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All-Star Voting, Part II

Monday, May 2, 2005

With another off-day, and another frustrating defeat, I've decided to head back to the All-Star balloting booth. This time, I used ESPN's stats to evaluate my picks, so many of my votes are a bit more sabermetrically kosher. Rather than being limited to Avg, HR, RBI, and SB, I was able to evaluate my votes using OBP/SLG/OPS BB and SO. So, my picks have changed a bit. (The picks in italics have changed since my last ballot.)

Teams with players receiving two votes: Mariners, Orioles.

Teams with players receiving one vote: Cubs, Dodgers, Braves, Rockies, Marlins, Reds, Mets, Astros, Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Twins, Tigers.

Notes and discussion:

• Players leaving my ballot were Paul Konerko, Ivan Rodriguez, Torii Hunter, Aramis Ramirez, Pat Burrell, Jason Lane, and Miguel Cabrera
• Despite looking for any reason to not vote for Jeff Kent, he received my second consecutive all-star vote.
• Alex Rodriguez got a borderline vote from me on my last ballot, but proved he was worth it this past week. Huge week, A-Rod is absolutely deserving this time around.
• I almost voted for Jason Varitek last week, but in a muddled race, I gave the nod to my favorite catcher, Pudge Rodriguez. Well, Varitek has really improved his stats and he got the vote this week.
• Pat Burrell was on-fire before my last ballot, so I voted for him. At that time, I wrote that "there aren't any sure-fire picks in the NL outfield [other than Burrell]." Well, now, there really aren't any. So, I went with some hot hands. Adam Dunn and Cliff Floyd both have OPS above 1.000, so they got my votes. Willy Taveras got the final vote on my ballot because of the three Cubs he gunned down at home plate over the weekend... and because he has 8 stolen bases in 80 AB.
• At NL Shortsop, I voted for Clint Barmes... This will probably get me death threats from other members of the CBA who have decided that Neifi Perez deserves your All-Star vote.
  
  In fact, I'll quote Billy Kelly who wrote: "Neifi is batting a robust: .366/.408/.549 and ranks 2nd among NL shortstops in the following categories: BA, OBP, HR, SLG, OPS, and RCAA, is 3rd in RBI's, and 4th in VORP."
  
  To which I reply: Clint Barmes is batting a robust: .417/.473/.643 and ranks 1st among NL shortstops in the following categoreis: BA, OBP, HR, SLG, OPS, Runs, RBI, VORP, and is 2nd in Hits.
  
  Did you see what I did there? I used a parallel structure, but plugged in Clint Barmes' numbers instead of Neifi Perez'... and Clint's numbers were all better.
  
  OK, I'll cut out the sarcasm. The thing is, while I would love to see Neifi Perez be elected to the all-star team, I don't want it to be at the expense of Clint Barmes. Barmes is having one of the best seasons in baseball, and it isn't fair to deny him a starting spot because a career scrub is having an outstanding season in a major media market.
• But, I only voted once.
• OK, I lied, I actually voted twice, but the second time around I did vote for Neifi! and Aramis! and Corey! and the Burnitzalypse!

You too can vote for the All-Star starting lineups. I just ask that you keep my man Aramis Ramirez (and Neifi!) in mind.

Posted by Byron at May 2, 2005 5:20 PM | |

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