The Stars...Like Dust

This time of year is always amusing. Whether it's folks griping about undeserving bums like Ryan Dempster (I kid, Jim :-)) making the All-Star team, or other people wailing that guys like Jermaine Dye didn't make the team, it seems like everyone has some complaint about the All-Star rosters.

To them, I say: unclench. Please.

We go through this every year. A while ago, I said that the typical post-All-Star-selection argument goes something like: How could they put [fill-in-the-blank] on the team? There's no way he's better than my favorite guy, [fill-in-the-blank].

This much should be clear, after all these years: the system is flawed, for a variety of reasons I'm too lazy to go into right now. So it stands to reason the teams will, from time to time, be flawed as well.

And if the fact that Ryan Dempster makes the team, or David Wright doesn't, ruins your enjoyment of the game...I can only offer condolences. Because two days after the game, when the season picks up again, no one will give a crap.

Letter to Joe Sheehan

Hi Joe,

Excellent piece on the ASG roster selections, but I do find myself puzzled by one of your comments. You denounce (quite correctly) the "thought" process that goes into choosing players for the game based on a hot streak of two months while ignoring past history. On the other hand, you make the comment, regarding pitchers who were left off, "No Cole Hamels or Johan Santana, but Ryan Dempster and Brandon Webb."

Never mind Dempster; his selection is silly. Brian Wilson, who you also mention, is another perfect example of players and managers not understanding what defines an elite player but instead being distracted by a bright, shiny bauble (ohhhh, saves! pretty, pretty saves!). But to mention Brandon Webb in the same group is to be guilty of the exact reverse of the prejudice you oppose.

Webb has been one of the elite pitchers in the game almost from the moment of his debut in 2003. Webb has never had an ERA+ of worse than 126. He was better than 150 each of the past two seasons; this year he stands at 132, hardly the record of an undeserving pitcher. Your implication of him as undeserving of selection seems to be based entirely on a poor 4-5 weeks in June and July, ignoring his record from 2003-2007 and his April-May of 2008, in which he had a BB/K ratio of 16/66.

I fully agree that Johan Santana and Cole Hamels are elite pitchers of the type who should be found in the All Star game, while Ryan Dempster and Brian Wilson are not. But to imply that Brandon Webb is some sort of fluke or undeserving selection is a comment perhaps born of frustration and beneath the standards of your usually fine commentary.

Back To The Ballot

National League:

C: Brian McCann. Bob is lobbying for Geovany Soto, and there certainly wouldn't be anything wrong with that vote. Nor would Russell Martin be a poor choice. Benjie Molina has been pretty good, too. I'm going with McCann because even though he's only been in the league four years, that's still a lot more than Soto. Also, remember this handy voting guide: A vote for McCann is good, a vote for McCain is very, very bad.

1B: Albert Pujols. Last year it was Prince Fielder, this year it's Lance Berkman. Berkman is a terrific hitter and a favorite of mine. Albert Pujols is one of the greatest players of all time. I check his name on the ballot pretty much automatically.

2B: Chase Utley. Pretty much as automatic as Pujols. Dan Uggla will make a fine backup. It's pretty cool to have two all-star second basemen whose names begin with "U." I would also be remiss to not mention Orlando Hudson, an outstanding defensive player who is slugging .514.

3B: David Wright. This was a very difficult choice; how do you pass on a future Hall of Famer who is hitting .405 with power? Hmmm, maybe I can't. I guess I'd just have to say that there is no way that Larry can keep this up, and by the end of the season Wright will have had the better year. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

SS: Hanley Ramirez. Ramirez was the best shortstop in the NL last year, and for the first two months of this year, but Jose Reyes is pretty close, and by the All Star game might pass him. I'll stay with Hanley for now.

LF: Jason Bay. The NL leader in OPS among leftfielders so far this year is Ryan Ludwick. Let's try again. Second is Pat Burrell. Burrell is a good hitter but a clown in the outfield. The next three are Adam Dunn, Bay, and Matt Holliday. I went with my usual tiebreaker, the same one I used to pick Justin Morneau over Kevin Youklis--when in doubt, pick the Canadian.

As an aside, I could have very easily and defensively picked an all-Pirates outfield. How can a team have three guys having all star seasons in its' lineup and still suck so much?

CF: Aaron (Pants) Rowand. Well, this worked better than the last time the Giants handed out a huge free agent contract. Sure, he's over his head, but so is Nate McLouth, and who else are you going to vote for? Maybe Carlos Beltran, if he has a hot June.

RF: Kosuke Fukodome. I'm going with the guy with the .409 OBP. I trust that you understand the reasoning behind that.

Comments?

Voted Early, Will Vote Often Later

Just finished turning in my first ballot for the 2008 All-Star game. Sure, I'll share it with you, thank you for asking.

American League

C: Joe Mauer. I hadn't realized this, but neither Mauer nor Victor Martinez has homered yet this year. But Mauer still has a .408 OBP, and that's all I need to know.

