The MLB All-stars were announced yesterday, and like all other baseball experts, I disagree with some of the players chosen. You will hear some people complain about the rule that every team must have an all-star but not me. I love this rule. It gives all fans a reason to care about the game, and rarely is there a team that does not have a deserving all-star. My problem is with the fan voting. They vote for their favorite players rather than the most deserving. There are three player who were voted in by the fans who did not make my team. Here are the teams as they should be. My changes in bold.
National League
Catcher - Brian McCann and Miguel Montero
First Base - Prince Fielder, Joey Votto, and Gaby Sanchez
Second Base - Rickie Weeks and Brandon Phillips
Shortstop - Jose Reyes, Troy Tulowitzki, and Stalin Castro
Third Base - Aramis Ramirez and Ty Wigginton
Outfield - Matt Kemp, Ryan Braun, Lance Berkman, Carlos Gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, Justin Upton, Hunter Pence, and Matt Holliday
Pitcher - Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Jiar Jurrjens, Cliff Lee, Clayton Kershaw, Tommy Hanson, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Craig Kimbrel, Heath Bell, Joel Hanrahan, Tyler Clippard, Jonny Venters, and Francisco Cordero.
Montero replaces Yadier Molina. Ramirez and Wigginton replace Placido Polanco and Chipper Jones. Some might say that I chose Ramirez because he is my favorite player, but his stats are better than those of any other third baseman out there. There was no one else at third who deserves to be on the team. I chose Wigginton over Daniel Murphy, Ryan Roberts, and Pablo Sandoval. All five of these guys are having better seasons than Polanco and Jones. If the Panda had not missed half the season so far, he would have made it instead. CarGo and McCutchen replace Carlos Beltran and Jay Bruce. Hanson, Kimbrel, and Cordero replace Brian Wilson, Ryan Vogelsong, and whoever wins the final vote. My last guys eliminated were Carlos Marmol, Michael Bourne and Danny Espinosa.
American League
Catcher - Victor Martinez and Alex Avila
First Base - Adrian Gonzalez, Miguel Cabrera, and Paul Konerko
Second Base - Robinson Cano, and Dustin Pedroia
Shortstop - Asdrubal Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta
Third Base - Alex Rodriguez and Adrian Beltre
Outfield - Jose Bautista, Curtis Granderson, Jacoby Ellsbury Melky Cabrera, Adam Jones, Adam Lind, and Michael Cuddyer
DH - David Ortiz and Michael Young
Pitcher - Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver, James Shields, Josh Beckett, Dan Haren, Gio Gonzalez, CC Sabathia, Felix Hernandez, Kyle Farnsworth, Sergio Santos, Chris Perez, Mariano Rivera, Aaron Crow, and Josh Bard
I made more changes to this team. VMart replaces Russel Martin even though he is mostly a DH these days. Pedroia replaces Howie Kendrick. Peralta replaces Derek Jeter. Melky, and Lind replace Josh Hamilton and Matt Joyce. Jones replaces Matt Weiters as the only Oriole, and Konerko replaces Carlos Quentin for the White Sox. Haren, Sabathia, Santos, Farnsworth, and Bard replace CJ Wilson, David Price, Brandon League, Jose Valverde, and the final vote winner. Konerko, VMart, and Jones are candidates for that last spot. Even though Ortiz and Young made my team, I am opposed to a DH being voted into the starting lineup. I should have picked Michael Pineda over his teammate King Felix because he has better stats, but I couldn't do it. Pineda, Joyce, and Brandon Boesch were my last cuts. I considered Scott Baker instead of Cuddyer as the lone Twin. Farnsworth's ERA is more than two runs lower than his career average.
Of course, everyone has their own opinion about who should have made the team, but mine are right.
I unashamedly did not read this post. Hope we're still friends.
ReplyDeleteThat's ok. Lately most of my posts have been more about what I want to write than what my readers want to read. Maybe one day I will write something that people want to read.
ReplyDelete#Cheerleaders rock and #Harry Potter rules.
ReplyDeleteLauren and Taylor Hankins
@Pompous, I have no particular ideas about what I read from your blog.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I have not posted comments as of late is because I did not have time to read your blog. So it is kind of hard to comment on something you have not read. On the film set yesterday afternoon, I was able to catch up on a month of your blogs.
As you well know, I do not need to talk about sports. I need to sit and listen and then it still goes over my head.
With Harry Potter, I only read the first three books, but I have seen all the films. So again I would need to know all the major differences between the films and the books to properly comment on what you have written.
I nay be wrong but I thought you would write about you wanted to write about not what your readers wanted to read. It is your blog after all.
My point was that some times I write about things that I know no one else cares about but me. Other times I try to write things that I know will entertain my audience. Feel free not to read or comment on any of my posts if you have nothing to say on the matter.
ReplyDelete