My All-Star Ballot

In recent years, the Americal League was the league with the good players, so you knew who to pick when all-star time rolled around. If the choice was difficult it was because there were multiple good players to choose between. Well not this year. This year the AL is going to be hard pressed to beat the NL on talent (on the field is another matter).

David Ortiz is currently the leading vote-getter in the AL, which I found surprising when I first heard it. After having voted, I no longer find it surprising. At each position in the AL with that one exception I was forced to pick between the lesser of two evils. You want a giant suck-fest? Pick a shortstop to start for the AL. I double-dog dare you. But we'll get to that in a minute.

So, for fun, I chose blind, without looking anything up, and then went back through to assess the quality of my picks. Lets start with the first basemen. NL after AL (as it should be).

AL
First Base: Youkilis, K., BOS

Comments: Youuuuuuuuk! Sorry, force of habit. You may think this is a homer pick, and it might be, but ask yourself, who else is having a better year? After tearing it up last year, Carlos Pena (TB) is sucking it up, er.. uh, not playing well. Same for Carlos Guillen (DET). Then there are the typical not-in-a-million-years guys (Ryan Garko (CLE), Ben Broussard (TEX), Kevin Millar (BAL), etc.).

Besides Youkilis, the few decent candidates are Giambi, who I'll never vote for (steroids!), Justin Morneau (MIN), and Casey Kotchman (LAA). You could make a case for all of them I suppose, but Youkilis has the second best OPS behind Giambi, but his batting average (+.60 points over Roidy Van Roiderson) and vastly superior defense makes him a better choice.

Would I make this choice again? Yes.

Second Base: Grudzielanek, M., KC

Comments: In my mind, there are four viable second basemen in the AL: Pedroia, Kinsler (TEX), Iwamura (TB), and Grudzielanek. Of the four, admittedly Grudzielanek is the poorest choice, but the difference is slim. The guy who is probably going to make it is Pedroia, but, though I love him like a brother (D.P.!) he's been pissing me off lately by swinging at just about everything. Actually, now that I look at it, Kinsler is having the best season of the four, but Grudz plays for KC, so he got my vote based on that.
Would I make this choice again? No. Probably would pick Kinsler.

Third Base: Beltre, A., SEA

Comments: Alex Rodriquez (NYY) is the obvious pick, but he's missed a fairly significant portion of the season with a bruised dick (I think). Lowell (BOS), the other obvious pick because he plays for the Red Sox, is having a fine season, but not really all-star quality. Scott Rollen (TOR) is also playing well, but he too has been hurt. In contrast, Beltre has been kind of poopy (.270/.321/.435), but he fulfills three important requirements:
1. doesn't play for NY
2. plays good defense
3 doesn't play for NY
Would I make this choice again? Sure, why the hell not.

Shortstop:Young, M., TEX

Comments: The obvious pick here is Jeter (NYY), but he's been mediocre this year (.280/.333/.380) and as we all know, his defense is terrible. Yes, terrible. Other than him, bleeeeeeeah... Young hasn't done that well either, and in fact, he isn't hitting much better than Jeter despite playing his home games in Texas, but he's got the rep, and is a viable anti-Jeter so he got my vote based on that.
Would I make this choice again? No, I'd probably leave it blank.

Catcher: Varitek, J., BOS

Comments: Each year I hear about how this is the year Varitek goes over the cliff. Well, it may still be this year, but it hasn't happened yet. The Sox Captain is slugging .472 with a .350 on-base percentage. Thems good numbers and for a catcher, thems great numbers. Mauer (MIN) has a higher on-base (.390), but he loses .075 points of slugging. Tek gets the nod for his plus defense. Also, as we who read the newspaper know, Varitek is made of three parts Ecksteinium, two parts grit, and one part pure dirt. Wanna top that shit. You can't.
Would I make this choice again? Yes. Yes, a thousand times yes.

Outfielders: Hamilton, J., TEX, Ramirez, M., BOS, Upton, B., TB
Comments: Hamilton is simply tearing it up. He's the number one outfielder in the AL offensively and likely defensively as well. Manny is being, well, Manny (who else did you expect him to be?), and Upton is hitting .300 with a .400 on base percentage. Thats good enough for the first place team in the east. Magglio Ordonez (CHW) got jobbed here, but other than that this is also a pretty weak field.
Would I make this choice again? Yeah, though Magglio should make the team somehow.

