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All-Star snubs
Here are four players who should go to Milwaukee
Posted: Wednesday July 03, 2002 12:31 PM
Let's face it: Choosing an All-Star team isn't easy, and there is no flawless
way to do it. Letting the fans elect the starters sometimes turns the process
into a popularity contest where players get in based more on name recognition
than on current performance. That's why we'll see guys like Manny
Ramirez, who has good numbers but also spent more than a month on the
disabled list, and Scott Rolen, who's had a down year, starting in
Milwaukee on Tuesday
night.
But, in the words of Jon Lovitz, is that so wrong? At its core the
All-Star Game is a celebration for the fans. If they want to see Bow Wow
starting in the outfield, that's who they should get. And having the managers
select the entire roster (instead of just the reserves and the pitching staff)
is no better alternative. That would lead to bruised egos and accusations of
favoritism. As Arizona's Bob Brenly, who will be managing his first
midsummer classic, said the other day, choosing the National League team was
"one of the worst things I've ever had to
do."
We feel your pain, Bob. But that won't keep us from bickering with some of the
choices you and Joe Torre, your AL counterpart, made. Four players were
snubbed bigtime in the All-Star selection process. They
are:
Paul LoDuca, Dodgers. He has the best average (.323) of any NL catcher.
He handles the league's second-best pitching staff (3.44 ERA). He's been as
effective at throwing out runners as San Francisco's Benito Santiago,
whom Brenly picked (along with his own guy, Damian Miller) to back up
starter Mike Piazza. The first-place team in the NL West deserves more
than three All-Star representatives. The 37-year-old Santiago is a nice choice
for sentimental reasons, but Lo Duca should be the one going to
Milwaukee.
Vicente Padilla, Phillies. There are never enough spots on an All-Star
roster for every deserving pitcher, but Brenly should have found a way to
shoehorn Philadelphia's 24-year-old right-hander onto the team. Padilla's 10
wins are fourth-most in the league, his 3.25 ERA is just outside the top 10, and
he has one of the most electric arsenals in the league. Who gets bumped to make
room for Padilla? It's a tough call, but I think five closers (Eric
Gagne, Trevor Hoffman, Byung-Hyun Kim, John Smoltz and
Mike Williams) is a little much. Hoffman and Williams are going as their
club's lone reps, but in a perfect world we'd see Padilla instead of
Smoltz.
Eric Chavez, A's. An overlooked star, Chavez leads AL third basemen with
20 home runs. He's a better hitter and better defensive player than Baltimore's
Tony Batista, who was chosen as a reserve. Granted, finding another
worthy Oriole would have been difficult, but it's hard to justify Chavez's
absence. The bright side: He'll have a stranglehold on this position for years
to
come.
Jim Thome, Indians. Along with shortstop, first base is the deepest
position in the AL, and it's hard to argue with the choices of starter Jason
Giambi and backups Paul Konerko and Mike Sweeney. But if
leading the league in homers (25) and being second in slugging (.608) and fourth
in on-base percentage (.422) doesn't guarantee you an All-Star berth, what does?
Thome gets extra credit for doing his damage with little lineup protection.
Having five shortstops on the AL roster is a nice gesture, but Thome deserves
the nod more than Indians teammate Omar Vizquel.
Sports Illustrated staff writer Stephen Cannella covers the baseball beat for
the magazine. Touching Base appears every week on CNNSI.com
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