All-Star Mania

Dave Paisley

Yes folks, it’s upon us once more — the annual punching of the All-Star ballots. Whether you do it at the ballpark, online (that's http://vote.mlb.com/landing.html) or in the comfort of your own home (Steve Garvey’s method of choice, apparently) it’s a fun activity and an obligation you shouldn’t dodge.

Of course, All-Star voting does come with some controversy. Is it a popularity contest? What about that 19-year-old rookie who hit 5 home runs in the first week? Why shouldn’t we just punch a straight Expos/Twins ticket? All good questions. To which the answers are: Yes, forget about him and why not? (on at least some ballots.)

But you, our faithful readers, deserve to be provided with as much ammunition as possible in the war of invective that usually occurs around All-Star voting, so I intend to provide it as much as possible. This week you get the National League, and I’ll start with the catchers. Here’s the list of just about everyone who’s strapped on the old chest protector for more than a token number of appearances:

(Note RG=Runs Generated, is simply the average of runs scored and runs batted in. Believe it or not, it correlates very well with much fancier numbers like Runs Created, but without taking three weeks to explain it.)

First	Last	TEAM	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Mike	Piazza	NYM	Y	103	18	21	8	.842	20
Damian	Miller	ARI	Y	98	15	23	7	.863	19
Michael	Barrett	MON	Y	99	13	21	6	1.026	17
Paul	Lo Duca	LOS	Y	127	13	17	2	.797	15
Benito	Santiago	SFO	Y	105	11	15	3	.727	13
Brad	Ausmus	HOU	Y	105	17	9	2	.647	13
Mike	Lieberthal	PHI	Y	113	11	13	2	.674	12
Jason	Kendall	PIT	Y	104	9	12	1	.707	11
Mike	Redmond	FLA		54	9	10	1	.837	10
Mike	Matheny	STL	Y	76	8	11	3	.776	10
Eli	Marrero	STL		82	9	9	1	.699	9
Gregg	Zaun	HOU		47	7	9	0	.647	8
Gary	Bennett	COL	Y	75	7	9	2	.578	8
Craig	Wilson	PIT		64	8	7	1	.692	8
Jason	Larue	CIN	Y	87	7	8	0	.617	8
Vance	Wilson	NYM		44	5	9	1	.691	7
Tom	Lampkin	SDG		74	7	7	2	.649	7
Javier	Lopez	ATL	Y	89	4	10	2	.560	7
Brian	Schneider	MON		45	3	10	0	.826	7
Mike	Difelice	STL		47	7	5	2	.662	6
Raul	Casanova	MIL	Y	83	3	9	1	.500	6
Charles	Johnson	FLA	Y	56	5	6	1	.628	6
Henry	Blanco	ATL		52	4	3	1	.514	4
Ben	Petrick	COL		43	3	3	0	.444	3
Todd	Hundley	CHN	Y	39	1	4	1	.434	3
Joe	Girardi	CHN		56	3	1	0	.495	2
Paul	Bako	MIL		49	2	1	0	.657	2
Wiki	Gonzalez	SDG	Y	6	0	0	0	.451	0

What we see is that the only perennial All-Star in the top 5 is Mr. Piazza. He’s not having that great a year, but he’s doing OK. Given the name recognition, he’s not a bad choice. Damian Miller is hardly a household name, but is certainly making some headway, and the World Series appearance may help his name recognition factor. Michael Barrett is one of those pesky hot starters who may finagle his way to a high place finish and get a manager’s selection. Up to this year, he’s been a light hitting (.259 average) young catcher who’s just had one hot month. At 25, his future looks promising, and he is an Expo, but I don’t think he’s deserving of your vote just yet (Expo/Twins theme ballots notwithstanding.)

After that, who’s even worth bothering with? Benito Santiago? Jason Kendall? (not any more…)

Nah, for lack of a real alternative, Mike Piazza should win this one going away.

