Inside Baseball
This year, fan voters didn’t reach for the stars
I know. I know. The All-Star Game is for the fans and that’s why they should vote. I’m pretty much OK with that and the results of this year’s voting, which get announced today at 1 on TBS, look like they will be a lot more down the middle than past years. There’s not the absurd ballot stuffing in places you’d expect such as New York, Boston or Philly.
Here’s a look at how I would be punching my ballot for the starters in each league:
American
Infield: First base is coming down to Kevin Youkilis or Mark Teixeira even though I think it should be between Justin Morneau or Miguel Cabrera. This is one position where the big crowds and big media markets rule. New York versus Boston or Minnesota versus Detroit. My choice would be Morneau, who entered the weekend second in the AL in RBIs and fourth in home runs.
A couple easy choices at second base in Texas’ Ian Kinsler (sorry, Dustin Pedroia) and third base in Tampa Bay’s Evan Longoria. That brings us to shortstop, where Derek Jeter is going to win the fan balloting in a walk for a nice offensive season. I’d say Tampa Bay’s Jason Bartlett or Toronto’s Marco Scutaro, the AL’s co-leader in runs, would be more worthy choices.
Outfield: I’m pretty set on Jason Bay, Ichiro Suzuki and Torii Hunter. But Carl Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury and Johnny Damon are free to make their cases, too.
Catcher: Joe Mauer. There are no other choices.
National
Infield: Albert Pujols is the lock at first base and Hanley Ramirez deserves the call at shortstop (Jimmy Rollins? Please, voters). There’s plenty of arguments at the other two spots. Chase Utley is the choice at second base but Freddy Sanchez has put up another unnoticed season in Pittsburgh.
Third base will go to David Wright and it probably should as he’s put together some nice numbers after a rough April. But you can’t discount the fact that Chipper Jones and Ryan Zimmerman probably deserve spots, too.
Outfield: I’m pretty solid on Raul Ibanez and Ryan Braun, the best young player in the game people don’t talk about nearly enough. The third spot is wide open. It would have gone in my book to Carlos Beltran had he not been injured but that opens up my voting line because I doubt Beltran is going to play.
Jayson Werth, Andre Ethier, Juan Pierre, Matt Kemp, Shane Victorino all deserve a thought. My choice would be Brad Hawpe of the Rockies, who’s pushing a .330 batting average and 1.000 OPS. Where are the night owls?
Catcher: Yadier Molina is going to make it a hometown celebration in St. Louis and it’s no token choice. You also have to look at his brother Bengie in San Francisco as well as Atlanta’s Brian McCann.
Deals rile Bucs
The discord continues in the Pirates’ clubhouse, where players are openly ripping GM Neil Huntington for trades that look to the future while the team is still only five-to-six games out in the NL Central. The latest came last week when Nyjer Morgan was sent to Washington in a deal for Lastings Milledge.
Previous to that was the trade of Nate McLouth to Atlanta.
“The bottom line is, even if this trade does work out, it’s not going to matter to 80 percent of the people in here,” said infielder Jack Wilson, the senior remaining Pirate. “And over the years, these trades haven’t worked. Show me the ones that have worked. We know that they’re looking to the future, which doesn’t say much about 2009.”
Think that was a mouthful. Wilson was far from finished.
“You can understand if it’s the end of July,” he said. “. . . They’re businessmen. They’re trying to achieve winning baseball in Pittsburgh. The biggest question is: When is that going to be? When do things start turning around? It’s just hard for guys who have been here and seen these exact same trades happen and seen it absolutely do nothing.”
Huntington, the former Cleveland farm director, sympathized with the players, but stood firm that his vision is to build a contender for the long term and not simply to try to break the franchise’s string of 16 straight losing seasons.
“The reality is, anytime you take away one of their friends, you take two or three away in a short period of time, it’s unsettling,” Huntington said. “The human element of the game is something we can’t ignore. But our goal is to put an excellent team on the field and not just a bunch of nice guys out there. . . . Every move we make is to try to get this team back on a winning track.”
Chicago, Chicago
The carping between the Cubs and White Sox has been very entertaining. After White Sox players crabbed about Wrigley Field, Cubs manager Lou Piniella shot back that U. S. Cellular Field was full for his team’s visit after the Dodgers only drew crowds of 22,000.
Asked why he thought Dodgers crowds were sparse, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said, “Because our fans are not stupid like Cubs fans. They know we’re [bleep].”
Guillen added that Cubs fans love their home park so much because “Wrigley Field is just a bar.”
No Canada
Among the many disappointments I have over the Bisons losing the Indians as a parent is losing the chance to someday see slugging outfielder Nick Weglarz in Buffalo. Weglarz is from Stevensville, Ont., by Fort Erie, and was the Tribe’s No. 3 pick in 2005.
He hit .400 for Canada in the Olympics and also played in the World Baseball Classic.
Weglarz, still just 21 years old, is tearing it up this year as Double-A Akron remains the best team in the minors.
Weglarz will be headed to next Sunday’s Futures Game in St. Louis.
He entered the weekend batting just .249 with 12 homers and 55 RBIs but that came after a Nick Evans-like 5-for-56 April.
Since May 1, Weglarz’s numbers are .297-11-49. Baseball America named him the hottest prospect in the game for the week ending June 25.
Herd grapevine
• The Bisons and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra have announced a five-year extension to continue Independence Eve celebrations at Coca-Cola Field through 2014. More than 282,000 fans have seen the BPO’s first 15 shows at the ballpark. Another great one Friday after another horrid game.
Still heard from plenty of fans about horror stories at the concession stands. You can’t spend three innings in line for a hot dog. The folks behind the counter just have to pick up the pace and not act like it’s a Wednesday in May.
The Bisons did what they could, opening more redemption centers for fans with hot dog and soda coupons. And there was a lot of signage directing folks there. But success on BPO night remains elusive.
• Incredible story from the Indians’ Arizona Rookie League team Thursday as former Bisons reliever Juan Lara pitched in his first professional game since September 2007. Lara was critically injured in an automobile accident in the Dominican Republic in December of that year and was a long shot to ever play again.
• You wonder if former Bison Jeremy Sowers needs to become a reliever because he’s a once-through-the-order guy for the Indians. According to ESPN, hitters are batting just .211 against Sowers in the first 15 pitches of his outings and .197 on 16-30. But from pitches 31-45, the average soars to .414 and it’s .391 on pitches 46-60.
• Great news: The Bisons are only home for six games until July 28. Good riddance.
• Manager Ken Oberkfell on the Herd’s 14-31 home record: “It’s very disheartening. To not win here is amazing. These people come out. They cheer. They’ve been great. And we haven’t given them a whole hell of a lot to cheer at home.”
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