Never Too Early For Baseball All-Star Teams

I've spent way too many weeks recently discussing baseball economics, an area filled with enough misconception, nefarious bigwigs, and controversy to fill an Oliver Stone film. But I'm tired of it, so I decided to devote this weekend to a fun, meaningless exercise.

Well, it's not totally meaningless. Making All-Star teams helps us get a bead on who's doing well this season and to celebrate those hot performers -- which is a big part of what being a baseball fan is all about, anyway.

Especially if you're a nerd like me. I was once a pretty lonely kid, with nothing to do but sit in my room, crank up the Public Enemy (I was a big fan) and use the latest stats to make All-Star teams. And you thought you were a nerd! Dungeons and Dragons would've been a step up for me.

Anyway, now I'm going to do that and get paid for it (sort of). What a weird world we live in.

I follow the rules when making these teams. Thirty players per league, with the DH, since this year's game is in Seattle. And every team must be represented. It's a pain of a rule, but it's fair: This is an exhibition, not some serious analysis of player value. This is supposed to be fun, especially for the cities whose teams haven't provided any other fun all year (I'm looking at you, Tampa Bay).

However, my teams do not deal with the toughest part of making real All-Star teams: working around fan voting. I like the fact that the fans vote for the starters in principle, but in practice, we're probably going to end up with Mark McGwire and Ken Griffey Jr. getting starting spots despite having been injured most of the year.

Either way, no results have been released yet, so I couldn't use the fan-sanctioned starters if I wanted to. Which I don't.

Oh, and selection is restricted to starting pitchers who have enough innings to qualify for the ERA title and batters who have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Catchers are the exception -- so few of them qualify for the batting title that you have be a little generous. As for relievers, there are no rules, really.

So here's my personal "One-Fourth Of The Way Through The Season" All-Star teams:

National League:

1B: Todd Helton, Col; Sean Casey, Cin
2B: Jay Bell, Ari; Jose Vidro, Mon
SS: Rich Aurilia, SF; Neifi Perez, Col
3B: Albert Pujols, StL; Phil Nevin, SD; Chipper Jones, Atl
C: Charles Johnson, Fla; Ben Davis, SD
OF: Barry Bonds, SF; Jim Edmonds, StL; J.D. Drew, StL
OF: Luis Gonzalez, Ari; Cliff Floyd, Fla; Jeromy Burnitz, Mil
OF: Larry Walker, Col; Sammy Sosa, Chi; John Vander Wal, Pit
DH: Lance Berkman, Hou
P: Kevin Brown, LA; Mike Hampton, Col; Randy Johnson, Ari; Curt Schilling, Ari; Matt Morris, StL; Rick Reed, NY; Russ Ortiz, SF; Omar Daal, Phi; Jeff Shaw, LA

I'm pretty happy with this team. The only one that I wouldn't include, if I didn't have to include one representative per team, is Omar Daal, and he's actually quite good (5-0, 3.70). (Funny, by the way, that a first-place team, the Phillies, has no clearly deserving All-Star. This is the first time I've ever seen that.) I'd just rather throw in Darryl Kile (6-2, 3.19) or Wade Miller (6-1, 2.97). But, oh well.

The real travesty is that there's no room for Gary Sheffield, who's having one of his typical brilliant years. But there are just too many outfielders: Ray Lankford and Reggie Sanders are also hitting terrifically, but you can't include everyone.

And granted, in the real deal, Mike Piazza will be elected in, and we'll have to push out Ben Davis, which won't be a tragedy. And you might notice that I chose only one reliever. I'm of the opinion that relievers are, by nature, of less value than starters -- you really gotta wow me if you're a closer. No one in the NL really wowed me, so Shaw is the token reliever because he has the most saves. Anyone else would probably be just as good.

There are only nine pitchers, which is kind of a shame -- there are always too many pitchers in All-Star games, but it's necessary, since there's always the possibility of an extra-inning game. But, for each of the teams that were needy for a representative (e.g., Pittsburgh and Milwaukee), their top outfielders seemed the best choices.

Second base is a problem. There are about seven or eight second basemen who are hitting well, and none are hitting spectacularly. Probably the best hitters, by a hair, are Mark Grudzielanek and Todd Walker, but they're both also known for bad defense. I went with Bell because he seemed to be hitting best of the non-stone-gloves, and Vidro because he's good enough and I needed an Expo.

The teams with the most All-Stars are St. Louis, with Pujols, Edmonds, Drew, and Morris; Colorado, with Helton, Perez, Hampton and Larry Walker; and Arizona, with Bell, Gonzalez, Johnson and Schilling. Houston really gets the shaft in this set-up -- Miller, Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio are probably all deserving, but it's a tight race.

American League:

You'd think it would be easier to make an AL All-Star team, simple because you have just as many slots (30) for two fewer teams. But this year, there's such a disparity between the good and bad teams that it's a struggle to find representatives for a few teams (Tampa Bay, I'm looking at you again).

1B: Doug Mientkiewicz, Min; Jason Giambi, Oak; Carlos Delgado, Tor
2B: Roberto Alomar, Cle; Randy Velarde, Tex; Bret Boone, Sea
SS: Alex Rodriguez, Tex; Cristian Guzman, Min
3B: Jose Valentin, Chi; Troy Glaus, Ana
C: Jason Varitek, Bos; Jorge Posada, NY
OF: Juan Gonzalez, Cle; Ellis Burks, Cle; Greg Vaughn, TB
OF: Ichiro Suzuki, Sea; Bobby Higginson, Det
OF: Raul Mondesi, Tor; Mark Quinn, KC
DH: Manny Ramirez, Bos; Edgar Martinez, Sea
P: Pedro Martinez, Bos; Brad Radke, Min; Aaron Sele, Sea; Joe Mays, Min; Jason Johnson, Bal; Paul Quantrill, Tor; Kazuhiro Sasaki, Sea, Troy Percival, Ana

Odd bunch. The big winner was Seattle, represented by Boone, Ichiro, Martinez, Sele and Sasaki. Minnesota was second, with Mientkiewicz, Guzman, Radke and Mays.

Obviously, Jason Johnson (3-2, 3.44) and Greg Vaughn (.250, 11 HR, 24 RBI) are in because they play for the Orioles and Devil Rays, respectively. Higginson and Quinn aren't exactly mind-blowing, but they're far from embarrassments as All-Stars.

Paul Quantrill was thrown in because I needed another pitcher, and no one else really stood out. Scott Schoenweis appears to be pitching well, but he doesn't seem appreciably better than Dan Reichert, Chris Michalak, Mark Mulder, Frank Castillo, etc. etc. Besides, I like freakishly good statistics: Quantrill's a reliever who has pitched 28.1 innings, has a 5-0 record, and only 2 walks. Odds are that he'll get lit up a few times from now until All-Star time, and Eric Milton or someone else will get the nod instead.

There are a few guys who don't make it because they haven't had quite enough playing time. In particular, Marty Cordova doesn't quite have enough plate appearances to qualify.

And it has to be said: If you had told me, before this season began, that Doug Mientkiewicz would deserve to start in a very crowded field of All-Star first basemen, I would've barfed with laughter. But it's true; he does.

So what would you have done differently, and why? And try not to just tell me that that Joe Localhero deserves to be in because he's hitting .300. Try to create a scenario in which Joe Localhero could go in and the team could still conform to the rules.

Or heck, tell me anything. I don't care. Remember, I'm a lonely guy who sits in his room and makes All-Star teams. Drop me a line.

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