The Last Man

July 8th, 2009 | by Ray Flowers |

I have nothing to say about the Dodgers or Kim Kardashian, I just like to look at her so I put her picture at the top of this piece.

There is one day left to vote on for the final player to be added to each league’s All-Star team for next week in St. Louis. If you need a little bit of perspective on who are the best choices in each league, here are my thoughts.

Note: I’m purely addressing who is the most qualified option paying no attention to position or what the All-Star squads may or may not need given how the rosters are configured.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Chone Figgins, 3B, LAA: .310-1-27-63-24 in 318 ABs
Figgins has produced the average that he didn’t last season (.276), and he is on pace to return to the 40-steal plateau that he reached in 2005-07. He isn’t hitting well against lefties (.227) but he is smoking righties to the tune of a .342 mark. He ranks 11th in the AL in average, fourth in steals and he leads the junior circuit in runs scored.

Brandon Inge, 3B/C, DET: .267-19-54-48-2 in 285 ABs
Really scuffing of late hitting just .205 with a .655 OPS the past two weeks, Inge has been a life saver for the Tigers, and for those fantasy leaguers who have been running him out there as a catcher eligible player. Though he has played exclusively third this season, if we compare his numbers to the other catchers he leads the way in home runs and is second in RBI to Victor Martinez (57). As is, he leads third sackers in homers and his 54 RBI are second to Evan Longoria (64).

Ian Kinsler, 2B, TEX: .252-20-54-60-17 in 333 ABs
Never has a potential 30/30 season from a second basemen looked so bad. The reason is that .252 average. Kinsler, who hit .322 in April, has hit .226 over his last 60 games. Still, he is tied for the position lead with Aaron Hill in home runs, is second to Hill in RBI (59), is second in runs (Brian Roberts has 62) and he is tied with Roberts for first at the position with 17 steals. That’s a whole lot of top shelf work, minus the batting average.

Adam Lind, OF, TOR: .308-18-57-49-1 in 321 ABs
He has been a breakout star all year, and he just keeps hitting. Still, his numbers don’t really stand out until you compare him to other AL outfielders and realize that he has more homers than Torii Hunter (17) while he has knocked in more runs than all but two others (Jason Bay has 71, Hunter 65).

Carlos Pena, 1B, TB: .228-23-55-59-1 in 294 ABs
Leads the AL in home runs, but other than that, his performance has been awful including being second in the league with 106 Ks, and don’t even get me started about how absurd it is to be considering a man who is hitting .228 for the All-Star team.

5. Pena
4. Lind
3. Inge
2. Figgins
1. Kinsler

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Cristian Guzman. SS, WAS: .310-3-21-41-3 in 297 ABs
The opposite of Pena above, this man’s value is totally batting average driven as he has as many home runs this season as Paul Konerko hit on Tuesday night. Guzman also has no speed at all – those three steals are the same as Tyler Greene who has only seen the field enough for 104 at-bats with the Cardinals.

Matt Kemp, OF, LAD: .307-10-45-44-19 in 306 ABs
Kemp still hasn’t developed the power that some believe he one day will, but it’s tough to down a guy who is hitting over .300 with a pace that would result in 85 runs, 85 RBI and 35 steals. Oh, and you want to make sure he is always in the lineup if there is a lefty on the hill as he simply murders them (.384/.483/.630 in 73 ABs).

Mark Reynolds, 3B, ARI: .265-24-62-53-14 in 309 ABs
Yes he strikeouts out at an embarrassing rate (114 Ks or one per 2.71 ABs), but the man still produces as he leads the position in home runs and RBI while he is third in steals behind Wright (20) and Emilio Bonifacio (18). Not many players go 25/25 with 120 RBI (it’s only happened 16 times in big league history).

Pablo Sandoval, 3B, SF: .328-13-48-38-3 in 287 ABs
This is exactly the type of guy the league should be looking to publicize. Portly, a free spirit quick with a smile, and one hell of a young hitter, the Kung Fu Panda has it all. He has a better batting average, more home runs, more RBI and a higher OPS than David Wright (.322-5-42 with a .878 OPS). Nuff said.

Shane Victorino, OF, PHI: .306-6-39-60-13 in 330 ABs
Pains me to list this guy fourth in the NL, but others have been more impressive. Still, he is the only outfielder in the NL who is hitting at least .300 with 60 runs, 10 steals and 100 hits. That should result in some love shouldn’t it?

5. Guzman
4. Victorino
3. Kemp
2. Reynolds
1. Sandoval

By Ray Flowers

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5 Responses to “The Last Man”

  1. By Tim Sutherland on Jul 10, 2009

    Please write a post ranting about the absolute necessity to fix the selection system for the All-Star team.

    Over 15 million people voted for Pablo and who is selected to replace Beltran?? Werth!! He wasn’t even part of the final five! The cronyism inherent in this selection is disgusting.

    On another related note:

    Its unfair to have a fan voting system allocating 25 votes per fan. It only increases the weight given to large market teams.

    Second, why allow a fan voting system when its simply a popularity contest? I’m all for fan voting, but if there is going to be fan voting make the All Star game 1) 1 fan 1 vote; 2) not worth anything.

    Fan selection merely decreases the competitive level of the All-Star game because many players are selected not based on production but based on name (Hamilton for instance). Let the managers select, or the coaching manager of the team select (limiting him to say 2 or 3 of his own players).

    Players like Kinsler and Sandoval were not selected even though both are having incredible years. Its because they’re not the Jeters of baseball. I think MLB would do a lot for itself if it gave players such as these the national notoriety associated with playing in the All-Star game.

    /end’s own rant/

    Go Sharks!!

  2. By Ray Flowers on Jul 11, 2009

    Tim-
    Cant disagree with anything you wrote.
    I too find the whole endeavor rather entertaining in a perverse way. With all of the shananigans going on the worst fact might be this – THE GAME COUNTS.

    Why Mr. Selig and others use this obvious fan showcase as the determining factor for the World Series might be the dumbest thing ever done in the history of baseball – just slightly ahead of interleague play.

  3. By Larry Yocum on Jul 12, 2009

    Homer!

    Haha, I never vote for these things, but I devoted a full hour to repeatedly punching Pablo on my ballot process. I even kept changing up the AL guys because I really didn’t care much about them.

    Afterward, I had to perform two minutes of group hate against Charlie Manuel at the McCoveyCove site.

    I ordered my All-Star Jersey though. http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g193/larryyocum77/manueldonkeys-1.jpg

  4. By Tim Sutherland on Jul 13, 2009

    That jersey is classic! You could get several free beers from fans if you wear that jersey to the SF v. Phi series!

    I dig the McCovey site. Not even Hollywood could create some of the bizarre and hilarious discussions that generate during and after the games.

    Thanks for this blog site, great stuff! I was turned onto it by the rototimes blog link.

  5. By Ray Flowers on Jul 13, 2009

    Tim-
    you bet buddy, glad we can help!

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