Kuzul

Most people make way too big a deal about the drop-off players experience after participating in the Home Run Derby. It’s more likely statistical regression than anything else.

Nevertheless, Yankee coaches did not want Robinson Cano participating in this year’s Home Run Derby, and it looks like they are getting their way.

According to Mark Feinsand of the NY Daily News, Cano has pulled out of the Home Run Derby this year due to a minor, albeit unmentioned, back injury with which he’s supposedly been dealing.

Supposedly, Cano has had this injury for the last couple of days and has been receiving treatment for it. Apparently the team’s trainer Gene Monahan was against Cano being in the Derby after hearing he was involved.

If there really is a back injury, then he should be sitting out. However, I find it hard to believe that this is legit, and it makes me think that they’re making way too big a deal out of the Derby. There’s no word on whether he’s going to play in the All-Star Game, so I’m assuming he is. Funny that he’s healthy enough for that.

For what it’s worth, Cano has been struggling recently. Over his last eight games, Cano is 4-for-31 (.129) with a .432 OPS.

Related Stories

• July 7, 2010 — Robinson Cano, Statistical Regression, and the HR Derby (0)
• July 7, 2010 — Yankees Notes: Grandslams, Rivera, Cano, Posada, Kontos (0)
• July 5, 2010 — Yankees Notes: Recap, Thames, Hughes, Posada, All-Stars (0)
• June 28, 2010 — Cano and Mo Steal the Show: Yankees Come Back to Beat the Dodgers in 10 Innings (4)

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It’s the same conversation, just a different year.

Every season, virtually every Major League roster has players deserving of All-Star selections that get left on their sofas for the weekend.

This year, the Padres pitching staff may be the most distinguished of the All-Star snubs.

The Padres have the best record (49-34) in the National League and boast the best team ERA (3.05) in the NL by a long shot (St. Louis is next at 3.28), yet couldn’t command enough respect to land a pitcher on the roster.

The Padres have as many All-Stars as the Pittsburgh Pirates, the worst team in the NL at 30-52.

Their one All-Star this year is Adrian Gonzalez, certainly deserving of his third invite as a reserve. He’s batting .291 with 16 home runs and 51 RBI.

Gonzalez was one of eight reserves selected by the players, coaches, and managers.

“It means a lot more than any other way to get in,” Gonzalez said. “They’re the ones that pay attention and really see what you can do on the field.”

Commissioner Bud Selig has vastly improved the dynamics since the infamous tie game in 2002 in Milwaukee. Selig gave the midsummer classic a facelift and decided the game would determine home-field advantage in the World Series—rather than the previous alternative of merely rotating home fields on a yearly basis.

An outdated component of the player selection process is the rule that each team has to have at least one representative on its league’s roster. In a game that is supposed to spotlight MLB’s best players, some superior players are left off the roster in favor of less deserving players from weaker teams.

This argument is strengthened by the greater urgency of winning the game, due to the home field advantage in the World Series at stake.

Players that are producing better first halves statistically, and helping propel their team to the top of their divisions, are not being commended for their efforts. With the All-Star game now in its eighth year of “meaning something”—it’s time to dismiss the one-player-per-team rule.

The 33-man rosters for each team are selected through the following process: Baseball fans vote on the starting position players (eight). The players, coaches, and managers vote 16 players; eight pitchers (five starters and three relievers) and one back-up player for each position. The manager selects nine players, followed by a final vote by the fans (via Internet) chosen from a list of five players.

It no surprise that the fans didn’t vote in a player from the often overlooked Padres roster.

But the fact that Phillies manager Charlie Manuel and other MLB players didn’t feel the need to include Heath Bell (MLB-best 23 saves, 1.77 ERA) or Mat Latos (9-4, 2.77 ERA) is an insult to the Friars.

“To be frank it’s kind of ridiculous I think,” Tony Gwynn Jr. said. “Every year somebody is going to get snubbed, and it doesn’t help that we’re on the West Coast where people don’t get to see our guys throw as much.

