Some of these questions are "legit" and, like the one in the intro, some really aren't, they're justification to talk about an interesting player. I'm pretty sure Franco and Arozarena are the only Rays with a prayer of being voted in as starters.

Legit questions from the article: Will Trout be elected for the 10th straight time, first since Ripken? Franco or Bichette? Freeman or Goldschmidt? Weird factoid: the White Sox haven't had a starting OF since Zisk in 1977.

If the Rays get one ballot win, it would be a surprise. Too many people vote for the team they follow exclusively, and there aren't too many people who follow the Rays exclusively (which is a shame as they are running one of the best, most successful organizations among the four major sports in the country for the past half decade or so--especially if you factor in expenses)

Who are the rocking chair selections ? Cabrera already got his shot. Maybe Wainwright from Cardinals and Greinke from Royals. Other possibilities would be Nelson Cruz , Cueto or Josh Donaldson

Oof, Miggy has been brutal. Isn't there some point at which he slides over to a still-on-the-roster-but-actually-a-coach role?

Decided to take a look at the Tigers, and good lord, he's not even the worst hitter on the team. Somebody named Randy Ibanez, who seems to be their more-or-less starting 2B (or sharing it with Schoop), is posting a 39 OPS+ to Miggy's 45. This is a terrible team. Eduardo Rodriguez has been good, and so has their closer. Riley Greene is okay but injured. Everyone else has been horrible. And they're still somehow in second place in the division. By Pythag they should be in 4th.

I will do what I usually do and mostly just stuff the ballot box with undeserving Cubs - excepting for Freeman at 1B (No, cannot vote for Mancini) and Contreras at C (mostly because it will piss off Cardinal fans and hey, just like with Sexy Dexy, still love ya Wily!).

However, Stroman should be the starter if the team were chosen today (it's not, of course) and Steele should also make the team.

I will do what I usually do and mostly just stuff the ballot box with undeserving Cubs

I do pretty much the same... well not really, if I can justify it, I vote for a Cardinal but if there is literally no case(meaning they aren't having a good year, not that they are being massively over powered by a much deserving candidate) then no, I don't vote for the Cardinal. But since we get multiple votes, I do look up who is deserving and will add them into alternate votes here or there if I feel like making the multiple votes.

As it stands, I can easily justify Goldy, Arenado, Gorman and Edman. Goldy gets every vote, Arenado probably also (as I mostly like to consider both up until this year, and last year--provided that this year qualifies as a positive) (young players I do over stress the current season based upon the fact that it potentially indicates a new level of ability more than it would a 32 year old) After that it's a look at the top five or so current seasons at each position, add in their performance last year, and factor in whether I just like the guy or not. I mean people who are fun and interesting like Soto, Harper, Machado, Tatis etc get a bonus. Personality absolutely counts for my all star vote.

Hmmm... whom could I *justify*?

Patrick Wisdom actually leads all NL 3B in OPS and HR.

I'd have to give Hoerner some (maybe deserving) glove credit to put him in the mix. Dansby cooled down but wouldn't a be terrible pick.

Happ, Bellinger, and Suzuki aren't terrible picks - but injury time has cost both the latter two. Still - a good June would make at least one of them a non-terrible choice.

Morel might well homer his way into the game.

Some of these questions are "legit" and, like the one in the intro, some really aren't, they're justification to talk about an interesting player. I'm pretty sure Franco and Arozarena are the only Rays with a prayer of being voted in as starters.

Yeah, even though the All-Star voting is online now, it's still largely home-fanbase-driven, and as great as the Rays have been for several years, they don't seem to have much of a local fanbase. The Rays rarely have ANY fan-elected starters, and the last time they had more than one was in 2010.

Franco and Arozarena have some national name recognition, but the rest of that lineup means nothing to the average casual fan, I'm guessing.

Hmmm... whom could I *justify*?

Too bad we don't vote on pitchers, Stroman is an easy yes. Same with Steele, heck even Smyly. (and you absolutely can justify Swanson, 2.4 war for the season combined with his 5.7 last year is an easily justified choice)

Just did my five votes.

1b Yandy Diaz, Alonso
2b Marcus Sieman, Nolan Gorman
3b Matt Chapman, Nolan Arenado
SS Wander Franco, Matt McLain
OF Randy Arozarena, Tommy Edman
OF Mike Trout, Lars Nootbaar
OF Masataka Yoshida, Juan Soto
C Salvador Perez, Francisco Alvarez
DH Ohtani, JD Martinez.


