Todd4State's All-Star ballot

[Todd4State]

I tend to vote along the lines of who I want to see rather than who is having the best year. The reason being I believe that is how the All-Star game was intended to be. Although, I have no problem with the people that vote players based on who is having the best seasons.

National League
C- Yadier Molina
1B- Albert Pujols
2B- Skip Shu... just kidding... Chase Utley
3B- David Wright
SS- Jimmy Rollins (tough pick over Hanley Ramirez)
OF- Manny Ramirez
OF- Carlos Beltran- Most underrated star in the game.
OF- Ryan Braun
DH- (if there was one) Ryan Howard
Starting pitcher (if I could vote on one)- Tim Lincecum
Closer (If I could vote on one)- K-Rod

American League
C- Joe Mauer
1B- Mark Texiera
2B- Dustin Pedroia
3B- A-Rod (tough pick over Evan Longoria)
SS- Derek Jeter
OF- Ichiro
OF- Carl Crawford
OF- Grady Sizemore
DH- Evan Longoria- note- I would have put A-Rod here and put Longoria at third if the ballot would have allowed.
Starting pitcher- Zack Grienike
Closer- Jonathan Papelbon

Performance based All-Stars unenhanced version.

National League
C- Yadi
1B- Pujols
2B- Freddy Sanchez
3B- Pedro Sandoval- the Kung Fu Panda from the Giants
SS- Hanley Ramirez
OF- Raul Ibanez
OF- Braun
OF- Beltran
Starter- Lincecum
Closer- K-Rod

American League
C- Maurer
1B- Migiel Cabrera
2B- Ian Kinsler
3B- Evan Longoria
SS- Jeter
OF- Carl Crawford
OF- Ichiro
OF- Torii Hunter
Starter Grienike
Closer- Brian Fuentes

If MLB was Recreational Little League All-Stars. For those who don't understand my humor, all of these players had Dad's that played in the Big Leagues. Just like Little League, stats were no factor at all.

C- Jason Kendall
1B- Adam LaRoche
2B- Jerry Hairston, Jr.
3B- Andy LaRoche
SS- Scott Hairston
OF- Ken Griffey, Jr.
OF- Gary Matthews, Jr.
OF- Chris Duncan
DH- Casey Kotchman
Pitcher- Brian Bannister

 

[MSUArrowCS]

over Brian McCann. Both of them are good players, and Yadier does play better defense, but McCann has got to be wondering what he has to do to earn the start.

McCann 8 HRs to Molina's 5, 31 RBIs to Molina's 24, .316 Average vs. Molina's .277, .405 OBP to Molina's .342, .526 Slugging to Molina's .378, .931 OPS to Molina's .720 ...

 

[KurtRambis4]

.

 

[War Machine Dawg]

[No message]

 

[DawgatAuburn]

That might be why he is not the leader. For a good portion of the voting, he wasn't playing.

 

[wbc40]

Cardinalfanku

 

[BleedtheFreak]

Do you actually watch baseball or just vote for the names? That's a terrible ballot. So lets look at the mistakes.

- Molina over McCann is a sutch a joke. Molina is a good catcher, but McCann is the best catcher in the NL hands down.
- Jimmy Rollins over Hanley?? Have you lost your mind? Rollins is hitting .<span style="font-weight: bold;">211</span>! Hanley is the best SS in baseball. This is an awful vote.
- Manny? This is the same Manny that has only has 92 at bats?? He shouldn't even be eligable for the All-Star game but morons like you try to vote him in. Brad Hawpe deserves that spot MUCH more than Manny the Tranny.

- I can understand voting for Texiera, but that's not the correct pick. The correct pick would be Justin Morneau. He's hitting 30 points higher than Texiera, has 3 more RBI's, and just 2 less HR's.
- Dustin Pedroia over Aaron Hill?? Hill is hitting .302, 19 HR's, and 56 RBI's. Pedroia - .288, 2 HR's, 31 RBi's. Pedroia over Hill is a joke!
- How in the world is chosing ARod over Longoria a tough descision? It shouldn't even be a descision! ARod is hitting .232! Longoria is hitting .303. Yet another "name" pick when they don't even deserve it.
- Grady Sizemore? Are you freaking serious? Yes the kid is talented, but he doesn't deserve to be an All-Star hitting just .226, 10 HR's and just 39 RBI's. Torri Hunter should get that vote.

Todd, I'd suggest you start actually watching baseball and vote for the people who deserve it not because they have a familiar name. And yes, I saw your post about voting for who you want to see. That is why I think they should down play the fan vote, idiot fans vote for names and not the ones that deserve it.

 

[muledawger]

Its Pablo not Pedro

 

[Todd4State]

I made that one mainly because Yadi is a great catcher and he has never gone to an All-Star game before, and the fact that the All-Star game being in St. Louis swayed my opinion. I just feel like it's his time to go.

That said, I am a huge Brian McCann fan. His Dad played at MSU and of course Brian played for the M-Braves. Had Yadi made an All-Star game before and the game were palyed somewhere else, McCann gets the nod.

 

[Todd4State]

Like I said, I base it more on who I want to see over who is necessarily having the best season. As far as Rollins, I enjoy watching him play defense much moreso than watching him hit. And judging from his season, I bet the Phillies do to. It's not much different than people voting for Ozzie Smith back in the early 80's.

But to answer your question, yes I voted for the names, and don't have a problem admitting that. I think that's what the All-Star game was originally intended to be about. Not necessarily who's having the best season. You would think that who's having the best season and who the best players are would be mutually exclusive, but it's not. I don't advocate taking the voting away from the fans because the All-Star game is meant to be for the fans.

I'll say this to- one thing that I have thought would be good idea would be to have the All-Star Game with the most popular players and then the next day have a All-Star game for the guys having the best seasons. And make it possible for a guy like a Pujols to be selected to both.

 

[CEO2044]

You don't think an All-Star game should be reserved for the people having the best seasons?

What's the purpose of having it? I might could see it if it's like the ones in high school that you can only make once in your career. These guys have a shot at it every year; it SHOULD go to the guy that's had a great season and has worked his *** off during the offseason/season to ensure that.

If you vote just by who you want to be there, then the same people will usually end up making it. And it (may) give players more of an incentive to play harder if they are on the lazy side; it doesn't hurt, as opposed to a guy knowing he can probably make it with less than his best effort each time out.

I know it's your opinion, just throwing in mine. It's all good.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

The only thing Yadi has going for him is his defense. He is possibly one of the best defensive catchers in the NL. Love to see some guys try to steal some bases during the game with him behind the plate.

 

[Todd4State]

but when the game originated in Chicago, in 1933, it was originally intended to be an exhibition game for the fans and to showcase baseball at the World's Fair. If the intent of the game was to put the guys that were having the best years in the game, I would have voted accordingly.

Personally, I kind of like it the way it is because you may have a player that goes on the DL for a couple of weeks, and maybe he's having a really good season, but someone who stays healthy that isn't as good a player technically has better stats just because he had those two weeks, well, that's not fair to the "star" player, who people would likely rather see in the first place.

I don't have a problem at all with people that want to vote for the guys having the best season, though.

The good thing about the MLB All-Star game is that the reserves are picked by the managers, and I think that helps get some guys some exposure that are maybe younger guys, and stars of the future, and those are the guys that fans are going to be voting in in the future.