All-Star Snubs & Thoughts

Finally….an interesting topic to write about. No offense to the Mets, but I didn’t exactly write the previous blog with the same fervor as some topics warrant. The classic debate around this time every year has to do with all-star snubs. I’ve targeted one position player and one pitcher from each league who were deserving of an All-Star selection, but did not get the call. Each of these players is given a “Oh My Goodness Gracious!” by the Vibe in honor of “legendary” squealing broadcaster Suzyn Waldman.

I'm as fired up about these snubs as Suzyn Waldman (pictured above) was about Raw-jah Clemens being in George Steinbrenner's bawx.

Often times, “expert analysts” such as myself make claims about players getting snubbed, but can find no feasible player to remove from the team. That is definitely not going to be the case here, as I have targeted a player for removal for each of my snubbed players. Each of these is given a “See Ya!” in honor of “legendary” fart-sniffing broadcaster Michael Kay, and a “Get off my team!” in honor of Rob Dibble’s memorable analysis of Shawn Estes “attempt” to bean Roger Clemens.

This pitch, thrown by Estes, sailed behind Roger Clemens at Shea. He was supposed to be retaliating on behalf of Mike Piazza. In many ways, he was retaliating for all of baseball. After feebly sailing it behind Clemens, a goofy and giggly Estes chuckled, "I failed to execute my pitch." Prompting ESPN's (at the time) Rob Dibble to state....

"Get off my team!" Dibble once went toe-to-toe in fisticuffs with Lou Piniella, so if there is anyone I'm getting to throw someone off a team, it's gonna be Dibbs. 



AMERICAN LEAGUE

Oh My Goodness Gracious! Snubbed!

1B/DH Paul Konerko, CWS (.324, 22HR, 64RBI)

Konerko is going to finish with 2400+ hits, 480+ HR, and 1500+ RBI for his career. He deserves some respect from baseball.

Here’s a guy who continues to get no respect. He is going to finish his career with Hall-of-Fame worthy numbers, and nobody from this era will really appreciate how consistently great a hitter he is. Don’t believe me?

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/konerpa01.shtml

He currently sits in the AL top 5 in batting average, home runs, and RBI. For those of you scoring at home, this makes him a legitimate Triple Crown threat. I write this realizing that he is on the “Final Vote” ballot. That’s just not good enough for me. He has better numbers than AL-starter David Ortiz. He’s got slightly better numbers than Miguel Cabrera. He blows Michael Young (a personal favorite of mine) out of the water. All 3 have already secured their all-star selections. The Vibe strongly encourages you to get online and vote like crazy for Konerko for that Final Vote. Let’s put it this way….if Konerko is on your fantasy baseball team, you absolutely DO NOT trade him away!

How is he not on the AL team?!?!? I mean seriously, look at his numbers. They’re not even marginal. I’m pissed if Konerko doesn’t find his way to Arizona somehow.

I love Paul Konerko…..and I want you to love him too.

See Ya!…Get off my team!

UTIL Michael Young, TEX (.323, 7HR, 55RBI)

Kick me off the team? Here's what you can do with that idea...

I love this guy and would take him on my team any day.....just not this day. Based on the numbers, he’s gotta go to make room for Konerko…especially because he is now considered to be a 1B/DH. If he hadn’t moved for Elvis Andrus, he’d likely be the AL starter at SS. He’d certainly be deserving of that over Jeter. It pains me to take him off. He’s the ultimate team guy, moving around the diamond for the likes of A-Rod, Alfonso Soriano, Elvis Andrus, and now Adrian Beltre. He was one of the best hiters of the 2000’s. The only reason he is the pick is because I’ve got to tap into the 1B depth in order to bring Konerko on. There really are other players (Carlos Quentin, Matt Joyce) who are much less deserving of All-Stardom than Young, but they are OF's so can't be removed for Konerko.

Oh My Goodness Gracious! Snubbed

LHP C.C. Sabathia, NYY (12-4, 2.90ERA, 117 K’s)


My man slimmed down this year (can't you tell?) and is making it pay off. Potential for 13 wins before the break. And before you credit the Yankees bullpen, he averages about 7 1/3 innings per start and consistently goes deep into the game.  

