2016 All Star Game Thread

[greenwell]

I'm not big on watching the all star game, but it's fun to see how many sox get selected to the team. With the way the offense is it could be a big number this year.

 

STARTERS:

Starters is a bit of a crap shoot as fans often vote for names over stats, plus there's the KC fiasco from last year, but I can see a few starters from Boston.

Papi is a shoe in

Not a lot of big name SS so Xander has a good chance

Bradley definitely should be a starter, if he keeps the streak going his name could become more well known.

 

BENCH:

Shaw should be on the team even with all the talent at 3B

 

Close, but needs to turn it on:

Pedroia and Hanley are playing well but there are a lot of good options at 2B and 1B so they would both need to have a big month to make it.

Betts has been struggling a bit, but if he puts up numbers like he had in June last year he has an outside chance.

 

PITCHERS:

Wright probably has the best chance, but he's on the edge

Price has a solid lead in strikeouts, but the ERA needs to come way down for him to be considered

Kimbrell has a lot of competition.

 

What does everyone else think?

[Slasher9]

red sox will have 2 voted in: Xander & Papi.

and 1 added: JBj.

i think it's safe to say that Holt will NOT be our sole representative this season.....

[greenwell]

red sox will have 2 voted in: Xander & Papi.

and 1 added: JBj.

i think it's safe to say that Holt will NOT be our sole representative this season.....

 

Who will get voted in ahead of JBJ besides Trout?

[mvp 78]

Who will get voted in ahead of JBJ besides Trout?

 

Adam Jones, Jose Bautista, Nelson Cruz will all get more votes than JBJ. Heck, Mark bleeping Trumbo may get more votes than JBJ.

[Palodios]

Who will get voted in ahead of JBJ besides Trout?

 

Alex Gordon, Lorenzo Cain, Jarrod Dyson and Paulo Orlando?

[Slasher9]

Who will get voted in ahead of JBJ besides Trout?

 

the MFY fans will probably have ellsbury and gardner getting more votes than JBj.

now if you are talking "deserve"....i agree. although if JBj keeps this up he may outtrout trout......yup. i said it.

[greenwell]

the MFY fans will probably have ellsbury and gardner getting more votes than JBj.

now if you are talking "deserve"....i agree. although if JBj keeps this up he may outtrout trout......yup. i said it.

 

My hope is he gets the streak up to 30+ games at which point he may be well enough known to get the votes.

[seannybboi]

Papi and Bogaerts starters and Shaw, JBJ, and Pedey on the bench.

Steven Wright and Taz also get picks from the manager.

[mvp 78]

There is no way, there will be 7 Sox on the team. At most, there would be 3 or 4. When the Royals stuffed the ballot box last year, they only got 6 players on the team.

[Youk Of The Nation]

Ortiz is the only one I can confidently say I am sure will be on the team. There is no more name-recognized DH in the league, especially given the "farewell tour". Even if he wasn't playing at the level he is, just the fact that this is his last year would likely be enough to get him the votes from everyone except Yankees fans.

[greenwell]

Can anyone tell me why this post got moved to the relative anonymity of the general baseball forum? It was about which redsox players get in the all star game. It seems as least as relevant to the redsox as whether or not Schilling gets in the hall of fame (not to point fingers).

Would it have helped if it had redsox in the title, or if it was by someone with more posts?

 

Don't worry, I'm not going to be 'one of those posters', it's just something I was really interested in and seemed to generate a lot of responses. It would probably have gotten even more popular as the all star game gets closer if it wasn't moved.

[Kimmi]

While it would be a nice honor for several of our guys to be voted onto the team, I would actually prefer that they take that time to rest up for the 2nd half.

 

That said, I agree with YOTN that Papi will most assuredly make the team, and he should go since it's his last year.

 

At this point, I could make a case for Bogaerts, Shaw, and to a lesser degree Betts and Bradley, making the team, though none of them are runaway candidates.

[Jasonbay44]

Bogaerts, Papi and JBJ should definitely be in at this point in the season. But we are almost 2 months away from all star game, so a lot can change.

[greenwell]

While it would be a nice honor for several of our guys to be voted onto the team, I would actually prefer that they take that time to rest up for the 2nd half.

