High and Tight.: Tomorrow's All-Stars, Today

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Tomorrow's All-Stars, Today

I've been watching shop.mlb.com for the past week or so, because they always tend to jump the gun on upcoming sales items (who could forget this little nugget of goodness):

(and if you really believe the MLB bullshit that this was actually a "hoax" you need your head examined)

Well, this morning their "Purchase an Ugly and Only used in the Homerun Derby and Not in the Real Game All-Star Jersey" for the AL or NL page was updated, and the "Select a Player" names all changed. Gone was Jason Giambi, in was Chris Capuano.

Thanks mlb.com! I agree! It is a great choice!

So much for tomorrow's ESPN All-Star selection show nonsense. Anyhow, without further ado, here are your first 23 AL All-Stars and first 25 NL All-Stars:

NL:
C - Paul LoDuca, NYM
1B - Lance Berkman, HOU
1B - Nomar Garciaparra, LAD
1B - Ryan Howard, PHI
1B _ Albert Pujols, STL
2B - Chase Utley, PHI
SS - Jose Reyes, NYM
3B - David Wright, NYM
3B - Miguel Cabrera, FLA
OF - Carlos Beltran, NYM
OF - Jason Bay, PIT
OF - Alfonso Soriano, WAS
OF - Matt Holliday, COL
OF - Andruw Jones, ATL

P - Bronson Arroyo, CIN
P - Chris Capuano, MIL
P - Pedro Martinez, NYM
P - Jason Schmidt, SF
P - Brad Penny-Milano, LAD
P - Brandon Webb, ARI
P - Carlos Zambrano, CHC
P - Tom Glavine, NYM
P - Tom Gordon, PHI
P - Derrick Turnbow, MIL
P - Trevor Hoffman, SD

AL:
C - Joe Mauer, MIN
C - Jason Varitek, BOS
"1B" - David Ortiz, BOS
"1B" - Jim Thome, CHW
2B - Robinson Cano, NYY
3B - Alex Rodriguez, NYY
SS - Derek Jeter, NYY
SS - Miguel Tejada, BAL
OF - Vladimir Guerrero, LAA
OF - Ichiro Suzuki, SEA
OF - Manny Ramirez, BOS
OF - Vernon Wells, TOR
OF - Grady Sizemore, CLE

P - Roy Halladay, TOR
P - Johan Santana, MIN
P - Curt Schilling, BOS
P - Scott Kazmir, TB
P - Mike Mussina, NYY
P - Kenny Rogers, DET
P - B.J. Ryan, TOR
P - Joe Nathan, MIN
P - Jonathan Papelbon, BOS
P - Mariano Rivera, NYY

As for the game itself, my opinions are as follows:

The only thing stupider than interleague play is having the All-Star game "count" for home field advantage in the World Series. Wrong way for Bud to try and placate fans because of a tie due to managers trying to "play everyone" in 2002. So it ended in a tie - who cares? It's an exhibition game.
No DH in NL parks. There should always be a DH in any park in the ASG. There's no reason to have pitchers hit, it allows more guys to play, and you wind up with asinine voting like David Ortiz starting at 1B when the guy only has played 5 games there all season because of - you got it - interleague play. Who tunes into the All-Star Game to see Roy Halladay take some hacks against Tom Glavine?
I do not root for the guys on the team I follow to make it. I don't want them playing, especially the guys who are making their umpteenth. I want them home, resting, because it's a silly exhibition game. Give the poor bastards 3 days off to rest their injuries.
MLB needs to do away with the antiquated "one player from every team" rule. While this may appease some fans of some horrible squads, and the managers and league should give more weight to players on unrepresented teams, this was a rule in effect when there were eight teams in each league. With expansion taking the leagues to 30 teams, it just doesn't make sense anymore, especially since the fans seem to vote for a lot of the same players from the more popular squads, making selecting the backups a very flawed process if one has to follow this edict.

I won't even be watching the game this year more than likely as I'll be busy in Sin City. The thing I enjoy most about these games is seeing the new guys take part, and the Homerun Derby, but as everyone knows the best part of the All-Star break is the Futures Game.

I guess I'll root that the AL wins so that if the Yankees make it they get home field advantage but the whole concept is stupid.

You'll notice I haven't even gotten on the fans about voting in guys who clearly do not deserve it, because frankly the fans in general have proven to be stupid and completely unknowledgable neanderthals who couldn't explain what OBP is or how its calculated.

UPDATE: Oddly enough, in the last hour, Ichiro was removed from the AL player option on the jersey page. Interesting. I'm keeping him on my list though. Rivera was listed twice, that's been updated.

