A baseball team only made of the best

I was sitting around on Monday thinking, for no good reason what you could do with a team stacked with the best players from every team. No, not the best players from every position in a given league. The best players from every team. Could you do it? We are going for a 25 man roster, and our pool is 30 players, so 5 teams will be left out.

Well, sort of, I suppose. On Monday, I went through FanGraphs and identified the top players to this point in the season in terms of WAR so I couldn’t just pick and choose at my own whim. A couple of interesting thoughts before I run through the list. First, Carlos Gomez has been, according to WAR, the best player in the league. Second, no shortstops were represented. That’s the only position that no team has as the best on their team.

Players made the team based on their WAR to this point, but only if they could fit into a particular position. That is to say, Dexter Fowler was better than our 2b, 1b and entirety of our bullpen, but he rides the bench because there were three outfielders with higher WAR so far. Make sense? OK.

Let’s start with the rotation. 1-5 is based on WAR (again as of Monday)
1) Anibal Sanchez (DET) – Sanchez has been better than Verlander this season, which is incredible.
2) Yu Darvish (TEX)
3) Adam Wainwright (STL)
4) Clay Buchholz (BOS)
5) Felix Hernandez (SEA)

The bullpen included the other starting pitchers that, to this point have been the best players on their team. Only 10 pitchers qualified for the team, so they all made it. The closer is the highest remaining WAR of the pitchers.
Closer: James Shields (KC)
RP) Cliff Lee (PHI)
RP) Kevin Slowey (FLA) – How does this one feel, Minnesota? Actually, starting with Lee and using the remainder of the pitchers, these guys are “worse” than any of the position players that made the team.
RP) Jeff Samarzija (CHC)
RP) Jose Quintana (CHW) – Quintana is far and away the worst player to make the team, as the only one to check in under 1 WAR (0.7)

Our position players are significantly better than our pitchers, and all 5 guys that missed the cut were obviously position players (I mean, 10 pitchers is the absolutely bare minimum you would want to use). Here are the starters.
Catcher) Carlos Santana (CLE)
1b) Joey Votto (CIN)
2b) Robinson Cano (NYY) Cano is the lowest rated every day starter on the team. Take THAT Yankees.
3b) David Wright (NYM)
SS) Manny Machado (BAL) – Machado and Wright have a 1.7 WAR. Machado could play short in Baltimore, but JJ Hardy is there now. This was the best fit
LF) Starling Marte (PIT)
CF) Carlos Gomez (MIL)
RF) Justin Upton (ATL) – This outfield is just so odd.

The lineup is diverse. I like that there is even some serious defensive talent in there which will be good for when the bullpen makes their appearance. I like how well the lineup reflects the importance of youth in a roster as well. David Wright is the oldest one there. Now with 18 spots filled, we can go ahead and fill in our bench. These are simply the 7 guys with the highest remaining WAR. Lots of outfielders.
OF) Dexter Fowler (COL)
IF) Evan Longoria (TB)
OF) Carl Crawford (LAD)
OF) Mike Trout (LAA)
OF) Bryce Harper (WAS)
IF) Josh Donaldson (OAK) – Mind blowing. Probably the most incredible inclusion on the team. Good for middle infield depth though.
C) Buster Posey (SFG)

So that’s your team to this point in the season. It’s also interesting to see Trout and Harper on the bench behind Starling Marte and Carlos Gomez. If we do this later in the season, no way that will happen again right? Obviously not. Now, if you read this site you are probably a Twins fan and note that no Twin made the team. Who were the 5 players that were left off this hypothetical roster? It really says something if your team best doesn’t register with the league bests.
OF) Gerardo Parra (ARI)
OF) Chris Denorfia (SDP)
IF) Jose Altuve (HOU)
OF) Colby Rasmus (TOR) – How is that big offseason working out, Toronto?
C) Joe Mauer (MIN) – Mauer and Chicago’s Quintana both share the mantle of “worst best players on a team”. So congrats, I guess. This could be a long season.

Just looking at this team tells us a couple things. There is good youth on the roster, and very solid defense. The pitching depth is horrible but with the entire bullpen made of starters, long relief is a definite possibility and even a necessity. You have clear and middle of the order bats. I wonder who you put at the bottom, though. I really wonder how long Kevin Slowey will qualify for this roster.