In yesterday’s Rumblings column about possible tweaks to the All-Star festivities, Jayson Stark mentioned something that grabbed my attention and sounded pretty damn cool. Take it away, Mr. Stark:
An entirely new Futures Game, matching a team of great minor league prospects against a team of first-year and second-year big leaguers.
Look at that. It’s simple, easy to implement, and much more interesting than the current USA vs The World format. Now don’t get me wrong, I understand the marketing importance of the current format, but as a fan, I think the MLers vs MiLers format would be much better entertainment.
Think about it, you’d have a team of the top prospects in baseball strutting their stuff and trying to show they belong against a team of the best young players in bigs, who certainly don’t want to lose to a bunch of minor leaguers. I highly doubt this would ever be implemented, but it sure would be fun.
It’s a Friday afternoon and no one’s in the mood for an intense and heavily analytical read after the long work week (am I right?), so sit back and enjoy the 25-man rosters I would select for each team. Here’s the actual USA and World rosters if you’re interested; fun starts after the jump.
First & Second Year Team
C: Geovany Soto, Cubs
1B: James Loney, Dodgers
2B: Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox (bah, why’d Howie Kendrick have to come up in 2006?)
SS: Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies
3B: Evan Longoria, Rays (Longoria > Wright by the end of next season, mark it down)
LF: Ryan Braun, Brewers
CF: Josh Hamilton, Rangers
RF: The Justin Upton, D-Backs
DH: Hunter Pence, Astros
BN: Kurt Suzuki, C, A’s
BN: Alex Gordon, 3B/1B, Royals
BN: Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, Red Sox
BN: Jay Bruce, OF, Reds
BN: Joey Votto, 1B, Reds
BN: Yunel Escobar, SS/2B, Braves (sorry, Delmon Young)
SP: Tim Lincecum, RHP, Giants
SP: John Danks, LHP, White Sox
SP: Joba Chamberlain, RHP, Yankees
SP: Clay Buchholz, RHP, Red Sox
SP: Jair Jurrjens, RHP, Braves
SP: Manny Parra, LHP, Brewers
SP: Johnny Cueto, RHP, Reds
SP: Aaron Laffey, LHP, Indians
RP: Joakim Soria, RHP, Royals
RP: Brendan Morrow, RHP, Mariners
Prospect Team
C: Matt Wieters, Orioles (no brainer, my specialty)
1B: Matt LaPorta, Indians
2B: Adrian Cardenas, Phillies
SS: Jed Lowrie, Red Sox
3B: Matt Gamel, Brewers
LF: Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
CF: Colby Rasmus, Cardinals
RF: Jason Heyward, Braves (so good it’s scary)
DH: Travis Snider, Blue Jays
BN: Taylor Teagarden, C, Rangers
BN: Josh Vitters, 3B, Cubs
BN: Cam Maybin, OF, Marlins
BN: Austin Jackson, OF, Yankees
BN: Elvis Andrus, SS, Rangers
BN: Wilmer Flores, SS, Mets (he’s the one that comes off the bench to get that big hit, sick numbers for a 16-yr old in the Appy League)
SP: Clayton Kershaw, LHP, Dodgers
SP: David Price, LHP, Rays
SP: Trevor Cahill, RHP, A’s (it’s amazing what happens when you draft high schoolers, isn’t it?)
SP: Rick Porcello, RHP, Tigers
SP: Neftali Feliz, RHP, Rangers (the best prospect you don’t know about)
SP: Chris Tillman, RHP, Orioles
SP: Madison Bumgarner, LHP, Giants
SP: Tommy Hanson, RHP, Braves (apologies to Brett Anderson)
RP: Casey Weathers, RHP, Rockies
RP: Mark Melancon, RHP, Yankees
So what do you guys think? Did I miss anyone? Chances are I did, the last player I added to the ML team was Tim Lincecum…
(and yes, the team of minor leaguers would get steamrolled … wouldn’t even know what hit ’em)