From The Dallas News
Here's who should be on the All-Star teams
[SIZE=-1]09:57 PM CDT on Saturday, June 30, 2007
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The All-Star teams will be announced today after much hand-wringing and grumbling by managers Tony La Russa of the NL and Jim Leyland of the AL about the difficulty of putting together the best possible teams that combine the fan vote, the player vote and Major League Baseball's mandate that every team must be represented on the 31-man rosters.
We have no such problems. While we held onto the time-honored tradition of putting a rep from every team on our rosters, we ditched the fan and player voting to put together our teams. A look at who should be playing:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Starters
C Jorge Posada, New York
1B Kevin Youkilis, Boston
2B Placido Polanco, Detroit
3B Alex Rodriguez, New York
SS Carlos Guillen, Detroit
Guillen is the cream of a very deep class of shortstops. This roster doesn't include Michael Young, last year's All-Star MVP, or perennial star Miguel Tejada (who is hurt). And yet there are still three outstanding candidates. Guillen gets the slimmest of nods over Derek Jeter and the Angles' Orlando Cabrera because all of his run production numbers (12 HRs, 58 RBIs, .968 on-base-plus-slugging) are significantly higher even if he has the lowest batting average among the trio. But it's not that low – .325 going into Friday.
LF Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles
CF Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle
RF Magglio Ordonez, Detroit
Reserves
C Victor Martinez, Cleveland
1B Justin Morneau, Minnesota
2B Brian Roberts, Baltimore
This is a good fit on multiple levels. The Orioles need a representative, and there is a dearth of solid second base candidates. Roberts is the AL's leader in steals (25). The 1999 sandwich pick is what the Rangers hoped 2002 first-rounder Drew Meyer would end up being.
3B Mike Lowell, Boston
SS Derek Jeter, New York
1B David Ortiz, Boston
Ortiz is about as much of a first baseman these days as Carl Yastrzemski, but he's an All-Star hitter. And since the game will be played in an NL park, he's got to have a position. That's for aesthetic purposes only. He's on this team to pinch-hit late when there is a key scoring opportunity. He's batting .364 with two outs and runners in scoring position.
SS Orlando Cabrera, Los Angeles
OF Torii Hunter, Minnesota
OF Alex Rios, Toronto
OF Gary Sheffield, Detroit
OF Sammy Sosa, Texas
OF Curtis Granderson, Detroit.
Starting pitchers
LHP C.C. Sabathia, Cleveland
He should start for two reasons. He's the only one of the starters to have previous All-Star experience. Second, he'll be rested just perfectly, since he is scheduled to pitch Thursday against Leyland and Detroit. The amazing thing about this group: None of them is yet 30. Lackey is the old-timer at age 28, Beckett is 27, Sabathia and Haren 26 and Verlander 24. Know what that means: This is the first of many trips for them.
RHP Dan Haren, Oakland
RHP Justin Verlander, Detroit
RHP Josh Beckett, Boston
RHP John Lackey, Los Angeles
Relievers
RHP J.J. Putz, Seattle
RHP Francisco Rodriguez, Los Angeles
RHP Joakim Soria, Kansas City
The need to make sure every team is represented makes the bullpen the weakest part of the roster. Soria, Reyes and Jenks are their teams' sole reps, but all are having strong seasons. Nonetheless, it's hard to think of an All-Star bullpen that doesn't include Mariano Rivera, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon and a healthy Eric Gagne.
RHP Al Reyes, Tampa Bay
RHP Bobby Jenks, Chicago
LHP Hideki Okajima, Boston
Yep, it's true. Daisuke Matsuzaka hasn't even been the best Japanese pitcher in New England this season.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Starters
C Russell Martin, Los Angeles
1B Prince Fielder, Milwaukee
2B Chase Utley, Philadelphia
Infielders and the catcher in this lineup are spectacularly young. Utley, at 28, is the oldest. All the others are 24 or younger. Utley also might be the game's most underrated star. Playing a position that is rather weak offensively throughout baseball, he is second in the NL in OPS to Barry Bonds. He entered the weekend with 46 extra-base hits and was second in RBIs (64) to Carlos Lee.