I’m not as fired up about C.C. as I am about Konerko, but I still think he got a raw deal. Call me a homer if you want….but with a couple of more quality starts, Carsten Charles could conceivably enter the break with 13 wins and a sub-3.00 ERA…and not find himself on the AL All-Star Team. It does need to be said that the AL starting pitching has been at an unprecedented level in the first half. There are currently 12 qualifying starting pitchers with a sub-3.00ERA. However, only two of them (Weaver & Beckett) have the accompanying wins and strikeouts that Sabathia does to go along with that ERA. Also, one of the AL starting pitchers (David Price) is not among that group of 12.

He’s been an All-Star before and he deserves to be one again. He will finish among the league leaders in all categories once again, while many of these guys will start to fizzle out in the second half.

C.C. has a chance at becoming the most recent player to experience the “Chipper Jones Phenomenon.” In case you are wondering, Chipper was snubbed as an All-Star in 1999, but went on to win the NL MVP Award. Sabathia has a very legitimate chance to win the AL Cy Young. In my opinion it’s a 4 horse race with Weaver, Beckett, and Verlander. How is he not here?

See Ya!….Get off my team!

LHP David Price, TB (8-7, 3.56ERA, 122K’s)

"I am ashamed and disappointed that The Vibe has chosen to go in another direction.  I'll just worry about keeping my ERA below Jeremy Guthrie's." Honestly the only reason Price is on the team is because he can dial it up in the high 90's at times. He'll definitely be used late in the game by the AL to face a tough lefty like Joey Votto.

I don’t quite understand this one. Price isn’t even the lone Rays representative. He’s got a mediocre ERA, and strikes people out…but not that many people relative to other AL pitchers.

I think Price is part of the new youth in baseball that will become the household-name recognized stars. It just shouldn’t be forced. He’s having a nice season. Unless you are playing for the Pirates and are their token all-star, you should not make the team for a nice season.

The bottom line: Sabathia has more wins, fewer losses, a much lower ERA, and has only 5 fewer K’s (albeit in 1 fewer start). Peace out, Price!

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NATIONAL LEAGUE

Oh My Goodness Gracious! Snubbed!

C Miguel Montero, ARI (.274, 10HR, 44RBI)


Montero can hold his own behind the dish and also brings more of a stick than Yadier Molina.  In addition, he's been a major reason why the D-backs are right in the thick of the NL West race.  If that's not enough for you, the game is in Arizona this year. I mean it's like....come on.

As the NL's Position Player Snub, I’m not as fired up about Montero as I am about Konerko. Truthfully, it’s tough to get too worked up about a backup catcher getting snubbed. He’s not supplanting Brian McCann as a starter, and nobody in the NL is even close. I feel as though Bochy went with Yadier Molina because he usually the one that goes. And don’t get me wrong, Yadier Molina is a quality defensive catcher. He is, however, consistently the beneficiary of slim pickings among NL catchers (see blurb below about Molina).

In terms of position players, there are some other players (Mike Stanton, Danny Espinosa, Chris Young, Michael Morse) who might be deserving of a selection. However, there are not players worthy of being yanked from the team to make room for them. Molina is one such “yank-able” player. Montero has been a big part of Arizona’s strong first half, and is one of the cornerstones around which they hope to build.

See Ya!…..Get off my team!

C Yadier Molina, STL (.284, 5HR, 31RBI)

"You try to kick me off all-star team? Let me go, I kill him!" Honestly, I respect Molina for standing up to guys who run their mouths. But that doesn't make him an all-star in my book.

Molina doesn’t quite have the power numbers that Montero has, and quite frankly I’m sick of him being named to the team as the token backup catcher. He is now a 3-time all-star, and I don’t see that when I watch him play. He’s a solid defensive catcher, but I don’t think of him as one of the best defensively I’ve ever seen. This shouldn’t warrant multiple All-Star selections. He moved up a few notches in my book after standing up to punk-mouthed Brandon Phillips, but you shouldn’t be given a pass on the snub discussion just because you stand up for your teammates.