Just to clear up any confusion folks, in no way shape or form are these the complete rosters. There are 32 players on each squad. There are partial rosters, and injured players like Robinson Cano are not likely to be on the final roster anyway.

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 12:18 PM 16 comments

16 Comments:

At 7/02/2006 10:28 AM, Anonymous said...: Rogers is with the Tigers. Thankfully the team with the best record in baseball has at least one rep on the all star game.
At 7/02/2006 10:55 AM, Anonymous said...: I don't think this list is credible since the manager of the AL squad is Ozzie. With his say there will be more than just one White Sox player, and certianly Jose Contreras, still without a loss, deserves the nod.
At 7/02/2006 11:01 AM, Mr. Faded Glory said...: Deepwood,

No doubt Contreras will make it. This is only 24 players out of a 32 man AL roster. I expect Konerko and Iguchi and Dye will make it as well.

I'm also not claiming 100% that this is the final roster, but since mlb.com hadn't changed the player list for two weeks and then did so yesterday, hours after the final voting and manager's conference with the league to determine more staff, I'm sticking by the story as at least being highly probable.
At 7/02/2006 11:23 AM, Fornelli said...: I think I would have to give the nod to Joe Crede over Iguchi. He is hitting .300 with 15HR and 57(?)RBI.

Also Ozzie has basically already said that Bobby Jenks is on the team.
At 7/02/2006 11:24 AM, Schuyler said...: Impressive snooping.

I'm surprised Garner would pick Pedro and Glavine, given that Glavine has said he won't throw in the ASG (he's starting the last Mets game before it) and Pedro has been known to turn down all-star games before.

With his hip problem, this year probably won't be any different.
At 7/02/2006 11:24 AM, Mr. Faded Glory said...: I don't see how Iguchi doesn't make it. Cano should have the fan vote spot, but he's on the DL, and he's the only second bagger listed. There will be at least 2 selected.
At 7/02/2006 11:41 AM, Mr. Faded Glory said...: schuyla,

Managers don't select all of the pitchers anymore except in cases of injury replacements or replacing players who decline the invite.

wikipedia: "As of 2005, pitchers and one back-up player for each position are elected by the other players. If the top vote-getter at a certain position is also being voted in via fan voting, then the second-place finisher in this category is chosen for the team."

That's not entirely accurate though. The players select the 8 (or 9 if in an AL park) backups and 5 starting pitchers and three relivers. The rest of the lineup is then constructed by the manager and the MLB league offices to bring the roster to 31.

The fans then vote on the last player for each squad out of five players selected by MLB to bring the rosters to 32.
At 7/02/2006 12:11 PM, Eric Chase said...: i think another tiger or two will be on the list (verlander, zumaya, magglio) and there's gotta be an NL backup catcher as well, right?
At 7/02/2006 12:53 PM, Anonymous said...: # PLEASE NOTE: IF PLAYER DOES NOT MAKE THE FINAL ALL STAR ROSTER THE ORDER WILL BE CANCELLED

What integrity!!!

Like MLB will turn down $119 for a shirt that will be out-of-date by next Tuesday. Does anyone remember who wasn't at the A.S. Game.
At 7/02/2006 1:21 PM, June said...: hey, mike, nice deadspin notice. they think you're multiple people though - r u? :)
At 7/02/2006 1:44 PM, lupe! said...: as everyone knows the best part of the All-Star break is the Futures Game

oh hell yes!
At 7/02/2006 2:22 PM, Mr. Faded Glory said...: hey, mike, nice deadspin notice. they think you're multiple people though - r u? :)

I work enough for two men, I'm as smart as two men, I'm as wise as someone twice my years. I guess Deadspin just feels that a blog this incredibly awesome must be run by many people to keep it the well oiled machine that it is.
At 7/02/2006 3:51 PM, Anonymous said...: I could live quite happily if I never again heard how stupid the fans of sports are. Maybe they should just start holding games in hidden sanctuaries where only the truly "worthy" are allowed to watch. Oh, wait, sports are about entertainment, aren't they? Someone getting left out of the ASG isn't the end of the world. The WS being decided by the ASG is stupid, but, again, it isn't the end of the world. All the sturm and drang is so tiresome.
At 7/02/2006 8:15 PM, June said...: I think Joe read what you said about Villone
At 7/02/2006 8:56 PM, Mr. Faded Glory said...: Impossible. It's a well known fact that Joe can't read.
At 7/03/2006 8:11 AM, Anonymous said...: Freddy Sanchez is on the list. Could 2 pirates actually make the game?