1B: Justin Morneau. If I would have had to make a prediction before the season, I would have said that of Dr. Morneau and Kevin Youkilis, Youkilis would have the higher OBP and Morneau the greater slugging percentage. How wrong I would have been. All things considered the two are about even and I like both, so I'm going with "who was born in Canada" as my tiebreaker. One could make a case for Jason Giambi here, but I won't.

2B: Ian Kinsler. Kinsler wins out at a weak position over Brian Roberts. Kinsler has a better slugging average and the two have virtually identical OBPs. Roberts is a terrific basestealer, but Kinsler has stolen 15 in 15 tries this year and is 49-55 for his career. Tough to beat that.

3B: Alex Rodriguez. This is the All-STAR game, after all. Who else can you even make a good case for?

SS: Derek Jeter. Remember when this was the centerpiece position in the AL? A-Rod, Jeter, Nomar, Tejada...now it's as empty as it can be. Jeter gets the nod over Michael Young on career achievement, kind of like Oscars voting.

I always vote outfielder by position; one LF, one CF, one RF. I know I don't have to do that, but I'm a stubborn cuss.

LF: Manny Ramirez. I could vote for Milton Bradley, but I don't like Milton Bradley. I could vote for favorite son Carlos Quentin, but I'd like to see him do this for more than two months. I could vote for Hideki Matsui, but...well, Manny is Manny, and that has positive connotations as well as negative ones. He's still a dangerous, dangerous hitter.

CF: Josh Hamilton. I hope that his story just keeps getting better. Not just for his sake, but for mine too, because I love watching him. He gets the vote here over two of my of my other favorite players, B.J. Upton and Ichiro Suzuki. This may be the first time ever I haven't voted for Ichiro.

RF: Magglio Ordonez. Kenny Williams was wrong, Ozzie Guillen was wrong, and I was wrong. If the Sox had it to do all over again I'd still recommend doing just what they did, but I'm still glad to see things work out so well for Mags.

DH: David Ortiz. Coming around after a slow start. Still fun to watch, but I wouldn't count on this lasting much longer.

It's getting late, so I'll finish tomorrow with the lesser league.

Return of the Horse[bleep] Tuesday Night Link Dump

Well-rested after a week's vacation, what is widely considered in my house to be the greatest Tuesday Night Link Dump on the Internet tubes returns!

** After a terrible, no-good, rotten day Sunday, Ozzie decided to unclench a little:

Guillen was less critical of media members whom he accused by being too fickle after the first five weeks of the season.

"I don't worry about the media," he said. "I can go to the moon, and people will ask me a question. I went to Spain last year because I don't want to talk about baseball, and people were talking about baseball in bars.

"Wherever I go, people want to know what's going on."

Sounds like somebody got some QT with the blow-up dolls. I kid, I kid!

** MLB continues its efforts to atone for its shameful, shameful past:

As part of its 2008 First-Year Player Draft next month, Major League Baseball will hold a ceremonial selection of players from the Negro Leagues. Participation in the draft is voluntary, but most of the 30 clubs are expected to take part as baseball continues its efforts to keep alive the history of the Negro Leagues.

The ceremonial event will be streamed live by BaseballChannel.TV at 1 p.m. ET, directly preceding the start of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft at 2 p.m. ET. Both events will take place at The Milk House at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla. Fans are encouraged to attend and admission is free, with seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.

"You don't ever want to forget your history," [MLB Executive Vice President Jimmie Lee] Solomon said Tuesday. "The whole gist of what we've been trying to do in this area of diversity -- in this era of inclusion -- is to go full circle: look at our present and examine our past and rededicate ourselves to the true essence of what the American pastime should be."

We've been critical of Baron Budhausen and his cronies here, but I'm more than happy to give him props for stuff like this. If only we didn't have to have stuff like this...

** Voting for the All-Star Game is now open. Because there's no better time to figure out who's having the best season than the first week in May. No props to the Baron for this form of early voting...

** Maybe Jim can add to this, because he's paid for MLB TV while I stick to good ol' reliable Gameday Audio:

According to the customer service at Major League Baseball, the MLB.TV Premium package, which lets customers watch baseball games on their computers at higher bandwidths than the basic package and allows users to watch up to six games at once, is a "bonus."

The rep also claims that the difference between 800k and 1.2Mb video speeds, both of which are available to Premium subscribers, is negligible, and in any case, their product info pages says they're not obligated to provide the 1.2Mb package.

** MLB.com's Mike Bauman wrote the Brew Crew was "for real" after their exciting win Thursday against the Cubs.

Since then, the Crew has dropped four in a row to Houston and Florida.

Note to Mr. Bauman: please don't ever write that the Cubs are "for real." Thank you.

** ESPN.com goes into the details on why the Brewers weren't "for real" since 1983.

** Finally, it wouldn't be a Tuesday Night Link Dump without a You Tube musical interlude. To honor those nutty funsters in the White Sox clubhouse, without any further ado, here's your own -- your very own -- Dirk McQuickly!

Is It Any Wonder, I Reject You First?

