MLB 2016

[brandx]

Any one cast All Star votes?  Here is how mine shook out.

C     S. Perez           J. Lucroy
1B   E. Hosmer        P. Goldschmidt
2B   I Kinsler           D. Murphy
SS   F. Lindor           T. Story
3B   J. Donaldson    N. Arenado
OF   M.Trout            A. Duvall       
OF   M. Betts           S. Marte
OF   I. Desmond      M. Ozuna

Some interesting races going on.  Just like last year, when Royal fans were skewing the numbers, Cub fans are this year in the NL.  Several worthy candidates at most positions, this is how I decided to go.  I know my NL OF votes are at least, well, unorthodox, but I thought those guys had earned my votes.

C'mon Chuckler, we need more Royals

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Any one cast All Star votes?  Here is how mine shook out.

C     S. Perez           J. Lucroy
1B   E. Hosmer        P. Goldschmidt
2B   I Kinsler           D. Murphy
SS   F. Lindor           T. Story
3B   J. Donaldson    N. Arenado
OF   M.Trout            A. Duvall       
OF   M. Betts           S. Marte
OF   I. Desmond      M. Ozuna

Some interesting races going on.  Just like last year, when Royal fans were skewing the numbers, Cub fans are this year in the NL.  Several worthy candidates at most positions, this is how I decided to go.  I know my NL OF votes are at least, well, unorthodox, but I thought those guys had earned my votes.

Rizzo is having a slightly better year than Goldy thus far, IMO. And I don't think Duvall makes sense.

As for Cubs fans skewing the numbers, aside from Russell, it's hard to say Rizzo, Bryant, Zobrist, and Fowler aren't deserving.

[🏀]

You don't think the best team in baseball should have any all-stars?  It almost seems like you went out of your way to take Ozuna; both Bryant and Fowler have a higher WAR. 

A historically good baseball team none the less.

[buckchuckler]

Well, thanks for critiquing my choices everyone.  No, I didn't vote for any Cubs.  Yes they have the best record.  I voted for Ozuna,  not instead of Bryant though.  He is eligible as a 3B.  They are not at the same position.  I also don't vote based solely on WAR.  Here is my rationale on the guys that were questioned. 

Fowler is deserving of a votes, he just didn't get mine.  I preferred Ozuna and Duvall.  They are clearly not the conventional choices, but they guys I wanted to stump for. 

If it seems like I went out of my way to on Ozuna, I don't think you have been paying enough attention and just did a cursory look at their WAR numbers.  Ozuna has produced 15 HR, 11 2B, 4 3B, a BA of .321 OBP of .373, SLG of .565 and an OPS of .938.  All his ratios are better than Bryant.  I feel like that is a weird guy to question.  I mean, a .938 OPS out of a CF. 


As for Duvall not making sense, well, he is leading the league in SLG, he has 20 HR, 1 3B, 16 2B and 48 RBI.  His OBP is nothing special as he doesn't walk, but he SLG is .590.  Dude is crushing it(Plus I love the story, and its my vote so screw you  ).   If not for Duvall, I would have voted for Cespedes. 

Kris Bryant, who you say is deserving, has quite similar numbers.  16HR, 0 3B, 17 2B and 48 RBI.  Higher OBP lower SLG, OPS that just about balance.  I find it odd you question one and support another, especially when has to contend with this:

The reason I didn't vote for Bryant is that well,  Arenado is better.  A lot better.  In every way.    There is no one I would vote for over Arenado.  In my opinion he is All Star 1A this year.  I would vote for him over every other player at this point.  There is one reason to vote for Bryant over Arenado.  That reason, is that you are a Cub fan and you want your guy in the game.  Which is fine.  It is the All Star game. 

Rizzo is quite deserving.  I think Goldy is as well.  Goldschmidt is out preforming Rizzo in 2/3 his slash line categories .285/.420/.506 to .275/.401/.558.  In my opinion either is deserving.  I feel like Goldy gets no respect for how great a player he is, so I voted for him.

Zobrist is having a great season, but really, is he more deserving than Murphy?  I don't see how.  And if he had the same numbers wearing a Cards jersey, I don't think you would either.  I think he is a deserving All Star, I don't think he has outplayed Murphy. 

All the guys you mentioned are deserving, but in my opinion, none are the most deserving at their position.  The vote skewing I was referring to mostly was Bryant (again, Arenado, I think it is ridiculous not to vote for that guy) and Russell.   

PS.  I would have voted for Infante if the Royals didn't just cut him!  Those bastards!   

[buckchuckler]

You don't think the best team in baseball should have any all-stars?  It almost seems like you went out of your way to take Ozuna; both Bryant and Fowler have a higher WAR.

Oh, and I didn't say they shouldn't have any all stars.  I said I didn't vote for any.  Arrieta and Lester are complete no brainers for the All Star team.

