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Voting, players who should go, and shouldn't...

July 10, AT&T Park, on FOX

JJ Hardy hopefully will make it...he deserves it.
I can tell you this, there is no better place to host the All-Star game than AT&T Park one of the top 3 stadiums in baseball behind Fenway and Wrigley.

I am just hoping that Hafner is able to get in for once I know that he isnt having a great season so far but the fact that he has yet to make an apperance in the All Star game is crazy. Too bad he will probably have a tough time getting into it again with the game being in a NL park.

What'd I tell you about parks SW, quit underestimating the greatness that is PNC, it would kill ATT in a park-off.

My starting all-stars as of now (keep in mind this is this is who deserves to go not who's more popular):

NL
C- Russell Martin
1B- Todd Helton and Derrek Lee (tie)
2B- Chase Utley (K.Johnson close 2nd)
3B- Chipper Jones
SS- Jose Reyes (Hanley and Hardy right after him)
OF- Barry Bonds
OF- Matt Holiday and Aaron Rowand (tie)
OF- Carlos Beltran
SP- Jake Peavy

AL
C- Jorge Posada
1B- Kevin Youkilis
2B- BJ Upton
3B- Alex Rodriguez
SS- Derek Jeter
OF- Vladimir Guerrero
OF- Magglio Ordonez
OF- Curtis Granderson
SP- Dan Haren

Now at least 10 of these players have been quite "lucky" so far this year so I expect none of these to be right.

SportsWorld wrote:JJ Hardy hopefully will make it...he deserves it.
I can tell you this, there is no better place to host the All-Star game than AT&T Park one of the top 3 stadiums in baseball behind Fenway and Wrigley.

He sure does... NL SS is going to be rough. I hope he goes over Hanley (should he keep this up)... but knowing the public, we'll see Hanley and Reyes and likely have to vote Hardy in as the fans player...

Another player I'd really like to see there is Tom Gorzelanny, who is anchoring all my fantasy staffs and making me smile at the people who laughed at me in my fantasy drafts. Take that ARODSMYBABY4EVA!

but knowing the public, we'll see Hanley and Reyes and likely have to vote Hardy in as the fans player...

So the public knows the better player is, you act like thats a bad thing. Both Reyes and Ramirez have been better this year, both have been pretty lucky this year, but they have been better.

I think AT&T Park and PNC Park are similar but I would give a slight edge to AT&T because of the design. I like the bricks around the stadium because it gives the stadium an old fashioned look. The Pittsburgh color scheme is awful with the green around the park. The Pirates do not have any green in their logo.

Hardy leads the NL in HR, and is tied for the MLB league in RBIs... I dont see how much better he could play. I dont think he should be punished that his team doesnt steal as much or often as the Mets and Marlins do, or because he now hits in the middle of the lineup as opposed to #1...

I'd easily take a full year of what Hardy's doing over what Hanley's doing. Doubtful he keeps it up, but a SS on pace for 45+ HRs and 130+ RBIs? Hitting over .300? Thats almost MVP material right there.

bigboy1234 wrote:

but knowing the public, we'll see Hanley and Reyes and likely have to vote Hardy in as the fans player...

So the public knows the better player is, you act like thats a bad thing. Both Reyes and Ramirez have been better this year, both have been pretty lucky this year, but they have been better.

They are doing better than .320 with 14 homers and 40 rbi's?

510Reggae wrote:Hardy leads the NL in HR, and is tied for the MLB league in RBIs... I dont see how much better he could play. I dont think he should be punished that his team doesnt steal as much or often as the Mets and Marlins do, or because he now hits in the middle of the lineup as opposed to #1...

I'd easily take a full year of what Hardy's doing over what Hanley's doing. Doubtful he keeps it up, but a SS on pace for 45+ HRs and 130+ RBIs? Hitting over .300? Thats almost MVP material right there.

Well Hardy hits 2nd but yeah I agree with everything you say. If Hardy doesn't make the all star team this year it's a travesty beyond belief.

Hardy could be the Chris Shelton of 2007. Get off to an amazing unexpected start but slow down before June comes.

How am I punishing Hardy for were he hits or his teams stealing pattern, he's not that fast to steal many bases anyways.

