Well its that time again when the All Star line-ups are announced and fans everywhere are left to bitch and moan about why one guy is starting and why their guy isn’t even in the squad and in the spirit of this phenomenon (I am a fan after all) I wish to continue in this vein to honour my forebears.
I shall begin in the NL mainly because the AL side pretty much picked itself and the NL has one or two interesting picks particularly in the outfield where Beltran has once again shown how easy it is to make the All Star Game if you are a high profile guy in New York (of course Mike Piazza has become a master of this).
I may not be the biggest fan of Jim Edmonds (he wouldn’t play if there weren’t cameras at the game) but he’s had a good year and I can understand why he’s been picked but Carlos Lee and Andruw Jones (he’s not on fire with a capital ‘F’ he’s on fire with a capital ‘F’ ‘I’) are both having MVP type seasons and both are only on the bench but I guess the fans would rather have more familiar people. Thank God for Bobby Abreu getting in. Is he the best outfielder in baseball right now?
Cliff Floyd isn’t in the team?
Up the middle its nice to see David Eckstein get the start as he is someone who I thought didn’t have the allure to be an All Star but I’m glad to be wrong. Of course it helps that St Louis fans like to celebrate the guys who work hard for their team but in this instance I’ll forgive them even though I’d rather have Cesar Izturis there.
Jeff Kent is a guy who I can understand being selected as people love the long ball and there aren’t a lot of second basemen in the NL having great years (Luis Castillo has been nowhere near his best this year and has been picked as the reserve) but how about some love for the glove? Kent is only at second because....well I'm not sure why he plays second. Maybe he just likes the view from there.
Third base is interesting as you have the incumbent in Rolen once again getting the nod from the fans but its easy to make a case that both David Wright and Aramis Ramirez have been better and what I wouldn’t give to see Troy Glaus picked just so he could participate in the Homerun Derby. I suppose Wright will see plenty of these during his career anyway.
So lets get to the big debate which has been hovering around the All Star vote and that’s who should be the starter at first for the NL and Derrek Lee has won through even though Pujols is the best first baseman in baseball. Lee has had a great year leading the league in average (just ahead of Pujols) and up there in homeruns and RBI (like Pujols) and few are as good as anyone defensively at first (like….well Pujols is alright). I don’t think there is a team that would rather have Lee than Pujols and I would rather have Pujols starting for the NL All Stars.
As I said the AL team more or less picks itself with Varitek catching, Mark Teixeira at first (thankfully overtaking Tino ‘the one week wonder’ Martinez in the ballot), Brian ‘Brady Anderson in Disguise’ Roberts at second, Miguel Tejada at short (best player in baseball?) and A-Rod at third (I wanted Mora but then again I find A-Rod very disagreeable to put it very liberally). DH David Ortiz is big on talent and personality and exactly the sort of player the All Star Game is made for.
The outfield is a bit more interesting with Manny and Vlad obvious picks (Vlad + HR Derby = big time fun) but Johnny Damon has usurped Ichiro and as much as I like Damon, Ichiro is the most exciting guy in baseball and how he has missed out is beyond me.
No Cliff Floyd in the AL outfield either? Where is he? Will he be the mascot? He must be somewhere!
2 comments:
im sure it was just a typo but cliff floyd plays in the NL... he should be in there instead of beltran... its a joke.
When he wasn't in the NL team I looked for him to be in the AL to check he wasn't there either just because he deserved to be there more than most.
They really need to sort out a way that ensures the best players are there. Right now we have too much softly, softly liberalised processes to go through.
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