My Two All-Star Ballots

The first All-Star vote tallies were released recently, and as usual, the Yankees and Phillies are dominating the leaderboards. But there are a couple of pleasant surprises. First, I'm happy that it's Evan Longoria over A-Rod for third base. Second, it will be sweet, but perhaps bitterly so for Angels fans, if Vlad Guerrero wins the nod for DH.

Just for fun, 'cause it's my blog, here's my two All-Star ballots. Every year one ballot goes to the players who I think actually deserve it, and one ballot goes to the Royals, (plus a few almost randomly chosen NL players...yes, ALMOST randomly chosen) and I'll run down the reasons a couple of them may actually deserve it.

Here goes:

AL
C: JOE MAUER, TWINS - Who'd you expect, Gerald Laird?
1B: JUSTIN MORNEAU, TWINS - Hitting .381/.497/.697. 'Nuff said.
2B: DUSTIN PEDROIA, RED SOX - Too many Yankees on everyone else's ballots.
3B: EVAN LONGORIA, RAYS - My pick for AL MVP.
SS: DEREK JETER, YANKEES - I really can't pick Elvis Andrus over him...this is one spot where I'll concede that this is the All-STAR ballot.
OF: ICHIRO, MARINERS - Can't wait till he gets to 3000 AMERICAN hits.
OF: FRANKLIN GUTIERREZ, MARINERS - If I were a GM, I would have a serious covet for this guy. Average + Gold Glove defense? Want...even though his offense has dropped off a little of late.
OF: SHIN-SOO CHOO, INDIANS - Listening to the Dodger game on 790 KABC last night, I heard Charlie Steiner say "Pardon me boy, is that the Shin-Soo Choo?". I have nothing to say to that.
DH: VLADIMIR GUERRERO, RANGERS - Welcome back to Anaheim, Vladdy.

NL
C: YADIER MOLINA, CARDINALS - By default, really.
1B: ALBERT PUJOLS, CARDINALS - Really, do I need to explain?
2B: CHASE UTLEY, PHILLIES - He's like Ryne Sandberg, except, you know, better.
3B: RYAN ZIMMERMAN, NATIONALS - Sorry Alex Gordon...
SS: TROY TULOWITZKI, ROCKIES - The engine that makes the Rockies go. Boy, never thought I'd say that in my life.
OF: ANDREW MCCUTCHEN, PIRATES - My second favorite outfielder right now (see Gutierrez, Franklin).
OF: RYAN BRAUN, BREWERS - He's the reason that I think the Brewers could trade Prince Fielder right now and not be any worse for it. He's the muscle in this outfit.
OF: ALFONSO SORI--no I just can't do it!! JAYSON WERTH, PHILLIES - 1.044 OPS. Whew, that was close.

Now, here's that other ballot I was telling you about...

C: JASON KENDALL - His ability to actually CATCH a good game has really diminished. Shouldn't even be in the discussion.
1B: BILLY BUTLER - How deep is first base in all of baseball? Here's a list of regulars who have a higher OPS than Butler right now: Morneau, Youkilis, Miggy Cabrera, Konerko, Joey Votto, Pujols (!), Ty Wigginton, Adam LaRoche (the other one...plays for Arizona, remember?), Adam Dunn. And a few names below Butler? Adrian Gonazalez, Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard, Kendry Morales, James Loney (the player who should inspire more anger in a Dodger fan than any other. I'll write about that soon.), Todd Helton.
2B: CHRIS GETZ - Ha. Hahahha.
3B: ALEX GORDON - He's out of position now! He's an outfielder!...oh geez.
SS: YUNIESKY BETANCOURT - I got nothing.
OF: DAVID DEJESUS - The ultimate McDonald's player. You know exactly what you're going to get. Which is a player who's never in serious All-Star discussion.
OF: RICK ANKIEL - Hey, I heard he was a pitcher once.
OF: SCOTT PODSEDNIK - I can't really be all that sarcastic here. Pods has actually made some meaningful contributions to the Royals, and they seem offensively more confident and competent with Scotty batting #1 or #2. All-Star, then? Um, no.
DH: JOSE GUILLEN - Mostly rooting for him so we can flip him for prospects.

Last, I wish I could vote for the pitchers to start (thankfully, all-star balloting rules prevent such a disaster as a fan-voted pitching staff. After all, who'd want to see Cole Hamels and Andy Pettitte every year?). If I could?
AL - DAVID PRICE, RAYS as starter
MARIANO RIVERA, YANKEES as closer
NL - UBALDO JIMENEZ, ROCKIES as starter
MATT CAPPS, NATIONALS as closer