Kuzul

The tweet world is up in arms. The fan-selected All-Star starting first baseman, Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins, has withdrawn from the All-Star Game with concussion-like symptoms.

AL Manager Joe Girardi moved up Detroit Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera to the starting role and has selected Chicago White Sox slugger Paul Konerko as an injury replacement to the team.

Girardi has been accused of “hating the Red Sox” with this “biased” selection and that “Youkilis was clearly snubbed.”

Except for the fact that this implies Konerko was undeserving, Paul Konerko deserved to go over Kevin Youkilis. Compare the statistics.

Konerko is also better when there are runners in scoring position. With runners in scoring position, Konerko’s stats are .298, 6 HR, 41 RBI, and .945 OPS. Compare that to Youkilis’s .259, 4 HR, 35 RBI, and .915 OPS. Youkilis also gets lots of help and protection with Boston boasting the best offense in baseball, Chicago is near the bottom third.

Red Sox fans are going to say that Youkilis is a better defender. This is true and obvious. But not one All-Star has been sent to Anaheim based on their defense. If they want to be angry, they should be angry with the system, not with Joe Girardi or Paul Konerko.

Youkilis or Paul Konerko could have both easily been selected to represent the American League as a designated hitter reserve. But unfortunately, David Ortiz, whose selection is less deserving than Youkilis or Konerko, was selected as the backup because of his position as designated hitter.

This is asinine given that Ortiz was selected as a first baseman for the American League in 2006 and 2007 when he primarily played designated hitter. He played a total of 17 games at first base during those two years!

So while Konerko and Youkilis should both be going to Anaheim, there’s only room for one, and it was Konerko. Both could have gone with one of them in the DH position, like the NL choosing random players for the DH, but the system is broken.

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