[CTWarrior]

Any one cast All Star votes?  Here is how mine shook out.

C     S. Perez           J. Lucroy
1B   E. Hosmer        P. Goldschmidt
2B   I Kinsler           D. Murphy
SS   F. Lindor           T. Story
3B   J. Donaldson    N. Arenado
OF   M.Trout            A. Duvall       
OF   M. Betts           S. Marte
OF   I. Desmond      M. Ozuna

Some interesting races going on.  Just like last year, when Royal fans were skewing the numbers, Cub fans are this year in the NL.  Several worthy candidates at most positions, this is how I decided to go.  I know my NL OF votes are at least, well, unorthodox, but I thought those guys had earned my votes.

Good ballot, mine:

AL
C     S. Perez         
1B   M. Cabrera     
2B   J.Altuve  
3B   J. Donaldson       
SS   X.Bogaerts       
OF   M.Trout           
OF   M. Betts           
OF   I. Desmond     
DH   D.Ortiz

NL
C   J.Lucroy
1B  P. Goldschmidt
2B  B.Zobrist
3B  N. Arenado
SS  C.Seager
OF  A.Duvall
OF  S.Marte
OF  M.Ozuna

Murphy having a great season, but he is a DH playing 2B.  I didn't like your NL outfield at first glance, but after taking a quick dive into the stats, seemed good.

[buckchuckler]

Kinsler over Altuve and Lindor over Bogaerts were two of my most difficult choices.  Another was Donaldson over Machado.   

Your point on Murphy is fair, for me though, his hitting has overcome his defensive deficiencies. 

[Lennys Tap]

Nothing wrong with bleeding Cubbie blue. They've been the best team in baseball this year by a significant margin. Arrieta and Lester should be locks. You can make an argument that Rizzo and Zobrist should be starters - coin flips, probably. Fowler? On the DL, his numbers won't match up by the time the game is played. Russell starting is a joke - I think even the biggest Cub fan (and even Russell's Mom) would admit that.

What drives me nuts is anyone saying Kris Bryant is "deserving". To be on the team? Sure, he's a great young player having a fine year. But starting ahead of Arenado? That's brain dead partisan fan talk.

[GGGG]

Nothing wrong with bleeding Cubbie blue. They've been the best team in baseball this year by a significant margin. Arrieta and Lester should be locks. You can make an argument that Rizzo and Zobrist should be starters - coin flips, probably. Fowler? On the DL, his numbers won't match up by the time the game is played. Russell starting is a joke - I think even the biggest Cub fan (and even Russell's Mom) would admit that.

What drives me nuts is anyone saying Kris Bryant is "deserving". To be on the team? Sure, he's a great young player having a fine year. But starting ahead of Arenado? That's brain dead partisan fan talk.

I think debates like these are interesting.  On the one hand, the all star voting system is basically set up to be "partisan fan talk."  And part of me understands that.  If we just go completely by who is having a "good year" so far, you are building a team based on less than half a year's worth of games.  Is that really what we should be basing all star votes on?

[WI inferiority Complexes]

Nothing wrong with bleeding Cubbie blue. They've been the best team in baseball this year by a significant margin. Arrieta and Lester should be locks. You can make an argument that Rizzo and Zobrist should be starters - coin flips, probably. Fowler? On the DL, his numbers won't match up by the time the game is played. Russell starting is a joke - I think even the biggest Cub fan (and even Russell's Mom) would admit that.

What drives me nuts is anyone saying Kris Bryant is "deserving". To be on the team? Sure, he's a great young player having a fine year. But starting ahead of Arenado? That's brain dead partisan fan talk.

I know I never said Bryant should be over Arrenado.

Bryant should be as an outfielder.

[🏀]

I know I never said Bryant should be over Arrenado.

Bryant should be as an outfielder.

43 appearances at third, 42 in the outfield, 4 at first and 1 at short.

[WI inferiority Complexes]

43 appearances at third, 42 in the outfield, 4 at first and 1 at short.

Yes.

You put Arrenado at 3rd, Bryant in LF, and have the #1 and #5 players in NL WAR in your starting All-Star lineup.

[buckchuckler]

Yes.

You put Arrenado at 3rd, Bryant in LF, and have the #1 and #5 players in NL WAR in your starting All-Star lineup.

Have you seen the All Star Ballot?  Guys are listed by their position.  Yes, Bryant plays games the OF, on the ballot he is listed as a 3B.  Voting for him is voting for him over Arenado.  It is the same as not being able to vote for Donaldson and Machado, or Lindor Bogaerts and Correa.   

