http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp..._id=11909888&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Winners of fan vote: AL starters C: J. Mauer, MIN 1B: J. Morneau, MIN 2B: R. Cano, NYY SS: D. Jeter, NYY 3B: E. Longoria, TB OF: J. Hamilton, TEX OF: I. Suzuki, SEA OF: C. Crawford, TB DH: V. Guerrero, TEX NL starters C: Y. Molina, STL 1B: A. Pujols, STL 2B: C. Utley, PHI SS: H. Ramirez, FLA 3B: D. Wright, NYM OF: R. Braun, MIL OF: A. Ethier, LA OF: J. Heyward, ATL AL Player Ballot pitchers include starting pitchers David Price of the Rays, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester of the Red Sox, Phil Hughes of the Yankees and Cliff Lee of the Mariners, along with relievers Neftali Feliz of the Rangers, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees and Jose Valverde of the Tigers. AL Player Ballot position players include Cabrera, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, catcher Victor Martinez and DH David Ortiz of the Red Sox, shortstop Elvis Andrus of the Rangers, and outfielders Vernon Wells and Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays and Torii Hunter of the Angels. Pedroia and Martinez receive full honors as elected All-Stars, but because they are both injured and unavailable, they are replaced on the roster by second baseman Ian Kinsler of the Rangers and catcher John Buck of the Blue Jays, respectively. Both of them finished second on the Player Ballot at their respective positions. Girardi, in conjunction with MLB, filled out the AL roster with the following: second baseman Ty Wigginton of the Orioles and third baseman Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees, along with pitchers Matt Thornton of the White Sox, Fausto Carmona of the Indians, Joakim Soria of the Royals, Trevor Cahill of the Athletics and CC Sabathia of the Yankees. NL Player Ballot position players include catcher Brian McCann of the Braves, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres, shortstops Troy Tulowitzki of the Rockies, third baseman Scott Rolen of the Reds, Prado, and outfielders Corey Hart of the Brewers, Matt Holliday of the Cardinals and Marlon Byrd of the Cubs. Because Tulowitzki is on the DL and unavailable, he is replaced by Reyes, who was the next choice on the Player Ballot behind him. NL Player Ballot pitchers include starting pitchers Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies, Roy Halladay of the Phillies, Josh Johnson of the Marlins, Tim Lincecum of the Giants and Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals, along with relievers Matt Capps of the Nationals, Brian Wilson of the Giants and Jonathan Broxton of the Dodgers. From there, Manuel, in conjunction with MLB, filled out his roster with the following: first baseman Ryan Howard of the Phillies, second baseman Brandon Phillips of the Reds (replacing Utley), infielder/outfielder Omar Infante of the Braves, outfielders Michael Bourn of the Astros and Chris Young of the Padres, and pitchers Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals, Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers, Tim Hudson of the Braves, Evan Meek of the Pirates and Arthur Rhodes of the Reds.
Yeah, it has to be Arizona's Young. I just visited a Padres' board that I roam on and everyone's pissed because Gonzalez is the only SD player on the All-Star roster. Heath Bell and Mat Latos deserve to be on the roster. I'm pretty sure Bell still has a shot at being selected later.
Charlie manuel is a dork. Infante and Meek over McCutchen and Pelfrey/Latos/Gregerson? The mistake is that McCutchen was not the Pitt representative and Manuel opted for one of their middle relievers. That screwed up the whole thing. I would have chosen McCutchen and one of the three pitchers I noted above. Maybe I would have gone with Gregerson only because he is used to pitching in relief and would be more likely to pitch a clean inning than Pelfrey or Latos and since home field advantage for the WS is at stake...
They obviously meant the Arizona Chris Young because he's listed with the NL outfielders. The writer of the story got confused.
I actually think the fans did a better job than usual this year. Obviously usually there are a few bad selections, but aside from Yadier Molina, I don't have any real qualms this time around. Jeter's not having a great season, but neither is any other AL SS. You could argue against Utley and Morneau, but neither one is an egregious selection. The big mistake would've been had Wright not caught Polanco (on the DL), but he did in the final days. The AL has pretty good outfield defense with the starters this year.
When the best pitching team in baseball doesn't have a single pitcher selected to the All-Star team, the voting system is broken. It's not just in baseball though - the Pro Bowl is unwatchable now. The players and coaches should vote. The best players in the sport would still more than likely make the rosters.
I'm a big Mauer fan, but he's had a shit season...John Buck from Toronto or Mike Napoli from LAA would have been much better choices, at the very least as reserves.
FYP. Beyond that, fans don't vote for pitchers so your argument is completely invalid. Pitchers are in fact chosen by player vote and the managers.
The closers are selected by fans, correct? Billy Wagner will make it over Heath Bell because he's a Brave. Mat Latos is one of the best pitchers in this league regardless of what park he's playing in. 4 of his 9 wins were earned in opposing ball parks. Heath Bell is one of the best closers in this league regardless of what park he's pitching in. Luke Gregerson and Mike Adams are two of ther relievers in this league regardless of what park they're pitching in. It really does suck that you're so incredibly biased against every single team that isn't the Red Sox. Open you eyes, man. Look at what Latos has done over the past month and tell me he doesn't belong on the All-Star roster.
The fans only elect starting position players. The pitching staff is separate. The players and coaches are involved for the bench players and the pitching staff. You're blaming the fans because the wrong pitchers are on the roster, even though fans can't vote for which pitchers are chosen? If it were up to the fans, for example, you'd certainly see Strasburg on the NL roster. He's not because it isn't up to the fans.
No. None of this has anything to do with the fans. If you wanted them as reserves, that doesn't have to do with Mauer. Anyway, I don't think Napoli has much of an argument. He hasn't even been a full-time catcher this season, as he's been playing some first base, and he's lousy defensively. Mauer is more deserving.
Yes, it does. What I said about the Padres pitching staff was directed and devil because, like you Yisman, he claims San Diego's pitchers are only good because of PETCO - which in Latos' case is complete bullshit. Like I said, the fans will decide the last roster spot.
I think either is more deserving than Mauer as a starter, but that they werent even made reserves is even more annoying. If you want to eliminate Napoli, go ahead. Buck has still had a much better season than Mauer. If we are going based on the last month, Strasburg is going to make it too. Latos should be there, I agree, however.
