I have to put together an All-Star ballot for both the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and for the Bloguin group collaboration at The Outside Corner, and so I’m going to take the rare occaision to write about some baseball teams other than the Pirates here. Since I realize that some people only come to WHYGAVS to read about the Pirates, I’m going to put all my picks under the jump. You can read the picks and their rationalization below, or you can skip them and just wait for my afternoon Pirates’ post to go live.
Catcher: Brian McCann, Alex Avila – Fun fact: in the National League this year only four catchers have enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title. I suppose this comes as no surprise to Pirate fans, who are on catcher number seven. Of the qualifiers, Brian McCann and Miguel Montero stand out above the rest of the pack, though Chris Ianetta and his insane 20% walk rate (he’s hitting .230 and getting on base at nearly a .400 pace) also deserves consideration. In the end, McCann is the easy choice in the NL. In the AL, Avila is head and shoulders above his competition in fWAR, leading Victor Martinez and Matt Wieters by almost a full win. I suspect in another month (and in the coming years) the Indians’ Carlos Santana be the guy here, but his slow start this year costs him.
First Base: Prince Fielder, Adrian Gonzalez – In the NL, the Central reins supreme at this position, with Fielder and Joey Votto running mostly neck and neck. Votto would’ve been the choice in May, but Fielder’s insane run (.229/.490/.720 with 12 homers since May 18th) gets the nod. In the AL, Gonzalez is the easy choice, which says a lot about how great he’s been, because Miguel Cabrera is having an excellent year as well.
Second Base: Rickey Weeks, Ben Zobrist – Remember a couple of years ago when kept saying, “Man, if Rickie Weeks could ever stay healthy, he’d be awesome.” Well, it’s finally happened in the last two years. Danny Espinosa is giving him a surprise run for his money this year with good defense and unexpected pop, but Weeks is still the best all-around second baseman in the NL. In the AL, it’s pretty much a coin toss. Pedroia and Ben Zobrist have identical .363 wOBAs and the same WAR. Pedroia gets on base more, Zobrist has more power, Pedroia’s defense grades a little higher though they’re both excellent at second. I’m giving Zobrist the nod on the basis of his power (25 double, four triples, nine homers to Pedroia’s 16, 1, 6), but you could go either way.
Third Base: Chase Headley, Alex Rodriguez – There’s a weird dearth of third baseman in the NL this year: only Roberts and Headley have WAR at 2.0 or above right now. I kind of wish this was like the outfield and I could put Espinosa or Brandon Philips or one of the other deserving second baseman here, but I’ll play by the rules. Roberts’ offensive numbers look better than Headley’s but you have to keep offensive environment in mind (Arizona is super-friendly, San Diego is not), which is why I’m giving Headley the nod here. In the AL, A-Rod’s got a huge WAR lead over Youkilis, but it’s strongly based on his defense, which is suddenly the strongest of his career at third. Which makes me skeptical. A month ago, I would’ve said Youk without batting an eye because A-Rod seemed to be tailing off, but A-Rod’s scorching hot in June and that gets him my vote.
Shortstop: Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera – Reyes is healthy and awesome this year. Great bat, good glove, great speed, end of story. The AL vote is tougher. Alexei Ramirez edges Cabrera in WAR based on his glove, but Cabrera’s been so great at the plate this year that it’s impossible to ignore. If JJ Hardy had played a full season, he’d be right in the mix as well, as his wOBA is the highest of anyone through his 48 games. In the end, I’m giving the nod to Cabrera.
Center Field: Matt Kemp, Curtis Granderson – Look, putting Kemp above McCutchen breaks my heart. The fact is, though, that Kemp has been much better at the plate than McCutchen has and while McCutchen makes up a ton of ground with his defense this year, this is the first year he’s scored strongly among any of the advanced defensive metrics. His numbers are up across the board, but it’s only half a season. McCutchen deserves a spot on the team and it’s insane he’s not in the top 15 for outfielder voting, but if we’re voting a centerfield starter I’m taking Kemp. In the AL, Granderson and his 21 homers pretty much lap the field.
Corner outfielders: Justin Upton, Ryan Braun, Jose Bautista, Alex Gordon – I think I actually picked guys that are predominantly left fielders and right fielders, though I’m OK with lumping corner outfielders together if necessary. Bautista and Braun are no-brainers, here, and though Upton only has 12 homers he’s having a strong year at the plate and doesn’t butcher right field the way Lance Berkman does. I was tempted to go with Brett Gardner in the AL, just because his defense is so incredible, but I’m giving Gordon the edge over him and Matt Joyce.
Starting pitchers: Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander – Even pausing to explain the Halladay choice is insulting to his greatness. In the AL, I know that Jered Weaver has been better than Verlander in terms of WAR, but Verlander’s last ten games have been so ridiculously good (80 2/3 IP, 73 K, 10 BB, 43 H, 14 R, I mean holy crap) that I can’t really justify not picking him.
Relievers: Jonny Venters, David Robertson – Let’s break the stranglehold closers have on this spot and give it to the two best relievers in either league. Venters and Robertson have been flat out awesome this year and while closers like Venters’ teammate Craig Kimbrel, Joel Hanrahan, Mariano Rivera, Jordan Walden, and Jon Papelbon all make strong cases, let’s give the set-up guys (who often pitch in the highest leverage situations) their chance to shine.
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