Oh My Goodness Gracious! Snubbed!

RHP Tommy Hanson, ATL (10-4, 2.52ERA, 103 K’s)

Hanson is not a widely-known name just yet, but in 71 career starts he is 31-19 with a 3.02ERA. On top of that, he is only 23. You will be hearing about him for many years to come.

There are a number of quality arms in the National League as well, which makes it puzzling that Bruce Bochy would so boldly let his allegiance to his own players affect who is chosen. I could make the argument that Hanson is more deserving than all 3 San Francisco starters chosen for the team. Cain (7-4, 3.02ERA, 95K’s) has 3 fewer wins, a higher ERA by half a run, and 8 fewer K’s. Lincecum (6-7, 3.14ERA, 126K’s) has been very inconsistent, and is being selected for the All-Star team with a losing record on a winning team. Lastly, Vogelsong ( ) makes a nice human interest story for his perseverance through early career disappointment, but is certainly not your prototypical All-Star. He’ll finish with mediocre numbers at best, and I will go on record right now as saying that he WILL NOT be in San Fran’s starting rotation come playoff time.

Many years, I respect the manager’s right to choose his own player when his player is neck-and-neck with another. It’s a right he has won as a reward for being a pennant-winning manager. That said, you have to be reasonable. Hanson has got to be on this team.

See Ya!….Get off my team!

RHP Ryan Vogelsong, SF (6-1, 2.13ERA, 68K)


"Fine....kick me off the All-Star team. But PLEASE don't send me back to the Pirates." Let's be real...he's not even going to be in the Giants rotation come playoff time. Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, Sanchez, Zito....Who is he supplanting? Zito isn't going to be in the postseason rotation either by the way.

Vogelsong has stepped up for the Giants, and was someone who many thought they would never heard from again. And really, he was someone who we really never did hear anything from. I mentioned Matt Cain above, but I’m keeping him on due to his winning record, track record, and low ERA. Vogelsong has a nice 13 start snapshot heading into this break, but I don’t believe it leaves him worthy of a selection. If he had ripped off 10 wins in his 13 starts, or something like that, then we could talk.

Lincecum is a tough call with a losing record. His ERA is pretty solid still, and now that the All-Star game “counts”, who would you rather have on the hill when you need a big out, Lincecum or Vogelsong? Easy answer there. Vogelsong is deserving of Comeback Player of the Year perhaps, but is no All-Star in my book. If you don’t want to pick on Vogelsong, then at least acknowledge that one of these 3 Giants starters has to go to make room for Hanson.
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Random Thoughts

• It really has to piss people off that the All-Star team is always laden with Yankees. What do you think Mets fans?

• Ben Zobrist in the final vote….Really? Just give me one good reason.

• I was skeptical that players/managers would take it seriously when MLB switched to this “the AS game counts” business, but I’ve been surprised. While there are many who still do not, at the very least the managers seem to choose teams based on wanting to win home-field advantage.

• Albert Pujols is, in fact, human like the rest of us. 

• Reyes and Beltran made it to the All-Star break as members of the Mets. And to top it off, they are both All-Stars again. That leaves 19 more days for my pre-season prophecy to come true. “I left my heart….in San Fran-cisco” Will Bochy put on the full-court recruiting press?

• Where the hell was this Lance Berkman down the stretch last year?

• Whatever happened to All-Star catchers who can also hit? Piazza, Pudge, Posada, Mauer, etc.

• What's the deal with the Minnesota Twins? 

• As a Yankees fan, it's eating at me that I'm watching Jeff Karstens, Ian Kennedy, and Dustin Moseley set the world on fire in the NL while our pitching depth is suspect. I never thought I'd ever say something like this, but thank God for Bartolo Colon.

And lastly…

"Waldman and Kay? How am I not part of this blog? I'll tell ya...You just can't predict baseball blogs."