What’s that? An all-star roster was announced? Ahh, that’s what the griping is all about! Yes, major league baseball has announced who will get to participate in the mid-summer classic and of course, there were snubs. But, for the first time in years, every club has actually gotten a player onto their respective all-star roster that deserves to be there. No one can really complain about being forced to have a Marlin or Pirate on the roster because, well, the Marlins have two outstanding players that deserve to go (Hanley Ramirez and Dan Uggla) and Pittsburgh’s Nate McLouth had a great first half of the season, even if he has trailed off slightly. I don’t even have to talk about the Rays because of how great they’ve been playing but the Royals, a quadruple-A calibre squad have a better-than-solid closer in Joakim Soria. It looks like there isn’t too much to argue about, that is, unless you’re ESPN.com’s Keith Law. But then again, he has to argue about something.
Some thoughts about this year’s all-stars…
It’s fairly clear to see that Red Sox Nation and Cubbies’ supporters were stuffing the ballot boxes. It’s the only way that they had such an advantage for some areas. Milwaukee must’ve done the same with Ryan Braun as well. Until last week, he was fourth in NL outfielders and he finished first by a healthy margin over the two Cubs (Soriano and Fukudome). It’s ridiculous that there was no cheating there … Really? Jason Varitek? Sounds like a little selection bias on that one. The AL might’ve been better having just two catchers (Mauer and Navarro) and selecting another position player that deserved the nod more than the BoSox captain. The player votes for Varitek were out of respect, not for his play … Another of the Red Sox, second baseman Dustin Pedroia, doesn’t deserve to be starting. The fact that he beat out Ian Kinsler is a good example of Red Sox Nation sucking off one of their own … For the first time I can remember, eight of my fantasy guys made the all-star game. I’ve never had that many guys make and my favourite part about this feat is that of the eight selected, I picked five off the waiver wire. I even dropped a guy who still has a (slim) chance of being voted in (Jose Guillen). Suddenly, it’s not that much of a wonder that I went from last to third in a little over a month … Speaking of last chance votes, mine go to Jermaine Dye and David Wright. Burrell and Longoria has been good but Dye and Wright are the clear choices.