Posts tagged AllStarGrievances at FanHouse

Maybe the All-Star Game is a meaningless to the players and just an excuse for Bud Selig to admire himself for a week. That doesn't mean that the selections should be stupid. Today, the MLB 'Haus gives you All-Star Grievances.

Grievance: Cole Hamels out, Aaron Cook in. When the teams were announced, Cole Hamels was 9-5 with a 3.22 ERA, while Aaron Cook was 11-5 with a 3.37 ERA. But Hamels' other numbers blow Cook away: Cole has only five more walks while trouncing Cook in K's 110-59, and has a 1.02 WHIP as opposed to a 1.26 WHIP for Cook.

So How Did This Happen? The Rockies defeated the Phillies in the NLDS, that's how. With Matt Holliday already on the squad as an alternate, you can bet that Charlie Manuel would have taken Hamels over Cook in a second ... but Clint Hurdle, as a perk of winning the pennant, went with his guy.

Grievance: Pat Burrell gets the Shaft. Pat Burrell is headed towards his best season ever, and is in the top ten in most of your big offensive categories. You could absolutely make a case that Ryan Ludwick, whom Burrell bests in OPS and home runs, should be in the vote for the final player while Burrell should be in.

Maybe the All-Star Game is a meaningless to the players and just an excuse for Bud Selig to admire himself for a week. That doesn't mean that the selections should be stupid. Today, the MLB 'Haus gives you All-Star Grievances.

Grievance: John Lackey deserved a spot. While the Angels pitching staff is very well represented with Francisco Rodriguez, Joe Saunders, and Ervin Santana all making the team, John Lackey is probably deserving of a spot as well. I know he missed about a quarter of the season thanks to an injury, but in the ten starts he has made since coming back, he's been damn near untouchable. His record is only 6-2, but his 1.96 ERA and WHIP of 0.92 are better than his three teammates that did make the squad.

Grievance: Ian Kinsler should be starting. While Ian Kinsler did make the All Star team, the fact he did so only as a reserve is insulting. While Boston fans stuffed the ballots for their man Dustin Pedroia (don't get me wrong, it's their right to do so) Kinsler was busy being the best second baseman in baseball. Pedroia deserves to be on the team, but he should be the man on the bench. He's hitting .313 with an OPS of .815 with nine homers and 41 RBI, but Ian checks in at .332 with an OPS of freaking .936 with 14 homers and 53 RBI. Tell me, who deserves the starting spot more?

Grievance: Ichiro making the team. Ichiro Suzuki is one of my favorite players in the game today, for reasons that have to do with his playing ability and the things he says, but he shouldn't be on the team this season. His starting spot should probably go to Jermaine Dye (who didn't make the team), Grady Sizemore, Carlos Quentin, J.D. Drew, or Milton Bradley. I know that each team has to have a representative, so Ichiro is Seattle's, but when a team has absolutely no chance of making the playoffs they really shouldn't have any say in who gets homefield advantage during the World Series.

Maybe the All-Star Game is a meaningless to the players and just an excuse for Bud Selig to admire himself for a week. That doesn't mean that the selections should be stupid. Today, the MLB 'Haus gives you All-Star Grievances.

Grievance: Jermaine Dye not making the team. I swear in recent weeks I've become Jermaine Dye's publicist telling anybody who will listen that he is far and away the most undervalued outfielder in the game today. Still, I thought enough people knew about him to at least get him on to the All Star team. JD is hitting .308 and OPSing (not sure that's a word, but screw it, I'm angry) at .919 with 19 homers and 52 RBI. His only crime is that he plays in the American League where outfielders are raking this season, and that people still think the Yankees are good.

Grievance: Lack of White Sox pitchers and Joe Crede's selection. Now I'm probably going to come off as sounding like a bit of a homer here, but there just aren't enough White Sox on the team this season. They're in first place in their division, and lead the league in pitching, yet their only All Stars are Carlos Quentin and Joe Crede. While Quentin deserves the nod, Evan Longoria should have gotten Crede's spot. Also, as I mentioned, the Sox lead the league in pitching, yet not a single member of their pitching staff made the team. Does that make sense to you? Gavin Floyd is 10-4 with a 3.22 ERA and a WHIP of 1.12, John Danks is only 6-4 (it's not his fault the Sox average about .00003 runs every time he starts) but has an ERA of 2.52 and WHIP of 1.17. How neither of them make the team baffles me.