“Heath shouldn’t be having to get in on a fan vote, but that’s the way it works and hopefully we can get the fans behind him and get two guys in.”

The 22-year-old Latos (99.2 IP, 70 H, 91 Ks, 0.96 WHIP) yields the lowest opponents batting average (.193) among all starting pitchers, and most importantly, has been the most reliable pitcher on the team with league’s best record.

One could even make a case for Clayton Richard (6-4, 3.00 ERA), along with Mike Adams (2.25 ERA, MLB-best 21 holds) and Luke Gregerson (2.23 ERA, MLB-second best 19 holds).

The most deserving Friar flawed by the inept selection process is closer Heath Bell.

Yet, he isn’t shocked that Manuel left him off the NL roster.

“For the pitching staff I know there’s a lot of good National League pitchers out there,” Bell said. “From starters to relievers—he has to make hard decisions.”

Last year, when San Diego was in the cellar of the NL for the first half of the season, they received two All-Star selections: Gonzalez and Bell.

Bell (4-0) has struck out 49 in 36.2 innings, leads the league in saves, and already has two saves and a victory in the month of July, but does not have an invite to Anaheim July 13.

Unless, that is, Bell gets selected with the final vote for the last roster spot in the NL.

“At least I still have a chance,” Bell said. “It’s unfortunate that Luke (Gregerson) doesn’t have a chance anymore, or (Mat) Latos, because they’re well-deserving too.”

Bell is a candidate along with Carlos Gonzalez (Rockies), Joey Votto (Reds), Billy Wagner (Braves), and Ryan Zimmerman (Nationals).

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Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long shook his head at the news that Robinson Cano had agreed to take part in Monday’s Home Run Derby in Anaheim.

“I would prefer he’s not involved in it, but that’s not my decision,” Long said, as reported by Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.

Now, if this is the showcase event for Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, why would anyone associated with the game prefer his player not participate?

It’s because the prevailing wisdom is that it hurts a player’s swing. The negative results can prove costly to the participating player’s team in the long run.

Whether it’s fiction or fact, correlation or coincidence, conventional wisdom does seem to err on the side of having your star player stay far, far away from this event.

Just ask David Wright and Bobby Abreu.

Both players saw their power numbers decline after taking part in the derby. Was it the result of fatigue and/or bad habits resulting from having participated in the event, or something else?

Count Joe Girardi as one who believes in the former rather than the latter.

“I think it’s a lot of swings for a player; physically, I think it’s somewhat of a grind, but it’s an honor to be involved,” Girardi said. “If that in any way would fatigue him, then I would prefer that he didn’t get fatigued.”

Speaking of the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez has indicated that he wouldn’t take part in the derby due to concerns about the negative impact, though not necessarily due to fatigue.

“The effect in the second half might be more mechanics and potentially developing bad habits,” A-Rod said.

Meanwhile, three American League players committed to join Cano in the Home Run Derby on Tuesday: Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera, Toronto’s Vernon Wells and Boston’s David Ortiz. 

Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins has declined to participate, though he says it’s just so he can have a day off.

The National League team has commitments from the Brewers’ Corey Hart, who is tied for third in the league with 19 homers, as well as the Cardinals’ Matt Holliday.

Two of the biggest power threats in the NL may not be allowed to participate this year.

Cincinnati’s Joey Votto, the NL home run leader with 21, has not been chosen for the game but could still get in through online fan voting or through player withdrawals.

Defending champion Prince Fielder of the Brewers did not make the NL All-Star Game roster.

So, is there any correlation between the derby and future performance?

The Hardball Times did a study last July, using projections rather than actual second-half performance as the parameter of the study.

Why? If a player over-performs his true talent level in the first half, he stands a better chance of being selected to the Derby. Because he over-performed, though, he’s bound to play worse in the second half.

The bottom line results indicate that, despite conventional wisdom, it doesn’t look like derby participants play any worse during the second half of the season.

Do the players who last longer in the tournament, including the winners, fare any worse for wear?

Nope. No matter how long a hitter lasts or how many home runs he hits, THT still didn’t see any signs of a second-half decline.

