The 2006 Travis Time MLB Midseason All-Stars

by user 70.31.158.78

Every year, aspects of the All-Star Game undoubtedly bother me, as much as I enjoy it. This year, I finally grew enticed enough to create the Travis Time All-Stars. The criteria:

· 2 25-man rosters (AL vs. NL). Why should rosters for the All-Star Game be any bigger than a regular season roster? This also raises the importance of making the All-Star team · 2 catchers · 3 middle infielders (at least one 2B and SS) · 3 corner infielders (at least 1 1B and 3B) · 5 outfielders (at least 1 and no more than 2 LF, CF, and RF) · 1 DH (can go to a non-DH in order to even out the fairness of teams, though that won’t apply to the AL this year) · 5 SP · 2 Middle relievers. This is one thing that’s always bothered me about All-Star Games. Credit is never given to the relievers who do great jobs without closing. Plus, what’s a great team without great middle relief? · 2 Closers · 1 rookie pitcher (any type, decided after other pitchers are named, meaning an additional rookie is added). This is done in order to give fans a peek into the future of baseball, even in years where no young stars are clearly evident. · 1 rookie hitter (any position, decided after other hitters are named, meaning an additional rookie is added). · No maximum or minimum number of players-per-team. The best 25 are in, no matter who they play for.

American League C: Joe Mauer, Minnesota C: Victor Martinez, Cleveland C (Rookie): Mike Napoli, Los Angeles Angels

An obvious slant towards hitting here, but there’s nobody else who’s been as deadly consistent as these two throughout the season. Though it was tough to pass up on Ramon Hernandez, clearly the best power bat of any AL catcher, Mauer and Martinez are much better hitters, and draw a much higher number of walks as well. Napoli’s numbers are outstanding for a guy with so few at-bats so far. His only rookie competition was fellow catcher Kenji Johjima of Seattle, who gets blown away in terms of at-bat-by-at-bat production.

2B: Jose Lopez, Seattle SS: Miguel Tejada, Baltimore SS: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees

Lopez and Tejada are no-brainers. Their power bats undoubtedly eclipse those of anybody else in the league. Jeter was a bit tougher. I’m not a guy who typically relies on a total hit count to select him over another player (Carlos Guillen in this case; Then again, I snubbed Michael Young, who has more hits than Jeter). Jeter’s walks don’t even overwhelm Guillen (42 to 39), and Jeter’s power numbers (5 HR, 52 RBI) get beaten by both Guillen (10 HR, 52 RBI) and Young (5 HR, 57 RBI). In terms of intrinsic leadership, Jeter gets the nod. He gets stuff done right, his batting average (.345) is nearly three percent better than Young’s (.316, and take note that Young has been considered one of the best pure hitters in baseball), and I was shocked to find out that Jeter is an 18-for-20 base stealer, much better than Guillen’s 12-for-17 and Young’s 4-for-6.

1B: Jason Giambi, New York Yankees 1B: Justin Morneau, Minnesota 3B: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

Giambi’s out of this world. It’s often tough to compare players like Giambi and Morneau with Giambi’s lack of at-bats, but considering that his walk rate nearly triples Morneau, he’s a no-brainer. The only real shocker with Morneau is that he might only be the 4th-best guy on that team. A-Rod wins my third baseman toss-up with Troy Glaus due to the fact that Glaus’ batting average is killing him. Trust me, I love having him on the Jays, but if he was hitting even .260, A-Rod wouldn’t be on this list.

LF: Manny Ramirez, Boston LF: Raul Ibanez, Seattle CF: Vernon Wells, Toronto RF: Jermaine Dye, Chicago White Sox RF: Alex Rios, Toronto

Ramirez, Wells, and Dye absolutely trump everybody at their chosen positions. Ibanez trumps every AL outfielder outside of those three, especially with his 70 RBI. Nick Swisher is probably the 5th best AL outfielder, but with two LFs already, Rios is the next best option. There’s a reason JP Ricciardi never gave up on this guy’s lack of power over the last couple of seasons. Though he’s still had a very good season, Vladimir Guerrero’s an unfortunate snub.

DH: David Ortiz, Boston

Essentially a statistical toss-up between Ortiz, Thome, and Hafner, but Ortiz’s clutch hitting makes this one unbelievably obvious.

SP: Johan Santana, Minnesota SP: Francisco Liriano, Minnesota SP: Mike Mussina, New York Yankees SP: Scott Kazmir, Tampa Bay SP: John Lackey, Los Angeles Angels SP (rookie): Justin Verlander, Detroit

The obvious question here: Where’s Halladay? Well, as brilliant and reliable a pitcher as Roy Halladay is, his strikeouts don’t match up with these five, who all hold sub-3.50 ERAs, and these easiest way to get a guaranteed out is a strikeout. I treat Justin Verlander and Jose Contreras the same way (though Verlander sneaks in through the rookie exemption). While the first four in this rotation have gotten plenty of publicity, Lackey has not, but he has had a fantastic season which has been somewhat marred by the ineffectiveness of his team. An Angels bounce back largely rests on this guy’s shoulders. Verlander makes the roster (beating out Bobby Jenks) due to the fact that Liriano, Joel Zumaya, and Jonathon Papelbon all qualified before the rookie exemption was used.

