Kuzul

With the MLB All-Star break coming up soon, I decided that I would tell my opinion of this year’s All-Stars and take a break from my usual NBA talk.

Of course, we all have our opinions of who should be an All-Star and who shouldn’t be, and usually we give arguments for players from our favorite teams. For example, my Angels (the host of this season’s All-Star events) only have one All-Star this season.

In this slideshow you will see several players who I believe were undeserving of a vote based off of this season’s stats. You will also hear about several players who were surprisingly snubbed from this season’s Midsummer Classic.

So here we go……………(I will start with my undeserving AL stars)

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Every Summer there is a great deal of controversy surrounding who was left off the MLB All-Star rosters.

This year is no different, as the National League roster is littered with controversial selections. Players like Omar Infante, Yadier Molina, and Michael Bourn have all had fine seasons, but there are many analysts who believe they could be easily replaced by players who were left off of the roster.

Here are the top 10 snubs from the National League roster this year.

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When a town’s citizen receives the call to the Bigs, his hometown usually goes crazy.

He gets a parade, streets are named after him, the whole deal.

But what happens when the local neighborhood kid is playing for the local favorite team? Everyone goes crazy.

The standard for a hometown hero was set long ago, when Lou Gehrig, a young man from the Yorkville neighborhood of New York City, began his career with the New York Yankees.

“The Iron Horse” would end up setting the record for consecutive games played (since broken by Cal Ripken, another star playing in his hometown) and career hits as a Yankee (since broken by Derek Jeter, who was born in Northern New Jersey).

Since then, greats such as Pete Rose and Tony Gwynn have played in their hometown.

The general consensus around baseball is that Joe Mauer is the one of the greatest players in baseball. But which hometown hero is having the best 2010?

Here are the top ten.

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With just over a month to go before Major League Baseball’s trade deadline, the San Diego Padres and general manager Jed Hoyer know that there is work still to be done.

He knows that the team must make a trade for an outfielder, or just a productive bat, for this team to stay ahead in the NL West and make some noise in the playoffs. What he’s not going to do is show his cards, regardless of how many time fans want to know what he’s planning on doing.

If you live in the San Diego area, you might have heard Darren Smith on 1090 AM in San Diego interview Hoyer on several occasions. What remains humorous to me is how many times fans want to know who he’s going after.

Just so we’re clear on this Padres fans, Hoyer is not going to come out and tell you who he’s going after because you know as well as I do that other teams will find that quote and make sure he doesn’t get the players he’s after.

So that being said, let’s get to the speculation about who Hoyer could or could not be looking at, including players that may be on their way out of San Diego.

Adrian Gonzalez

I’m not going keep this short and sweet. With the Padres currently leading the division over both the Giants and the Dodgers, you can pretty much guarantee that Adrian Gonzalez is going to be with the team through the rest of this season.

What happens after the 2010 season concludes is another question that won’t be answered until possibly late November or early December. But as of right now, Adrian isn’t going anywhere.

Heath Bell

Heath Bell only has a month left in a Padre uniform. Yes, Padre fans, you heard me right. Bell will be the first one on the move because if you want to get that bat you covet so much, you need to give something to get something. The only player that will land you the bat you need is the current Padres’ closer.

Don’t get all excited on me and start to freak out about who’s going to be the team’s new closer if Bell is shipped elsewhere. Mike Adams and the rest of the Padres’ bullpen cast, have done a phenomenal job out of the bullpen and can handle the closing duties just fine.

While Adams seems to be the odds on favorite to take over the role, the Padres could do a closer by committee until they find the right guy for the job and still be just fine.

Austin Kearns

This is one name that’s been thrown around in the rumors as of late. Though he’s having quite a year in Cleveland, hitting .283 with seven home runs and driving in 32, he’s only hitting .217 (10/46) against National League clubs this season.

You have to wonder, with those kind of numbers can he be a productive hitter in Petco Park, a by now infamous pitcher’s park?

David DeJesus

David DeJesus is another outfielder that is getting a lot of run in the rumor sheets over the past few weeks. Although the Padres might have interest in him, so do the Giants, Angels, and Dodgers so the Padres are definitely not alone in their possible chase.

But, one snag in landing the Royals outfielder is Kansas City is in no way obligated to trade him for one reason. His $6 million price tag for next season isn’t exactly “expensive” for the team to handle.