Since we all know that perception can be reality, I have an idea.

Since the event is sponsored by State Farm, perhaps an insurance policy protecting players against a second-half power decline would be the incentive some need to participate.

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The first six participants in the 2010 State Farm Home Run Derby have been announced.

Representing the American League are the Boston Red Sox’s David Ortiz, the Detroit Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera, the New York Yankees’ Robinson Cano, and the Toronto Blue Jays’ Vernon Wells.

The two National League participants so far are the Milwaukee Brewers’ Corey Hart and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Matt Holliday.

The other participants will be announced when Major League Baseball is done begging them to participate. That should be any day now.

I am looking forward to seeing Cabrera put on a show. He has the fifth longest home run in baseball this year at 468 feet, and look at his true home run landing spots chart courtesy of Hit Tracker Online…

Outside of a 342-foot home run at Kaufmann Stadium, all of Cabrera’s home runs have been manly man home runs.

I am also interested to see how Cano does in this. I don’t consider Cano a “home run” hitter, so it will be interesting to see how he does and if participating in this event will hurt his swing in the future. That being said, Cano does have a 451-foot home run this year.

The Home Run Derby will be broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN HD, ESPN Deportes, ESPN 3D, and ESPN Radio beginning at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, July 12.

Of course, the derby on ESPN will be cut away from in the event that LeBron James goes to the bathroom.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

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The All-Star vote is broken, and this year’s manager picks are atrocious. Looking at the rosters for the 2010 Midsummer Classic, it’s clear that the league’s best players will not be represented.

So Bleacher Report’s Featured Columnists decided to see if we could do better.

In this slideshow are the results of a poll conducted during the last week of All-Star voting. We’ve certainly got some different ideas about who should play in the Midsummer Classic; in the NL alone, three of the nine real-life voting leaders would be on the bench or at home on July 13 if we had our way (AL results were released yesterday).

Included in each slide are the full vote totals at each position, as well as a look back at the results from our May and June polls. A lot has changed since last time.

As always, each slide features commentary from a different Featured Columnist, but this time there’s a twist: In the interest of encouraging minority representation, if a winning player in this poll also came out on top last time, his slide instead includes a write-up from a dissident about why he or she voted for someone else (if you want want more details about an old winner, just go back to last time and update the numbers).

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Note: I sent this survey only to the Featured Columnists who have been active in previous polls. If you are a new FC or you have changed your mind about wanting to participate, send me a message and I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop for next time!

Begin Slideshow

The process of having fans only vote on the MLB All-Star Game has finally backfired on Major League Baseball, as they have announced no active players have made it onto either roster this year.

For years, the fan vote process has been chided by critics for allowing undeserving popular players to slip into the game ahead of those with better stats. But now the biggest snub might be players like Albert Pujols and Joe Mauer, as not a single player will be taking part in the festivities this year.

“Well, I guess I just wasn’t quite having the year I thought I was,” said a dejected Miguel Cabrera after hearing the news that he hadn’t made the AL team. “I thought for sure a .339 average, 20 homers, and 71 RBI would be good enough to punch my ticket, but apparently they thought someone else would make a better choice.”

Jerry Birkowitz, the man who the fans thought made a better choice at first base, has never played in the major or minor leagues, but does occasionally take part in a winter softball league with his coworkers. His popularity in Detroit, for owning three car dealerships, is believed to be the primary reason he made the team this year.

“I’m just honored to make the team,” said Birkowitz. “I worked long and hard to make sure everyone at Tigers games wrote down my name on the ballot under the write-in category. Playing in an all-star game has been a dream of mine since…at least two months ago, when I realized I could probably bend the rules to get away with it. I’m so happy right now.”

He is just one of 48 fans who managed to get enough votes to propel them over major stars and into the game which will decide home field advantage and the fate of the MLB season.

“Wow, this is a big responsibility, I hope we don’t let the viewers down,” said Dave Henderson, another fan taking part in the game, “But even if we can’t really play baseball, we’re all planning on being really really drunk, so it’s going to be pretty fun to watch anyway.”

