So now that you’ve had a chance to digest the 2007 AL All-Stars, I present you with the National League fan selections, along with their ADP and the NL players statistically ranked above them at their position.
ADP is determined by NFBC and is league-filtered and position-filtered for better accuracy.
Pos. Player ADP Player – R/HR/RBI/SB/AVG
C Russell Martin 3 NOBODY
51/11/60/16/.306
Commentary:
Martin was drafted after McCann and, dare I say, Michael Barrett—but no one has performed better than Martin behind the plate in the NL thus far. He might be a good candidate to trade early in the second half, but finding a replacement might be tough. I’d say target one of the underperforming AL catchers and another player for him.
Pos. Player ADP Player – R/HR/RBI/SB/AVG
1B Prince Fielder 6 NOBODY
62/29/70/0/.284
Commentary:
Wow! That word best describes the season that this young pup is having. He’s even better than Phat Albert at this point, which is something that no NL 1st Baseman has been able to say over the last few years.
Pos. Player ADP Player – R/HR/RBI/SB/AVG
2B Chase Utley 1 NOBODY
64/15/68/6/.325
Commentary:
Did you honestly expect anyone other than ChU? I will say this, though: when GP and I went to two of the three games between the Reds and Indians, BP (Brandon Phillips) really impressed me. He’s having a career year and it’ll be hard to pass on him as the first 2B next year if he continues to do what he’s doing. That’ll be the key though–duplicating his first half numbers.
Pos. Player ADP Player – R/HR/RBI/SB/AVG
3B David Wright 2 NOBODY
49/16/51/18/.292
Commentary:
No other position in all of baseball has two players whose numbers are so similar than that of 3B in the National League. I’m talking about the fan’s choice, NL starter David Wright, and the Players’ and Managers’ choice of Miguel Cabrera. If you pick these two guys apart with a surgeon’s utensils, you’ll see that Cabrera has a staggering two more runs, two more home runs, nine more RBI’s, 18 fewer SB and a .030 higher BA. According to Yahoo, they’re ranked 24 (Wright) and 25 (Cabrera). Yep, the New York fans screwed everything up again. Oh, and I can be reached by email at jaysyankees78@hotmail.com if you don’t hate me for being a Yankee Fan.
Pos. Player ADP Player – R/HR/RBI/SB/AVG
OF Carlos Beltran 2 Holliday – 56/15/69/4/.341
48/15/52/13/.267 Ca. Lee – 48/16/73/6/.297
Barry Bonds 17 Byrnes – 53/14/49/17/.306
46/17/42/5/.295 Soriano – 60/15/33/13/.309
Ken Griffey Jr. Victorino – 55/11/37/27/.277
49/23/59/3/.286
Commentary:
Matt Holliday, Carlos Lee, Eric Byrnes, Alfonso Soriano and Shane Victorino all are ranked higher than Bonds and Beltran with the majority of them having better overall numbers. We really know why Bonds is there–and I haven’t seen that much stuffing since my wife’s family and my family decided we all had to have Thanksgiving Dinner together the first year after my wife and I got married. Beltran’s been underperforming the most out of this bunch, but he gets help from those damn New York Fans. Griffey is one of the most deserving players in all of baseball this year; despite all the time he’s missed over the last several seasons, he’s still closing in on 600 HR and with a little good luck, he’ll be able to play into his 40s and have a shot at 700.
AL and NL Last Man
Rather than give any statistical analysis of this last ditch effort for MLB to get the fans involved, I’d like to focus on why these two players deserve to be here. I know a lot of people wanted to see Jimmy Rollins in the All-Star game, but since he wasn’t even a choice given to the fans by MLB, I won’t beat a dead horse.
Had the Red Sox realized at the beginning of the year that Hideki Okajima was going to be this good; Jonathan Papelbon might have been a starter. Okajima has played brilliantly all year setting up save opportunities for Pap. He’s shored up what had looked to be a weak bullpen during spring training, and now the Red Sox bullpen is among the best, if not the best bullpen in all of baseball. If you’re a fan of Saito and Broxton, then no doubt you should take a look at this duo as the best one-two punch at the end of ballgames.
I’m not sure if the ripe age of 27 pertains to hitter, or pitchers, or both, but either way you slice it, Young, who started the year at age 27 has been dazzling opponents all year. He’s a bonafide number 2 starter and on most teams in baseball, he’s a sure number one. I’d venture that in the weak NL, we’ll see Young be talked about at the end of this season as a potential Cy Young candidate.
For the most part, both in the NL and AL, the fans got it right. I guess you all took my advice earlier in the year and waited to vote until the season was a little more mature. If not, you must have spent the last few days of voting cramming the online ballot boxes for all these players. Kudos to you all for a job well done on this years class of All-Stars.