You can go online here anytime thru June 28 and vote for who YOU (the expert) think should start the All-Star game at AT&T Park in San Francisco on July 10. But, this link being up after two weeks of the season is completed bugged me a little. Some teams have missed four or five games due to weather, some players haven’t come off the DL yet to start the year, some have just gone on the DL (sorry fantasy owners who have Kendrick, Glaus, Ryan, and possibly Howard), some perennial all-stars have yet to get going (wherefore art thou Sir Lance Berkman?).
But, MLB says we have to start voting now, so why not take a look at players after two weeks? Here are (in my opinion) the starting lineups for the AL and NL if you voted for the best players on April 19:
American League:
1B - Ty Wigginton
2B - Ian Kinsler
SS - Carlos Guillen
3B - Alex Rodriguez
C - Jorge Posada or Pudge Rodriguez
OF - David DeJesus
OF - Curtis Granderson
OF - Grady Sizemore
SP - Josh Beckett, Ramon Ortiz
RP - Huston Street, Todd Jones
General thoughts about this lineup: The AL team probably has about half of the spots filled with players who will actually be there in July. A-Rod, Kinsler (what other AL 2B do you want right now?), the catchers, and Sizemore are all legitimate. But do you really expect to see Wigginton, DeJesus, Granderson, Ortiz or Jones in San Francisco? Beckett and Street are wild cards, and could definitley make it there. Beckett has been solid, but his past has been a bit blistery (to steal a phrase from Rob Neyer), and Street is definitley Streeky. I guess if you loaded the top of the lineup with Sizemore, Kinsler, A-Rod and Pudge, you might just do alright.
National League:
1B - Derrek Lee
2B - Orlando Hudson
SS - Jimmy Rollins
3B - Miguel Cabrera
C - Russell Martin
OF - Carlos Lee
OF - Carlos Beltran
OF - Eric Byrnes
SP - Roy Oswalt, Rich Hill
RP - Bob Wickman, Jose Valverde
General thoughts about this lineup: Also some good players here as well. Cabrera, Rollins, Lee, Beltran and Oswalt are studs and will be there in three months. Wild cards here include Lee (who has no homers but wins by default due to Pujols, Howard and Berkman stinking - would you rather have Dmitri Young or Nomar?), Martin, and Rich Hill, who looks dominant early on. The Diamondback Duo will surely slow down off their paces, and I have no interest in having Wickman or Valverde close out a game for me that decides whether I get home-field advantage in the World Series.
Listen, I love the All-Star game, it is a lot of fun. I have been to one and it is just intense enough with all of the great plays and players to make it more entertaining than your normal game. Take last year for example. That epic matchup between Troy Glaus and Derrick Turnbow was amazing.
Honestly, I don’t care who is voted in to start the All-Star Game. It is a game for the fans and always has been. But if you are going to stake home-field to a game where Mark Redman and David Eckstein are picked to participate, something needs to be changed. World Series home-field is something that would have affected six players in last year’s All-Star game if the Yankees and Mets would have made it (a real possibility), so you can’t take it lightly.
If you are going to involve the fans, keep it for the fans. That way, everyone picked can play, there is no intrinsic value, and it can return to the spectacle it once was for kids and adults alike. What can we do? What needs to be changed?