Dishonorable mention for the worst (almost) everyday player: Jason Kendall (.707 OPS)

Moving on to the other positions, here’s the first base picture:

First	Last	TEAM	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Richie	Sexson	MIL	Y	138	24	36	11	.871	30
Todd	Helton	COL	Y	134	27	32	8	1.019	30
Jeff	Bagwell	HOU	Y	121	24	21	8	1.005	23
Derrek	Lee	FLA	Y	139	21	22	6	.813	22
Sean	Casey	CIN	Y	111	20	17	1	.765	19
Lee	Stevens	MON	Y	123	17	19	6	.769	18
J.T.	Snow	SFO	Y	123	13	22	2	.692	18
Phil	Nevin	SDG	Y	133	15	19	5	.818	17
Fred	McGriff	CHN	Y	123	11	22	3	.670	17
Mark	Grace	ARI	Y	111	17	15	4	.720	16
Travis	Lee	PHI	Y	128	15	14	4	.746	15
Eric	Karros	LOS	Y	122	11	13	2	.731	12
Mo	Vaughn	NYM	Y	85	11	11	2	.712	11
Tino	Martinez	STL	Y	120	7	15	2	.608	11
Kevin	Young	PIT	Y	89	11	10	3	.659	11
B.J.	Surhoff	ATL	Y	75	5	9	0	.729	7
Greg	Norton	COL		44	6	6	1	.560	6
Wes	Helms	ATL		70	6	5	2	.735	6
Julio	Franco	ATL		62	4	0	0	.484	2

OK, who hid all the slugging first basemen? Mark Mcwho? If it weren’t for Bagwell and Helton, this would be the sorriest looking bunch of 1B numbers since the sixties. Only five besting an .800 OPS, and only two over .900. Very sad.

Richie Sexson may lead the table, but as much as I urge you to vote, vote, vote for the Expos, I also urge you to not vote, not vote, not vote for Brewers. The real battle here will be between Bagwell and Helton. Normally, I’d give the nod to Bags because of the park factor, but both Enr’ Astros Park and Coors are very friendly to hitters, so you can take your pick.

And once again, you can see that voting for Lee Stevens, the Expos candidate, isn’t the worst choice by a long shot.

Dishonorable mention for the worst everyday player: Tino Martinez(.608 OPS)

Over at second base, the numbers look like this:

First	Last	TEAM	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Jose	Vidro	MON	Y	149	25	25	3	.837	25
Junior	Spivey	ARI		132	25	22	2	.916	24
Jeff	Kent	SFO	Y	130	20	19	6	.742	20
Craig	Counsell	ARI	Y	132	17	19	1	.760	18
Roberto	Alomar	NYM	Y	148	20	14	3	.707	17
Craig	Biggio	HOU	Y	126	20	12	4	.699	16
Fernando	Vina	STL	Y	154	18	14	0	.747	16
Marlon	Anderson	PHI	Y	123	18	12	2	.806	15
Mark	Grudzielanek	LOS	Y	123	14	14	2	.657	14
D'Angelo	Jimenez	SDG	Y	143	20	8	1	.648	14
Luis	Castillo	FLA	Y	139	21	6	0	.692	14
Rob	Mackowiak	PIT		96	11	14	4	.724	13
Marcus	Giles	ATL	Y	120	12	11	5	.793	12
Todd	Walker	CIN	Y	127	12	9	1	.579	11
Abraham	Nunez	PIT		73	11	5	0	.607	8
Delino	Deshields	CHN	Y	94	11	5	2	.583	8
Jose	Ortiz	COL	Y	88	9	6	1	.562	8
Eric	Young	MIL	Y	108	10	4	0	.503	7
Pokey	Reese	PIT	Y	70	3	8	0	.537	6
Andy	Fox	FLA		40	5	5	1	.802	5
Wilton	Guerrero	CIN		43	6	3	0	.605	5
Terry	Shumpert	COL		63	5	3	1	.592	4
Augie	Ojeda	CHN		41	2	4	0	.428	3
Keith	Lockhart	ATL		41	3	2	1	.472	3

Looks like our runaway winner, albeit lacking star power, is Jose Vidro of the Expos. Let’s face it, nobody’s going to vote for Junior Spivey as a write-in, Jeff Kent loses the honesty and integrity vote, and after that, not even the great Roberto Alomar can bust through the .750 OPS barrier.

Dishonorable mention for the worst everyday player: Eric Young (.503 OPS)

At third, we have:

