Estrada, Donaldson, Edwin, Saunders, Sanchez named All-Stars

[Wo1verine]

I'm disappointed that he made it only because his price tag just got more expensive and we know Rogers never spends like they should.

[ldnk]

AL All-Star Aaron Sanchez! Well earned.

[Hoopstarr]

First time we've had 5 All-Stars since 2006 when Doc, Vernon, Rios, Glaus, and Ryan made it.

[EJaggit]

Saunders, as well as Aaron Sanchez! Love it!

[RalphWiggum]

Machado starting over JD? Disrespectful. Machado can't even hold JD's jock strap.

Machado is a great player and got more votes. Also Donaldson didn't really crank it up until around June where as Machado has been a stud all year. We lead the AL in attendance and have viewership that is I'm guessing as good as anyone LA and NY included. You want to be mad that JD isn't starting be mad that we didn't get behind him the way we did for Saunders.

I just did some research no team in baseball touches us in average viewership. We are far and away the most popular baseball team in MLB when it comes to eyeballs on the screen.

Now I'm pissed that Rogers still treats the team like an upper middle class team when we have numbers that the Cubs, Yankees and Dodgers would kill for. The Jay's are averaging 928,00 viewers a game. The Cubs with their amazing start are averaging were averaging 208,000 market homes. I don't know if our number is based on something different than "market homes" but even if they are assuming 2 people are watching every TV that is tuned into a Cubs game (unlikely, baseball isn't like football where it's fair to assume 10-15% of homes have more than one person watching the game) we are still murdering them. The Blue Jay's are clearly subsidizing the terrible deal Rogers made with the NHL. Hopefully an improved Leafs team will let them spend some more money on the Jay's because they have to be making a killing on advertising right now.

[RalphWiggum]

Ned Yost picked Brach and Harris over Osuna (not to mention Sanchez). Have I ever mentioned how I hate the Royals?

Osuna I sorta get, he's been really good but not spectacular. Sanchez getting passed over once Marco dropped out makes no sense. He deserved to get that spot especially since he plays for the same team.

Correction apparently Sanchez was named, don't know how I missed that. Well I do, I took a nap right when the game ended and started boozing when I woke up for UFC 200 since. I'm still going now. I may need some help!

[RalphWiggum]

Without looking at advanced stats, both have sub 1.00 ERA's so I'm not sure I see the crime. Betances is worse and he's the 3rd Yankee. Kimbrel has been average at best in Boston, I don't get that pick at all especially with all the BoSox already there.

He also picked Edwin over Nelson Cruz. Edwin has inferior stats.

Either way, I hate that one manager chooses the reserves. At least the coaches vote in the NBA.

They've both hit 22 HR, but Edwin has driven in 20 more runs than Cruz and the difference in most other stats is marginal (.267/.358/.541 compared to .281/.365/.545). Seems like the right call to me.

RBI's are about opportunities though. Edwin's average with RISP is only .250 and his OPS is .787 so it's not like he's been particularly clutch. (Granted Cruz is slightly worse, I just don't like using RBI's as a favourable point for putting Edwin in the Allstar game)

It's close for sure. My point was that Yost could have easily chosen against the Jays here and he didn't.

You can't pass up the MLB RBI leader no matter what advanced metrics say.

[Mak]

Nice to see EE and Josh with 80s on the leader board.

[ldnk]

Ned Yost picked Brach and Harris over Osuna (not to mention Sanchez). Have I ever mentioned how I hate the Royals?

Osuna I sorta get, he's been really good but not spectacular. Sanchez getting passed over once Marco dropped out makes no sense. He deserved to get that spot especially since he plays for the same team.

Correction apparently Sanchez was named, don't know how I missed that. Well I do, I took a nap right when the game ended and started boozing when I woke up for UFC 200 since. I'm still going now. I may need some help!

I think you can make a pretty compelling case for Brach with his 0.93 ERA and 0.807 WHIP. He's also thrown 48.1 innings.
Similar Harris has a 1.66 ERA and 0.974 WHIP with 9 saves on the side.

Osuna is all-star calibre and if the Jays didn't already have 5 players in the all-star game I think he gets added but I don't have a problem with that.

[Skin Blues]

You can't pass up the MLB RBI leader no matter what advanced metrics say.

You can completely ignore RBI and no matter what you will be able to make better judgments of players. If you can't make an argument without citing RBI, then you can't make an argument.

[RalphWiggum]

You can't pass up the MLB RBI leader no matter what advanced metrics say.

You can completely ignore RBI and no matter what you will be able to make better judgments of players. If you can't make an argument without citing RBI, then you can't make an argument.

I'm not ignorant to the fact that with the exception of a couple stats stats don't always tell the whole story but there are always going to be numbers that people lend more weight to. RBI, HR, BA, ERA are those type stats.

I get your point but I got no issue with the far and away RBI leader in MLB getting into the all star game as long as he's not at the Mendoza line.

[The_Hater]

You can't pass up the MLB RBI leader no matter what advanced metrics say.

You can completely ignore RBI and no matter what you will be able to make better judgments of players. If you can't make an argument without citing RBI, then you can't make an argument.

I'm not ignorant to the fact that with the exception of a couple stats stats don't always tell the whole story but there are always going to be numbers that people lend more weight to. RBI, HR, BA, ERA are those type stats.

I get your point but I got no issue with the far and away RBI leader in MLB getting into the all star game as long as he's not at the Mendoza line.

While it's true that the general public still gives weight to those stats, most GM's around the league could care less about RBI's and many of those other old school stats you lists and would give them little or no weight in contract negotiations. There are simply better, more accurate stats to measure performance these days.

That said, it is possible that Ned Yost didn't look to far beyond the old school stats including RBI's when picking Edwin. But I'm sure it was far from a slam dunk too. I looked at 3 different sites projecting the reserves before the all-star game and all 3 of them had Nelson Cruz on the roster as the b/u DH, not Edwin.

[Skin Blues]

Yup Edwin was the third best DH in the first half. Ortiz obviously is far and away #1 (despite trailing in RBI), and Nelson Cruz had Edwin beat in all three components of the triple slash as well as wRC+ and wOBA. I don't really care that fans or managers don't value players properly, but it goes to show you an instance where looking at RBI leads to wrong decisions. The MLB leader in RBI should have been home for the All-Star Game. This is the same line of thinking that has allowed Ryan Howard to continue getting playing time for the past 5 seasons.