Grievance: Jason Varitek as the third catcher over A.J. Pierzynski. Great, another White Sox player. I know, I know, but if you look at the rest of the teams from the AL Central, everybody that deserved to be on the team is on the team (you could argue Carlos Guillen doesn't deserve his spot, but what other Tiger takes his place?). The Sox are the only team in the division to really get screwed here. Anyway, Varitek was chosen by his fellow players over Pierzynski even though he's only hitting .218/.300/.358 with seven homers and 27 runs driven in. Pierzynski, on the other hand, is hitting .296/.333/.442 with seven homers and 33 RBI. Oh, and he's the guy calling all the pitches for the pitching staff with the lowest ERA in baseball. Obviously, his personality is what cost him here, which is idiotic. Is the American League looking to win this game or hang out with friends?

Maybe the All-Star Game is a meaningless to the players and just an excuse for Bud Selig to admire himself for a week. That doesn't mean that the selections should be stupid. Today, the MLB 'Haus gives you All-Star Grievances.

Grievance: The lack of Devil Rays and overcompensation of Sawx and Yanks. I understand that the ASG is getting played in New York and that the Yankees and Red Sox have the two best records in all of baseball ... oh, what's that? I'm sorry. I haven't been watching ESPN all week while they tried to somehow play out the Rays before the All Star Break, so I had no idea they had the best record in baseball.

Grievance: Jason Varitek. Players are S-M-R-T. It's fairly annoying that the players -- and not the fans! -- can do things like let Varitek start for the All Star Game. Vegas Watch probably said it best.

Grievance: Joe Crede over Evan Longoria. Longoria has been in the bigs less time this season and his totals are just far and away better than Crede's. Which makes all of this (meaning his selection) pretty redonk. Also: MORE RAYS, please.

Maybe the All-Star Game is a meaningless to the players and just an excuse for Bud Selig to admire himself for a week. That doesn't mean that the selections should be stupid. Today, the MLB 'Haus gives you All-Star Grievances.

Grievance: Aaron Cook over Cole Hamels, or to stay in division, Chad Billingsley and Jonathan Sanchez. Mmmm-mmm. Home cookin'! Cook has been pretty good this year, but to call him All Star quality dominant might be a bit of a stretch. Hamels is a no-brainer and Billingsley and Sanchez have been erratic at times, but both have helped shore up their respective team's rotations with high strikeout pitching (they are 20 shy of collectively quadrupling Cook's totals.) Also, it really bothers me when the manager for a team uses his power to grab a homer pick. Or when people reward wins (which, partially = luck).

Grievance: Brandon Webb starting over Edinson Volquez or Tim Lincecum. Webb has been great this season, but he's scuffled recently. All three deserve to be heading to New York, but the reality is that Lincecum or Volquez should be starting, if we're basing the "award" on recognizing the entire first half of the season.

Maybe the All-Star Game is a meaningless to the players and just an excuse for Bud Selig to admire himself for a week. That doesn't mean that the selections should be stupid. Today, the MLB 'Haus gives you All-Star Grievances.

Grievance: Nate McLouth over Jason Bay- It's not that McLouth isn't a deserving All-Star, because he is. The problem is that he's mired in a terrible slump, putting up a .209/.258/.355 line with two homers over the last month or so (prior to today's game). There's a decent chance that by the end of the year, McLouth will have faded completely. Still, he made the team over Jason Bay, who's already a two-time All-Star and is slugging along like he has every year of his career besides an injury-filled 2007. It should take more than a flash in the pan to make an All-Star team.

Grievance: Miguel Tejada? Really?- After a down year in Baltimore last year, Tejada got off to a decent start this year. That's all quickly gone to hell, as he's hitting .198 since May 30th. Tejada's not an All-Star, he's a guy in the twilight of his career that Ed Wade is going to regret trading for by the end of the season.

Grievance: Adam Dunn isn't even a snub- I get that Dunn's only hitting .228. Aren't we to the point of enlightened fanhood that people can look beyond that and realize that his .895 OPS makes him a snub?

Grievance: Alfonso Soriano and Kosuke Fukudome are starters- Fan voting is stupid and unreliable. We say that every year. This year, these two are the reason.

Other snubs: Carlos Lee (unless he wins the final vote but let's be honest, dude's got no chance against David Wright).