Odd Man Rush

It has long been the complaint of many that fan voting for the All-Star Game can be, at times, suspect, sometimes hilariously so.  But rather than wasting a lot of space crying about it, I offer a solution:  If you haven’t voted your maximum 25 times yet (and if you have, what about using your wife’s/girlfriend’s/roommate’s/etc. email address?), consider voting for the players with the best VORP - Value Over Replacement Player.  In a perfect world where popularity/playing in New York or Boston doesn’t matter and statistics do, these guys should be your 2009 All-Stars.  I am recommending who to vote for based on who has a chance to make it, but you can always just vote for the high-VORP players, regardless of standing.  Here’s the rundown:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Catcher

All-Star Should Be: Joe Mauer, Minnesota.  VORP: 44.9.  

Alternative Selections: None.  The second-place player, Mike Napoli, has a VORP of 15.0.

Current Leader: Mauer, by a lot.  Great job, fans.

First Base

All-Star Should Be: Russell Branyan, Seattle.  VORP: 29.5.

Alternative Selections: Victor Martinez is close behind Branyan with a 29.3, but he’s on the ballot as a catcher.  Justin Morneau (28.0) and Kevin Youkilis (27.1) are acceptable alternatives.

Current Leader: Mark Teixeira ranks 6th in VORP with a 21.8.  Branyan isn’t even on the voting leaderboard, leading me to recommend voting for Youkilis or Morneau, both of whom have an outside chance of catching Teixeira.

Second Base

All-Star Should Be: Aaron Hill, Toronto.  VORP: 25.8.

Alternative Selections: Ian Kinsler (25.4). 

Current Leader: Kinsler, though he leads by a thin margin over Dustin Pedroia (10.8).  Once again, a vote for Kinsler is probably the smartest, since it keeps Pedroia out.  Hill will likely by chosen as a back-up.

Third Base

All-Star Should Be: Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay.  VORP: 33.1.

Alternative Selections: Scott Rolen (24.5) and Michael Young (23.4) are the closest, but it’s not like Longoria’s defense is suspect.  There’s no true alternative here.

Current Leader: Longoria has more than twice as many votes as second-place Alex Rodriguez (12.8).

Shortstop

All-Star Should Be: Jason Bartlett, Tampa Bay.  VORP: 35.5.

Alternative Selections: The gap between Jason Bartlett and Derek Jeter (28.3) is significant, but Bartlett missed a few weeks due to injury.  Still, it looks like Bartlett deserves it.

Current Leader: Jeter is the runaway leader, as expected, but Bartlett is in second place.  This should be a more respectable race, though.  Bartlett deserves your vote!

Outfield

All-Stars Should Be: Torii Hunter, Los Angeles of Western Hemisphere (32.9), Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle (32.8), Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay (31.2)

Alternative Selections: Jason Bay (27.6), Carl Crawford (26.1), and Adam Jones (23.6).  Nobody else really comes close. 

Current Leaders: Bay, Ichiro, and Josh Hamilton (3.0).  Hamilton has been injured much of the season and hasn’t done a lot when healthy.  This is by far the most egregious error on the AL side.  Hunter, in 4th place, deserves to move up.  Crawford is right behind him in 5th.  Unfortunately, Zobrist doesn’t even crack the leaderboard.  My recommended ballot: Ichiro, Hunter, and Bay.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Catcher

All-Star Should Be: Brian McCann, Atlanta.  VORP: 22.3.

Alternative Selections: None.  David Ross, McCann’s actual replacement player, is second with a 10.3.

Current Leader: Yadier Molina (7.4) is the inexplicable leader by 300,000 over McCann.  My guess is that McCann is perceived to be having an off-year due to his vision problems, but the statistics say otherwise.  Get Molina out of there!

First Base

All-Star Should Be: Albert Pujols, St. Louis.  VORP: A ridiculous 51.4.

Alternative Selections: Prince Fielder (31.7) and Adrian Gonzalez (29.1) are having monster seasons, but they aren’t even worthy to stoop down and untie Pujols’ sandals. 

Current Leader: Pujols, by an appropriately wide margin.  The 1.3 million people who have voted for Ryan Howard (13.0) shouldn’t be allowed to watch baseball anymore – or worse, when they do, they should be forced to watch it with Tim McCarver.

Second Base

All-Star Should Be: Chase Utley, Philadelphia.  VORP: 37.1.

Alternative Selections: I worry that Freddy Sanchez (22.3) will be overlooked as a backup in favor of Orlando Hudson (20.7) or Brandon Phillips (14.7).  Then again, maybe the "one player from every team" rule will work in his favor.

Current Leader: Utley has almost as many votes as Pujols.

Third Base

All-Star Should Be: David Wright, New York Mets.  VORP: 34.2.

Alternative Selections: Pablo Sandoval, 31.0.

Current Leader: Wright, and he isn’t in any danger of being passed, so vote for Sandoval. He at least deserves to crack the Top 5.

Shortstop

All-Star Should Be: Hanley Ramirez, Florida.  VORP: 37.5.

Alternative Selections: None.  Second-place Miguel Tejada has a 25.4.

Current Leader: Ramirez, but not by much.  He barely leads Jimmy Rollins, who has a ghastly – 8.4.  That’s negative, people.  It means that the Phillies could (and apparently, should) plug in an average player and expect to score 8.4 runs more than they would with Rollins in the line-up.  Who do these Philadelphia fans think they are?  You know what to do.

Outfield

All-Stars Should Be: Ryan Braun, Milwaukee (35.6), Raul Ibanez, Philadelphia (33.6), Carlos Beltran, New York Mets (33.4).

Alternative Selections: The National League isn’t as close as the AL.  Your three viable alternatives are Justin Upton (30.2), Brad Hawpe (27.9), and Matt Kemp (26.2).

Current Leaders: Ibanez, Braun, and Beltran.  As it should be.  Beltran is being chased by Alfonso Soriano (2.2), so whatever you do, make sure to get Carlos on your ballot.

One observation: This really puts the MVP race in perspective.  Mauer and Pujols are your runaway leaders at the halfway point.

I will post who I think the pitchers should be later this week.  As always, your comments are welcome.