 

That said, I agree with YOTN that Papi will most assuredly make the team, and he should go since it's his last year.

 

At this point, I could make a case for Bogaerts, Shaw, and to a lesser degree Betts and Bradley, making the team, though none of them are runaway candidates.

 

How are Betts amd Bradley grouped together. Bradley is neck and neck with Trout for the best OF in the league.

Bogaerts and Bradley would both need a serious slump to not be all stars.

[Slasher9]

edited.

[mvp 78]

How are Betts amd Bradley grouped together. Bradley is neck and neck with Trout for the best OF in the league.

Bogaerts and Bradley would both need a serious slump to not be all stars.

 

The All Star game is purely about name recognition. Not sure Bradley has better recognition than Betts at this point. He's still a #9 hitter and a guy who has been productive for less than 12 months at this point.

[greenwell]

The All Star game is purely about name recognition. Not sure Bradley has better recognition than Betts at this point. He's still a #9 hitter and a guy who has been productive for less than 12 months at this point.

 

I agree that all star voting is about name recognition, but I hope that gets a little better now that the online ballot has sortable stats with it.

It seems to me that the manager choices are largely based on performance this year.

[Kimmi]

How are Betts amd Bradley grouped together. Bradley is neck and neck with Trout for the best OF in the league.

Bogaerts and Bradley would both need a serious slump to not be all stars.

 

I am going by fWAR. Betts and Bradley are tied with 1.4 WAR, behind Trout, Eaton, and Desmond for outfielders. JBJ has been far better than Betts with the bat, but Betts has outplayed Bradley both defensively and in baserunning.

[Kimmi]

I agree that all star voting is about name recognition, but I hope that gets a little better now that the online ballot has sortable stats with it.

It seems to me that the manager choices are largely based on performance this year.

 

As long as the fans vote, it will never truly be an "All Star" game. More like a "Fan Favorite" game.

[sk7326]

The ASG above all is the sport's regular season sponsor showcase. For that reason, the fan vote is fine - and breaking ties with marketability/reputation is fine too. A minor quibble is that ASG is a contract incentive so you'd like the choices to be sound - but that's fairly minor.

 

For the Sox, the astonishing stat is (by fWAR), 6 of their 8 regulars are in the Top 20 in the AL ... (Bogaerts, Shaw, Ortiz, Bradley, Betts, Pedroia). Bogaerts in particular is a completely reasonable MVP choice for the first quarter of the season.

 

Pedroia is part of a heck of a senior citizen revival at 2B behind Altuve (Cano having his best SEA season, Kinsler geting in the wayback machine)

Edited May 20, 2016 by sk7326

[greenwell]

Early voting results are published.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/181237486/first-al-all-star-ballot-update

 

Papi running away with it of course, but the royals voters are f'ing things up again.

Bogaerts(0.347/0.397/0.509) has a less than 1% lead over Escobar (0.267/0.295/0.316)

JBJ(0.339/0.401/0.601) would be top three if Cain(0.305/0.355/0.462) wasn't there

[iortiz]

Mookie, JBJ, XB and Papi should be in the ASG.

[Jasonbay44]

Mookie, JBJ, XB and Papi should be in the ASG.

 

I would say Wright should be there also.

[User Name]

But pitchers aren't voted in by the fans. I bet both Wright and Kimbrel make the team.

[Jasonbay44]

I wonder who will make the All Star game for the Braves, especially considering that it sounds like Teheran is likely to be traded before then. Matt Wisler? lol

[Youk Of The Nation]

Jeff Francoeur!

[Spudboy]

jeff francoeur!

 

ajp!!!!!!

[Spudboy]

By the way I just typed and posted A J P three times in caps and all three times it posted in lower case. WTF.

[User Name]

There is an anti all-cap system in place since the website was upgraded. It's YOTN's fault.

[Youk Of The Nation]

It also does weird things when you quote posts. I've noticed a lot of posts where the quoted post has changed all of the capital letters to lowercase. Very strange.

 

Almost as strange as the ridiculous requirement that all teams get an All-Star, even terrible teams like the Braves. But hey, imagine how bad the 2003 ASG would have been if the Tigers hadn't sent Dmitri Young! Shudder to think.