First	Last	TEAM	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Mike	Lowell	FLA	Y	146	21	29	7	1.037	25
Scott	Rolen	PHI	Y	139	23	24	6	.829	24
David	Bell	SFO	Y	125	20	19	4	.749	20
Todd	Zeile	COL	Y	113	14	21	7	.927	18
Vinny	Castilla	ATL	Y	135	13	21	4	.628	17
Aaron	Boone	CIN	Y	133	15	16	2	.611	16
Edgardo	Alfonzo	NYM	Y	126	15	9	0	.735	12
Adrian	Beltre	LOS	Y	139	11	12	2	.698	12
Morgan	Ensberg	HOU	Y	95	12	10	2	.770	11
Chris	Truby	MON		102	12	7	2	.697	10
John	Valentin	NYM		66	7	11	2	.814	9
Tyler	Houston	MIL		84	8	10	1	.645	9
Placido	Polanco	STL	Y	114	11	7	0	.609	9
Chris	Stynes	CHN		60	9	6	1	.675	8
Ron	Belliard	MIL	Y	75	12	3	0	.678	8
Ramon	Martinez	SFO		42	6	7	2	.807	7
Aramis	Ramirez	PIT	Y	49	7	6	0	.885	7
Sean	Burroughs	SDG	Y	97	8	5	1	.623	7
Fernando	Tatis	MON	Y	35	4	3	2	.939	4
Geoff	Blum	HOU		45	4	3	0	.666	4
Bill	Mueller	CHN	Y	21	5	1	1	.502	3
Jay	Bell	ARI	Y	0	0	0	0	.000	0

That’s a nice little season Mike Lowell is having. It’s been a while since the trade from the Yankees, but at age 28 he’s finally breaking out a little. He’s not a great bet to sustain this hot start, but Scott Rolen is. Of course, there’s no more Chipper Jones or Albert Pujols as obvious candidates. Really, it’s got to be Rolen.

Maybe the dishonorable mention here goes to Tony LaRussa who managed to replace a superstar slugger at third with a guy that barely hits better than Rey Ordonez.

At short we have the following motley crew:

First	Last	TEAM	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Jose	Hernandez	MIL	Y	122	20	26	9	.956	23
Juan	Uribe	COL	Y	149	27	13	1	.801	20
Edgar	Renteria	STL	Y	127	15	21	2	.782	18
Jimmy	Rollins	PHI	Y	153	22	13	1	.874	18
Alex	Gonzalez	FLA	Y	131	15	18	2	.657	17
Tony	Womack	ARI	Y	141	22	9	1	.618	16
Alex	Gonzalez	CHN	Y	112	13	17	3	.753	15
Rafael	Furcal	ATL	Y	154	22	8	1	.649	15
Barry	Larkin	CIN	Y	120	20	9	1	.615	15
Orlando	Cabrera	MON	Y	139	16	13	1	.676	15
Deivi	Cruz	SDG		104	10	13	4	.726	12
Rich	Aurilia	SFO	Y	109	15	8	3	.765	12
Rey	Ordonez	NYM	Y	88	12	10	0	.624	11
Cesar	Izturis	LOS	Y	141	14	8	0	.681	11
Mark	Bellhorn	CHN		74	9	12	4	.782	11
Jack	Wilson	PIT	Y	97	8	9	0	.497	9
Julio	Lugo	HOU		66	7	6	0	.711	7
Jose	Vizcaino	HOU		56	7	2	0	.570	5
Adam	Everett	HOU	Y	37	4	3	0	.534	4
Ramon	Vazquez	SDG	Y	64	3	4	0	.464	4

Jose Hernandez? Juan Uribe? And now that both Alex Gonzalez’s are playing in the NL, be sure which of those two stiffs you pick should that be your desire. I guess for pure name recognition, Edgar Renteria and Jimmy Rollins will probably end up slugging this battle out. There may be some sympathy for Barry Larkin remaining, but I get the feeling even Reds fans have had their fill with aging, ailing, unproductive superstars.

Dishonorable mention to Jack Wilson who must make the Pirates yearn for the days of good ol' slugging Tony Womack...

Finally in the outfield, we have the following cast of thousands...