3B Miguel Cabrera, Florida
SS Jose Reyes, New York
LF Alfonso Soriano, Chicago
CF Ken Griffey Jr., Cincinnati
RF Matt Holliday, Colorado
Reserves
C Bengie Molina, San Francisco
Catcher is an especially weak position in the NL. This was a coin flip between Molina and Milwaukee's Johnny Estrada. Molina gets the edge because we're sure he'll thrill the local fans with his sloth-like speed.
1B Dmitri Young, Washington
2B Orlando Hudson, Arizona
3B Aramis Ramirez, Chicago
SS J.J. Hardy, Milwaukee
1B Albert Pujols, St. Louis
SS Edgar Renteria, Atlanta
OF Carlos Lee, Houston
OF Barry Bonds, San Francisco
This is not a sentimental choice because Bonds is about to pass Henry Aaron as baseball's all-time home run king or because the game will be played in San Francisco. The plain truth: He's still the most feared hitter in the game. He leads the NL in OPS. You can't leave him off the team.
OF Adam Dunn, Cincinnati
OF Hunter Pence, Houston
OF Brad Hawpe, Colorado
Starting pitchers
RHP Brad Penny, Los Angeles
If the opposing starters are Penny and Boston's Josh Beckett, it would be a reunion of two members of the 2003 Florida Marlins' world championship rotation. Together, they entered the weekend 21-2. Penny had allowed just four runs in his last four starts going into the weekend. Pretty good, but Chris Young had allowed just three runs in his last five starts as of Friday. He should relieve Penny.
RHP Chris Young, San Diego
RHP Jake Peavy, San Diego
RHP Ian Snell, Pittsburgh
LHP Cole Hamels, Philadelphia
RHP John Maine, New York
Relief pitchers
RHP Francisco Cordero, Milwaukee
Since this game isn't being played in Arlington, Cordero is the easy choice as closer. Going into Friday, he was 27-for-27 in saves at stadiums without "Arlington" in the name.
RHP Takashi Saito, Los Angeles
RHP Trevor Hoffman, San Diego
LHP Billy Wagner, New York
Even though he has converted 15 of 16 save opportunities, he is this team's left-handed specialist. Entering the weekend, lefties were 4-for-24 (.167) against him. He's here to retire David Ortiz or Justin Morneau.
RHP Kevin Gregg, Florida
Here's who should be on the All-Star teams
[SIZE=-1]09:57 PM CDT on Saturday, June 30, 2007
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE]
The All-Star teams will be announced today after much hand-wringing and grumbling by managers Tony La Russa of the NL and Jim Leyland of the AL about the difficulty of putting together the best possible teams that combine the fan vote, the player vote and Major League Baseball's mandate that every team must be represented on the 31-man rosters.
We have no such problems. While we held onto the time-honored tradition of putting a rep from every team on our rosters, we ditched the fan and player voting to put together our teams. A look at who should be playing:
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Starters
C Jorge Posada, New York
1B Kevin Youkilis, Boston
2B Placido Polanco, Detroit
3B Alex Rodriguez, New York
SS Carlos Guillen, Detroit
Guillen is the cream of a very deep class of shortstops. This roster doesn't include Michael Young, last year's All-Star MVP, or perennial star Miguel Tejada (who is hurt). And yet there are still three outstanding candidates. Guillen gets the slimmest of nods over Derek Jeter and the Angles' Orlando Cabrera because all of his run production numbers (12 HRs, 58 RBIs, .968 on-base-plus-slugging) are significantly higher even if he has the lowest batting average among the trio. But it's not that low – .325 going into Friday.
LF Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles
CF Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle
RF Magglio Ordonez, Detroit
Reserves
C Victor Martinez, Cleveland
1B Justin Morneau, Minnesota
2B Brian Roberts, Baltimore
This is a good fit on multiple levels. The Orioles need a representative, and there is a dearth of solid second base candidates. Roberts is the AL's leader in steals (25). The 1999 sandwich pick is what the Rangers hoped 2002 first-rounder Drew Meyer would end up being.
3B Mike Lowell, Boston
SS Derek Jeter, New York
1B David Ortiz, Boston
Ortiz is about as much of a first baseman these days as Carl Yastrzemski, but he's an All-Star hitter. And since the game will be played in an NL park, he's got to have a position. That's for aesthetic purposes only. He's on this team to pinch-hit late when there is a key scoring opportunity. He's batting .364 with two outs and runners in scoring position.
