All-star voting is a joke

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Come on, people vote for the most popualr player, not the one that deserves to be on this list, it's a poularity contest:

3B AL as of June 6:
Third Base
1. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees 731,811
2. Mike Lowell, Red Sox 317,803
3. Joe Crede, White Sox 236,260
4. Eric Chavez, Athletics 227,140
5. Troy Glaus, Blue Jays 223,636

Glaus is doing better than any players on this list, no duh A-Rod is the leader, he's a Yankee and of course Lowell is second. The two most popular teams in baseball, the Yanks and Red Sox, I mean, is A-Rod seriously that much better than Glaus this season? No, he's just a Yankee and has a better track record, that's all.

Shortstop AL as of June 6
1. Derek Jeter, Yankees 765,110
2. Miguel Tejada, Orioles 526,622
3. Michael Young, Rangers 197,386
4. Alex Gonzalez, Red Sox 173,307
5. Juan Uribe, White Sox 162,875

Why are Uribe and Gonzalez even on this list? Eh? I still don't understand why they're here, Tejada is good, Jeter is...Jeter and Young is a good SS.
But why in the name of Jackie Robinson are ALEX GONZALEZ and JUAN URIBE on this list???

Catcher AL as of June 6
1. Jason Varitek, Red Sox 448,894
2. Ivan Rodriguez, Tigers 398,852
3. Jorge Posada, Yankees 337,969
4. A.J. Pierzynski, White Sox 256,308
5. Victor Martinez, Indians 256,148

I'm shocked.
Varitek, possibly most overrated and worst catcher in baseball, he's leading everyone because he's the Sox "captain" and because he's that good offensively. .236, 5 HR, 26 RBI does not merit a spot on the AL team for me.
Pudge is having a good year, but, he's still Pudge, a popular catcher.
What the heck is Posada doing on this list?? He's not an all-star calibre catcher.
I mean the guy is batting .301, that's good, but he's still not much better than any other catcher, why is Martinez last?? He should be first, and where is the high-averagea nd elite catcher JOE MAUER??
I think that Red Sox fans, White Sox fans, Yankees fans are the only ones actually voting here and I don't think half of them are thinking when they cast a ballot.

This is more reasonable:
Outfield
1. Vladimir Guerrero, Angels 745,397
2. Manny Ramirez, Red Sox 738,168
3. Johnny Damon, Yankees 529,770
4. Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners 413,737
5. Vernon Wells, Blue Jays 365,466
6. Gary Sheffield, Yankees 360,973
7. Hideki Matsui, Yankees 283,312
8. Scott Podsednik, White Sox 268,599
9. Jermain Dye, White Sox 262,008
10. Coco Crisp, Red Sox 248,485
11. Torii Hunter, Twins 237,308
12. Trot Nixon, Red Sox 233,099
13. Magglio Ordonez, Tigers 195,475
14. Grady Sizemore, Indians 194,857
15. Jonny Gomes, Devil Rays 175,629

But, wait how many times do we count Yankees? 1...2...3...Matsui is out!! Sheffield is out!!! It's a popularity contest.
White Sox, twice, Podsednik is on there cuz he's a fan favorite, Dye is good.
Other than that, Jonny Gomes is 15th, he should be ahead of Nixon and hunter even Dye.

Have I yet proven to you it's a popularity contest?

[W_Marone]

well if you didnt last year did when Nomar who had played some 20 games was leading the SS vote and Scott Rolen who had been hurt all year was leading at third. I dont think Varitek is the worst catcher in baseball however. Jonny Gomes 15th? That's an outrage, I call for a recount!:radio :D

[rockin500]

all star voting is always a joke. nice to see this year is no different. yuck.

[KHenry14]

I actually have a problem with the point of view that the All-Star game should be for the players having the best first half of the season. Why should that be the overriding criteria? IMO, it is an All-STAR game, and if that means Varitek gets elected, then so be it. You can use the reserves to reward people who are having a great first half.

[Roy31]

I think managers should do the voting. That way it would be realistic. The way this voting is going it looks like some of the most deserving players will be missed.

Like I said before Yankees & Red Sox fans are probably the only ones voting the maximum times (40?) and of course they are all voting for their players. I voted once and once only, maybe showed a little bias towards voting for Teixeira but the rest was all within reason and I felt I voted fairly, only picking 3 players from my 2 favorite teams.

