And The Envelope, Please...

Dave Paisley

After checking out the National League nominees for the All-Star game last week, here’s a quick run through the American league contenders. Same format, different names.

(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. Also, all numbers are as of 5/13/02. The intervening week hasn’t changed the relative rankings much.)

Once again, I’ll work my way around the diamond, starting with the catchers.

First	Last	Team	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Jorge	Posada	NYY	Y	122	20	26	4	.926	23
AJ	Pierzynski	MIN	Y	105	15	14	0	.773	15
Jason	Varitek	BOS	Y	103	11	17	3	.769	14
Bengie	Molina	ANA	Y	117	9	19	0	.667	14
Geronimo	Gil	BAL	Y	85	8	16	5	.827	12
Dan	Wilson	SEA	Y	82	11	13	1	.712	12
Einar	Diaz	CLE	Y	100	13	7	2	.643	10
Bill	Haselman	TEX		85	8	11	2	.736	10
Ramon	Hernandez	OAK	Y	96	9	10	2	.552	10
Darrin	Fletcher	TOR	Y	66	5	14	0	.509	10
Sandy	Alomar	CHA	Y	73	8	10	2	.763	9
Tom	Wilson	TOR		61	8	10	1	.759	9
Toby	Hall	TAM	Y	111	8	9	1	.489	9
Matt	LeCroy	MIN		59	8	8	2	.952	8
Mark	Johnson	CHA		59	11	5	1	.660	8
Mike	Rivera	DET	Y	73	9	7	1	.641	8
Tom	Prince	MIN		31	6	9	3	1.048	8
Greg	Myers	OAK		33	4	10	2	1.027	7
AJ	Hinch	KAN		40	6	8	2	.733	7
Brandon	Inge	DET		32	7	4	2	1.084	6
Brent	Mayne	KAN	Y	55	7	4	0	.564	6
Ben	Davis	SEA		47	4	6	1	.545	5
John	Flaherty	TAM		27	5	3	0	.791	4
Ivan	Rodriguez	TEX	Y	45	3	5	0	.553	4

First thing you notice is that Jorge Posada doesn’t have much competition. He’s been largely underrated I believe, thanks to the media fawning over Pudge Rodriguez and Mike Piazza. With Pudge doing his now annual disappearing act to the DL, that leaves Jorge all alone in the AL as a quality offensive catcher. Yeah, Jason Varitek’s good, but he’s no Posada.

Over at first base, there’s a little bit of a scrap, and some of it has to do with the stupid balloting process regarding the DH. Even though Paul Konerko has been the regular White Sox first baseman, as the All-Star game is in a National league park this year, there is no DH. Unlike the Seattle Mariners, who elected just to leave Edgar Martinez off the ballot, the White Sox chose to give the first base ballot spot to Frank Thomas. That leaves us in the unenviable position of having a non-ballotee vying for the top spot with Carlos Delgado.

First	Last	Team	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Carlos	Delgado	TOR	Y	124	28	26	11	1.048	27
Paul	Konerko	CHA		149	20	34	5	.883	27
Frank	Thomas	CHA	Y	138	23	25	6	.837	24
Rafael	Palmeiro	TEX	Y	139	20	26	8	.920	23
Jason	Giambi	NYY	Y	144	22	23	7	.875	23
Jim	Thome	CLE	Y	127	15	30	10	.829	23
John	Olerud	SEA	Y	123	19	22	5	.863	21
Mike	Sweeney	KAN	Y	126	21	17	4	.874	19
Randall	Simon	DET		108	14	23	7	.827	19
Scott	Spiezio	ANA	Y	100	17	18	1	.763	18
Doug	Mientkiewicz	MIN	Y	128	14	19	2	.783	17
Steve	Cox	TAM	Y	127	15	17	3	.812	16
Carlos	Pena	OAK	Y	110	11	16	7	.776	14
David	Segui	BAL	Y	91	10	16	2	.733	13
Nick	Johnson	NYY		112	13	12	5	.665	13
Brian	Daubach	BOS		69	12	12	5	1.036	12
David	Ortiz	MIN		55	10	14	4	.839	12
Brad	Fullmer	ANA		109	14	10	1	.719	12
Scott	Hatteberg	OAK		119	9	13	4	.766	11
Tony	Clark	BOS	Y	93	8	9	1	.510	9
Dmitri	Young	DET	Y	54	6	4	1	.773	5
Edgar	Martinez	SEA		37	4	5	0	.652	5

Don’t get me wrong — Delgado deserves the nod this year for past contributions and outstanding play this year so far, but Konerko deserves to be on the ballot in his own right. No doubt Palmeiro and Giambi will garner their share of votes, too, though. In fact, there are few bad choices. Unfortunately for Red Sox fans, Tony Clark appears to be one of them.

At second base, I’ll be shocked if Alfonso Soriano doesn’t at least take an early lead. He has all that media exposure, and he seems to be in the middle of a lot of Yankee offense and wins. Bret Boone is another recognizable name, but after that we’re into the Rey Sanchez, Frank Menechino territory, and I just don’t see them making much headway.

