All-Star Teams announced
ByThe fan votes are in and the reserves have been picked. Derek Jeter and A-Rod won the popularity contest and will start the game at short and third. A-Rod was the leading vote getter for the second straight year. Ian Kinsler Dustin Pedroia will start at second. Our campaign was futile.
The selection show is on TBS right now. I’ll update this post once the pitchers & reserves are announced.
Update (2:35): The NL pitchers & reserves have been announced. Johan Santana didn’t make the team, but Ryan Dempster did. Hah. Looks like Billy Wagner is the only Met headed to the Midsummer Classic. I can’t wait to see Timmy Lincecum take the mound in the Boogie Down, but how in the world does Carlos Marmol not make the team? Look at those numbers. I believe the term is “sick.” PeteAbe has the full rosters for ya.
Update (2:50): The AL pitchers & reserves have been announced. Mariano Rivera made it, now lets see if Francona has the guts to start him. Jason Varitek inexplicably made the team; his OPS+ is 73. One time great Yankee prospect Dioner Navarro made the team, I’m super happy for him. That’s it, no Johnny Damon or Mike Mussina.
Update (2:55): The Final Vote players were announced, so you can vote Jason Giambi into the game.
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The Mason Williams Watch
I missed it… did they say who’s starting?
Pete Abraham had an open letter (not a blog post, it was in the actual paper) to Francona about starting Rivera for the AL
Starting pitcher you mean? No, not yet. I’m guessing Volquez or Webb, but that’s just a guess.
i’d be so pissed if webb was named the starting pitcher. he’s been awful lately.
Why would Marmol be on the team? I’m looking at the numbers, but don’t see anything special for 2008?
Then what in God’s name do you consider special?
49.0 IP
20 ER
22 BB
3.67 ERA
?
Granted, the WHIP and Ks are great, but still…
Joba was way better
23 hits allowed in 49 IP is as special as it gets. Take away this outing, and his ERA is nearly a full run lower.
http://www.baseball-reference......6190.shtml
Yeah, but you can’t just look at those numbers. He has a lot of walks and runs allowed!
Batters hitting .143 against him? 23 hits in 49 innings? Rivera has never even come close to those numbers.
23 hits but also 20 earned runs!
And 22 walks…
If you wanna get all technical, he has a 1.86 WPA. So stfu.
Hehehe, to each his own…
Mo has 2.40 btw.
Nathan has 2.89
Soria has 2.92
K-Rod has 3.15
Saunders 2.54
So you STFU
Mussina was deserving of a nod for the AL. I never thought I would say that a year ago.
Varitek should NOT be on that list! That is ridiculous.
Does Giambi replace an injured Ortiz?
Jason Varitek is an American League All Star.
That is all.
What about AJ or Kaz Matsui, or even Ramon Hernandez? All have at least 50 points on Tek’s BA.
i dont think kaz and tex are trying out for the same team there
i dont think kaz and tek are trying out for the same team there
Among AL starting catchers with 150 or more PA’s, there is not a single one less productive than Varitek.
And the players voted this guy in?
you think Johnny’s injury has anything to so with not getting the nod?
Looking at the four Outfielders on the A.L. bench (J.D. Drew, Carlos Quentin, Grady Sizemore and Milton Bradley) he really does not deserve to leapfrog any of those four players.
Francona said he’s going to start Bradley at DH in place of Ortiz. Maybe Damon takes his spot on the bench as the 4th extra outfielder.
Jason Varitek does NOT belong on that team.
Jason Varitek doesn’t belong on the Triple-A All-Star team.
Varitek is over-rated!
So Wagner is the only Mets’ player to make it, and Kazmir makes it for the AL team. Salt on the wound right there.
Mike Mussina belongs there. maybe Abreu. Bottom Line is everyone HAS to vote for Jason in the Final Vote because he said he isnt going to do the homerun derby if he isnt on the team.
As idiotic as this sounds (me referencing Mike and the Mad Dog), Chris Russo did make a valid point that MLB might not ask Jason Giambi to the Home Run Derby because of his connection to BALCO and basically along with Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens is one of the poster boys for the Steroid Era in baseball.
Seriously ? Veritech, nothing like being on a ALL STAR team batting slightly over .200. I wave my fart in whoever voted for him general direction
Chad Moeller has a better VORP than Varitek. Chad f’ing Moeller. It’s absolutely incredible. There are just no words.
And Longoria should be on the team ahead of Joe Crede, too.
I’m the biggest Mike Mussina fan in the world, and would loved to have seen him at the All-Star Game this year, but once you get past the wins, it’s hard to justify putting him on the team in front of players like Saunders (though *perhaps* Danks should be on the roster in front of him?), Ervin Santana, or the A’s Duke.