SS Orlando Cabrera, Los Angeles
OF Torii Hunter, Minnesota
OF Alex Rios, Toronto
OF Gary Sheffield, Detroit
OF Sammy Sosa, Texas
OF Curtis Granderson, Detroit.
Starting pitchers
LHP C.C. Sabathia, Cleveland
He should start for two reasons. He's the only one of the starters to have previous All-Star experience. Second, he'll be rested just perfectly, since he is scheduled to pitch Thursday against Leyland and Detroit. The amazing thing about this group: None of them is yet 30. Lackey is the old-timer at age 28, Beckett is 27, Sabathia and Haren 26 and Verlander 24. Know what that means: This is the first of many trips for them.
RHP Dan Haren, Oakland
RHP Justin Verlander, Detroit
RHP Josh Beckett, Boston
RHP John Lackey, Los Angeles
Relievers
RHP J.J. Putz, Seattle
RHP Francisco Rodriguez, Los Angeles
RHP Joakim Soria, Kansas City
The need to make sure every team is represented makes the bullpen the weakest part of the roster. Soria, Reyes and Jenks are their teams' sole reps, but all are having strong seasons. Nonetheless, it's hard to think of an All-Star bullpen that doesn't include Mariano Rivera, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon and a healthy Eric Gagne.
RHP Al Reyes, Tampa Bay
RHP Bobby Jenks, Chicago
LHP Hideki Okajima, Boston
Yep, it's true. Daisuke Matsuzaka hasn't even been the best Japanese pitcher in New England this season.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Starters
C Russell Martin, Los Angeles
1B Prince Fielder, Milwaukee
2B Chase Utley, Philadelphia
Infielders and the catcher in this lineup are spectacularly young. Utley, at 28, is the oldest. All the others are 24 or younger. Utley also might be the game's most underrated star. Playing a position that is rather weak offensively throughout baseball, he is second in the NL in OPS to Barry Bonds. He entered the weekend with 46 extra-base hits and was second in RBIs (64) to Carlos Lee.
3B Miguel Cabrera, Florida
SS Jose Reyes, New York
LF Alfonso Soriano, Chicago
CF Ken Griffey Jr., Cincinnati
RF Matt Holliday, Colorado
Reserves
C Bengie Molina, San Francisco
Catcher is an especially weak position in the NL. This was a coin flip between Molina and Milwaukee's Johnny Estrada. Molina gets the edge because we're sure he'll thrill the local fans with his sloth-like speed.
1B Dmitri Young, Washington
2B Orlando Hudson, Arizona
3B Aramis Ramirez, Chicago
SS J.J. Hardy, Milwaukee
1B Albert Pujols, St. Louis
SS Edgar Renteria, Atlanta
OF Carlos Lee, Houston
OF Barry Bonds, San Francisco
This is not a sentimental choice because Bonds is about to pass Henry Aaron as baseball's all-time home run king or because the game will be played in San Francisco. The plain truth: He's still the most feared hitter in the game. He leads the NL in OPS. You can't leave him off the team.
OF Adam Dunn, Cincinnati
OF Hunter Pence, Houston
OF Brad Hawpe, Colorado
Starting pitchers
RHP Brad Penny, Los Angeles
If the opposing starters are Penny and Boston's Josh Beckett, it would be a reunion of two members of the 2003 Florida Marlins' world championship rotation. Together, they entered the weekend 21-2. Penny had allowed just four runs in his last four starts going into the weekend. Pretty good, but Chris Young had allowed just three runs in his last five starts as of Friday. He should relieve Penny.
RHP Chris Young, San Diego
RHP Jake Peavy, San Diego
RHP Ian Snell, Pittsburgh
LHP Cole Hamels, Philadelphia
RHP John Maine, New York
Relief pitchers
RHP Francisco Cordero, Milwaukee
Since this game isn't being played in Arlington, Cordero is the easy choice as closer. Going into Friday, he was 27-for-27 in saves at stadiums without "Arlington" in the name.
RHP Takashi Saito, Los Angeles
RHP Trevor Hoffman, San Diego
LHP Billy Wagner, New York
Even though he has converted 15 of 16 save opportunities, he is this team's left-handed specialist. Entering the weekend, lefties were 4-for-24 (.167) against him. He's here to retire David Ortiz or Justin Morneau.
RHP Kevin Gregg, Florida
