who else. The only Brave I would vote for is Greg Maddux, because I have this weird crush on him even though he's not that hot and really looks like a librarian. But of course you can't vote for pitchers, so no votes for any Braves for me.

I know I made a point of not voting for Piazza for catcher, but I forget who I did vote for.

I'll have to go back and vote again so it's more fresh on my memory. But basically, I don't put much effort into and go about 80% on looks.

Stats schmats, I don't want to watch a bunch of ugly f*$s on TV.

william,
I totally agree with you. I don't wanna see the all-stars of Ug-dom when I turn on the set. and I also agree with you about Maddux. EXCEPT!!! I DO think that he's hot. I happen to find him very very attractive.

Call me old-fashioned, I still vote for the best players, or at least those with good
Adjusted Equivalent Runs totals...

NL

No-brainer outfield: Bonds, Sheffield, Pujols. Sosa's injuries/time missed don't merit a selection this year. As much as I'd like to fit an actual CF (Edmonds over Andruw), there's just no case for displacing the monstrous production of those three.

Infield: Helton, Vidro over Giles (taking the last year and a half into account), Furcal (too good to ignore in a weak field, even if I don't like to vote for guys having their hottest half-season without precedent). I've been splitting my 3B votes between Rolen and Lowell.

Catcher: With Piazza out, who cares? Javy, Lieberthal and LoDuca... pick one.

AL

An easy infield... Delgado, A-Rod, Glaus. And the numbers clearly indicate this is Bret Boone's career year; he gets it over Soriano.

Posada catching. It's a bad year for AL outfielders: Bernie out, Ichiro still rather overrated (ditto Rocco Baldelli -- a rookie with an .818 OPS is not an All-Star) ... I've cast votes for Manny (Strangeglove) Ramirez, Mike Cameron, Melvin Mora (exception to the breakout rule), Vernon Wells and Carl Everett!

Edgar Martinez, great a hitter as he is, irks me. I'm starting to vote for two guys who actually play the field at least sometimes for the DH role, Frank Thomas (he's back) and Everett.

[ June 12, 2003, 10:18 AM: Message edited by: Bill W ]

I guess I'm old fashion too BillW. I vote for the players who I think deserve to be there. But I don't follow the individual players in the AL close enough to vote for them. And I'm not going to vote on name only. Luckily, Javy Lopez is having a great year this time so I can vote for him. Of course I can do the queer thing and vote for the players in the prettiest costumes.

Strategy for the last 3 days of voting: ELECT ALBERT PUJOLS, for the love of God! Grab some bench, Sammy.

I'm now going with a Bonds-Pujols-Edmonds ticket in the NL OF, since Jim E was an absurd eighth in last week's voting update ... Also, Sheffield's had a bad week and figures to regress toward his mean a bit further... and since he's ahead of Albert, one has to bypass him to get A.P. elected.

Since Vidro is a hopeless fifth in the 2B balloting, I'm throwing in with Kent and Renteria in the middle infield to counter the Atlanta fans' stuffing. Let's see Furcal and Giles do this well for a full season. (I relented and have settled on Lopez as the catcher.)

Kind of a shame to see Torii Hunter in line to win a starting spot; Ichiro-Manny-Vernon Wells look most deserving now.

Pujols, Sheffield and Edmonds should EASILY be leading in the NL outfield voting -- with all due respect to the phenomenal numbers that Bonds has put up the past two seasons (and, as most Outsporters know, I am NOT a fan of Barry's by any means) his offensive production is simply not on par with the three aforementioned outfielders, all of whom would be deserving of NL MVP consideration at this stage -- although if Pujols stays anywhere near his .391 avg and makes a run at the Triple Crown, Albert is a lock for the award....as for additional NL starters, Vidro (who is amazingly 5th in the voting to date ) and Lieberthal both have my votes for their consistently strong (if largely overlooked) seasons -- in fact, some might argue that in light of Pat Burrell's and David Bell's struggles at the plate all year and Jim Thome just recently starting to hit like he did for the Tribe that were it not for Mikey's .320+ bat the Phils would be battling the Mets for the NL East basement and already out of postseason contention.

As for the AL, Delgado should win in the biggest landslide since Nixon-McGovern (geez, did I really use that analogy? :confused: )....in addition to the obvious likely winners of A-Rod, Soriano, and Posada (playing in the Big Apple sure doesn't hurt when it comes to national exposure) the most deserving AL players are OF's Vernon Wells (currently 9th in the voting), Rocco Baldelli (now in 11th place) and Melvin Mora (who is not even in the top 15 despite being the leading hitter in the A.L.! eek! ) but I continue to hold out hope that the knowledgeable baseball fans in America will wake up and elect at least ONE of these deserving players (that is assuming all the Japanese fans don't "stuff the ballot box" voting for Ichiro again, even if the M's right fielder is having another consistently impressive season overall).

[ June 30, 2003, 02:10 PM: Message edited by: gamecock ]

Dude... not on a par? Bonds leads the NL in on-base and Equivalent Average, is second only to Albert in OPS (by a mere 18 points) and is 3rd in slugging! ...Uh oh, you're using the team-dependent stats of RBI and runs scored to judge his production, aren't you? Naughty, naughty!

If Rocco Baldelli ever has a season as productive as Bonds' current one, let me know. And a guy having a great half-season like Mora can't be a starter when he's soaring above his proven track record.

Point taken RE: Bonds, Bill....I will admit that even I have softened up on Barry this season particularly in light of what he is going through personally with his father's serious illness -- anyone who says that does not affect your production at work is just plain wrong....although Bonds is now playing for a fantastic manager (taking nothing away from Dusty, of course wink ) the lack of a proven all-star caliber run-producer to "protect him" in the lineup has definitely adversely affected his RBI and runs scored numbers this season.

As for Melvin Mora, I'll be the first to admit that he is truly having a "career year" (or at least half-year anyway ) and it is doubtful that he will approach the .360 plateau again....however, having said that, my view of the mid-summer classic is to reward players for what they have done during THIS season, not necessarily as a "lifetime achievement" acknowledgement (not that I'm opposed to awarding a slot or two on the all-star roster for the latter category either, though) and, as a result of what Mora has accomplished during this THREE MONTH span he is undeniably deserving of FAR MORE recognition than he has received -- after all, isn't a player who leads the league in hitting worthy of being in the TOP 15 in voting for his position?....just a thought -- remember as bad as the O's are (and since the Expos haven't come to town -- YET) we need all the positive signs we can get here in Maryland. wink

It looks like the Japanese vote may have put Hideki Matsui in the AL outfield ... even though he's having a better year than Torii Hunter, it still seems premature, despite Matsui's hot June and his experience across the Pacific.

Gamecock, we disagree. While performance over the season's first half should be factored in, I'm not going to anoint Corey Koskie as the AL 3B over Troy Glaus just because his 2003 numbers are slightly better. Glaus (and other proven stars) figure to surpass the upstarts by season's end (look how silly Shea Hillenbrand's election last year looks now).

And the "protection" factor you cite for BB is not central to the R/RBI stats. While Bonds IS having the #2 offensive year in the league, he is also way below last year's Olympian figures in slugging (.659 to .799) and OBP (.493 to .582).

Also, contrary to mainstream sportscasting myth, there's slim evidence that batters' actions are affected based on who's around them in the lineup. (Here's a Baseball Primer article on the topic.)

[ July 01, 2003, 01:22 PM: Message edited by: Bill W ]