MLB’s Best of the Best, June edition

For the last couple of months, I have assembled rosters based exclusively from a pool of the best players on a given team. You can check out the previous editions here and here. This started as an idle curiosity, wondering where the best players on certain teams fit in the overall scope of baseball, but then, it sort of became an interesting study in the overall state of baseball. Anyways, here is a look at the overall roster for the season to date. * means the player was not on last month’s roster, and a ** means they were, but are now in a different spot on the roster.

Rotation
1)  Adam Wainright (Cardinals)
2) Matt Harvey (Mets) – Harvey was actually tied with David Wright for top WAR man for the Mets. Both have been very good. What’s the deal with the rest of the team?
3) Cliff Lee (Phillies) **
4) Derek Holland (Rangers)
5) Felix Hernandez (Mariners)

Bullpen.
Again, we had to take all of the remaining pitchers to fill out this pitching staff with 10 guys. The highest leftover Pitcher in terms of WAR that didn’t make the rotation is our closer, as it happens, he IS a former closer, so it works out.
Closer: Chris Sale (White Sox) **
RP: Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers) **
James Shields (Royals) *
Jeff Samardzija (Cubs)
Mike Minor (Braves) * – Minor was a surprise inclusion, mostly because the Braves are doing well, but Evan Gattis and Minor are tied at 1.8 WAR as the top total for a very good team. That’s a team with some good balance.

Starting Lineup
1b) Chris Davis (Orioles)
2b) Dustin Pedroia (Red Sox) * – Not only is Pedroia on the team for the first time, he also bumped Robinson Cano off the team.
3b) Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) – Cabrera continues to be the best player in baseball, but he also is preventing our team from adding some of the top pitchers in the game.
SS) Troy Tulowitzki (Rockies)
C) Buster Posey (Giants) * – Posey is back after a one month hiatus, narrowly nipping Joe Mauer
LF) Carlos Gomez (Brewers) ** – Gomez has been our center fielder all season, but his position has been usurped!
CF) Mike Trout (Angels) ** – Trout is now the best outfielder so far this season, according to WAR, but Gomez is still no slouch.
RF) Andrew McCutcheon (Pirates) ** – My goodness is this ever a speedy young outfield.

Bench
As always, the remaining spots on the roster are the highest remaining players in terms of WAR until we get a 25 man team. The surprising thing about this roster is that no outfielders made it to the bench for this team.
Evan Longoria (Rays) – Constantly hurt by his position, trying to compete with Miguel Cabrera
David Wright (Mets) * – By some quirk, there are two Mets on this team.
Josh Donaldson (Athletics) – Josh Donaldson is my new favorite player
Everth Cabrera (Padres) * – Cabrera is the first Padre and second Cabrera to make the team
Joe Mauer (Twins) **
Joey Votto (Reds)
Paul Goldschmidt (Diamondbacks)

And this month, we get 7 guys left off the roster thanks to having two teams, the Mets and Braves, with two players tied  at the top for their team.
Jason Kipnis (Indians)
Jose Bautista (Blue Jays) – Whoa. He was a starter last month
Brett Gardner (Yankees) – Funny in so many ways. No Yankees on the team, and that Gardner is the top Yankee. Fantastic.
Ian Desmond (Nationals)
Marcell Ozuna (Marlins)
Jason Castro (Astros)
Evan Gattis (Braves) – At least both Braves didn’t make the team.

Now, we can take a look at the monthly best of the best roster. This is assembled of the players who were best on their team in the month of June. Thanks to the Royals having a tied position player and pitcher, we have a pool of 31.

Starting Rotation
1) Chris Sale
2) Cliff Lee
3) Mat Latos (Reds)
4) Bud Norris (Astros) – An Astro as the 4th starter?!
5) Jose Fernandez (Marlins) – An anonymous Marlin as the 5th starter?!?!?!

Bullpen. This is a tiny, tiny bullpen. We only get 8 pitchers in our staff this month (which means a bench of 9)
Closer: Ervin Santana (Royals) – This pitching staff is amazing
Derek Holland
Felix Hernandez – Bud Norris, starter. Ervin Santana, closer. Felix Hernandez, middle relief.

Starters
1b) Chris Davis
2b) Jason Kipnis – Kipnis was the best player in baseball in the month of June. That’s something else.
3b) Miguel Cabrera
SS) Ian Desmond
C) Buster Posey
LF) Jacoby Ellsbury (Red Sox) – Ellsbury came on strong for the Sox this month
CF) Mike Trout
RF) Yasiel Puig (Dodgers) – Puig!

So far, this is the weirdest team yet. Who makes it onto the Best of the Best (June) bench? Remember, we have a whopping 9 players for the bench because of the tiny, tiny bullpen.
David Wright
Pedro Alvarez (Pirates)
Matt Carpenter (Cardinals) – Carpenter was on the May roster as well, but hasn’t surpassed Adam Wainwright for the top spot yet.
Evan Longoria
Everth Cabrera
Brett Gardner
Carlos Gomez
Nolan Arenado (Rockies) – What?! Who? Arenado is one of 4 rookies on this roster.
Joe Mauer

This is the strangest roster we have assembled with this little study so far. Who was left off?
Jason Heyward (Braves)
Eric Hosmer (Royals)
Edwin Encarnacion (Blue Jays)
Josh Donaldson – Heartbreak
Nate Schierholtz (Cubs) – If there was ever a signal that the Cubs aren’t very good, I think this is it.
Gerardo Parra (Diamondbacks)

Stay tuned next month to see where this little roster experiment takes.