Today I get an email from redsox.com imploring me to vote for Varitek, only 45,000 votes behind Joe Mauer. I hate the fact that the All Star starters are dominated by undeserving players from large market teams and Varitek would represent the worst of that kind.
Varitek .230/.308/.392
Mauer .331/.417/.437
This isn't even close. The fact that the Red Sox have 1.5 billion fans verses the Twins 325 means that, with a push, Varitek probably will overtake Mauer.
Pedrioa over Kinser is another joke:
Pedrioa: .282/.329/.410
Kinsler: .305/.362/.502
Here is my ballot with the leader in the parenthesis.
C Joe Mauer (Mauer)
1B Kevin Youkilis (Youkilis)
2B Ian Kinsler (Pedrioa)
3B Miguel Cabrera* (Rodriguez)
SS Orlando Cabrera (Jeter)
OF Josh Hamilton (Ramirez)
OF J.D. Drew** (Hamilton)
OF -None- (Ichiro)
DH Aubry Huff (Ortiz -inj-, Matsui)
Write-in: Carlos Quentin
But the biggest joke of all is the fact that Carlos Quentin is not even on the ballot (.280/.392/.533) with the 6th best OPS in the AL. I mean, you gotta think at least 95% of the votes are over the Internet, right? So why the fuck can't they have added him, like, two months ago?
*I would vote for A-Rod here, his number are deserving, but I cannot vote for the guy. Just can't.
**Milton Bradley is listed as an OF on the Ballot, which he isn't. Bradley has better numbers than Drew and Quentin, but it's hard for me to vote for a guy for a position that he doesn't play.
4 comments:
Looking at the AL short stops in particular, this year is an incredibly down year for SS. Michael Young leads the pack (VORP-wise) with a .277/.330/.399 showing and a massive VORP of 12.4, and he's a butcher in the field. To put the weakness in perspective, Mike Aviles is the 4th leading SS in VORP (just ahead of Lugo!), despite having fewer than 100 at bats, and playing time factors into VORP fairly heavily.
Only Yuniesky Betancourt and Jhonny Peralta are slugging over .400 (.412 and .427), but they both have OBPs under .300 (!!). I think you could take your pick from Young, Jeter, and Orlando Cabrera, and it really wouldn't make a difference.
Kinsler absolutely deserves to be the starting 2B. He's been an MVP candidate, putting up spectacular numbers at an up-the-middle position.
I don't have a problem with Ichiro making it over Quentin. Quentin has been spectacular for two months, but I've always felt that the ASG is about hwo you feel the best players are. Not who has had the best couple of months to start the season. Hamilton on the other hand, is on pace for a historic season, so he definitely needs to be in there somewhere.
And can't we just assume that Milton will get hurt by the time the ASG rolls around? He's played more than 110 games once in his career.
"will get hurt?" He's missed the last, like, 5 games with a hamstring injury. And he's starting for my team this week. I'm psyched.
98
101
141
75
96
61
64 (current season)
The dude makes JD Drew looks like Cal Ripken Jr.
Short stops are pretty weak. I like O-Cab b/c we'd be guaranteed clips of Ortiz and him doing those awesome 24 step handshakes during the '04 playoffs.
I'm not sure if the ASG should entirely just be the best players in the game year in and year out. To me, it's more interesting to see guys like Quentin (who will probably never again have a shot at an ASG) than to see Ichiro again and again. I guess that is what the player voting and coaches picks are for though. It's also strange to me that the fans have no say whatsoever in the pitchers selected. I always found that odd.
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