No matter how bloated the All-Star rosters get, it?s never hard to find imperfections. This year, two of the AL?s top 10 performers to date have been left off for no good reason. For some reason, manager Jim Leyland?s squad took three catchers and four second basemen, but just two from third base, which has been the league?s deepest position. That?s where our biggest snubs are found.
American League
Evan Longoria (3B Rays): Despite some recent foot troubles, Longoria has played in 84 games this year and posted the AL?s sixth-best OPS at .908. While they wouldn?t admit it, the Rays are probably happy that Longoria wasn?t chosen, since he?ll now have four days to rest his foot during the break. On merit, though, he was a clear choice. Even if the AL was only going to take two third basemen, he could have been picked over Baltimore?s Manny Machado.
Josh Donaldson (3B Athletics): Donaldson is right behind Longoria in seventh place in the AL in OPS, and he?s been the biggest bat on a surprisingly strong Oakland offense. Leyland should have simply taken all four third basemen ? Miguel Cabrera, Longoria, Machado and Donaldson ? and subtracted Salvador Perez and Ben Zobrist from the squad. Zobrist, while a valuable player, has an OPS nearly 200 points worse than Donaldson?s this season (.724 to .903).
Grant Balfour (RHP Athletics): How exciting of MLB to set it up so that the AL portion of the final vote is between a bunch of setup men (Joaquin Benoit, Steve Delabar, David Robertson, Tanner Scheppers and Koji Uehara). Balfour and his 40 consecutive saves (22 this year) couldn?t even crack that list. The A?s are a first-place team, yet they have just one All-Star in Bartolo Colon. Balfour, with his 1.82 ERA, was just as worthy as any other reliever in the league.
Howie Kendrick (2B Angels): It?s pretty stunning that the AL took four second basemen and still couldn?t find room for this guy. Kendrick is batting .317/.360/.473 with 10 homers so far. Maybe he didn?t deserve a spot over Jason Kipnis or Dustin Pedroia, but he should have been picked before Zobrist.
Coco Crisp (OF Athletics): For some reason, Leyland didn?t take a center fielder among his three outfield backups (Nelson Cruz, Alex Gordon and Torii Hunter). Maybe that means Mike Trout will play the whole game, starting in left and moving to center once Adam Jones departs. More likely it means that Hunter will finish the game in his old position. Better if the AL had just bumped him and taken Crisp, Jacoby Ellsbury or Brett Gardner as a backup center fielder instead.
Derek Holland (LHP Rangers): By Fangraphs WAR, Holland has been the AL?s best pitcher so far. The modest 6-4 record overshadows how good Holland has been with his 107/29 K/BB ratio and just seven homers allowed in 112 innings. He?s also been at his best recently, shutting out the Yankees and striking out 10 Mariners in his last two starts.
National League
Ian Desmond (SS Nationals): Desmond is one of the candidates to go via the final vote, and though he?ll almost certainly lose that spot to Yasiel Puig, he?ll make the squad if starting shortstop Troy Tulowitzki misses the game with his broken rib. Desmond has come on strong and is hitting .281/.324/.506 to date.
Stephen Strasburg (RHP Nationals): Maybe all that Matt Harvey hype has left Strasburg overlooked. Of course, Strasburg did serve a brief DL stint earlier this year, but he?s still made 16 starts, the same number as All-Star pick Jose Fernandez and one or two fewer than the rest of the field, and he ranks third in the NL in ERA at 2.24. That puts him ever so slightly ahead of both Harvey (2.27) and Adam Wainwright (2.36). All that said, it seems doubtful that the Nationals wanted him pitching in the All-Star Game anyway.
Hyun-Jin Ryu (LHP Dodgers): Bochy had no choice but to put Clayton Kershaw on the team, but he didn?t take any other Dodgers. That included bypassing Ryu, who just beat his Giants squad last night. Ryu is 7-3 with a 2.82 ERA in 17 starts this season. Madison Bumgarner, who was selected by Bochy, is 8-5 with a 3.08 ERA in 17 starts.
Mark Melancon (RHP Pirates): While the AL squad was all about taking the best relievers, regardless of roles, Bochy limited his relief picks to closers: Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman and Jason Grilli. Melancon, with a 0.87 ERA and a 44/4 K/BB ratio in 41 1/3 innings as a setup guy, has been better than any of them this season. The Cardinals? Trevor Rosenthal and Dodgers? Kenley Jansen also would have been better picks than the fringe starters if the goal is to win the game.
Yasiel Puig (OF Dodgers): I?ll mention Puig here, even though I?m OK with him not being chosen. It?s hard to argue that he?s a snub when he?s played just 30 major league games. Still, if the fans want to see him, then by all means, put him on the team. That?s what will happen after he was included on the Final Vote ballot today. No one stands any chance of beating him out.
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