Who Deserves to be an All-Star? 2020 Edition

Back on my old site I used to run a series of articles about who deserves to be an All-Star (as well as Pro Bowlers). What can I say, I'm a big fan of rankings, even when it comes to sports. In this shortened, pandemic season, MLB has opted not to have an All-Star game. Makes sense, because there's no reason to risk getting COVID-19 to play in an exhibition game. Also, the sample size for 2020 is so much smaller than normal. But all that being said, this season still counts. Counting stats will still be attributed to players and division and league champions will still be crowned. We still (unfortunately) still use All-Star appearances as a measure for legacy greatness. Even if there won't be a game, there's no reason we still can't have selections. Truthfully, IRL, there's no reason we can't have the players vote (or sports writers or really anyone competent) on who should have deserved an All-Star selection, even if there's no actual game to play. The NBA has First Team, Second Team, and Third Team honors as well as All-Star selections. Why can't the MLB do something analogous? Players should still be honored if their actions still count - which they do. That's where this post comes in. I will give out First Team and Second Team honors for each league. As the DH exists for both leagues, each League will get a selection for the eight individual defensive positions, DH, and one relief pitcher spot. I will also honor five starting pitcher spots for each Team (seeing as all teams have a five-man rotation normally). Below are my lists for who I believe deserves to be an All-Star for the 2020 MLB season:

AMERICAN LEAGUE

First Team:

C: Salvador Perez (KC) 1B: Jose Abreu (CWS)* 2B: DJ LeMahieu (NYY) SS: Tim Anderson (CWS) 3B: Jose Ramirez (CLE) RF: Teoscar Hernandez (TOR) CF: Mike Trout (LAA) LF: George Springer (HOU) DH: Nelson Cruz (MIN) RP: Liam Hendricks (OAK) 

Jose Abreu, Jose Ramirez, Mike Trout, and DJ LaMahieu are all legitimate AL MVP contenders by year's end. To me, Mike Trout is clearly 4th on this list. He's last among these players in WAR and the Angels were never competitive for a playoff spot, despite the fact that 2020 saw the most teams per league ever earn one (and the other three players are on teams that did make it). But, he's still Mike Trout and he's, in Larry David voice, pretty, pretty, pretty good. After a close battle with Tim Anderson for most of the season, LaMahieu ended the season with the best batting average in baseball. DJ has been great when he played, but I don't think you can miss 10 games in a 60 game season and still win the MVP award. It's a super, super close contest then between Ramirez and Abreu. Feel free to call me a White Sox homer, but I'm going with Abreu. I think he's been the slightly better offensive player this year, and he's been more consistent throughout the year. Abreu led the AL in hits and RBIs - an incredible 60 RBIs in 60 games - and has the batting average, slugging percentage, wRC+ and home runs advantage to Ramirez. Abreu also has the better WPA (2.01 to 1.45) than Ramirez, which means Abreu's offense meant more within the context of his individual games than Ramirez's. The Cleveland third baseman led all of baseball in WAR, but a big reason his WAR is better than Abreu's is due to the nature of the position each player plays. By their inherent value, a first baseman is the least valuable defensive player, only to a DH. WAR takes their defensive positions into account. However, as Jayson Stark wrote in The Athletic for his case for Abreu as the AL MVP, "Abreu is tied for the AL lead in Defensive Runs Saved at first base (+5) - while Ramirez is -6 at third base. So does Abreu deserve to have points deducted just because of the position he plays? I couldn't convince myself of that." 

I definitely cheated a little with my outfield, but since both Trout and George Springer play center field and both finished 1 and 2 among AL outfielders in WAR, I thought both deserved First Team considerations. Since I didn't feel any left fielders play well enough to earn First Team honors, I slotted Springer in left. Plus, because Springer plays the hardest outfield position well, if this were a real game, he should have no issue playing the easiest position well. Teoscar Hernandez finished 3rd in the AL among qualified right fielders in WAR, but first among them in wRC+, wOBA, home runs, and OPS. Plus, I wanted to honor the Blue Jays who played well enough to earn a playoff spot in 2020. 

6 Players Who Have No Business Being In The 2014 MLB All Star Game

1) Derek Jeter (SS)
New York Yankees

I understand the reasoning behind WHY the fans voted him as the starting short stop, because it's a terrible and dumb reasoning why the fans did what they did. The fact that this is Derek Jeter's last year in the league is not a good enough reasoning to make him an All Star. In his prime, Derek Jeter was one of the best offensive shortstops in the game. Even with the benefit of sabermetrics hindsight, Derek Jeter has a great average, could take a walk, steal a base, and hit a home run when needed. He was an ideal top of the line up type of player. But with that being said, that version of Derek Jeter died a long time ago, and all we are left with in this beaten down shell of his former self. Jeter doesn't need this extra All Star game push to get him into the Hall of Fame, and by voting him in means that he stole a spot from a more deserving player. Among qualified players, Derek Jeter rates 11th out of 12 players in terms of WAR among AL short stops. Erick Aybar of the Angels and Alcides Escobar of the Royals are the top players in terms of WAR among AL shortstops, yet neither men are All Stars. In fact, making Escobar an All Star means that the Kansas City Royals have a lone representative, and we wouldn't need a reliever like Greg Holland be in the game. Speaking of relief pitchers...