First	Last	Team	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Alfonso	Soriano	NYY	Y	164	30	24	8	.957	27
Bret	Boone	SEA	Y	142	23	25	6	.793	24
Ray	Durham	CHA	Y	121	24	20	2	.748	22
Frank	Menechino	OAK	Y	121	22	14	3	.675	18
Frank	Catalanotto	TEX	Y	104	22	10	1	.823	16
Rey	Sanchez	BOS	Y	109	16	15	1	.756	16
Jose	Offerman	BOS		75	16	14	3	.889	15
Brent	Abernathy	TAM	Y	128	19	9	2	.731	14
Mike	Young	TEX		95	13	13	2	.822	13
Adam	Kennedy	ANA	Y	105	14	7	2	.756	11
Ricky	Gutierrez	CLE	Y	134	11	7	2	.622	9
Jerry	Hairston	BAL	Y	95	11	7	0	.569	9
Carlos	Febles	KAN	Y	86	10	6	1	.732	8
Damian	Jackson	DET		44	6	9	0	.900	8
Jay	Canizaro	MIN		72	6	8	0	.655	7
Homer	Bush	TOR	Y	78	9	2	1	.562	6
Jose	Nieves	ANA		37	6	2	0	.594	4
Randy	Velarde	OAK		27	5	2	1	.802	4
Carlos	Baerga	BOS		28	5	1	0	.782	3
Luis	Alicea	KAN		42	2	4	0	.342	3
Jolbert	Cabrera	CLE		28	2	3	0	.275	3
John	McDonald	CLE		18	3	0	0	.592	2
Luis	Rivas	MIN	Y	5	1	0	0	.900	1
Damion	Easley	DET	Y	18	0	1	0	.657	1

At third there’s the ever reliable Troy Glaus, and the Angels recent run should ensure he stays up there in attention. Eric Chavez has already been heavily touted on ESPN several times, so expect him up in the voting. A surprise this year has been the continuing success of Shea Hillenbrand, who may well garner a significant following from the widespread Red Sox popularity. Tony Batista might get more votes if he played for anyone other than Baltimore.

First	Last	Team	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Troy	Glaus	ANA	Y	130	30	34	7	.858	32
Tony	Batista	BAL	Y	137	28	29	9	.853	29
Shea	Hillenbrand	BOS	Y	133	24	29	7	.928	27
Eric	Chavez	OAK	Y	123	23	28	11	.891	26
Eric	Hinske	TOR	Y	128	23	19	5	.898	21
Jose	Valentin	CHA	Y	127	17	25	6	.792	21
Corey	Koskie	MIN	Y	119	21	19	4	.913	20
Robin	Ventura	NYY	Y	113	13	25	9	.880	19
Jeff	Cirillo	SEA	Y	124	14	23	5	.717	19
Joe	Randa	KAN	Y	99	9	22	1	.767	16
Travis	Fryman	CLE	Y	126	10	15	3	.610	13
Craig	Paquette	DET		120	9	14	3	.582	12
Tony	Graffanino	CHA		45	9	8	1	.853	9
Russ	Johnson	TAM	Y	58	8	8	1	.598	8
Herbert	Perry	TEX		48	8	7	2	.795	8
Hank	Blalock	TEX	Y	100	8	6	1	.602	7
Bobby	Smith	TAM		63	4	6	1	.465	5
Dean	Palmer	DET	Y	12	0	0	0	.076	0

At short, there’s only one candidate, really, and that would be the $25M man himself. It’s not surprising that Nomar and Jeter are right there with him. What is surprising is the tidy little year that the Mariners Carlos Guillen is having so far. He’s no A-Rod, but he’s been a pleasant surprise, much like Felipe Lopez of the Jays.

First	Last	Team	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Alex	Rodriguez	TEX	Y	144	27	39	12	1.076	33
Nomar	Garciaparra	BOS	Y	134	25	30	4	.863	28
Derek	Jeter	NYY	Y	159	25	24	6	.848	25
David	Eckstein	ANA	Y	145	28	20	2	.729	24
Carlos	Guillen	SEA	Y	128	24	22	3	.807	23
Miguel	Tejada	OAK	Y	147	23	22	6	.744	23
Omar	Vizquel	CLE	Y	130	22	18	4	.949	20
Felipe	Lopez	TOR	Y	116	19	16	5	.808	18
Royce	Clayton	CHA	Y	120	16	15	5	.640	16
Chris	Gomez	TAM	Y	110	15	11	2	.728	13
Neifi	Perez	KAN	Y	132	13	13	0	.547	13
Shane	Halter	DET	Y	132	13	12	2	.682	13
Desi	Relaford	SEA		62	11	13	2	.646	12
Cristian	Guzman	MIN	Y	131	13	10	1	.530	12
Mike	Bordick	BAL	Y	108	11	9	2	.674	10
Dave	Berg	TOR		75	6	5	2	.664	6
Denny	Hocking	MIN		73	5	6	0	.489	6

The outfield presents a typical problem for voters. The guy that was leading the league in everything gets injured, will be out 4-6 weeks and will be healthy again just about the time the All-Star game rolls around. Do you vote for him? I’m talking about Manny Ramirez, of course.

