American League All-Stars

American
League All-Star Selections

First, a brief description on how the All-Star teams were picked. The starting position players were chosen by fan vote. The players then voted and selected 8 Pitchers (5 Starters, 3 Relievers) and 8 Position Players. The Managers of the teams then filled out the rosters, having to ensure that every team had at least one representative. There was one spot left unfilled which will be filled by the fans voting between certain players not yet selected.

The Starters

Catcher: Joe Mauer, Min

First: Mark Teixeira, NYY

Second: Dustin Pedroia, BOS

SS: Derek Jeter, NYY

Third: Evan Longoria, BOS

Outfield: Jason Bay, BOS; Ichiro Suzuki, SEA; Josh Hamilton, TEX

Reserves

Victor Martinez, Catcher/CLE

Justin Morneau, 1B/MIN

Kevin Youkilis, 1B/BOS

Aaron Hill, 2B/TOR

Jason Bartlett, SS/TB

Micheal Young, 3B/TEX

Carl Crawford, OF/TB

Curtis Granderson, OF/DET

Torii Hunter, OF/LAA

Adam Jones, OF/BAL

Ben Zobrist, OF/TB

Pitching

Andrew Bailey, Josh Beckett, Mark Buehrle, Brian Fuentes, Zack Grienke, Roy Hallady, Felix Hernandez, Edwin Jackson, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon, Mariano Rivera, Justin Verlander, Tim Wakefield.

Overall, the system worked fairly well when picking the American League All-Star Team, but there are a few questionable picks.

• Josh
  Hamilton: .263 BA 6 HR in 133 At Bats. This pick is hard to
  understand. There are just so many more deserving picks this year.
  Wasn't anyone paying attention to performance this year?

  
  

• Tim Wakefield: Sure he has 10 Wins. He also has an ERA over 4.00, more
  hits allowed than innings pitched, and 36 Walks compared to 53
  Strike Outs.
  

  
  

• Curtis Granderson/Jason Bay: My first response “They're hitting
  what?”

  
  

• Kevin Youkilis: Not necessarily a bad pick. There are players that could
  have been picked ahead of him, especially when you consider the
  position he plays.

  
  

• Miguel Cabrera/Paul Konerko/Russell Branyan: All would have been good picks, but were passed over. File under “Why Youkilis, instead?”

  
  

• Adam Jones vs. George Sherrill. This was Baltimore's pity pick. Jones wasn't a bad pick, but Sherrill might have been better (2.55 ERA and 19 Saves). Why not Sherrill instead of Wakefield?

  
  

• Jered Weaver: Another Pitcher passed on so Wakefield could be on the team. 9 Wins vs. Wakefield's 10, and and ERA 1 point lower (3.15 ERA).

  
  

• Shin-soo Choo: Would have loved it if he had made the team just for the tongue-twister effect on the announcers. Probably a better Outfield pick than Granderson,Jones or Zobrist.