All-Stars: Prince batting 6th; Peavy starting

[brewmann04]

Prince

Coco

Sheets

and

Hardy no way should he be Left off the Team

[BrewCrewForever]

Carlos Guillen is having a monster year.

 

Totally forgot about him, probably cause he was hurt the whole series we played the Tigers. And if hes healthy with Tejada now on the DL he is a lock in the AL.

[EAsports28]

Haha, good call there with Hart. The bearded giant can do everything!

[Fatter than Joey]

What teams (NL) are going to get an obligatory spot? -- That would probably go a long way in determining how many spots Brewers could fill.

[Lil Dummy]

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/allstar/projections

 

CBS Sportsline projects the rosters, as of 6/27, and names Randy Wolf and Matt Morris to the team ahead of Sheets. Since neither of those guys would be his team's lone representative, and neither can match Sheets' numbers, there's got to be something I'm not understanding here.

 

Morris would get the nod, all else being equal, because the game is in his park. But I think Sheets has substantially better credentials; home town stuff only goes so far. Wolf I don't get at all.

[Fatter than Joey]

Jake Peavy, Padres

Brad Penny, Dodgers

John Smoltz, Braves

Cole Hamels, Phillies

Randy Wolf, Dodgers

Chris Young, Padres

Matt Morris, Giants

Francisco Cordero, Brewers

Jose Valverde, Diamondbacks

Brian Fuentes, Rockies

Trevor Hoffman, Padres

Takashi Saito, Dodgers

 

These are the projected pitchers on the CBS list

 

Here are my thoughts. (assuming selections are made on traditional stats like Wins, Ks, Saves, etc.)

 

Starters ---

Penny -- Probably the starter -- LOCK

Peavy-Young (SD) -- LOCKS

Smoltz -- Only Brave -- great Season LOCK

Hamels -- Near lead league in Ks -- LOCK

 

Morris, Wolf -- I am not sure that these 2 are locks at all. Neither one is the lone representative of their team -- Sheets, Harang, Webb are probably 3 pitchers I would pick ahead of these guys.

 

Relievers. -- I think that this list is right on -- There is a big dropoff after Fuentes -- Valverde is the only Diamonback -- so he is probably the most certain of the group.

 

I think a great case can be made for Sheets.

[BrewCrewForever]

Wolf and Morris should not go over Sheets and there team will have a different rep anyway.

[endaround]

No way do the Marlins get their full infield in. I also expect Smoltz ro not go and make that known, so replace Ramirez with Renteria.

[rluzinski]

When does LaRussa have to pick the starting pitchers? Sheets has two more starts before the all star break. If he has 11 wins by then, he's in.

[FVBrewerFan]

I agree. These "projections" don't mean much for pitchers when most of them have two starts left. If Sheets goes 11-3, he's in. You can't leave off an 11 game winner.

 

I still think Hardy has a good chance to win the last man on the roster via fan vote. Brewer Nation will do our part, and to other fans his power numbers will stand out. The casual fan won;t care how many SS are already on the roster.

[Lil Dummy]

My point, FV, is that while I agree it's a no-brainer that Sheets gets an invite if he wins 11, I'm not sure he should have to.

 

To take the Wolf example, he's currently 8-6 with a 4.32 ERA. Compare that to Sheets: 9-3 with a 3.09 ERA, pitching for the NL's best team to boot. To me, the guy who's got yeoman's work to do here is Wolf, not Sheets. Just curious as to whether somebody can defend this writer's choice.

[RightFieldCoder]

In a little over 12 hours the voting ends. LaRussa will be told of the results of the fan votes and the players votes. He then has until Sunday July 1st to fill in the rest of the team. So I don't think the next 2 starts will do anything to help or hurt Sheets' chances of making the team. Sheets is in a five way tie for the second most wins in the NL. He's also the Ace and win leader for the best team in the NL. LaRussa will have to pick him unless his hand is forced on other choices (ie having to take certain starters because he doesn't want the other 24)

[LouisEly]

All right, I'll say it...