I do hope they change the way the voting is done.

[chrismarullo]

The teams are partly to blame for this. They promote the hell out of the balloting and have signs and banners all over the stadium encouraging the fans to vote for their players.

[Astro]

Usually the voting ends up evening out and most of the deserving players start

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

Why isn't Alex Rios there? He's leading the league in BA, and having a great rookie season!!

[Jake83]

Why isn't Alex Rios there? He's leading the league in BA, and having a great rookie season!!


Rios is far from a rookie He has been in the league two years now

[W_Marone]

yeah i was gonna say, rios isnt a rookie

However I doubt Wilkerson would be crying is clayton was first at short, zimmerman at third, schneider at catcher....etc....but then again I wouldnt mind either if the whole phillies lineup was first.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

Why isn't Alex Rios there? He's leading the league in BA, and having a great rookie season!!
Rois is not a rookie this season. He was a rookie in 2004.

[Jake83]

Rois is not a rookie this season. He was a rookie in 2004.
Three time should get the point across

[Bronxbombers]

Rios is not on the ballot, you can vote for him as a write in though.

As long as the MLB is employing the all star game for something meaningful, whether it be home field advantage or something else, the all star game should have the best players from the respective leagues, basically, the players that give their league the best chance of winning the game and obtaining the "prize" involved.

However, if the game was just an exhibition and had nothing riding on its outcome, then and only then, should the all star game showcase the players who are fan favorites. It is detrimental to the league and the team representing the league in the world series to have popular players playing instead of the players who give the league its best chance to win.

[Richmond Hill Phoenix]

Wow i feel like an idiot. I don't know why i said Rios was a rookie... I guess i meant breakout year. My bad guys.

[baseball junkie]

I have a suggestion. As fans, let's unite and all vote for the absolutely worst candidates -- you know kind of like we do in political elections.

AL Squad:
C Javier Molina
1b Travis Lee
2b Mark Ellis
3b Mark Teahen
SS Alex Gonzalez
OF Rondell White
OF Jeremy Reed
OF Jeff Conine

NL Squad:
C Jason LaRue
1b Lance Niekro
2b Kaz Matsui
3b Joe Randa
SS Clint Barmes
OF Jose Guillen
OF Jason Lane
OF Jose Cruz Jr.

Awfully impressive group isn't it?

[jpenrod]

yeah i was gonna say, rios isnt a rookie

However I doubt Wilkerson would be crying is clayton was first at short, zimmerman at third, schneider at catcher....etc....but then again I wouldnt mind either if the whole phillies lineup was first.

Dude we are talking about the AL squad, what do the nationals even have to do with it.

[bluezebra]

All-Star voting is not a joke. It's a farce.

Bob

[chrismarullo]

I hate to say it but it really might not matter who is voted in the game since, for the most part, the All Star game is pitching dominated.

[jpenrod]

I hate to say it but it really might not matter who is voted in the game since, for the most part, the All Star game is pitching dominated.

I hope that was sarcasm. since 1992 an average of 11 runs have been scored in each All-Star game. You have t go back to 1991 before you hit any streak in each pitching actually played a role in the outcome of the game.

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

yeah i was gonna say, rios isnt a rookie

However I doubt Wilkerson would be crying is clayton was first at short, zimmerman at third, schneider at catcher....etc....but then again I wouldnt mind either if the whole phillies lineup was first.
I seriously don't care who gets on this team.

[trosmok]

All-Star voting is not a joke. It's a farce.

Bob

A joke is supposed to be funny, so farce is a far better description. Good call, bluezebra. One of the fellows here was trying to convince me the all-star voting should be based on their play since the last all-star game, or the last half of '05 + post season + 1st half of '06. Hmm, me thinks he was making excuses for the foolish ways some so-called fans vote.

[W_Marone]

Dude we are talking about the AL squad, what do the nationals even have to do with it.


I was insinuating that if the NL voting had all nationals in it he wouldnt be complaing, just as if all royals players were first, I dont think they would be crying, but since none of his team's players are in the lead aside from perhaps soriano, he's mad becuase its not fair, but if all nats who didnt deserve it were in first on the NL side he'd be happy and not crying...