2) Relief Pitchers (RP)
Multiple Teams

In the American League, middle reliever Dellin Betances (NYY) and closers  Sean Doolittle (OAK), Greg Holland (KC), and Glen Perkins (MIN) are All Stars and in the National League, middle relievers Pat Neshek (STL) (pitcured left) and Tony Watson (PIT) and closers Craig Kinbrel (ATL) and Aroldis Chapman (CIN) are All Stars. Who know isn't an All Star? Chris Sale, Dallas Keuchel, Garret Richards, Corey Kluber, and Rick Porcello. Those are the 5 candidates who can vote for for the last AL All Star spot. As Brian Bannister joked on Twitter, those five players would make one helluva a rotation. Sale, Richards, and Kluber are all top 10 in terms of AL WAR this year, and Kluber actually ranks 3rd. Chris Sale is one of the best pitchers in baseball and is going to receiver Cy Young votes by year's end. Yet none of these pitchers are All Stars because of our ridiculous need to praise middle relievers. As joked by Billy Beane in Moneyball, the reason pitchers are relievers is because they aren't good enough to be a starter. ESPN Dave Schoenfield tweeted out last night, "People, quit arguing the case for relief pitchers as All Stars. 26 relievers with 30+ IP have an ERA under 2.50. Not that special". No relief pitchers deserves to be an All Star, and the selections should just consists of starters. Also, who the fuck is Tony Watson?

The 4 Biggest 2014 MLB All Star Snubs

This past Sunday, both the American League and the National League filled out their 23 man roster for the All Star Game to be held at Target Field. Like with any All Star game, The Internet acted in outrage about certain players being left off of the roster. You're not going to please 100% of the people 100% of the time. However, there are certain omissions that are so egregious that the fans vitriol for that player's exclusion is justified. This post is dedicated to those exclusions.

Before I begin, I need to first clarify the definition of a "snub" because this is a term that seems to be thrown out willy-nilly. There are two parts to a "snub". The first part is that a player has performed so well that he deserves to go to the All-Star game, yet he was not selected. This first part is the part that most fans and critics seem to believe in. However, they ignore the second part. The second half to being considered a snub is that said player needs to have performed better and is the more worthy candidate than a player who was actually selected. Chicago Cubs 1B Anthony Rizzo and Rockies 1B Justin Morneau have played exceptionally well this year and have played so well that there would be no argument if they were considered All Stars. However, each league only selects two 1B as All Stars, and this year the NL has selected Arizona Diamondbacks 1B Paul Goldschmidt and Atlanta Braves 1B Freddie Freeman as its two first basemen to be playing in the All Star game. Both Goldschmidt and Freeman played better than Rizzo and Morneau in 2013 as well as in 2014. Goldschmidt and Freeman are without a doubt the two best first basemen in the National League. So while Anthony Rizzo and Justin Morneau are great players, they are not snubs.

Lastly, the All Star game matters. At the end of the day, we use the number of All Star games a player has attended as an argument for his legacy. If this was truly just a game for fun, then All Star snubs would just be excuses for people to argue. However, being selected to an All Star game is important for the players and how we evaluate players, so it's important to get these selections correct.

So with all of that being said, here are the 4 Biggest All Star Snubs This Year:

Chris Sale (SP)
Chicago White Sox

I'm getting the easy selection out of the way. Truthfully, I know that Chris Sale will eventually be selected to the All Star roster and he will eventually be considered a 2014 All Star in one way or another. A starting pitcher will get scratched due to injury or will pitch a full game too close to the Big Game itself that Chris Sale will eventually make the A.L. roster. But the fact that he wasn't selected from the getgo is downright ridiculous. Not only does a starting pitcher with a 2.9 WAR deserve to start over any freaking relief pitcher (especially Sean Doolittle- the Oakland A's would have 4 All Stars without him), but Sale is a better starting pitcher than half of the current roster. You can make a rational argument that Masahiro Tanaka, King Felix, Max Scherzer, and Yu Darvish are better pitchers than Sale (I wouldn't necessarily agree, but I can concede that argument), but there's absolutely no way that Jon Lester, Scott Kazmir, David Price, or Mark Buerhle are better pitchers than Sale. Even if you include the second half of 2013 (which I do) Chris Sale is an obvious All Star. Maybe it's just my personal Twitter feed, but the fact that The Internet is in an outrage over the Chris Sale snub means that Sale is going to be an All Star this year. Eventually.

The Players You Should Vote For For The 2014 All Star Game

Currently, voting is underway for the 2014 All-Star game in Minnesota. Fans across the nation, and across the globe can vote on who they think should start the All-Star game. Many fans will just be homers and vote for players who play on their favorite team. However, if you do vote for this or any All-Star game, I ask that you take this seriously and vote on who you genuinely believe is the best at every position. The reason for this is the same reason I loathe the fact that Derek Jeter is probably going to start at SS for the AL this year. Being honored with the designation of an "All Star" matters. Not only is it a great personal achievement for that particular player, but its used as a determining factor for a player's legacy. One extra All-Star game for Derek Jeter may not matter, but if he steals that vote from say Jose Reyes or Alexei Ramirez, that does matter. You can give me all of the bullshit excuses of "this is a fan's game, so the fans should determine who they personally want to see" or "Derek Jeter's selection is not for this year, but for the great career he had" and you'd just be wrong. You're wrong. At the end of the day, who is an All-Star matters solely as recognition for how great of a player you were. Nobody will say in 10 years, hell in 5 years, Derek Jeter went to the All-Star game 14 times, but it's really 13 and a bonus year representative for his entire career. No. They'll say Derek Jeter is a 14x All-Star, and that's that. Players should be rewarded for how they perform on the field to determine if they're worthy of becoming an All-Star.