 

... if Corey Hart stays hot through the weekend, what are the chances that he makes the All-Star team? He's not qualified yet, but is very close, and his .918 OPS would rank fifth in the NL amongst outfielders, behind only Bonds, Holiday, Griffey, and Dunn. (Well, actually 6th, as Hunter Pence is very close also, and his .960 OPS bests Hart.)

 

Two strong arguments for:

 

1) His stats - .918 OPS, .315 BA, 10 HR, 31 RBI, 16 SB - that's pretty good all-around numbers

 

2) Like someone said earlier, don't underestimate the effect of being on the team with the best record in the NL. Remember all those last 15 years, when the Brewers only got one player on the team, and the reasoning was that many guys got selected over Brewers because they were on a first place team? Well, same goes. Example - no way Colorado gets both Holliday and Hawpe on the team with Colorado having a losing record. If it's down to Hawpe vs. Hart, Hart will get the nod. Same with Houston - no way do both Pence and Lee get on the team. The exception is Cincy, where I think Dunn makes it in addition to Griffey.

 

Assuming the starters are going to be Griffey, Beltran, and Soriano, then they need to pick at least four more from:

 

- Bonds

- Holliday

- Pence

- Dunn

- Hart

- Hawpe

- Gonzalez

- Byrnes, Rowand, Lee, Nady, Bay

 

I don't think it will be Nady or Bay - I think Snell or Gorzelanny will get the nod for Pitt. I don't think it will be Rowand - PHI will get Utley and maybe Howard, Rollins, or Hamels, and Rowand's stats are almost identical to Hart but Hart has done it in far fewer ABs. I don't think it will be Byrnes - ARI will get Webb and maybe Hudson, plus they are just as small of a market as MIL, and with LaRussa selecting he has seen Hart a lot more. I don't think it will be Gonzalez, as he would be behind Penney, Martin, and perhaps Saito and Lowe, and other than a good OBP he doesn't have any other stats that stand out. I don't think it will be Hawpe, as it is unlikely that COL will get two OFs on the squad.

 

That leaves Holliday (lock), Bonds, Dunn, and at least one of Hart, Lee, and Pence. The wild card is Lee/Pence, as it will be one of those if they don't select Oswalt. The other wild card is Beltran - he may just opt out (the game is in SF, the other side of the country), and certainly by his stats he is not deserving of the selection anyway.

[BrewCrewForever]

I would say Hart has the stats, but I dont see him making it. I think Lee is a lock as is Holiday with Bonds being close to a lock.

[Invader3K]

Since Hart has only been coming on fairly recently (with his increased playing time), I just don't think he has the name recognition to make the All-Star team this year.

[FVBrewerFan]

I hate to use words like "never" or "always" but there's no way whatsoever Hart is an All-Star this year. He, along with Braun, will have to wait until next year.

[razzzorsharp]

Is Saturday's game nationally televised with Sheets on the mound? If it is, I think that may be a make or break game for Sheets because with a great game it will get the masses talking about him more and although it doesn't come down to fan voting here, LaRussa may be influenced by others in who he picks.

[Invader3K]

A good performance on national television could definitely help, but I doubt Larussa is ignorant of Sheets at this point.

[Schlitz001]

Outfield is a position where a lot of players have the statistics to make the All-Star team, as Ely pointed out, but several teams will only get one representative. I think Colorado and Houston will have their only representative at outfield. I tried to play Tony LaRussa put together a roster. I tried not to give any one team too many representatives. I also tried to take the best player on teams with only one representative, even if it was at the expense of a more deserving player at that position (D. Young over A. Gonzalez or D. Lee at 1B).

 

Starters

P - Jake Peavy

C - Russ Martin

1B - Prince Fielder

2B - Chase Utley

3B - David Wright

SS - Jose Reyes

OF - Carlos Beltran

OF - Ken Griffey Jr.