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

I was insinuating that if the NL voting had all nationals in it he wouldnt be complaing, just as if all royals players were first, I dont think they would be crying, but since none of his team's players are in the lead aside from perhaps soriano, he's mad becuase its not fair, but if all nats who didnt deserve it were in first on the NL side he'd be happy and not crying...

I don't see why the Nationals should be mentioned in this thread, you all think I'm creating threads for things that have to do with the Nats, well guess what, I'm not.
I'm creating this thread to talk about the all-star voting.
I don't see why the Nats are mentioned? :mad:
I don't also care if the Nats are voted in, I'm just trying to make a point that it's a popularity contest.

[soberdennis]

I have always felt that the most deserving should get the votes and if my favorit e teams did not have any deserving players i would not vote for them.
Of course not all fans feel that way. Remember when Mike Schmidt was elected after he retired.

[W_Marone]

once again another point misineterpreted by people. I was just using you as an example, none of us would be complaning if our fav. players who didnt deserve it were in...me with the Phillies guys, yanks fans with the yanks, bosox fans with the sox, etc. I was just using you as an example, no need to take it to heart.

[DoubleX]

Catcher AL as of June 6
1. Jason Varitek, Red Sox 448,894
2. Ivan Rodriguez, Tigers 398,852
3. Jorge Posada, Yankees 337,969
4. A.J. Pierzynski, White Sox 256,308
5. Victor Martinez, Indians 256,148

I'm shocked.
Varitek, possibly most overrated and worst catcher in baseball, he's leading everyone because he's the Sox "captain" and because he's that good offensively. .236, 5 HR, 26 RBI does not merit a spot on the AL team for me.
Pudge is having a good year, but, he's still Pudge, a popular catcher.
What the heck is Posada doing on this list?? He's not an all-star calibre catcher.
I mean the guy is batting .301, that's good, but he's still not much better than any other catcher, why is Martinez last?? He should be first, and where is the high-averagea nd elite catcher JOE MAUER??
I think that Red Sox fans, White Sox fans, Yankees fans are the only ones actually voting here and I don't think half of them are thinking when they cast a ballot.

The all-star voting is a joke, and I mostly agree with you about catcher. Varitek is having a down year and his hitting has been way off since the All-Star break last year. Mauer should be up there. But you're comments about Posada are off. Posada has an 0.895 OPS this year. That's the second highest in all of baseball (behind Mauer) and almost 0.40 better than the next guy and almost 0.60 better than the next guy in the AL. That's pretty darn good for a catcher, and he's doing it with a partially torn tendon in hs knee to boot. Defensively he's not great, but he's good enough, and his bat certainly compensates for it.

[jpenrod]

I was insinuating that if the NL voting had all nationals in it he wouldnt be complaing, just as if all royals players were first, I dont think they would be crying, but since none of his team's players are in the lead aside from perhaps soriano, he's mad becuase its not fair, but if all nats who didnt deserve it were in first on the NL side he'd be happy and not crying...

It amazes me the people on here that resort to name calling. Regardless of what you say I do not see what the Nationals have to do with a thread that deals exclusively with AL teams (at least before your post) and calling me a fool does not change that.

It seems to me that when someone starts a thread on here that some people just resort to name calling and off the wall accusatory statements instead of providing a counter point.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

The all-star voting is a joke, and I mostly agree with you about catcher. Varitek is having a down year and his hitting has been way off since the All-Star break last year. Mauer should be up there. But you're comments about Posada are off. Posada has an 0.895 OPS this year. That's the second highest in all of baseball (behind Mauer) and almost 0.40 better than the next guy and almost 0.60 better than the next guy in the AL. That's pretty darn good for a catcher, and he's doing it with a partially torn tendon in hs knee to boot. Defensively he's not great, but he's good enough, and his bat certainly compensates for it.
I don't understand why people don't get this? Fans vote for hometown players for the most part. They know there are other better candidates but they don't care. It's always been that way.

[BoofBonser26]

If the All-Star game didn't count, it should be a popularity contest, which it MOSTLY is today. But managers always pick the deserving players and almost every year all deserving players get in. The fans USUALLY don't pick a player who shouldn't be on the team. Maybe they shouldn't be starting, but they're still an all-star.

It's not that big a deal, people.

[Jake83]

All-Star game is entertainment for the casual baseball fan. I really could care less about the Game and anything that involves the game. It is just 3 days my Dodgers are not playing