2004 I Love Baseball All Star Thread: Cast Your Votes

Guillen is putting up numbers unlike he ever has (Comerica-inflated, yes?). Baseball history really begins in April 2004 for you?

home: .722 OPS
away: 1.172 OPS

april: .840 OPS
may: 1.015 OPS
june to date: .948 OPS

tejada

home: .897 OPS
away: .772 OPS

april: .827 OPS
may: .896 OPS
june2d: .607 OPS

in addition, tejada has a pathetic .600 OPS w/ RISP.

fielding is a wash.

does anyone have park factors for camden yards and comerica? seems like neither of them are hitter's parks based on this: http://www.battersbox.ca/archives/00001050.shtml

guillen isn't likely to get many votes, and nearly all of them will be performance-related, while tejada will get some based on name only. and guillen has consistently outperformed tejada so far in 2004, and it's the 2004 all-star game we're voting for, so i can't see how voting guillen over tejada is a crime.

doc, i agree that judging whether or not a guy is playing over his head is important, and guillen undoubtedly is, but he's also trouncing everyone else in the AL right now, and i feel sorry for him cuz no one really cares. let me put it this way, i don't think i'd be doing anyone a disservice by voting for him. and if by some miracle he wins, it'll most likely be the sole all-star game of his career, while tejada's had at least one and will presumably have more. (now that i think about it though, tejada's probably been underrepresented himself due to stiff AL competition and his penchant for slumping first halfs and second half tears. so maybe i'll throw in one or two for miggie as well)

NL

1B J. Bagwell
2B j. Kent
SS A. Everett
3B S. Rolen
OF L. Berkman
OF C. Biggio
OF S. Finley

AL

1B C. Delgado
2B A. Soriano
SS M. Young
3B M. Mora
OF V. Guerrero
OF C. Beltran
OF M. Ramirez

NL B. Ausmus
AL I. Rodriguez

I don't really know why I vote for Ausmus. A combination of ignorance and homerism, I'm sure.

AL:
First Base: D. Ortiz, BOS (write-in)
Second Base: A. Soriano, TEX
Third Base: H. Blalock, TEX
Shortstop: M. Tejada, BAL
Catcher: V. Martinez, CLE
Outfielder: C. Beltran, KC
Outfielder: V. Guerrero, ANA
Outfielder: M. Ramirez, BOS

NL:
First Base: A. Pujols, STL
Second Base: J. Kent, HOU
Third Base: M. Lowell, FLA
Shortstop: J. Wilson, PIT
Catcher: J. Estrada, ATL
Outfielder: K. Griffey, Jr., CIN
Outfielder: L. Berkman, HOU
Outfielder: B. Bonds, SF

VORP: ringer Piazza 25.9, Estrada 23.1, LoDuca 20.0, Barrett 18.2. If you give weight to last year, Kendall (13.5 in '04) enters the picture -- he's also caught about 150 innings more than anyone else the last year and a half.

Anyone want to get on my jock re: picking Martinez over Posada?

Piazza drops two fingers for the curve and Clemens nods in agreement. Clemens then grooves a 95 mph fastball that catches Piazza square in the sternum. Piazza charges the mound. Kent and Berkman run in from their positions while the rest of the players stand dumbfounded.

AL
1B F Thomas
2B A Soriano
3B M Mora
SS M Young
C I Rodriguez
RF V Guerrero
LF M Ramirez
CF C Beltran

NL

1B A Pujols
2B J Kent
3B S Rolen
SS J Wilson
C M Piazza
LF B Bonds
RF B Abreu
CF S Finley

you guys are nuts, though. but thanks, i'm not going to feel the slightest twinge of guilt for voting for guys like matsui and jeter now. (really, it's a factor i'd never considered but the bias yankees fans have for their players should more than be countered by the at-least equal bias EVERYONE ELSE has against them)

ps i can't get my head around all the sori-love

pps melvin mora ugh

And PLEASE name a more worthy 2Ber, because my Soriano pick was a "shit, there's no one else better, is there"? EXCEPT FOR JUAN URIBE (he just realizes).

ok maybe not. yeah, uribe is cooking, how did i not realize he had a .914 OPS until just now even though i KNOW i looked up his stats when i was looking for viable alternatives to soriano?