OF - Alfonso Soriano

 

Reserves

SP - Brad Penny

SP - Chris Young

SP - Brandon Webb

SP - John Smoltz

SP - Ben Sheets

SP - Cole Hamels

SP - Aaron Harang

SP - Ian Snell

RP - Francisco Cordero

RP - Takashi Saito

RP - Jose Valverde

 

C - Brian McCann

1B - Albert Pujols

1B - Dimitri Young

2B - Dan Uggla

2B - Brandon Phillips

3B - Miguel Cabrera

3B - Chipper Jones

SS - Hanely Ramirez

SS - ??

OF - Matt Holliday

OF - Barry Bonds

OF - Carlos Lee

 

Washingston is the hardest team to pull a representative from. Zimmerman, Young and C. Cordero are all equally good (bad). Holliday is deserving in my opinion. Houston would either send Oswalt or Lee and starting pitching is a lot more crowded on the roster than outfield.

 

I think a pitcher or two is probably going to be upset that they were left off the roster when the final one is announced. On the roster I made out, I could have easily swapped in Derek Lowe, John Maine, and Trevor Hoffman or any number of other pitchers. What do you think?

[rluzinski]

Hart really has no chance. Timing is a big part of getting all-star recognition. Really, there's so many things that go into who makes it that has nothing to do with actual talent that it makes the whole thing pretty silly to begin with. I guess that's why I don't get too excited over Brewer players going. It just means those players will be more expensive to resign.

[LouisEly]

Looking at NL Pitching, I think they go with 13 pitchers:

 

1) Penny

2) Peavey

3) Young

4) one of Gorzelanny or Snell because PIT has to have a rep - my bet is Gorzelanny because of a better record

5) Smoltz

6) Webb

7) Sheets (I think he's as good as in with LaRussa making the selection and the Brewers having the best record in the NL)

8) Maine or Lowe (but not both)

9) Cordero

10) Hoffman

11) Saito

12) Wagner

13) One of Valverde (not a lock because of no name recognition and mediocre ERA), Isringhausen (LaRussa's guy and has a great ERA), or Morris (because the game's in SF)

[Invader3K]

It just means those players will be more expensive to resign.

 

Yeesh, way to suck all the fun out of it.

[Schlitz001]

I was also thinking about Morris just because the game is being played in SF and the Giants should get more than just Bonds to represent the city.

 

I like Snell over Gorzelanny. Gorzelanny only has one more win, and Snell's stats just look a little better if you throw out the W-L.

 

Valverde's got an ERA of 2.78 and a WHIP of 1.11 on top of his 25 saves. I can't see Wagner going, because the Mets will already have enough guys, I'd like to see Hoffman though.

[LouisEly]

Not bad guesses Schlitz, however Cincy is not good enough for Harang and Phillips to get in. I think they only go with two 2B (Utley and Uggla - hey, when is the last time every player at a position in an All Star game has had a last name that started with the letter "U"?), and I disagree w/McCann - Estrada is matching his production this year and Lo Duca is a bigger name. Here's my guess as the 19 position players:

 

C: Martin (starter), Lo Duca or Estrada (again, best record in NL and LaRussa picking)

1B: Fielder (starter), Pujols, Dmitri Young (you're right - he's the WAS rep)

2B: Utley (starter), Uggla

3B: Wright (starter), Cabrera

SS: Reyes (starter), Renteria, Hardy

OF: Griffey, Beltran, Soriano (starters); Holliday, Bonds, C. Lee, Dunn or Byrnes

 

I think the last position players picked will be either JJ Hardy (gets the nod over Ramirez because of better team record and too many Marlins with Uggla and Cabrera), Chipper Jones (I think he'll decline though to rest his injuries), or an OF (you laugh, but my guess is that it will be one of Dunn, Hart, Byrnes, Rowand, or Pence). My guess is Hardy and Byrnes (gets the nod over Dunn because of better team record).

 

Edit: My bad, I thought the roster limit was 30 and not 32.

[Schlitz001]

Of the outfielders you mention I really like Byrnes numbers this year and if LaRussa did pick a 4th outfielder I would hope it would be him. I like Corey Hart's recent surge and he has good numbers, but I still think his name isn't big enough, plus he spent a lot of time on the bench earlier in the year.

 

Also, don't forget about Dunn he would be another strong choice after Holliday/Bonds/Lee.