SportsComedian.com

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It’s finally July. This marks the midpoint of the baseball season and with that the All-Star Game.

There’s been endless talk of who got snubbed and as always, the debate of how voting should work is in the air. Along with it comes the debate over the rule of mandating at least one All-Star rep for each team.

Some say it’s tradition that every team is represented. Others say it needs to go.

I’m going to have to agree with the later. It just doesn’t seem right. The roster spots should go to the players most deserving of it, regardless of what team they play for.

Some years teams just don’t have a player worthy of All-Star status and the managers shouldn’t be forced to pick one for the sake of having a player from each team, especially when they’re trying to gain World Series home advantage.

2003 was the first year that the All-Star Game really began to mean something.  In order to provide additional incentive to win, MLB made an agreement with the players union to give home-field advantage for the World Series to the league champion that won the All-Star Game. Prior to that, home-field advantage in the World Series alternated between the two leagues each year. This provides an even greater argument for the need to have the best players of the league on the field in the All-Star Game.

Although it can’t be proven, home-field advantage could be the difference between winning the World Series and being the first loser in the MLB. Yes, it’s not the only factor, but in the last couple years the American League has won all the All-Star Games as well as the majority of the World Series.

If one team has several players worthy of representing their league in the All-Star game they should be the ones to represent the league. It would be nice to include a player from every team, but there shouldn’t be a hard-line rule set in place to see that it happens. 

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Fun fact: Who has the best winning percentage of any pitcher in baseball over the past five seasons?

Here’s a hint. It’s not C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, Johan Santana, Josh Beckett or any of the other pitchers the East Coast writing establishment loves to go on endlessly about.

It’s Jered Weaver at .663.

Weaver has clearly taken his game to another level in the absence of former Angels ace John Lackey, and has managed to single-handedly carry his team through a horrific stretch in the process.

The one constant for the Angels in 2010 has been quality starts by Weaver—a stat that he leads all of MLB in with 14, along with fellow West Coast All-Star snub Felix Hernandez.

At a time when the rest of the Angels rotation and bullpen were ranked at the bottom of the league in every category, Weaver kept them afloat.

At a time when his team had the worst batting average in baseball and gave him one of the lowest run support totals in the league, Weaver managed to keep his team in games and win most of them.

Weaver should not only be in the conversation for the Cy Young, but the MVP as well.

Weaver also:

• Leads both leagues in strikeouts with 124.
• Leads all starters in K’s per nine innings with 10.27.
• Is second to only Cliff Lee in walk to strikeout ratio at 4.77.
• Has the third best WHIP in the league at 1.06.
• Has the sixth best ERA in the league at 2.82.

The opposition is hitting .217 against him. Only Jon Lester and Colby Lewis (yet another snubbed West Coast pitcher) were better.

It is hard to be any more consistent than giving up two or less runs in 12 of your 17 starts, as the 27-year-old has done this season.

If it weren’t for Weaver, the Angels might very well be in the Seattle Mariners’ shoes right now—sellers at the trade deadline, instead of just 3.5 games out of the AL West.

Weaver doesn’t have a 100-mph, blow-you-away fastball. In fact, at times it is hard to see how he gets anyone out with a fastball that barely hits 90 mph.

The Simi Valley High School product simply knows how to pitch.

The game hasn’t seen a pitcher this crafty since Greg Maddux. Weaver is living proof that changing speeds and having control in the zone are just as important as having good “stuff.”

His ability to ring up batters through deception probably doesn’t get him noticed as much as hurlers with electric pitches like Sabathia. However, it’s his results that are electric and undeniable to anyone with an ounce of objectivity.

While most East Coast fans and writers are nestled in their beds or writing on deadline, Weaver will continue to take to the mound for his 10:05 EST starts and do his thing.

Hopefully, the outrage over Weaver’s failure to make the All-Star squad will help these misguided souls to discover this new invention called TiVo.

