Friday, June 25, 2010

My All-Star Selections


We’re on the verge of the 2010 MLB All-Star game and while the out of control voting is going on, I want to drop in my own set of selections, including a few pitchers from each league.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
C – Victor Martinez, Red Sox
1st – Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
2nd – Robinson Cano, Yankees
SS – Derek Jeter, Yankees
3rd – Evan Longoria, Rays
OF – Carl Crawford, Rays
OF – Alex Rios, Blue Jays
OF – Josh Hamilton, Rangers
DH – Vlad Guerrero, Rangers
SP – David Price, Rays
SP – Phil Hughes, Yankees
SP – Clay Buchholz, Red Sox
SP – Andy Pettite, Yankees
RP – Mariano Rivera, Yankees
RP – Rafael Soriano, Rays
RP – Jose Valverde, Tigers

In most cases it’s hard to argue with a lot of this. I picked Martinez over Joe Mauer because hi overall body of work has just been more solid, although Maur’s been turning it up lately. Cabrera is in a league by himself so far this year and is miles above the other hot shot 1st basemen in Mark Teixeria and Justin Morneau. Cano’s season has been lights out. Jeter’s struggled at times this season, but he’s so far above the other shortstops n the League it’s really not a contest. Longoria’s season has been excellent and the power outage by A-Rod means there’s more than enough of a gap here to warrant his selection, although Adrian Betre’s solid season got some consideration. The outfielders were little harder. Jose Bautista hitting home runs like there’s no tomorrow but his lousy batting average and high strike outs drop him behind the guys I have listed. Guys like Ichiro Suzuki, Torii Hunter and Nelson Cruz got some serious looks in the outfield also. Vlad Guerrero’s amazing comeback year has him looking like the Vlad of 2002 and he holds off the bounceback year that David Ortiez is having. The pitchers weren’t too hard. Price and Hughes have been win machines while Buchholz and Pettite have been dominating. Rivera, Soriano and Valverde not only are among the league leaders in saves, all three have miniscule ERAs and have been scary good so far.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
C – Miguel Olivo, Rockies
1st – Albert Puljos, Cardinals
2nd – Martin Prado, Braves
3rd – David Wright, Mets
SS – Jose Reyes, Mets
OF – Ryan Braun, Brewers
OF – Andre Ethier, Dodgers
OF – Garrett Jones, Pirates
SP – Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies
SP – Josh Johnson, Marlins
SP – Mike Pelfrey, Mets
SP – Adam Wainright, Cardinals
RP – Brian Wilson, Giants
RP - Heath Bell, Padres
RP – Jon Broxton, Dodgers

I went a little off the beaten path with some selections here. I considered Brian McCann and Rod Barajas for catcher, but Mccann’s had a shakey season and Barajas’ june has been weak, so Olivo’s solid and surprising season gets rewarded. Guys like Yadier Molina and Pudge Rodriguez are not having great seasons, despite their high vote count in the all-star voting. Pujols’s slow start is gone and he’s back to normal, holding off excellent seasons from the likes of Joey Votto and Troy Glaus, who also got some thought from me. Chase Utley’s having a terrible season overall, and Martin Prado’s having a breakout year so there was little contest there, with Bradon Phillips getting a small look but comng up short. David Wright is back to being David Wright. Solid seasons from Scott Rolen and Casey Magee got consideration, but Magee has slumped for a while now. Vote leader Palcido Palanco got a brief look, but really doesn’t deserve to be the top vote getter. At Short, Reyes was picked mainly because after a very slow start and a season begun on the DL, he’s been on fire for a month now and the Mets are 20-5 in that time. Troy Tulowitzki and Hanley Rameriez both came close, but Tulo’s numbers are Coors Field aided and Rameriez got benched this season for dogging it and showing no class or respect for the game, thus giving him a big strike against him. Jimmy Rollins has been on the DL most of the season and gets no consideration. With the outfielders, I strong considered Jason Heyward but his too low batting average and too many strike outs gave way to my surprise pick of Garret Jones who is putting up a quietly great season in forgotten pittsburg. Barun and Ethier and as solid as they come and their all around numbers were just able to hold out over guys like Jason Werth and Matt Holiday. For the pitchers, Jiminez and Johnson and been SCARY good. Both have had long streaks of no run baseball this season. Pelfrey and Wainwright have been downright dominating in most of their starts holding out over Chris Carpenter, Tyler Clippard and R. A Dickey who are all having great seasons. The closers here, like in the AL, not only have excellent save stats, but have very low ERAs and have been solid.

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