Designated Hitter: Ortiz, D., BOS

Comments: Ortiz started off slowly, but he's come on in the past month, slugging over .600 since May began. Milton Bradley (TEX) is having a great year at the plate (I had no idea how good until I had already voted), and in fact he's been much more productive than Ortiz. Shame he's such an a-hole. Hideki Matsui (NYY) has been at DH sometimes and in the outfield sometimes, so I don't feel good about voting for him for either. He's having an outstanding year at the plate though. Still, F him.
Would I make this choice again? Probably, though I might choose Matsui or Bradley if given the chance.

NL

First Base: Berkman, L., HOU

Comments: Albert Pujols (STL) has been killing the ball. I mean KILL'N it. He's hitting .356/.483/.617. Thats sick. And still Berkman has got him beat. By a lot. Thats how crazy Berkman has been this year. He's slugging a post-steroids-Bondsian .742. Yikes. I guess you could justify a pick for Pujols based on star-power and defense, but theres really no argument to be made if you vote on current productivity, and I do (for the most part).
Would I make this choice again? Absolutely.

Second Base: Uggla, D., FLA

Comments: Everyone will vote for Chase Utley (PHL) here. And they are, as Utley is the leading vote-getter in the NL. Still, Uggla is right there with him, besting him by 30 points of slugging percentage, while Utley has a 10 point lead in on-base percentage. Other than that they're essentially the same hitting-wise. I don't know who's defense is better and I'm not going to bother to look it up. Utley will win this vote, and I have no problem with that, but I thought I'd vote for someone who deserves it just as much.
Would I make this choice again? Yup.

Third Base: Wright, D., NYM

Comments: David Wright is tearing it up, but not like Chipper Jones (ATL) is. Chipper Jones has been Ted Williams so far this year, so this was plainly a bad choice. Should've voted for Jones. No doubt about it. Oops.
Would I make this choice again? Nope. Terrible choice. Any choice but Chipper qualifies as a terrible choice.

Shortstop: Ramirez, H., FLA

Comments: Ramirez is having a great year, but until I looked at the stats (after I voted cause I'm smart like that) I didn't realize how far his slugging has fallen compared to last year. Now, he plays in the modern version of the Polo Grounds, i.e. a home park exceedingly friendly to pitchers, but still he's lost 100 points (or more) off his slugging percentage. Thats a lot.

Rafael Furcal (LAD) has been crushing the ball this year, but he's been hurt too, and I think he's on the DL now. Jimmy Rollins (PHL) is also having a good year at the plate and he's twice the fielder Ramirez is, but he's been hurt as well. I'd rather have a guy who is good and plays every day than a guy who is great and plays some of the time. Strangely enough, Miguel Tejada (HOU) is out-hitting all of them (though I'm sure Rollins is better on D) and has the most plate appearances of all the possible choices as well. So, again, this was probably a bad pick.
Would I make this choice again? Nope. Probably would pick Tejada.

Catcher: Martin, R., LAD

Comments: Martin is having a good year for the Dodgers (.317/.423/.411), but he's being out-slugged (i.e. out-played) by Brian McCann (ATL) by 170 points. Giovanni Soto (CHC) is also probably a better choice.

Would I make this choice again? Nah. As good as Martin is, McCann and Soto are better.

Outfielders: Braun, R., MIL, Burrell, P., PHI, Upton, J., ARI

Comments: Ryan Ludwick (STL) is likely the reason the Cardinals are in first place. Well, he and Poo-holes. Aaron Rowand is having another terrific season, but its for the Giants so who gives a shit. Hunter Pence, Adam Dunn, Matt Holiday, and something called "Nate McLouth" would all have been good choices.

In fact, it looks like McLouth has Pat Burrell's stats without the need to 'take care of business' at any and all opportunities. As for my picks, Upton is having a good year, but not better than any of the guys mentioned above. Burrell = McLouth + rampant masturbation. Braun is killing the ball, but not really getting on base. He's basically a younger, cheaper, honky-version of Alfonso Soriano, who I didn't vote for.

Would I make this choice again? Nope, goofed again. Should've picked McLouth, Ludwick, and I'll stick with Burrell, but only cause he beats it repeatedly.