[WI inferiority Complexes]

Have you seen the All Star Ballot?  Guys are listed by their position.  Yes, Bryant plays games the OF, on the ballot he is listed as a 3B.  Voting for him is voting for him over Arenado.  It is the same as not being able to vote for Donaldson and Machado, or Lindor Bogaerts and Correa.   

I didn't know that.  That's stupid.

[MerrittsMustache]

The fact that the ASG has actual meaning yet the starters are based on a popularity contest is completely asinine.

[buckchuckler]

I didn't know that.  That's stupid.

Well, thanks for telling me I was stretching on my picks without having any idea how the system works.  That seems pretty solid.

The system is pretty weird.  Though, you would think, that a team with a legit shot at the WS, their fans would vote for the best team to try to have that advantage.  The fact that the game decides what it does is weird.  But before this system it just rotated, which also seems like a weird way of determining something that can have such an impact.

I think they should use the interleague record to determine home field.
I think because of the imbalance in the schedules, it is hard to just use straight record, though that makes more sense than the All Star Game. 

[CTWarrior]

I didn't know that.  That's stupid.

I don't know if it is stupid.  Not sure how they could do it any other way without having hand-written ballots.  The team gets to decide which position to list the players at.

[CTWarrior]

Well, thanks for telling me I was stretching on my picks without having any idea how the system works.  That seems pretty solid.

The system is pretty weird.  Though, you would think, that a team with a legit shot at the WS, their fans would vote for the best team to try to have that advantage.  The fact that the game decides what it does is weird.  But before this system it just rotated, which also seems like a weird way of determining something that can have such an impact.

I think they should use the interleague record to determine home field.
I think because of the imbalance in the schedules, it is hard to just use straight record, though that makes more sense than the All Star Game.

I agree.  The current All Star game determines home field advantage for the World Series is a wild over-reaction to the 2002 All-Star game ending in a tie because each team ran out of pitchers. 

The MLB All-Star game is the only all-star game I watch because it is the only one where the players that are in the game are trying their best to win.  The game has evolved into the managers making sure they get everyone in, so strategy-wise they are not trying their absolute best to win, but the players on the field are hitting and pitching and defending to the absolute best of their ability, unlike the other sports where defense is lacking.

I think if they want to say the all-star winner matters, they should use it as a part of a three-pronged system.  Take individual team record, NL vs AL interleague results and All-Star game as the three things to check.  Whichever team/league wins 2 or 3 of those gets to be the home team.

[WI inferiority Complexes]

Well, thanks for telling me I was stretching on my picks without having any idea how the system works.

No problem.

[Blackhat]

AS starting lineup is a farce.   It only shows which fanbase has the most out of work losers that get excited about voting.   Cubs win.

Fowler is a loser who should not be starting over Ryan Braun.   Braun has a much higher OPS and they have the same WAR.   Farcical.  Thanks for ruining the AS game Cub fans.

Go Brewers!

[MerrittsMustache]

AS starting lineup is a farce.   It only shows which fanbase has the most out of work losers that get excited about voting.   Cubs win.

Fowler is a loser who should not be starting over Ryan Braun.   Braun has a much higher OPS and they have the same WAR.   Farcical.  Thanks for ruining the AS game Cub fans.

Go Brewers!

If anything, you should be complaining about Braun being behind Jason Heyward in the voting, not Fowler. Or you could complain that Braun is ahead of Carlos Gonzalez, Marcell Ozuna and Starling Marte each of whom is having a better season 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I've got no problem with someone voting for Arenado over Bryant and I hope my post didn't come across that way. 

However, let's not forget the impact of Coors Field on Arenado's numbers.  Now, he's still very good away from home but the difference in his home and away OPS is enormous (1.077 vs. .861).  Bryant would easily put up comparable numbers (if not better) to Arenado if he played half his games in Colorado, especially for someone who hits as many fly balls as Bryant.  Bryant has an .877 OPS overall, including .934 away from Wrigley. 

A fan voting for either player is completely justifiable.  Like it or not, Arenado's numbers are strongly skewed by playing at Coors.  If he didn't play at Coors his counting stats could easily by less than KB's as well.     

[buckchuckler]

Brooks Robinson made 15 straight All Star games and never had an OPS above Arenado's road OPS this year.  I use him as an example, because Arenado is that level defensively.  If he was a .250 hitter, I think he would still be the clear choice at 3rd. 

[Lennys Tap]

I know I never said Bryant should be over Arrenado.

Bryant should be as an outfielder.

Ballots are probably printed before the season. Players are placed at the position they'll probably play the most. This isn't Rotisserie baseball.

[WI inferiority Complexes]

Ballots are probably printed before the season. Players are placed at the position they'll probably play the most. This isn't Rotisserie baseball.

They stopped printing ballots.  MLB could, and probably should, come up with a system of determining how a player can qualify for a position.  I've never voted online; I assumed once they ditched the punch cards they made this change already.