The Bocker.com

Tony: As a preface for this debate, lets first acknowledge that selecting an All-Star team is just as big of a gimmick as it is a reward to players who have played well during a season’s first 3 months.  The Fan Vote is not going to disappear, so I am not going to bother arguing about the starters, because the fans spoke collectively on that.  I also am not going to contest the one player per team rule, because that too is never going to change.  These two stipulations should not be in play in picking the league’s best team, because there is something to be played for in the midsummer classic, with the winning league securing home field advantage in the World Series for its league champion.  However, these two concepts have been long a part of baseball and are not going to be gotten rid of.

Ok, now that the preface is out of the way, let’s get down to it and start with the better league, the American League (the AL is better by roughly any comparison between the AL and the National League).

My biggest problem with the AL roster is the inclusion of Red Sox catcher, Jason Varitek.  I was also very curious about the selection of 6 closers.

Not only is Varitek not an All-Star this season, but his current numbers for the first half (.218 7HRs and 27 RBI) suggest that he could be adequately replaced by many Triple-A catchers.  Clearly, Terry Francona, Red Sox Manager and AL All-Star Manager,  just threw one of his own guys a bone.  If Varitek had been closer to .260, I probably wouldn’t care if he was included on the team, because there are no other AL catchers after Joe Mauer and Dioner Navarro who are deserving of an All Star bid.  But .218!?  Not only is that woefully pathetic, but I’d venture to say it compromises the AL’s chance to win.

The selection of SIX CLOSERS undermines the idea starting pitching is the most important aspect of the game.  Now if thats true, how do you justify selecting just 6 starters out of a roughly possible 70 (5 starters per team x 14 AL teams) while selecting 6 closers from a possible 14 closers.  That means being that this year, nearly half of all AL closers are All Stars while less than 10% of all starters are All Stars.

The problem is between the one player per team rule and the quality of the top five closers in the AL, its difficult to leave out any of the 6.  Francisco Rodriguez has too many saves (35) and Joe Nathan, Mariano Rivera and Joakim Soria are all having identically great seasons.  Jonathan Papelbon could be left off, because his 4 blown saves are more than K-Rod, Nathan, Rivera and Soria combined and because his ERA is about a run higher than that of Nathan, Rivera or Soria.  Paps is out.  So then comes George Sherill.  His numbers are clearly not nearly as good as everyone else we have been talking about.  The problem is, find me another Oriole we can take.

If we take Brian Roberts instead, who’s spot does he take (he can’t take Papelbon’s spot, I am filling that with a starting pitcher).

Wallace: Anthony, after looking over the all-star rosters for this year’s game for an hour or so last night, I really am starting to believe that this is one of the worst selection of players in the last few years. Especially in the American League. It’s amazing to me that the AL seemed to pick such an odd selection of players from a league that boasts the two best teams in baseball, and a league that dominated interleague play. I’m going to break down the rosters by highlighting the selections that I find to be the biggest errors. As you’ll notice, most of my problems are with the AL rosters. It’s as if Terry Francona forgot that the All-Star Game winner determines home field advantage in the World Series.

6 AL Closers

This love of closers, and relievers in general, has gotten completely out of hand. Saves are being piled up in record numbers simply because coaches refuse to pitch their starters for more than 7 innings anymore and the set-up man, closer culture has become in vogue. Staff aces have become increasingly available on the free agent market (Dan Haren, Johan Santana, Erik Bedard last off-season and C.C. Sabathia this season), while in contrast closers are held onto like precious metal. Guys like K-Rod on the Angels and Joe Nathan on the Twins are most likely going to spend the majority of their careers on their original teams. Saves weren’t even a stat until 20-25 years ago, and a lot of saves come down to luck in my opinion. Some guys have been great for years (Rivera, K-Rod, Nathan), while guys like George Sherrill and Joakim Soaria are one year wonders in my opinion that have a 50-50 chance of going back to anonimity next season while a new group of no-names become all-star closers.

