The American League and National League rosters for the 2012 MLB All-Star Game were only just announced on Sunday, but already David Schoenfield has drafted a response at ESPN’s SweetSpot. Did you know that the All-Star Game rosters are imperfect? That sometimes deserving players get shafted while undeserving players earn spots or even starting roles? Why didn’t anybody warn me about this before! Anyhow, excerpts:
Schoenfield: All-Star Game Rosters Predictably Imperfect
Worst National League fan selection: Pablo Sandoval, Giants. I chided Rangers fans last week for stuffing the ballot box, but clearly I underestimated Giants fans. David Wright has arguably been the most valuable player in the National League in the first half, hitting .355/.449/.564 while carrying a Mets offense racked by injuries. Sandoval overcome a 400,000-vote deficit over the final week to pass Wright even though he’s only played 44 games.
And:
Weirdest selection: Huston, Street, Padres. Street has pitched well (1.35 ERA) but has pitched only 20 innings. Third baseman Chase Headley would have been the Padres’ obvious rep, but Sandoval getting voted in as a starter meant Wright had to get the nod as the backup third baseman.
And there’s more, of course. Click through for the rest. I don’t really know what to say about the Sandoval selection. On the one hand, Giants fans were clearly stuffing the boxes, but isn’t that precisely what’s encouraged? Doesn’t MLB want fans to vote as much as possible? Additionally, while Wright has been better than Sandoval over 2012’s first half, Sandoval was better than Wright over 2011’s second half, and doesn’t that matter? Should that matter? Hell, I don’t know, none of this matters. Except for the game. That matters, for the World Series. This is still not a joke!
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