MR: Joel Zumaya, Detroit MR: Scot Shields, Los Angeles Angels

Zumaya’s officially my favourite young player in baseball. He’s got the future superstar closer tag already. Shields is another guy who’s being hidden by his disappointing team, but he’s still a workhorse with great control of the ball.

CL: BJ Ryan, Toronto CL: Jonathon Papelbon, Boston

Mariano Rivera and Bobby Jenks are brutally tough snubs to make, but Ryan and Papelbon are far and above the best closers in the American League this year.

National League

C: David Ross, Cincinnati C: Mike Piazza, San Diego

You likely have barely heard of David Ross, but he’s got 12 home runs, 31 RBI, and 16 walks in only 119 at bats. He’s currently tied for 7th among NL catchers in RBI and tied for 1st in home runs, despite the fact that anybody challenging him has had at least 60 more at bats. Among the rest, Piazza edges out the statistically similar Michael Barrett. At first glance, Johnny Estrada should be on here, but if I added a guy with eight walks in the first half of the season to this team, even I’d have to stop taking myself seriously.

2B: Chase Utley, Philadelphia SS: Jose Reyes, New York Mets SS: Edgar Renteria, Atlanta

Utley’s the class of National League second basemen, and a fantastic all-around player that I regret not seeing more of to this point. Jose Reyes is the National League equivalent of Jose Lopez. Renteria edges out Bill Hall, who plays like a poor man’s Alfonso Soriano.

1B: Albert Pujols, St. Louis 1B: Lance Berkman, Houston 3B: David Wright, New York Mets 3B (rookie): Ryan Zimmerman, Washington

It absolutely kills me to leave out Miguel Cabrera, and he’s undisputedly the toughest snub I’m gonna have to make for this team, but Pujols, Berkman, and Wright barely edge him out. Needless to say, the trio listed clearly betters the AL’s group. Zimmerman beats out Florida second baseman Dan Uggla for the rookie exemption, though his glove (his prime asset) might never be as good as Wright’s.

LF: Jason Bay, Pittsburgh LF: Carlos Lee, Milwaukee CF: Carlos Beltran, New York Mets CF: Andruw Jones, Atlanta RF: Bobby Abreu, Philadelphia

Sure, Bobby Abreu’s barely hit the ball out since he went yard nearly four dozen times in Detroit last summer, but he’s got 83 walks. That’s practically guaranteed entry in my book. There’s two snubs I’ll call notable here, the first being Alfonso Soriano, whose numbers are fantastic, yet can’t live up to those of Bay and Lee. As for the second, remember what I said about Johnny Estrada? The same applies to Jeff Francoeur.

DH: Ryan Howard, Philadelphia

Another corner infielder that edges Miguel Cabrera out, Howard’s power bat is too tough to snub over Cabrera’s slightly more well-rounded game. I’m actually not too upset about having to do Howard over Cabrera, seeing that Howard knows how to leave an impact, with the 500 free flights shot likely being Howard’s leap into the national consciousness.

SP: Brandon Webb, Arizona SP: Chris Capuano, Milwaukee SP: Brad Penny, Los Angeles Dodgers SP: Chris Carpenter, St. Louis SP: Chris Young, San Diego

Sure, this rotation looks awful, but all five of these guys are having fantastic seasons. As for the snubs, Carlos Zambrano and Jason Schmidt allow too many walks, Roy Oswalt has too few strikeouts, and Pedro Martinez and Bronson Arroyo don’t live up to the other five, despite great first halves of their campaigns.

MR: Scott Linebrink, San Diego MR: Duaner Sanchez, New York Mets

There’s no real standout from this group, so Linebrink and Sanchez are quite simply the best of a mediocre class.

CL: Trevor Hoffman, San Diego CL: Tom Gordon, Philadelphia CL (rookie): Takashi Saito, Los Angeles Dodgers

Phil Garner definitely got this right by naming both to the real All-Star team. Though the National League’s taking plenty of heat for their lack of veteran talent, these two are putting those thoughts to silence. As for Hoffman’s performance in the actual game, let’s just put those thoughts aside for the moment. With Saito’s emergence, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Eric Gagne on the off-season trade block.

All-Stars by Team

4: Minnesota, New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Diego 3: Boston, Los Angeles Angels, Philadelphia, Toronto 2: Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee, Seattle, St. Louis 1: Arizona, Baltimore, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Houston, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Washington 0: Chicago Cubs, Colorado, Florida, Kansas City, Oakland, Texas, San Francisco

It’s quite obvious that this team is up for debate. You’re free to e-mail me in order to discuss, as I’d be happy to converse over any aspect of these teams.

All of Travis MacKenzie’s work can be found on his site, Travis Time. Some of his sports-related work is featured on MOP Squad Sports. Any questions or comments directed towards Travis can be placed in comments on Travis Time, on the MOP Squad Fan Forum, or e-mailed to TravisTime@gmail.com

Date

Thu 07/13/06, 7:48 pm EST