Boone, of course... 7-for-20 this week, a mere 48 points behind Sori in OPS, figures to equal him at year's end.

What yer overlooking, Gear, is the flukish nobodies DON'T WIN THE BALLOTING. Last one I recall is write-in Steve Garvey in 1974, and we know where that led -- the most overrated player of his era.

Like I said, so many of the positions are already foregone conclusions it's time for strategic voting. e.g., A-Rod and Rolen have it wrapped up, it feels just to bump up Mora and Lowell to runnerup. And Bonds doesn't need any more of my votes, so I'm voting Berkman-Abreu-Edmonds to get Sammy the hell outta there.

The ASG and HOF don't mean shit really, but look how any "who deserves" topic gets the love...

Ha! I FORGOT ABOUT A-ROD TOO!

even when bellhorn was hitting .192 in april, he was a valuable offensive player because he walked so much.

That's all I'm sayin, fules!

i wander if those short fences are helping him inflate his HR totals ? ? ?

everyone knows he's more or less been a DH for years now, but he's brazenly been listed on the ballot as a 1B anyway (so far this season, he's played a total of 8 innings there). also, kerry probably likes him.

in sum, DO NOT VOTE FOR FRANK THOMAS.

before they brought the fences they decreased home runs by 3% ie neutral effects.

what's your source on this "neutral park" assertion (not only cuz i don't believe you but also because i've been looking for a list)? if the data being used is from the past 10+ years (as i think they usually are) instead of the past 3 (when the fences were brought in) then the results would be skewed.

and if you're voting sox, you should have voted for paul konerko, a REAL LIFE first baseman and possessor of a .921 OPS who has zero chance of starting the all-star game because of this despicable brand of oldster favoritism and/or thomas's obscene disregard of reality. i think paul konerko would agree: "the big hurt", INDEED.

Thomas
29 100 26 30 7 0 13 22 28 22 0 1 .300 .457 .760 1.217
26 87 17 26 7 0 3 18 26 15 0 0 .299 .470 .483 .952

Konerko
31 108 19 31 4 0 10 25 20 14 0 0 .287 .414 .602 1.015
25 95 11 27 5 0 4 14 9 21 1 0 .284 .346 .463 .809

since he's eligible on the ballot at first, that's where he's getting my vote.

i wanted to know your source (as i explained) because i've been trying to find park factors for awhile now, and because i wanted to know what data was being used. and i think one of our sources must be wrong, because if us cellular is really increasing home runs by 30% it would be very difficult to be a neutral park overall.

fwiw, i remembered/realized that my baseball prospectus lists park factors, and they have us cellular as a very slight hitter's park. but again i'm not sure what data they use.

konerko: 1B

thomas: none

Now I'm not normally anti-BBTN because I think at worst they're nice guys with an old-school, backwards thinking perspective, no harm intended. But some of their picks were ridiculous. Also ridiculous was basing their picks on nothing other than HR-RBI-BA, which probably has more to do with BBTN dumbing it all down for everyone at home to understand than anything else. Slugging percentage and OBP and BB are still statistics that don't get people excited.

REEEEEEETHIIIIIIINK
(but both of 'em regularly destroy the brewers. maybe estrada instead of craig wilson.)

Vernon Wells deserves an AL OF spot ahead of Beltran among the CF regulars, too, but has no shot to start.

Plus, he pulled a hammy last night. >:(

Everett must be stopped (preferably not by injury). Pack it for Renteria (I'd be willing to go to Larkin if his votes weren't lagging).

NL
1B T. Helton, COL
2B J. Kent, HOU
3B S. Rolen, STL
SS J. Wilson, PIT
C J. Kendall, PIT
OF L. Berkman, HOU
OF B. Bonds, SF
OF C. Wilson, PIT

*Stop Jeter (with Nomar)

*Stop Adam Everett (with Renteria)

I really can't quibble with Sheffield, God knows he's a better starting OF choice than Damon.

Godzilla and Ichiro vault over Sheffield ... late precincts from overseas.

Oh, don't worry. I just voted and Everett should be back on top.

If Renteria did win by 6, it would literally be the only election I've ever personally decided.