A whole world of baseball exists on the West Coast of your continent, East Coast homers. A world that extends beyond the former Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants.

If the East Coast writers manage to discover this world in time, and Weaver continues to demonstrate the consistency he has shown throughout his entire career—maybe, just maybe—Weaver can have his vindication at the end of the year in the form of a Cy Young Award.

Until then, the Angels, the team that had 100 wins last season.

The team that is the current three-time defending champions of the West.

The team that is hosting the Midsummer Classic, will have to settle for its hometown fans cheering for one player (Torii Hunter), as he takes to the field All-Star Weekend.

Enjoy your game, East Coast.

The West Coast fans are glad we could provide you with a neutral site on which to play it.

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The midsummer classic goes to Disneyland in 2010.

Just miles down the street from the happiest place on earth, a collection of the greatest baseball players in the world will meet for one star-studded evening.

Who’s ready for a California Adventure?

I sure am.

Here is a position-by-position breakdown of the 81st MLB All-Star Game in Anaheim, California.

Begin Slideshow

There was a time when baseball players didn’t have to be extrinsically motivated to try to win the all-star game. The incentive was to win for the pride of the league without hurting your team.

Tom Seaver started the 1970 All-Star game. Two events occurred then that could never occur today.

New York’s most beloved team, at least after the Brooklyn Dodgers ceased to exist, was playing the Montreal Expos, a team that no longer exists, at Shea Stadium, a ballpark that no longer exists.

It was Sunday, July 12. The All-Star game would be played on Tuesday.

The score was 3-3 in the ninth inning when Montreal rallied for two runs off Mets starter Ray Sadecki after Sadecki had retired the first two batters.

With Rusty Staub on first, manager Gil Hodges had enough. He brought in Tom Seaver to end the inning, which he did.

The Mets were down by two runs, but Hodges had enough confidence in his challenged offense or sufficient disrespect for the Expos’ pitching that he was willing to use his ace to maintain a two-run deficit.

Two days later, on Tuesday, July 14 at River Front Stadium in Cincinnati, Gil Hodges, the National League all-star manager, gave the baseball to Tom Seaver.

The greatest pitcher in the history of New York baseball pitched three scoreless innings, allowing one hit, no walks, and striking out four batters. Guess the relief appearance on Sunday didn’t affect Seaver.

The game was still scoreless when Gaylord Perry took the mound for the National League in the sixth inning.

Perry had started for the San Francisco Giants the Sunday before the all-star game. The Houston Astros had blasted Perry for five runs and 11 hits in his five innings of work.

Perry worked two innings and was touched up for two runs and four hits.

With the game tied 4-4 after nine innings, Hodges brought in Dodgers’ lefty Claude Osteen, who had pitched eight innings on the Saturday before the All-Star game, which meant that Osteen came in on two days’ rest.

Osteen was 5’11” and weighed a “hefty” 160 pounds.

Neither team scored until the bottom of the 12th inning, when Jim Hickman singled to left, driving in Pete Rose from second base and ruining Ray Fosse’s promising career.

Osteen worked three innings to get the win. Not exactly the “Joba rules.”

American League manager Earl Weaver’s use of pitchers was no different from that of Hodges.

In the fourth inning, “Sudden” Sam McDowell, who had pitched a complete game on Saturday, came in for Jim Palmer. Sam worked three scoreless innings, allowing one hit and three walks.

It gets better.

Jim “Catfish” Hunter, who pitched eight innings on Sunday, started the ninth inning for the Junior Circuit. Clarence “Cito” Gaston was the only batter Hunter retired as the National League rallied for three runs to tie the game.

The losing pitcher was Jaret Wright’s daddy, Clyde, who had started on Saturday against the Minnesota Twins.

Yes, there was a time when the rule that limited pitchers to a maximum of three innings was necessary.

Yes, there was a time when managers didn’t have to worry if using a pitcher who was an All-Star would negatively affect his league’s chances of winning.

Yes, there was a time when real baseball games were played and pitchers did what they do best.

They pitched.

Reference:

1970 All Star Game at Retrosheet

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