All Star Game - AL thoughts

[abhall]

Let's here opinions on who you think should be the AL starters vs who is currently in the lead.

I'll start:

C Varitek - correct, best AL catcher by far
1B Tino Martinez - this is a joke. He has a .226 BA.
- Should be Tex (no brainer)
2B Brian Roberts - correct, AL batting leader, a monster year
SS Tejada - correct, he's a machine, my AL MVP
3B Arod - correct, huge year
DH Ortiz - this is a given

2B Soriano - he gets consideration but his BA with runners in scoring postion is horrible and he's a butcher at 2B.

Outfield - a lot of these are tough calls & can be debated:
OF Manny - coming on of late
OF Ichiro - having a down year with .305 BA
- Should be Damon. .338 BA. 2nd in AL in BA, 4th in runs scored
OF Guerrero - he'd be derserving if not for the injury IMO
- Should be Gary Sheffield. .305 BA, leads AL in OBP

Strong consideration: Matsui, G. Anderson

[bigh0rt]

I think you've got to give the nod to Torii Hunter ahead of Vlad, if the All-Star game was tomorrow.

Hunter: .274, 11 HR, 42 RBI, 43 R, 16 SB, .826 OPS

But Anderson and Sheffield should be given serious consideration as well.

Teixeira is the clear cut worthy starter at 1B, and Ortiz the DH.

I would rather see Soriano start at 2B ahead of Roberts, who is still riding a ridiculous April. He kept his BA up in May, which he's seen take a dive in June, but after his 8 HR and 26 RBI in April, in the next month and a half, he's only launched 3 homers and drove in 13 runs, going 3 for 6 in steal attempts, after going 10 for 11 in April. I'll take Soriano's .295/19/46/53/8 line over B-Rob.

[orakana]

Ok, we all know that Tino is a joke at 1B for the AL team, but lets think about it, play Ortiz at DH because its at Comerica Park, who would you play at first base as the starter?

Heres my options --

Travis Hafner
Mark Teixiera
Paul Konerko

[abhall]

Ok, we all know that Tino is a joke at 1B for the AL team, but lets think about it, play Ortiz at DH because its at Comerica Park, who would you play at first base as the starter?

Heres my options --

Travis Hafner
Mark Teixiera
Paul Konerko

The #'s are heavily in Tex's favor. Also, he's probably the best defensive 1st baseman in the AL (and Erstad). That's something that most "fantasy only" fans overlook or aren't aware of.

[orakana]

I thought about putting Erstad in my suggestions, he's on my fantasy bench but has been getting playing time due to his hit streak. I just don't think he's an all star though, but definately better than Tino. Either way Tex and Pronk are probably the two best choices for All Star first basmen in the AL right now.

[Box]

Tex should be at 1st. I don't have any real problems with the OF starters, but Pods, Hunter, Sheff, GA and Damon all deserve consideration.

[Jagfan21]

TEX!!!!!! and pods needs to be in there

[Octavian]

Podsednik has wheels, but that's about it. If the ChiSox didn't score runs he'd be good for speed on the paths and little else. Yeah, his average is .281... but that's hardly All-Star material. He steals more bases than anyone... but Torii Hunter, Manny Ramirez and Vlad Guerrero are all much better options.