Last week’s Baseball Weekly included a discussion of which current players have the best chance to make the Hall of Fame after they retire. Most of it was devoted to the steroids debate (understandable). However, the folks at BW also ran an internal poll of their five writers (Paul White, Bob Nightengale, Hal Bodley, Mel Antonen, and Jorge L. Ortiz) on a bunch of active players.

The caveat on this poll: the writers vote on the players’ Hall-worthiness assuming their careers ended today.

Except for veterans at the very end of their careers, this kind of “What If?” game is fraught with peril. Who knows how the careers of the hottest young players will pan out? How can you tell that “proven” veteran well on his way to Cooperstown after nine years won’t just flame out after the tenth?

Be that as it may, these brave writers voted on several players in the twilight of their careers, players that we can reasonably start to debate their Hall merits.

Some of them are no-brainers. Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine, David Wells, and Curt Schilling, to name five of them (with unanimous results for all five – the first three for, the last two against).

Ken Griffey Jr. gained a 5-0 thumbs up, as did Frank Thomas. Ditto for A-Rod and Jeter (although it might be a bit premature for that pair).

But the one vote that caught my eye was for Craig Biggio. Biggio has said he would retire at the end of the year, so we’re not jumping the gun with this discussion.

However, BW’s panel actually voted Biggio down, by a 4-1 margin.

Great googaly moogaly! I know conventional wisdom has it that the juice, smaller ballparks, and expansion have led to an erosion of milestone batting accomplishments. But 3,000 hits are still a hell of a lot of hits. Especially coming from a catcher who worked hard enough to become a solid defensive second baseman and center fielder.

I don’t understand this vote. I hope the four guys who voted no take the next five years to reconsider their position…

Looking on the Bright Side...

Yeah, it stinks my league lost the All-Star Game. Again.

Now I have a better understanding of what all those AL fans went through back in the day...

But, ever the optimist, I still managed to find a silver lining:

Pujols was angry about being left on the All-Star bench and the St. Louis slugger took aim at the National League manager -- who just happened to be La Russa of his own Cardinals.

"It's the All-Star game. He can do what he wants," Pujols said Tuesday night. "He does whatever he wants. If I wasn't expecting to play, I wouldn't have come up here."

Pujols, the NL MVP in 2005 and key to the Cardinals' win in the World Series last year, said La Russa didn't talk to him the entire game.

Pujols could only watch when Aaron Rowand flied out with the bases loaded to end the American League's 5-4 win.

"If he wants to get upset, he can get upset," La Russa said. "Whatever he wants to do, he can do. It's America. That wasn't the most important thing tonight."

Nothing like another episode of Cardinals Eating Their Own to brighten my day...

Contested Elections

It's All-Star time again. I haven't bothered to comment on this year's teams because (a) like Jim, I find it difficult to get that excited about the game any more and (b) there were no real groaners on either team this year.

Most of the time, the "debate" over the All-Star selections is along the lines of:

How could they [elect/name] [Fill in the Blank] to the All-Star team? Doesn't anyone realize [Personal Favorite] has more [wins/home runs/stolen bases/game-winning RBIs] than [Fill in the Blank]? It's an outrage, I tell you!

Unfortunately, these discussions are only mildly diverting at best. The current selection process pretty much guarantees that several deserving players will be hosed. It sucks if it's your Personal Favorite who gets the shaft, but it's gotta happen to someone.

Case in point: Carlos Zambrano. A lot of Cub Fans thought he should have won Baron Budhausen's latest publicity flim-flam...errrrr...internet fan voting. For the record, I didn't (I thought Young, Oswalt, and Webb were more deserving).

Ironically enough, MLB created a reverse Vortex of Armaggedon by putting Zambrano on the fan ballot, with several of our esteemed pundits speaking out against Big Z's inclusion. Dr. Phil said with a straight face that Jason Marquis should have been on the ballot instead of Zambrano.

And Fox Sport's Ken Rosenthal shows us once again how fun and easy it is to mislead readers with vague statistics:

Earth to NL: Zambrano had a 5.62 ERA on June 1. Since then, he has produced five straight quality starts. Guess that makes him an All-Star.

Yes, Zambrano's ERA was an ugly 5.62 on 1 June. But Rosenthal's crack about quality starts is highly misleading.

A quality start, as we all know, is one in which the starter allows no more than four runs while lasting at least six innings. And, as we all know from the pundits who claim quality starts aren't really quality, that works to a 4.50 ERA.

Zambrano has been a little better than that. Here's what a slightly more honest Rosenthal may have said:

Earth to NL: Zambrano had a 5.62 ERA on June 1. In his five starts since then, he has produced a 1.43 ERA. In 37 and two-thirds innings, he struck out 43, and allowed only 31 base runners. But All-Stars should be honored for their body of work over the whole season, not because of a few good weeks in June. If our standards are "What have you done for me lately?" the I guess that makes him an All-Star.

I agree with Rosenthal that Zambrano should not have been on the fan ballot. But he had enough ammunition to make his case without resorting to weasel words.