If I vote everyday, the votes will not be consistent, I really need Arenado to start hitting again, and I was so tempted to vote for McCutchen, if he was an of, he would have nocked one of the Cardinals off my list, but he's a dh, and any extra veteran numbers you can give McCutchen, can also be given to Martinez. I will probably next round replace Nootbaar with Suzuki for five ballots, (Nl outfield is actually kinda weak on total---just realized I missed Acuna somehow. That's a major oversight. That is why it's good to have multiple votes, you can quickly vote knowing you can always fix your mistakes with another round of ballots. (and I really wanted to give a vote to Bo Bichette, but it's hard to not vote for Wander.

--- just realized I missed Acuna somehow. That's a major oversight.

But not the most glaring.

But not the most glaring.

c'mon help a brother out.

Judge not - lest ye be Judge-d

a simple top 25 of OPS - while far from perfect - avoids most glaring errors

AL JUDGE
NL Freeman
AL YDiaz
NL ACUNA
AL YAlvarez
NL SMurphy
NL JDMartinez
AL Arozarena
NL Gorman
NL Soto
NL Goldschmidt
NL Arraez
NL LGurriel
AL Bichette
NL MOlson
AL Yoshida
NL CCarroll
AL Trout
AL Rizzo
NL Soler
NL Alonso
AL Rooker
NL Mookie
AL Jung
AL Ohtani

crap I didn't have Judge? Okay that is an issue, good thing I have another 30 or so days of voting.

a simple top 25 of OPS - while far from perfect - avoids most glaring errors

Agree, although when it comes to catcher, short, and second I do think you can look a bit deeper at those positions (we don't separate cf from other fielders, so there is a bit there also)

And as me and Zonk were talking home town bias figures into the selection. And I don't hold any regrets there, except when I miss a guy that I think is more worthy for multiple reasons (fun people get extra points, first year people get extra points, 15 year respected veterans get extra points etc.) And again with roughly 150 or so votes, changing the ballot daily is a fun exercise in itself.

But not the most glaring.

Assuming you meant Judge, who I fully admit I missed (I scrolled down to make sure I clicked Trout, and forgot to scroll up)... I do think that Acuna was a much more glaring mistake on my first ballot than Judge, that 3.0 is a bit stronger than Judges 2.5 9th place AL war. (Bo Bichette is at 3.2 and is only second in the AL right now in War, and second at his position) (mind you, I also like to factor the previous season, so Judge probably covers all that ground based upon last year)

Either way, both Acuna and Judge are glaring oversights. I fully admit it.

cardsfanboy - Do you really mean to claim that Nolan Gorman is a 2B? He's the Cardinal DH against righty pitching, which means the starting DH. When the season opened, Brendan Donovan was the starting 2B, with Tommy Edman moving to SS, because Donovan is not good enough to play SS. Then Paul DeJong showed up hitting like gangbusters and took the SS job from Edman, who took the 2B job from Donovan, who moved to the OF, which is where he started in the minors, I believe. BTW, Edman isn't an OF, either. He's played a very few games there when injuries decimated the Cardinal OF corps. Gorman can't play the OF, or he would have been out there instead of Edman. Lacking OF speed and SS arm, Gorman can more or less play 2B (and could play 1B, if needed), but his real defensive position is DH. Edman's real defensive spot is 2B. Donovan is basically a corner OF who has versatility enough to play 2B. De Jong stopped hitting a few games ago, and if that continues, Donovan will be back at 2B, and Edman will be back at SS.

Gorman is probably the best DH in the NL.
Edman is probably not the best 2B.

For those of you who wonder why manager Marmol continues to play Donovan, who is having Sophomore Slump, it's because his 2022 season, basically a .280 hitter with a .400 OBP, is possibly the best leadoff man in the NL. It's also completely consistent with his minor league numbers. Donovan has started taking walks again, and that may mean that the Sophomore Slump is pat him. If so, he's back to being the best leadoff man out there. Since playing all over the field doesn't seem to hurt him, Marmol will continue to do that. Utility guys, no matter how good, don't make the All-Star team as starters.

Do you really mean to claim that Nolan Gorman is a 2B?

He's listed as a second baseman on the all star ballot. Cardinals DH is Alex Burleson. Edman is listed as an outfielder on the ballot. I wouldn't place any of them in those positions personally as you pointed out.

Weird factoid: the White Sox haven't had a starting OF since Zisk in 1977.

How could that be?? They had Hall of Famer Harold Baines!!

Harold made four All-Star games with the White Sox, three as an outfielder. He started in 1989 as the DH.

The starting AL outfields those years:

1985: Rice/Rickey/Winfield
1986: Rickey/Puckett/Winfield
1987: Bell/Rickey/Winfield

Lots of Hall of Famers, plus George Bell.