But then again…if Varitek can make this team. Seriously. 34th among catchers in VORP. 34th. And it’s not like he shuts down the running game, either.
Seriously ? Veritech, nothing like being on a ALL STAR team batting slightly over .200. I wave my farts in whoever voted for him general direction
The players. The same people who said Jeter was overrated, and the same people who said they want to start a team with Jeter. The players.
You can be tempted to easily say that Derek Jeter is overrated because of all the praise he gets for intangibles and crap but when it comes down to it I believe he is on pace to break Pete Rose’s all-time Hits record. No way you can say a player is overrated when you have that as a counter-argument.
Also, those players place A-Rod in the top three for most overrated players, Alex Rodriguez. The same A-Rod who just last season had 54-HRs and has three MVP awards. The same A-Rod who is the youngest player to jack 500-HRs, the future youngest player to jack 600-HRs and 700-HRs (hopefully). Jealousy is a bitch.
Honestly, David Wright should be on it…. Take off Guzman and put on Jon Rauch to be the Nationals’ rep.
My bad about the duplicate comment not to sure how that happened
I understand Posada is hurt but shouldn’t he be on the All-star team over Varitek.
There are thirty-three catchers in the AL, backups included, who deserve to be on the All Star team ahead of Varitek. Unfortunately, only two of them made.
Thirty-three catchers have a better VORP than Varitek this season. Thirty-three. And let’s not fool ourselves here, Varitek doesn’t shut down a running game, and he’s rather pedestrian blocking behind the plate. Being able to handle a pitching staff is largely overrated, there’s never been any evidence despite several studies proving that there’s any particular repeatable skill that reflects itself year after year in handling a pitching staff.
But even if there was, and I’m sure you could make a case that it’s a legitimate intangible, does that really, really make up for the pitiful offense?
The Boston Red Sox rank seventh in the American League in Fielding Independent Pitching, that’s good enough for me to know that he isn’t some fucking genius at calling a game. Josh Beckett has also regressed a bit from last year, Daisuke Matsuzaka can walk a ballpark and he has a Knuckleball pitcher on his staff (not to hard to call his games).
Fuck Jason Varitek.
He doesn’t even catch Wakefield anyway.
You guys are acting like it’s his fault the players elected him. I agree he shouldn’t be there, but it’s not his fault that he is…..
Yes, yes he should.
Jason Giambi is going to have some stiff competition with Evan Longoria. Combine the bandwagon fans for the Rays and the Yankee haters it’s going to be real close.
Nevermind that one can make a good case that Longoria’s the second best 3rd baseman in the AL, when you consider both his offensive production and the fact that he has a really good glove at the hot corner.
Yeah to be truthful I am going to have to think it over for my vote, I’m a huge fan of Evan Longoria.
Players are stupid, according to PeteAbe they voted him on. Dumb asses.
“Him” meaning Jason Varitek.
BTW, “Gone Baby Gone” is a great movie. Even though it’s directed by that dork Ben Affleck, his brother Casey (the skinny brother in the “Ocean’s” flicks) does a great job. And true to Boston form (movie is filmed in Beantown) everything turns out shitty.
Mike Mussina hasn’t made the All-Star team since 1999, two years before he signed with the Yanks. Am I the only one completely shocked by that?
I didn’t believe my dad when he told me. He finished 5th in the Cy young one of those seasons and didn’t make the AS team.
Damn, I was hoping to see Griffey play. Damn you Braun.
I’m not sure what Francona was looking at when making the pitching staff. If he’s looking at wins, Mussina has to make it. If he’s looking at ERA, John Danks has to make it (2.50 ERA). Neither one made it… is Francona going with his gut or something?
Seeing how those two starts are not very effective in determining how well a pitcher is performing I wouldn’t think his selections were based on those two stats. Who knows, maybe Terry Francona is a Baseball Prospectus subscriber as our own Manager.
What ?!!?! Those two stats don’t tell the story ? Wins can be deceiving, but ERA is not for a starter. Either you allow runs, or you don’t. Mussina is in the top 20 in ERA and is second in wins. There are only 12 guys with a noticeably better ERA.
I don’t know what stats YOU would use, but you don’t fill out an all star roster based on WHIP and K/9
Why wouldn’t you? WHIP, K/9, BB/9, K/BB, GO/AO, FIP, and HR/A are all more telling of a pitcher’s effectiveness than ERA. The ERA stat is like the RBI stat, not as useless as the BA stat but it is too dependent on the efforts of your teammates for it to rightfully judge an individual’s performance.
I absolutely agree, especially with whip and GO/AO
Those stats are better for predicting a pitcher’s future performance, not necessarily determining who was the better pitcher in the past.
