Sunday, July 11, 2010

The Real MLB All-Star Rosters

Greetings... Let me get a few things/thoughts about the MLB all-star game out of the way...
  1. I'm fairly "meh" on the whole event... exhibition events such as this don't usually grab me, and there isn't the same appeal to the game itself as there is in the NBA because it doesn't end with 10 of the best 15-ish players in the world playing highly competitive 5-on-5 for the final 8 minutes or so... in baseball, it's the "I have to go because SOMEONE on the Astros or Pirates had to make it" guys at the end...
  2. The awarding of home-field advantage for the ASG winner is world-class ridiculous... There are 100 better ways of determining home-field and I don't know anyone who wasn't watching before that suddenly declares "Homefield is on the line?!?! I'm in!"... get outta here...
  3. The expanded rosters are absurd... pick the best 25 in each league... I'm actually semi-okay with the "everyone has to have a representative" rule... but I'd do away with it if I had the choice... and the following rosters don't have that rule in place...
  4. For outfield spots... I go LF, CF, RF... if guys actually play multiple spots... that's fine... but I don't wanna see 3 right fielders playing together
  5. I hate fan voting in all sports... so I'm disregarding it... there it is
First.. the AL... Starters in Bold
  • Catcher - Joe Mauer, Mike Napoli... I want to carry 3 catchers because no one wants to catch very long in an exhibition game but I don't have the room... Mauer's numbers are down but he's still hitting over .300 and plays very good defense... Napoli gets the nod as the 2nd guy because of his power numbers (.829 OPS) and lack of options
  • 1st Base - Miggy Cabrera, Justin Morneau - Not really debatable here... Miggy is hitting .340+ and leading the league in RBI, Morneau also hitting .340+ with 18 and 56
  • 2nd Base - Robinson Cano, Dustin Pedroia (Injured) - Cano has been out of this world... .337, 16 HR, 55 RBI from a 2nd basemen... Despite Padroia's injury, he's been the best option elsewhere... for a replacement? I go Ian Kinsler slightly over Ben Zobrist (who never plays 2nd anyway)
  • Shortstop - Elvis Andrus - the "shocker" here... Andrus has been lights-out... hitting .290 with 22 steals and playing insanely good D... Jeter has been Jeter... but his average is down below .280 and his D is more legend than anything else.. so he gets left off as the guy with the worst resume (we need an extra spot)
  • 3rd Base - Kevin Youkilis - This is a snub for Evan Longoria but I had to take an extra middle infielder (Kinsler via Pedroia) but Youk has just been better... his OPS is .999... that's insanely good, and he's carried the Boston offense for stretches...
  • Left Field - Josh Hamilton, Carl Crawford - Hamilton has been absurd... .342, 21 HR, 62 RBI speaks for itself... Crawford gets the nod as the backup OF because he's been great too... 29 steals, great D, and a .320-ish average will do that
  • Center Field - Torii Hunter - Great D in center field always... but Hunter has done it with the bat as well.. .302 average (.910 OPS) with 14 and 60...
  • Right Field - Ichiro - fantastic D, great arm, great speed (22 steals) and his customary .326 average make him a lock...
  • Designated Hitter - Vlad Guerrero - He's back... .330 avg (.944 OPS), 19 homers, 72 RBI... no contest...
Pitching... For the record, I needed at least 4 relievers (including at least 2 set-up guys) in both leagues...
  • SP - Cliff Lee - Best ERA... Best WHIP... 5 complete games... He's been the best pitcher in the AL this year... and he gets the ball for me
  • P - David Price -
  • P - Clay Buchholz - (Injured) - Deserves the selection... would be replaced by Andy Pettitte
  • P - Jon Lester
  • P - Jered Weaver
  • P - Felix Hernandez
  • P - CC Sabathia
  • P - Daniel Bard - Best righty non-closer... sub 2 ERA, sub 1 WHIP, 18 holds, 44 Ks in 40.2 IP
  • P - Darren Oliver - Best situational lefty... 1.41 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 42 Ks in 38.1 innings... Gotta give me at least one lefty down there
  • P - Jose Valverde - Absurd ratios... 0.97 ERA, 0.84 whip... 33 Ks in 37 innings, 18 saves in 19 tries
  • P - Joakim Soria - leads the league in saves.. 2.41 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 42 K's in 33 innings (insanity)
  • Closer - Mariano Rivera - it's gotta be the sandman... 1.08 ERA, 0.66 WHIP (wow), 19 saves, done and done...
To the NL...
  • Catcher - Miguel Olivo, Brian McCann -
  • 1st Base - Albert Pujols, Joey Votto -
  • 2nd Base - Martin Prado, Brandon Phillips -
  • Shortstop - Hanley Ramirez
  • 3rd Base - David Wright, Ryan Zimmerman -
  • Left Field - Matt Holliday -
  • Center Field - Carlos Gonzalez, Andrew McCutcheon
  • Right Field - Andre Ethier
Pitching...
  • SP - Josh Johnson - This may be a surprise but it shouldn't be... lower ERA than Ubaldo, tied for the league lead in WHIP (sub 1), and a better K-rate... Johnson has been electric
  • P - Ubaldo Jimenez - 14 wins, 2.27 ERA, 1.08 WHIP... yea...
  • P - Roy Halladay - Still the guy I want with the ball... and not disappointing
  • P - Adam Wainwright
  • P - Tim Hudson
  • P - Mat Latos - Tied for WHIP lead with Johnson, the young guy deserves a slot as he's anchored that fantastic Padre staff...
  • P - Yovani Gallardo (injured) - Gallardo has been lights-out (2.58 ERA, 1.26 WHIP)... replace him with crazy-good youngster Jaime Garcia who has been a little lucky thus far but you can't argue with 2.10 ERA and 1.22 WHIP...
  • P - Arthur Rhodes - ERA in the low 1's... best lefty set-up guy in the Majors so far...
  • P - Luke Gregorson - Gets the slight nod over teammate Mike Adams because of a better strand rate and a significantly better WHIP... both guys have been great in middle relief
  • P - Carlos Marmol - Sub 2 ERA, sub 1.2 WHIP... 77 K's in 40.2 IP.... read that again! That's borderline absurd... he should be here
  • P - Jonathan Broxton - 1.98 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, one bad outing in a non-save situation away from the closer spot
  • Closer - Billy Wagner - The guy has been incredible... in his final season... 1.31 ERA, 0.93 WHIP, 53 K's in 34 IP... unhittable stuff