When I was a kid my approach would be to give the AL the best team possible then vote for the crappiest players in the NL so the AL could finally win a ####### All Star game. Growing up in the late 70s and early 80s I was unsuccessful.

since y'all made me curious:

Games Started by Cardinals, 2023

2B
Gorman 19
Donovan 18
Edman 16
(Motter 4)

SS
DeJong 30
Edman 26
Donovan 1

LF
Burleson 27
(O'Neill 12)
Donovan 8
Yepez 6
(Carlson 2)
Nootbaar 1
Mercado 1

CF
(Carlson 23)
Nootbaar 22
(O'Neill 10)
Edman 1
Mercado 1

RF
Walker 19
Nootbaar 18
Donovan 6
Edman 6
Mercado 4
Burleson 4

so
DH-2B GORMAN - DH 21, 2B 19, 3B 5
2B-UT DONOVAN - 2B 18, LF 8, 1B 8, RF 6, 3B 2, SS 1
CF-RF NOOTBAAR - CG 21, RF 19, LF 1
LF BURLESON - LF 27, RF 4, DH 3, 1B 1
SS DEJONG - SS 30
(CF CARLSON CF 23, LF 2)
(LF-CF O'NEILL - LF 12, CF 10)
RF WALKER - RF 19
LF-DH YEPEZ - LF 6, DH 5
RF MERCADO - RF 4, CF 1, LF 1
(3B MOTTER - 3B 2)

of the remaining DH starts, Contreras' 16 make up the bulk of them

since y'all made me curious:

so
DH-2B GORMAN - DH 21, 2B 19, 3B 5
2B-UT DONOVAN - 2B 18, LF 8, 1B 8, RF 6, 3B 2, SS 1
CF-RF NOOTBAAR - CG 21, RF 19, LF 1
LF BURLESON - LF 27, RF 4, DH 3, 1B 1
SS DEJONG - SS 30
(CF CARLSON CF 23, LF 2)
(LF-CF O'NEILL - LF 12, CF 10)
RF WALKER - RF 19
LF-DH YEPEZ - LF 6, DH 5
RF MERCADO - RF 4, CF 1, LF 1
(3B MOTTER - 3B 2)

Yep, which is why the ballot is so weird, I know back in the day teams had to select the names on the ballot at each position at the beginning of the season, but I don't think that has been the case for quite a while, (which is why O'Neil and Carlson isn't on the ballot, if it was based upon what the team imagined the roster would be like at the beginning of the season, they would have probably put Edman at second, Gorman at DH and an outfield of 3 of the four between O'Neil, Nootbaar, Carlson, Walker. The positions that they picked don't really add up to the reality of how the team most often fields the team.

I do think that Acuna was a much more glaring mistake on my first ballot than Judge, that 3.0 is a bit stronger than Judges 2.5 9th place AL war.

Judge missed time on the IL, which impacts his counting stats, especially this early in the season, although he’s still among the league leaders in many categories, and leading in HRs. Judge does much better on the rate stats, where he’s about as dominating as last season. I suppose there is room for debate as to whether the Acuna error is worse, but perhaps we can compromise on missing them both is an objectively bad ballot.

but perhaps we can compromise on missing them both is an objectively bad ballot.

Since I want the NL to win, I was thinking of following the advice in post 21 (except vote for crappy AL players.) Since it's an exhibition, not sure that there is an objectively bad ballot. Trout is the best player in the world, so even if his ops is a bit off, he's getting a vote, Arozarena has the excitement of the WBC going for him, and is just fun to watch, so I was going to vote for him, and

udge missed time on the IL, which impacts his counting stats,

Playing time is a big factor for me, mind you by the time the game starts the gap in playing time should be smaller(on a percentage of team games played)

AH! Howie Menckels' comment clears the matter up for me. I hadn't taken into account how many games the Cards had played since DeJong arrived.

Gorman has more games at 2B than Donovan because, as soon as DeJong showed up, Donovan quit playing 2B.
Gorman has been playing 2B whenever someone else (Goldschmidt, Contreras, etc.) has needed to take a day off in the field and play DH. On those days, Donovan goes to the OF.
DeJong has more games than Edman at SS because the team has played more games since he came up than they had up to that point.
Donovan has been covering for whoever got a day off all year. His primary position had been 2B, but then DeJong showed up and he turned into a primary OF.

Edman has only played 7 games overall in the OF, which is where whoever made up the ballot got off track. Donovan has played 14 games in the OF.
It is very clear that Donovan is a regular, every day starter. The only question is where to list him.

DeJong showing up and going on a monstrous hot streak really skewed the playing time thing up there.