The bottom line is that a pitcher’s job is to prevent runs from being scored, so his ERA is the most important stat in determining who was a more effective pitcher. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if a pitcher gave up a fly ball to the warning track or struck the batter out – it’s still just one out. Of course, in his next game, that fly ball might clear the fence while the K is still a K.
You know what’s going to happen, right? Varitek will sit around all game, catch the last 2 innings, come up to bat in a big spot late in the game, completely embarrass himself, and cost the AL home field advantage.
The Yankee fans at the game should chant his Batting Average when he is announced during the introductions.
Well, we might be able to hear all three hundred of them over the silence of the big-money execs.
THANK YOU. Life long Yankee fan and 10 years as a season ticket holder and no AllStar ticket.
Federer, Nadal match just hit Deuce in final set on NBC.
Congrats Raphael Nadal.
Great Match.
Glad that Ludwick got the nod
RD for the Mets/Phils game. Damn
This is Rivera 9th All-Star selection, that is amazing
so happy Tek made the team – now the Sox Nation will be compelled to bring him back as a free-agent this off-season! maybe he gets a 2+1 @ $30mm!!
Who are they going to replace him with? Ivan Rodriguez and Rod Barajas lead the upcoming Free Agent Class among backstops. George Kottaras and his .214/.340/.393 Triple-A vital line is their most Major League ready farm option.
They probably will re-sign him, but it won’t be anywhere as near ignorant a deal as the 4/56 that the yanks shelled out for posada and his bum shoulder. Let’s be honest he didn’t have that great an arm before the injury so there’s no guarantee surgery will make him any better at throwing out runners in ’09
Dude Posada has always had a great arm. Posada problems were other things behind the plate but his arm was never an issue.
Huh? Posada never had a great arm. At it’s best it was decent, maybe even good, but nowhere near great.
maybe great was a little strong but it was always good.
Your are right that deal posada got was bad but hey Varitek couldn’t have a year like Posada because he’s not as good of hitter.
I agree with that, unfortunately.
This is crap! Mussina has a higher batting average than Varitek.
I could really care less about varitek being in the all-star game, when his stats flash across the screen, people across the states are going to have a bitter taste in their mouth as to why their catcher isn’t at least a reserve.
I bet RSN makes a bid to not have his stats shown, they are that pitiful
You could NOT care less. Sorry, pet peeve.
thnx
Gavin Floyd?
Just saw this poll on ESPN.com : http://sports.espn.go.com/chat.....nt_id=3525
The WWL asks who should be the AL’s starting catcher, and the choices are:
Joe Mauer
Dioner Navarro
A.J. Pierzynski
Ivan Rodriguez
Kurt Suzuki
Varitek’s not on the list. Pierzynski, Rodriguez and Suzuki aren’t even on the team and ESPN chose them for their list over Varitek.
Embarrassing mistake… Poll was posted on ESPN.com on the 4th. The point stands, though. They didn’t even give voters Varitek as a choice.
It is not Varitek’s fault that he was voted by the players. That much is true. But saying that, this is a true reflection of why the All Star game is bullshit. The stakes are higher with home field advantage in the equation and Red Sox Nation votes for Varitek because he is there captain regardless of his performance this year. To all the Red Sox faithful, this is why your team is possibly the most hated team surpassing the Yankees right now. Varitek could do a solid though. Based on the pathetic stats he has maybe he should elect to give his spot up to a more deserving Catcher. I’m not saying Posada because Posad has been injured all year with a torn labrum. If Posada was not injured it would be a forgone conclusion that he would have made the all star game especially being that its in Yankee stadium. In that regard, if you are going to stuff the ballot’s with Variteks name maybe he should step down and let Posada with his 4 championship rings represent the AL in the last All Star game in Yankee stadium. But that would be too classy right?:
I get what you’re saying, but Red Sox Nation didn’t elect him, the players did. Please place the blame where it belongs. If there was a precedent for giving up one’s spot (and surely a contractual bonus) I could agree with you, but I’ve never heard of a baseball player giving up their spot due to poor performance.
Should Youkilis step down and let giambi play too?
Besides, injury or not, if yankee fans wanted to see posada there they could have voted him in, they chose not to.
7 Sox made the all star team? Did Beckett with his 8 wins and Matsuzaka both make it? If so how can you justify leaving off Moose!
nope they didn’t make it. Phhooooh. JD Drew and Ortiz round out the 7 All Star Sawx.
mlb rade rumors is reporting Sabathia to Milw deal is nearly done…..
As much as I love what Giambi has been doing this season, I gave half of my votes to Longoria.
Also, is anyone else blown away by Soriano and Fukudome being selected as starters for the NL All-Star team? Ryan Ludwick and Matt Holliday both deserve it over them.
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