First	Last	TEAM	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Vladimir	Guerrero	MON	Y	143	29	36	11	1.109	33
Lance	Berkman	HOU	Y	136	22	39	14	.988	31
Cliff	Floyd	FLA	Y	123	32	28	12	1.135	30
Sammy	Sosa	CHN	Y	121	33	23	15	1.279	28
Andruw	Jones	ATL	Y	147	27	26	12	.924	27
Barry	Bonds	SFO	Y	84	29	21	12	1.425	25
Adam	Dunn	CIN	Y	115	20	28	8	.933	24
Albert	Pujols	STL	Y	132	28	20	5	.880	24
Jim	Edmonds	STL	Y	108	23	24	8	1.100	24
Larry	Walker	COL	Y	114	20	27	8	.887	24
Juan	Encarnacion	CIN	Y	145	22	25	9	.885	24
Chipper	Jones	ATL	Y	141	24	22	6	.894	23
Preston	Wilson	FLA	Y	149	24	22	4	.745	23
Danny	Bautista	ARI	Y	133	19	23	6	.932	21
Ryan	Klesko	SDG	Y	109	17	24	6	1.002	21
Luis	Gonzalez	ARI	Y	132	20	21	7	.823	21
Richard	Hidalgo	HOU	Y	128	19	20	6	.764	20
J.D.	Drew	STL	Y	137	20	18	5	.822	19
Pat	Burrell	PHI	Y	127	19	18	8	.882	19
Brian	Jordan	LOS	Y	130	19	17	6	.762	18
Shawn	Green	LOS	Y	137	15	21	3	.718	18
Steve	Finley	ARI	Y	107	18	17	9	.857	18
Bobby	Abreu	PHI	Y	108	17	18	3	.814	18
Jeromy	Burnitz	NYM	Y	129	14	20	7	.740	17
Reggie	Sanders	SFO	Y	119	18	15	4	.697	17
Geoff	Jenkins	MIL	Y	135	21	11	4	.773	16
Jay	Payton	NYM	Y	117	19	12	4	.694	16
Peter	Bergeron	MON	Y	123	24	7	0	.553	16
Gary	Sheffield	ATL	Y	113	15	15	5	.678	15
Juan	Pierre	COL	Y	148	25	5	0	.654	15
Brian	Giles	PIT	Y	102	15	14	5	.875	15
Jeffrey	Hammonds	MIL	Y	106	17	12	3	.904	15
Brad	Wilkerson	MON	Y	111	16	13	3	.786	15
Corey	Patterson	CHN	Y	130	16	12	1	.823	14
Mark	Kotsay	SDG	Y	117	15	12	2	.714	14
Eric	Owens	FLA		85	14	12	1	.763	13
Austin	Kearns	CIN		65	14	11	4	1.141	13
Armando	Rios	PIT	Y	100	14	9	0	.666	12
Doug	Glanville	PHI	Y	129	12	11	1	.629	12
Todd	Hollandsworth	COL	Y	91	10	12	2	.706	11
Dave	Roberts	LOS	Y	95	16	5	0	.704	11
Tsuyoshi	Shinjo	SFO	Y	120	11	10	2	.594	11
Marquis	Grissom	LOS		64	9	11	2	.781	10
Adrian	Brown	PIT	Y	114	13	7	1	.592	10
Daryle	Ward	HOU	Y	122	7	12	2	.794	10
Bubba	Trammell	SDG		67	10	8	3	.782	9
Alex	Sanchez	MIL		86	11	7	0	.586	9
Joe	Mcewing	NYM		53	7	10	3	.781	9
Alex	Ochoa	MIL	Y	65	10	7	3	.783	9
Kevin	Millar	FLA	Y	81	10	7	3	.817	9
Roger	Cedeno	NYM	Y	120	9	8	0	.481	9
Reggie	Taylor	CIN		50	6	10	2	.610	8
Benny	Agbayani	COL		69	5	10	2	.599	8
Kerry	Robinson	STL		47	11	3	0	.737	7
Moises	Alou	CHN	Y	65	6	8	2	.509	7
Roosevelt	Brown	CHN		59	5	6	2	.621	6
Ricky	Ledee	PHI		44	4	6	1	.458	5
Jose	Guillen	ARI		46	6	4	2	.624	5
Timo	Perez	NYM		55	7	3	0	.799	5
Marvin	Benard	SFO		43	6	3	0	.644	5
Ruben	Mateo	CIN		45	6	3	1	.777	5
Ray	Lankford	SDG	Y	67	5	3	1	.629	4
Ken	Griffey Jr	CIN	Y	22	3	3	1	.846	3

Just guessing, I’d say Sosa, Bonds and Guerrero will get the nod from the fans, but there are many tasty alternatives. Lance Berkman, Andruw Jones and Adam Dunn would be a fine young trio, if that’s the way you’d rather go. If age, experience and numerous weeks on the DL are more your cup of tea you might consider an outfield of Moises Alou, Ray Lankford and Ken Griffey Jr. Just don’t expect any of them to be able to accept your kind invitation to play in the actual All-Star game.

So there you have it, your early leaders for the NL All-Star starting lineup. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

about the author

Got ideas for the best and worst All-Star lineups? Dave Paisley would love to hear about them. That address would be drdjp@strikethree.com. Rey Ordonez not valid where prohibited.