First	Last	Team	Ballot	AB	R	RBI	HR	OPS	RG
Manny	Ramirez	BOS	Y	113	27	35	9	1.168	31
Magglio	Ordonez	CHA	Y	141	32	28	9	1.032	30
Kenny	Lofton	CHA	Y	144	35	19	2	.811	27
Mike	Cameron	SEA	Y	128	31	22	9	.937	27
Garret	Anderson	ANA	Y	149	27	25	6	.856	26
Matt	Lawton	CLE	Y	140	30	22	7	.826	26
Raul	Mondesi	TOR	Y	150	27	22	7	.669	25
Ichiro	Suzuki	SEA	Y	143	32	15	0	.918	24
Torii	Hunter	MIN	Y	141	26	20	9	.989	23
Johnny	Damon	BOS	Y	136	31	15	3	.812	23
Carlos	Beltran	KAN	Y	127	23	19	4	.809	21
Ruben	Sierra	SEA		124	18	22	4	.934	20
Jay	Gibbons	BAL		134	24	16	9	.890	20
Jacque	Jones	MIN	Y	148	20	20	5	.807	20
Randy	Winn	TAM	Y	141	16	24	2	.705	20
Bobby	Higginson	DET	Y	134	14	25	5	.829	20
Tim	Salmon	ANA	Y	117	19	20	4	.762	20
Jeremy	Giambi	OAK		137	23	15	7	.900	19
Melvin	Mora	BAL		116	24	14	4	.832	19
Bernie	Williams	NYY	Y	134	25	13	4	.806	19
Jeff	Conine	BAL	Y	152	15	23	3	.628	19
Terrence	Long	OAK	Y	140	19	18	3	.655	19
Ellis	Burks	CLE	Y	109	17	18	4	.887	18
Mark	Mclemore	SEA	Y	98	17	18	3	.795	18
Carlos	Lee	CHA	Y	126	18	17	6	.754	18
Ben	Grieve	TAM	Y	118	14	20	6	.833	17
Marty	Cordova	BAL	Y	100	16	17	3	.868	17
Jose	Cruz Jr	TOR	Y	135	17	16	4	.711	17
Rusty	Greer	TEX	Y	150	20	12	1	.733	16
Rondell	White	NYY	Y	126	15	17	4	.642	16
Vernon	Wells	TOR		141	15	16	3	.668	16
Darin	Erstad	ANA	Y	119	14	16	2	.669	15
Trot	Nixon	BOS	Y	122	16	13	4	.819	15
Michael	Tucker	KAN	Y	100	18	11	2	.667	15
Russell	Branyan	CLE	Y	106	14	14	8	.777	14
Rob	Fick	DET	Y	125	18	9	3	.792	14
Wendell	Magee	DET		100	16	10	3	.813	13
David	Justice	OAK	Y	83	14	11	4	.908	13
Carl	Everett	TEX	Y	104	9	16	5	.554	13
Shannon	Stewart	TOR	Y	99	12	11	2	.828	12
Jason	Tyner	TAM		133	15	8	0	.495	12
Dustan	Mohr	MIN		94	16	6	2	.830	11
Shane	Spencer	NYY	Y	88	13	9	2	.787	11
Chuck	Knoblauch	KAN	Y	103	13	9	1	.502	11
Brian	Buchanan	MIN	Y	62	11	10	3	.732	11
Chris	Singleton	BAL	Y	115	13	8	0	.546	11
Bobby	Kielty	MIN		52	9	9	2	.896	9
Orlando	Palmeiro	ANA		59	12	6	0	.783	9
Gabe	Kapler	TEX		94	11	7	0	.603	9
Raul	Ibanez	KAN		83	8	10	1	.546	9
Greg	Vaughn	TAM	Y	118	10	7	0	.370	9
Rickey	Henderson	BOS		50	12	4	1	.753	8
Jose	Macias	DET	Y	107	10	6	0	.561	8
Milton	Bradley	CLE		64	8	5	2	.784	7
Jermaine	Dye	OAK	Y	53	6	5	1	.765	6
Brady	Anderson	CLE		66	4	5	1	.609	5
Gerald	Williams	NYY		14	5	0	0	.125	3
Juan	Gonzalez	TEX	Y	24	4	0	0	.598	2

I’d say given the fact that he’s been good to great for the last several years, vote for him. Of the rest, I’m pretty sure Ichiro will grab a pot, leaving the final one to be fought over by Magglio Ordonez, Kenny Lofton (surprise!), Mike Cameron, Bernie Williams and Rondell White. No I’m kidding about White. It’s amazing just how bad an outfield you could put together with guys who have been playing almost every day and who are on the ballot — Greg Vaughn, Chuck Knoblauch and Chris Singleton to name just one combo.

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 Sanchez not valid where prohibited.