In my opinion it’s really easy to make cuts at this position. You take three closers (Rivera, K-Rod, Nathan) and the rest simply aren’t good enough. Those three are head and shoulders above the rest, and if the manager can’t reason taking 3 second baseman then how can they reason 6 closers? I would only add Sherrill to that list because he’s probably the most worthy of all-star status on the Baltimore Orioles. So 4 closers perhaps, but 6 is simply too many.

Jason Varitek

Varitek’s inclusion is easy to figure out. Terry Francona is rewarding Tek for his “leadership” and “importance” to the second best team in the American League and clearly Varitek has thrown in some sort of sexual favors as well because to include Varitek on this team requires a complete refusal to acknowledge is AA stats this year. If you’re going to argue that Varitek gets in based on his HR output then how do you snub the top two power catchers this season, Mike Napoli (12 HRs) and Miguel Olivo (9 HRs). Olivo also sports a .260 average, 42 points higher than Tek. Maybe his RBI output gets him in? Well, 7 catchers have more RBI and his average is so low he doesn’t even qualify for the list in that category. My vote at catcher would have gone to Miguel Olivo because of his power output and his solid average for a catcher. This also takes care of a representative for the Kansas City Royals, which allows Soria to stay home. A.J. Pierzynski also has a valid argument.

Joe Crede

Crede is having a decent season but I’m guessing he was picked for his HR output at the 3B position. His stats (.261, 15 HR, 47 RBI) are pretty good even though he’s not in the top 3 at his position in any of those categories. His inclusion is simply a slight to future All-Star starter Evan Longoria. This pick strikes me as Francona’s distaste for recent rivals, the Tampa Bay Rays. Longoria has better numbers (.281, 16 HR, 52 RBI) and while he wasn’t up at the beginning of the season he has a few more ABs than Crede. Longoria is behind only A-Rod and Adrian Beltre at the 3B position and the fact that he wasn’t picked for this team is almost as bad as the fact that Varitek was. Luckily for Longoria he will most likely be included in the fan vote for last player on the team.

Joe Saunders

Saunders is having a good season, and his 12 wins are the most in the AL, but I think two starters have had better seasons so far this year and just haven’t gotten the run support that Saunders has. John Danks and Shaun Marcum have sub-3.00 ERAs but only 6 wins and 5 wins respectively. This one seems simple, Saunders has twice as many wins and and a good ERA in his own right (3.04) so he clearly deserves to get in. I would also like to mention that if Francona had cut out two closers these two pitchers would most likely have been included on the team. But much like overvaluing saves, wins, while important, are not as good a judge of a starter as the Quality start stat. Some pitchers dont’ get wins simply because they don’t get run support or the game is tied when they leave. Guys like Danks and Marcum rarely give up more than 3-4 runs in a game, which most of the time well give your team the win, but for some reason those wins just didn’t come. Should they be penalized because their team couldn’t pull out a victory? I say pitcher should be judged for how well they pitched, not based on whether or not their team decided to hit in any given game.

Brian Wilson

Again, the save category is being overvalued. The San Francisco Giants already have Tim Lincecum so their representative is set. This is one of the worst teams in baseball and somehow they are getting two all-stars? That’s crazy. Especially when the ace of a potential playoff team is being left off of the squad. I am speaking of course of the Philadelphia Phillies’ Cole Hamels. Hamels is number 3 in the NL in strikeouts with 110, he has 9 wins and a solid 3.33 ERA and yet a closer with a smattering of saves and a higher ERA, on a team that won’t make the playoffs, gets to be an all-star. That makes no sense.

Ryan Ludwick

This one isn’t the worst pick in the world but I just think that Pat Burrell, with more HRs and RBIs, is a bit more deserving of a spot. But I can’t argue too much against Ludwick who will be going to the All-Star game for the first time. I can however call the fans complete idiots for voting Kosuke Fukudome in as a starter. This guy is average at best and is not even one of the top 10 outfielders in the NL, and nowhere near one of the top 10 players.

Anthony, to me there are just too many holes and average players on both teams this year and I’m not real excited for the All-Star game this year as a result. But, since it’s going to be at Yankee stadium I’ll probably end of watching.