Stuffing the ballot box is nothing new. In fact, my fellow Cincinnati Reds fans did just that back in 1957 when they elected seven players to the National League side. Half of the ballots cast that year came from Cincinnati, as the Cincinnati Enquirer included pre-marked ballots with the Sunday edition of their newspaper so fans could vote early & vote often. Commissioner Ford Frick responded by booting a couple of Reds from the team so some jabronis named Hank Aaron & Willie Mays could play, and stripping fans of the right to vote until 1970. That was when they started issuing the ballots at stadiums & approved retail outlets.
They had no real problems with that system for many years. Sure, the fans would make silly picks on occasion, usually voting for guys well past their primes or guys that were injured, but after all, it's the All-Star Game. Maybe Derek Jeter didn't deserve to be in last year's game based on his performance the first half of the season, but he was still a star that the fans wanted to say goodbye to. The same went for guys like Ripken, Gwynn, Ozzie & many others. No real harm there.
Then once the online voting started, a new world opened up. Teams became much more aggressive about encouraging their fans to vote with hashtags & prizes & anything they could think of. You had to figure it would only be a matter of time before things would get carried away. One fanbase would rise to the top & blow everybody else out of the water to get their guys in. It's no longer about seeing the best players play the best players, it's about getting your players to be All-Stars.
I'm surprised it took this long. I'm also surprised that the fanbase that blew the thing up was the Kansas City Royals. But maybe it isn't surprising. The Royals were bad for three decades. No, not just bad, they were completely uncompetitive without a glimmer of hope of being relevant. The second they had some success, everybody in Kansas City got excited. Who can blame them? Having a good baseball team is fun. It certainly beats having a bad one. When you're used to sitting through really bad baseball or eventually tuned out because you've got better things to do than watching bad baseball, your team catching fire is quite the shock to the system.
So I don't blame Royals fans. They're doing what they were told to do. They love their team. Why would they want to vote for a division rival like Miggy Cabrera, even if he is objectively better than their first baseman? For every person like me that realizes their team isn't infallible and can admit that some other teams have better players, there are ten other people that are all like "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY TEAM" & refuse to admit that any players are better than their own.
I've been thinking of ways around this in the future, because who wants to deal with this kind of nonsense every year? If it isn't Royals fans it'll be somebody else. Perhaps a solution would be to let fans vote out of the players from their teams to represent them in the game. Most fans don't follow other teams anyway, so they'd be voting on what they know best. It's not a perfect idea though, you could end up with a team full of first basemen. Though that could be amusing. Maybe you eliminate the fan vote completely, but that's probably going too far in the other direction. I think limiting the online vote would be a damn good start, but MLB isn't likely to do that because they like getting hits.
They should at least bring back the paper ballots. I can't believe I didn't get to fill one out this year. Instead, I fill out my ballot on the Ultimate Sports Blog! Last time we covered the National League, today we take a look at the Junior Circuit.
Catcher: Stephen Vogt, Oakland Athletics (.300 BA, .532 SLG, 3.1 WAR*)
Stats listed in this column are after Sunday's games.
Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals is running away with this category & had the most overall votes as of last week. He's having a good season & is a superior defensive catcher to Vogt, but Vogt leads Perez in every major offensive category in less games played. He's currently tied for the AL lead in RBI & leads AL catchers in home runs & batting average. The one argument I'd make against him is that he doesn't play the position every day, but he catches a lot more than he plays first base or DHs.
1st Baseman: Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers (.350 BA, 1.043 OPS, 3.9 WAR)
Eric Hosmer, the current front-runner in this category, leads Miggy in triples & stolen bases. Cabrera leads Hosmer in every other offensive category. This is really a slam dunk, with Prince Fielder being the only other guy in Cabrera's league among first basemen. Prince has only played 11 games at first compared to 62 as the DH, so I'm not sure why he wasn't listed in the DH category. Hosmer is a slightly better fielder than Miggy, but not by enough to be relevant.
