All-Star Anguish

Dave Paisley

Well, the people and the coaches and then the people again have spoken, and this year’s All-Star rosters are set. Of course, with Pedro Martinez dropping out, at least one more coach will get to speak again, and there will no doubt be more dropouts and replacements before we get to the game in a week’s time.

As usual, there’s been a lot of whining about the people’s choice for starters and some hue and cry about the coaches choices, but overall, I believe that they’re done a nice job of putting a couple of decent teams together.

In the National league there was really no contest at catcher or first base.

Behind the plate, the combination of reputation and performance makes Mike Piazza the only real choice as the starter. Bob Brenly manages to display a bit of homerism by picking Damian Miller (but he does have the second best numbers) and the inexplicable Benito Santiago. It’s not like there aren’t other Giants on the team, after all... If he really wanted a third catcher, why not give Paul LoDuca or Michael Barrett a shot? No, it must be all those RBIs Santiago has.

At first, Todd Helton sports a 1.052 OPS, with no other regular over .900. Only Richie Sexson has numbers that approach Helton’s but he certainly doesn’t have the name recognition to compete. It’s nice that Bob Brenly chose him as the backup, though.

At second, Jose Vidro doesn’t have the absolute best numbers, but for some reason Jeff Kent proved not to be a popular choice, either by the fans or the coaches, with the undersung heroes Junior Spivey of the D’backs (well, duh!) and Luis Castillo getting backup nods.

At third, Scott Rolen is hardly the worthiest choice, with only the fourth best OPS of regular NL 3B, but at least people have heard of him. Fernando Tatis would have made a fine choice, but Brenly made a finer choice with Mike Lowell, steadily toiling away in obscurity for the Marlins. Plus, it gets that pesky Marlins pick out of the way.

At short, I’m surprised that Edgar Renteria didn’t beat out Jimmy Rollins, but here’s where Rollins is benefiting from the Pokey Reese effect. Amazingly, Brenly managed to pick out the hardest hitting NL shortstop as backup, Jose Hernandez, with his 13 HR and 40 RBI. Plus, it gets that pesky Milwaukee slot dealt with. But wait, that’s two Milwaukee players. Two players from the third worst team in baseball?

In the outfield, it’s hard to argue with a lineup of Bonds, Sosa and Guerrero, but no Larry Walker, Brian Giles or Jim Edmonds? All are hammering out a 1.000+ OPS. Instead we get the RBI men, in Lance Berkman, and Shawn Green and the obligatory up and coming youngster in Adam Dunn. Andruw Jones was a fine 30^th man pick by the fans, though. At least from the available choices.

Brenly couldn’t omit his famed starting duo of Johnson and Schilling, and adding Mat Morris, Tom Glavine and Odalis Perez are obvious choices. Gagne, Hoffman, Kim and Williams are good choices as relievers, but the selection of John Smoltz seems sentimental by comparison.

Over in the AL, the choice of catcher was just as easy for the fans as it was in the NL. No matter how much you like Ivan Rodriguez (and I don’t) he’s just been injured way too much to continue sucking up votes. A. J. Pierzynski is certainly the next best choice. Amazingly, Seattle’s Dan Wilson has the third highest OPS of regular catchers after that tandem. Kind of an off year, really, for AL catching.

At first, Yankee ballot box stuffing appears to have carried the day for Jason Giambi. Before everyone goes nuts, there’s definitely a case to be made for Jim Thome and Mike Sweeney. If Paul Konerko had been on the ballot, he’d be another fine choice. Still, Thome’s the one who gets shafted (as he often does) as Konerko and Sweeney get the backup slots.

At second, there’s Alfonso Soriano and well, nobody. Not even backups. It looks like Torre decided he’d get a bunch of shortstops some action at second instead.

Speaking of which, Alex Rodriguez wins his category in a romp, while his team romps the other way. And here’s where Torre goes nuts, taking not only Nomar and Jeter, but also Tejada and Vizquel. Somehow, he must have felt sorry for the last two, getting shut out of All-Star games because of the big three. It’s kind of a nice gesture in a way. For the AL’s sake, though, I hope he doesn’t let Tejada play defense...

At third, Shea Hillenbrand hung in long enough to grab the fan vote (how did all those Yankee ballot box stuffers let that one get by?) Eric Chavez, Robin Ventura and Tony Batista would all have been better choices, and for some reason, Chavez gets the short end of the stick, outhitting the other three, but all he gets is the comfy chair for three days. Of course, Torre has to take his guy, Ventura, and the AL does have to have that all-important Orioles representative, so tough luck, Eric.

In the outfield, Manny Ramirez gets in on reputation and sympathy, while Ichiro continues his amazing popularity. Torii Hunter gets the nod for a pretty good year, while Magglio Ordonez gets stuffed. I’m not sure I got Torre’s other picks until I checked the team affiliations. Randy Winn — obligatory Devil Ray. Rob Fick — obligatory Tiger. Garret Anderson — obligatory Angel. Amazing — two Brewers but only one Angel... As for the 30th man, I guess Johnny Damon was a decent enough choice.

On the pitching front, it’s hard to argue with Martinez, Lowe, Zito and Garcia, while Buehrle and Halladay make fine reps for the White Sox and Jays respectively. It will be interesting whom Torre picks to replace Martinez — I’m guessing Mike Mussina, but it would be really nice to see Jamie Moyer get at least one All-Star appearance in his career. Relievers Guardado, Sasaki and Rivera are tough to argue with, never mind hit against...And as for John Burkett, well, he’s inconspicuous by his absence, of course.

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What All-Star decision got your goat? Presuming you have a goat and you care that someone took it, that is. Please direct all goat comments to our in-house goatherd, Dave Paisley at drdjp@strikethree.com.