EQA
Ramirez- .335
Reyes- .320
Hardy- .319

Hardy has been the worst offensive player between the 3, close with Reyes. But Reyes has played absolutely remarkable defense.

They are doing better than .320 with 14 homers and 40 rbi's?

Yes, someone finally brought up RBI, thank you, that definitely turns the tide Hardy for MVP!

Reyes will be the starting SS for sure because of the New York fanbase.
New York Fanbase>>>>>Milwaukee fanbase.

Hardy will be a backup.

bigboy1234 wrote:How am I punishing Hardy for were he hits or his teams stealing pattern, he's not that fast to steal many bases anyways.

EQA
Ramirez- .335
Reyes- .320
Hardy- .319

Hardy has been the worst offensive player between the 3, close with Reyes. But Reyes has played absolutely remarkable defense.

They are doing better than .320 with 14 homers and 40 rbi's?

Yes, someone finally brought up RBI, thank you, that definitely turns the tide Hardy for MVP!

Dont think the sarcasm is necessary there...

But there has to be some consideration for RBIs, they aren't a meaningless statistic. It's better paired with BA w/RISP, but a guy who's producing that many runs is defenitely doing well. There's a stat for total runs produced, but I'm not familiar with its abbreviation, if anyone knows it, that'd be great.. I'd like to see where all 3 are on that chart.

SportsWorld wrote:Hardy could be the Chris Shelton of 2007. Get off to an amazing unexpected start but slow down before June comes.

Hardy is much, much, much, much more talented than Shelton is and ever will be.

ReddBogutCharlieV wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Hardy is much, much, much, much more talented than Shelton is and ever will be.

Yeah I think Hardy will keep it up but probably not at this great pace all year. Eventually he will get in a slump.

510Reggae wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



Dont think the sarcasm is necessary there...

But there has to be some consideration for RBIs, they aren't a meaningless statistic. It's better paired with BA w/RISP, but a guy who's producing that many runs is defenitely doing well. There's a stat for total runs produced, but I'm not familiar with its abbreviation, if anyone knows it, that'd be great.. I'd like to see where all 3 are on that chart.

Aw, I'm sorry.

Are you talking about the stat runs created?

Hardy 41
Reyes 38
Ramirez 32

In that case, I would stay take Reyes over Hardy because I think Reyes' defense has been phenominal this year. But that brings Hanley and JJ closer. EQA is still a better stat than RC to me, but if you take both into acount Hardy probably comes out with a slight advantage.

Hardy is also on a winning team, that should be one advantage over ramirez shouldn't it?

bigboy1234 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


Aw, I'm sorry.

Not to me, just no point in agitating Brewers fans who are obviously going to be in Hardy camp.

I take RC into account only because of the situation - Hardy's obviously going to be prone to more driving in more runs, and Hanley's going to be prone to scoring them... Maybe its black and white, but runs created to me is usually the barometer for hitters. It takes into account (very lightly) baserunning ability and clutch hitting ability... both of which I value very much. Maybe because my team isnt ever a run scoring team and both of those stats mean a lot more to Oakland than to the rest of the MLB

As for doing it for a winning team... I dont think that helps JJ at all. In fact, it may deter him, as if Hanley's RC is close to JJ's, while JJ is hitting in a potent lineup and Hanley isn't... well, that speaks for itself.

bigboy1234 wrote:NL
C- Russell Martin
1B- Todd Helton and Derrek Lee (tie)
2B- Chase Utley (K.Johnson close 2nd)
3B- Chipper Jones
SS- Jose Reyes (Hanley and Hardy right after him)
OF- Barry Bonds
OF- Matt Holiday and Aaron Rowand (tie)
OF- Carlos Beltran
SP- Jake Peavy

AL
C- Jorge Posada
1B- Kevin Youkilis
2B- BJ Upton
3B- Alex Rodriguez
SS- Derek Jeter
OF- Vladimir Guerrero
OF- Magglio Ordonez
OF- Curtis Granderson
SP- Dan Haren

Now at least 10 of these players have been quite "lucky" so far this year so I expect none of these to be right.

I'll go with Torri Hunter over Granderson...sorry. Other than that your list is pretty good.