The second NL voting update for this year’s All-Star game in Miami came out this morning and, as always, things may not be quite where they should be. As expected, all eight possible Cubs options are listed in the top five (or top six in the case of the outfield, where 15 are listed) despite Chicago sitting in second, barely over .500. As a great man once said, however, “Miami the bass and the sunset low” so let’s see who is likely to and who deserves to be “going to Miami (Bienvenidos a Miami).”
1B – Ryan Zimmerman
The Nats firstbaseman has had a great season, no doubt, leading all NL first basemen in home runs and RBI, yet has a tenuous lead of less than 20,000 votes over Anthony Rizzo. The odd thing about this is the fact that neither should be leading the voting. Paul Goldschmidt not only has 13 home runs, 48 runs and 43 RBI, but has 12 steals and has been worth 4.3 runs on the bases alone. Defensively, he’s been the third best regular first baseman in the NL behind only Brandon Belt and Joey Votto and offensively he stands up with the best. His walk and strike out rates both surpass Zimmerman as does his OBP.
Because Zimmerman is hitting an unbelievable .374, it’s understandable that he’s the vote leader and both should make the team, however, Rizzo shouldn’t be second. In all, five first baseman really deserve consideration, Zimmerman, Goldschmidt, Votto, Eric Thames and Justin Bour yet only Goldy and Zimmerman are in the top five in voting. The fans have to do a lot better here.
2B – Daniel Murphy
With over 1,000,000 votes, Murphy leads all non outfielders in the NL in voting and with a .340/.393/.573 line, he deserves them all. However, the rest of the voting makes little sense. Javier Baez is second, despite having a fairly terrible season so far and Brandon Phillips is showing that this really is a popularity contest. D.J LeMahieu deserves some votes for his defensive performance, but hasn’t been good enough offensively to be in the top five and Kolton Wong hasn’t been good enough defensively or offensively.
If you don’t want to vote for Murphy because your a Mets fan, at least give some love to Josh Harrison of Pittsburgh. He’s hitting .308/.371/.466 with five steals and decent defense. Feel free to show love to Miami’s Dee Gordon as well. He doesn’t have the offense, but Miami needs a rep and he’s been a great baserunner and above average defender.
3B – Kris Bryant
Despite hitting just .268, there’s an argument that Bryant has been the NL’s best hitting third baseman. He’s slugged 12 home runs and his .525 slugging is among the league leaders. Thus, he’s not a terrible choice although there’s certainly some of the favoritism that has Cubs among all the leaders helping him out here.
Overall, the voting at third is probably the best around as all five in the top five deserve consideration and the order isn’t too far off. Justin Turner is hitting .379, Nolan Arenado has 14 home runs, Anthony Rendon has the second best combination of offense and defense after Arenado and Jedd Gyorko has provided solid offense. If one doesn’t belong, it’s Gyorko as Eugenio Suarez and Jake Lamb are at least slightly more deserving.
SS – Corey Seager
Seager doesn’t have a huge lead among short stops, but he shouldn’t have one at all. The Reds were a surprise team early in the season when they and the Brewers headed the NL Central and Zack Cozart has been a big part of that. He’s hitting .344/.432/.622 (all of which lead all NL SS) while his home runs and RBI also lead all at the position. Incredibly, he’s also been the league’s best defensive short stop. Just like voting for Murphy at second, there should really be only one choice at short and it isn’t Seager or #3 vote getter Addison Russell. Vote Cozart and vote often. By the way, Russell has been worth -6.5 runs offensively according to fangraphs. Chris Owings (#4) and Trea Turner (#5) are both well more deserving than Russell as are Brandon Crawford and Jordy Mercer.
C – Buster Posey
There’s little competition for Posey at catcher as the four time All-Star, rookie of the year and MVP leads all catchers in both offensive production and total WAR. Offensively, the only near comparable player is Tyler Flowers who doesn’t appear in the top five despite hitting .365/.475/.478 for Atlanta. Yasmani Grandal has been the top defensive catcher in the NL, but it’s more likely just because he plays for LA that he’s currently in fifth. With an OBP under .300, there’s no question that Yadier Molina is the least worthy of the top five catchers, but it’s likely his career performance that has gained him that respect. For this to be really fair, Flowers should replace either Molina or the Cubs Willson Contreras, but since only the #1 selection gets in automatically, the fans are doing this one right.
OF – Bryce Harper
OF – Charlie Blackmon
OF – Jason Heyward
This is where the overall Cubs bias really stands out as Chicago has just one player in the top 20 among NL outfielders in fWAR (Heyward at #20), yet all three options are in the top six in voting. If any team deserves three teams in the top 15 it’s the home town Marlins with an argument for #2 in Marcel Ozuna. Obviously, Harper should be the first man in, but after him, things are questionable. Fellow Marlin, Giancarlo Stanton is 7th and Ozuna is 8th and with only about 100,000 votes between third and eighth, they both have a chance to be voted in.
Blackmon is also deserving, but one of the best outfielders in the NL isn’t even on the list as Michael Conforto of New York isn’t on the ballot. Instead, Jay Bruce, who has been unremarkable this year, has been apparently sucking up his votes and comes in at #11. Yoenis Cespedes is also on the list despite being on the DL and expected to miss about another month. Two more exciting players, Christian Yelich and Billy Hamilton, however are no where to be seen.
The fact is, the Diamondbacks, Brewers, Marlins, Reds and Rockies have had deserving players and are extremely under represented on this list while the Cubs and Dodgers are extremely over represented. You can’t take away from what the Nationals have done and they will get their All-Stars, but there are plenty of open spots around them to fill in with some of the less successful teams, but equally successful individuals.
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