2 comments:

Shani said...

*ahem*

Hello! Can I comment on yesterday's post in this one? Because I don't know anything about baseball, except that I have to cheer for the Mariners or else Ryan will cry lol.

So, I started disliking LBJ when he wouldn't shake the Magic's hands after losing (which is all he's good at doing). And then with the whole free agency thing, I grew to hate him. But the taking less money thing softened my heart a bit. Except, Wade is the only one with a ring and is getting paid the least...? I guess.

All I know is, Derek Fisher better not sign with Miami.

I like the Bulls next year for a 2 seed. Though, wasn't Ben Gordon good for a series of long range jumpers every now and then and they let him go, but bring in Korver to do...the same thing?

Brad said...

lol Ryan's Mariner fandom creates all kinds of problems... haha.. I feel like LBJ taking less money was the lost part of it all... the media kills guys all the time for never taking less to win... and he did that? But he's still killed... the Korver move is a weird one for Chicago in the sense that I'm not sure he can play the 2 with Deng at the 3... but he provides a shooter they definitely need, at a more reasonable price-tag than Gordon would've... and I didn't like a future with Rose/Gordon together... but of course, I'm the only one who liked the JJ Redick potential signing in Chicago too... if Redick hadn't gone to Duke (and being white doesn't help either), I feel like he'd get more respect for what he's done on the floor recently... averaged 10 a game last year in only 22 minutes, shot 41% from 3, and plays at least average (I think above-average) D too... alas