Ok so I finished spamming the MLB site with my All Star game votes, now before I just list off who I voted for I want to weigh in on something thats come up over the last couple weeks and thats whether Yasiel Puig, the Cuban rookie phenom for the Dodgers, should be allowed to play at the All Star Game. In a word YES, now I think the people who think otherwise, Jonathon Papelbon and Mike Scoscia, are brain dead and don't even understand what the All Star Game is anymore. It's not an arena where the players that other players think are deserving attend it's a show for the fans, so if the fans what Puig in the lineup he sure as hell should be in there. Now on top of this plenty of people have complained about it because he 'hasn't paid his dues' or 'he doesn't have the experience' but then your saying that being the top player in all of the MLB for a month, by a LONG shot, doesn't give him enough merit? Let's not forget that both Bryce Harper and Mike Trout made the All Star roster last year even though neither of them had a full season worth of experience, but we let them through because the two rookies were having amazing seasons, it did't matter if they were a flash in the pan so to speak because they were playing amazing baseball and people wanted to see them. So all in all I think Puig, should he keep this up until the final rosters are to be decided more than deserves a spot in the roster, maybe not a starting position but he should be there.
Ok so now that thats out of the way here are my picks for the All Star Team
-AL
C: Joe Mauer: Now this is pretty easy to defend, the guy has been hitting for average driving in runs and hitting for some power just like whats expected of him and given that there aren't any real high end catchers in the AL (I'm talking Buster Posey/Yadier Molina level) it's pretty easy to decide
1B: Chris Davis: Now this again seems like a no brainer, the man has found himself at the plate and is mashing home runs like theres no tomorrow and I hope he keeps at it so we can, if lucky, we can wash that filthy stain of Barry Bonds off the single season home run record.
2B: Robinson Cano: This was a bit harder as there hasn't been a real run away player but when I consider the situation the Yankees have I believe that Cano this year is better than his stats say he is because the Yankees offence is not nearly as potent as usual with all of C and D class players they've been subbing in it seems like Cano just isn't getting the pitches he needs to get those home runs, RBIs and runs in.
3B: Miguel Cabrera: Again like Davis a complete no brainer, though I would have liked to vote for Longoria since this seems like his big season were he isn't set back with injury after injury and is actually managing to put some respectable stats on the board. However Cabrera is having a year just as good as his Triple Crown year last year and that sure as hell gets him my vote.
SS: Jose Reyes: Now I know Jose won't get the call for the game as starting short stop, but I chose him for a couple reasons. The first being my loyalty as a Jays fan, the second is that if you look at how he played pre injury and since coming back he's much better than the competition for the starting position (despite the small sample size) and third the 3 players who are in the lead for the starting short stop position are rather underwhelming, J.J Hardy has proven to be a one trick pony for years (can only hit for power and not much for avg with littler to no speed), Johnny Peralta is a pretty lacklustre defensive player and for reasons I can't understand is surging well above what any season he's had (despite being 31 and most analysts not thinking he'll be able to sustain this) and then Elvis Andrus just hasn't been playing up to what you'd normally expect out of him, especially when we look at last year and the year before.
OF: Jose Bautista, Mike Trout, Adam Jones: Now these guys again seems like no brainers, Trout is by far and away the best outfielder in the AL presently, Bautista has found his power stroke and is still a defensive and offensive monster and Adam Jones like Bautista has been hitting the ball well, not much else to say other than that it's not necessarily a large pool of amazing players we have to choose from.
Write In: No One
-NL
C: Buster Posey: Now the debate between Molina and Posey has been a big one, and I could have gone either way but I believe more in Posey because he has consistently shown that he can perform at this level since he first got called up to the majors where as Molina has more developed into the same level of power and average as Posey more recently.
1B: Joey Votto: Another no brainer, surprise! Though I have the same reasoning in the argument between Votto and Goldsmidt as with Posey vs. Molina.
2B: Brandon Phillips: Again we have pretty slim pickings here, the only competition in this position are Matt Carpenter and Marco Scutaro, now Scutaro I believe doesn't have much beyond his ability to hit for average so he was out in my mind and then Matt Carpenter is very much a rookie and I don't think I can vote for a guy who is only performing at or around Brandon Phillips area with not having shown it for a fair amount of time.
3B: David Wright: Now this is too me again a no brainer, now I love seeing Pablo Sandoval play but he's been in a rut since coming back from injury and to be perfectly honest the extra weight is affecting the man defensively and you can tell it where as Wright is playing better than Sandoval and he's the home player so that wins him points in my books, I mean Mets fans tried to campaign on a cougar dating site to get him into the starting position.
SS: Troy Tulowitzki: Now I mulled over this decision over and over and it's not because I think another player is better than him at SS but I wondered if he'd actually be back for the game, if so great I say he starts but if not I would like to see the position go to Jean Segura and not Brandon Crawford because as always Segura has been MUCH better than Crawford in every respect at short.
OF: Carlos Gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, Bryce Harper: Not much to say here all of these guys are easy to debate about, CarGo has been one of the top 3 hitters in baseball for an extended period of time, McCutchen has been playing just as good if not better than previous years that got him on the All Star team and Bryce Harper, until his collision with the wall, was putting up numbers that would have dwarfed his previous season.
Write In: Yasiel Puig: See the first paragraph of this post
And thats all of them, post your picks if you feel like it and hopefully we'll see a good turn in the voting when it comes out Saturday night.
-Eric
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