2nd Baseman: Jason Kipnis, Cleveland Indians (.346 BA, .931 OPS, 4.7 WAR)
Kipnis has the best WAR rating in the American League, leads AL second basemen in batting average, on-base & slugging percentage & has the most hits & doubles among AL second basemen. You'd think he'd be a shoo-in, but as of this writing he's in 4th place. The Indians have been a massive disappointment in 2015 & Kipnis's achievements have gone unnoticed in favor of players on better teams. The current front-runner, Omar Infante of the Royals, has a .237 batting average, a .243 on-base percentage, no home runs, & ranks near the bottom of most offensive categories. His election to the All-Star Game would be a sham, and I plan on purchasing an Omar Infante All-Star Game shirt if one gets made. Just for the hilarity.
3rd Baseman: Josh Donaldson, Toronto Blue Jays (.301 BA, .900 OPS, 3.9 WAR)
I will say that Mike Moustakas is a better choice for this team than most of his fellow Royals, and he isn't a completely insane selection of Donaldson. Donaldson is still the right choice though. Donaldson creates 7 runs per 27 outs, leads AL third basemen in RBI & runs scored, and would lead them in home runs if Luis Valbuena of the Houston Astros wasn't having the weirdest season of all time. Dude's batting .195 & has 19 home runs. I hope he gets in the Home Run Derby.
Shortstop: Xander Bogaerts, Boston Red Sox (.294 BA, .408 SLG, 2.1 WAR)
The American League shortstop position has fallen a long way from the days of Jeter, A-Rod & Nomar. Now we've got a bunch of no-power dudes that populate the bottom of AL lineups. If there's an argument for bringing back steroids, this would be it. Somebody has to take this spot, and Bogaerts has the best WAR, best slugging percentage & most RBI among AL shortstops. I'm not going to complain about Alcides Escobar getting the vote here because he's a Royal. Bogaerts is the best of a mediocre bunch.
Outfielder: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels (.300 BA, .964 OPS, 4.4 WAR)
If you're reading this & know anything about baseball, I don't need to explain Mike Trout on my All-Star team. If you aren't familiar with Mike Trout for some reason, just know that he's been the best player in baseball since he was Rookie of the Year in 2012. He could have been MVP every single year since, and will be back in that conversation this year. He's so good that the Royals outfielders can't beat him in the vote.
Outfielder: Lorenzo Cain, Kansas City Royals (.293 BA, 15 SB, 3.5 WAR)
Finally, a Royal that I can vote for! Out of all the Kansas City candidates I think Cain has the best argument for deserving inclusion in spite of votig irregularities. He co-leads AL outfielders in stolen bases, is third in WAR, and leads his team in WAR. The Royals are a good team & deserve to have representation in the lineup. They don't deserve eight of them.
Outfielder: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays (.390 OBP, 15 HR, 2.6 WAR)
Bautista has a really not good batting average this year, .243, but he walks more than anybody in baseball and hits for great power when he gets the opportunity. Close race for the final spot here between Bautista & Brett Gardner, I went with Bautista because the AL has less guys like him at the moment.
Designated Hitter: Nelson Cruz, Seattle Mariners (.305 BA, .920 OPS, 2.6 WAR)
So a few years back the designated hitter was allowed in every All-Star Game. I used to be in favor of letting pitchers bat since I'm a National League guy, but eventually it gets boring watching most of these guys swing three times & sit down. The DH is also handy for extending careers, you see guys like A-Rod & David Ortiz up for vote in this category & it's not like they're playing a lot of defense these days. You'd think one of those guys would be leading due to their name value, but no, it's a Royal.
Nelson Cruz has played more games in the outfield than he has at DH, but since DH is where he's at on the ballot that's where I'm voting for him. He's been more productive with HRs & batting average than the other guys listed, and he's right near the top at RBI. Home runs & RBI are what you're looking for from a DH, and Cruz brings those to the table.
And there you have it! My American League All-Star team looks quite a bit different than the last voting totals, but maybe things will straighten out before July 14. For the Ultimate Sports Blog, this is Swingin' Stevie Cook signing off.
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