Josh Hamilton

Ok, I will admit that this is probably a complete long shot but I’ll take a stab at it anyway.

The Rangers are currently going through bankruptcy hearings and after a judge’s ruling yesterday, it seems unlikely at this point that the team can continue their chase of either Houston’s Roy Oswalt or Seattle’s Cliff Lee.

That being said, the Padres and Rangers are no strangers to each other when it comes to being trade partners. Let’s not forget, it was the Rangers that gave the Padres a nicely wrapped Christmas gift in the form of Gonzalez and Chris Young.

So what’s stopping the Padres from possibly dangling Bell and a mid-level prospect or two in front of Rangers general manager Jon Daniels and asking what it would take to pry Josh Hamilton away from them?

Again, I understand that this a slim to none possibility, but it’s worth a phone call from Hoyer, don’t you agree?

Coco Crisp

Back in December of last year, the Padres flirted with the idea of signing Coco Crisp to a one-year deal and even came close to an agreement. However, according to reports, Crisp backed out and instead signed a two-year deal with the Oakland A’s.

Well, seems karma has intervened and the A’s could be looking to either deal or trade Crisp at the deadline. Though his $5.75 million option for next season isn’t exactly expensive for the A’s to exercise, his lack of on the field time due to injury is motivation enough to find a trade partner.

While the Padres may have flirted with him about seven months ago, don’t expect those flirtations to pick back up again this time around.

Xavier Nady

Padres fans will know this name well as Xavier Nady has all ready had a stint with the Padres from 2003 to 2005 before being traded to the New York Mets for, yes you guessed it, Heath Bell.

Now, with the Cubs ready to deal certain pieces of their roster, Nady could be a player that the Padres could have for cheap. I’m not against it as I’ve been a fan of his while he was in San Diego. It was unfortunate that Nady never really got a shot to show what he could do, but maybe another shot shouldn’t really be out of the question.

He’s a cheap option and won’t cost the Padres more than a possible low to mid-level prospect. He’s currently hitting .262 with four home runs through 49 games with the Cubs.

Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham, Nyjer Morgan

Three players that could become available if the Washington Nationals slide any further away from the top of the NL East are Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham, and Nyjer Morgan.

However, the Nationals don’t seem quite ready to become sellers just yet, especially with their new ticket seller, Stephen Strasburg.

The team has been in talks with Dunn about a two-year extension since spring training but the two sides haven’t agreed on a deal as of yet. They’ve had ample opportunities to deal Willingham over the last year and change but seem unwilling to do just that, so where does that leave Morgan?

All three of these players, especially Willingham and Morgan, are going to get interest from teams looking for an outfielder but the way things look at this point, the Nationals seem just fine hanging on to them.

Cody Ross

According to Marlins’ beat writer Joe Frisaro, the Marlins are looking for relief help. Really? You don’t say?

With the Padres having a plethora of pitching out of the bullpen, and with their apparent willingness to deal Bell, why not look at guy like outfielder Cody Ross?

He’s currently hitting .287 with six home runs and 41 runs driven in. He could be the kind of player that the Padres would be looking for.

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Adrian Gonzalez homered and drove in three runs and Chase Headley put together a four-hit afternoon as San Diego beat the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 on pinch-hitter Oscar Salazar’s two-out infield single in the 10th inning, part of a 16-hit outburst by the Padres.

Nick Hundley’s hot hitting continued, as he also homered for the Padres, who scored three times in the first inning against Joe Blanton.

Yet, as was the case in the first two games of the series, the Phillies answered right back and led 5-3 before the second inning was through, behind Ryan Howard’s 3 RBI to help chase starter Kevin Correia in the second inning.

The Padres clawed back in the fourth on Gonzalez’s two-out single and tied it at 5 on Hundley’s homer leading off the fifth.

Headley opened the 10th with a single off Danys Baez (2-2) and advanced to third on a sacrifice and a grounder to second. After an intentional walk to Tony Gwynn Jr., Salazar singled deep into the shortstop hole to put the Padres ahead 6-5.

Heath Bell got through a shaky 10th inning for his 15th save of the season. Bell issued a walk to Placido Polanco with one out, but was thrown out at third by Gwynn, in a potential game-saving play, trying to advance on a Chase Utley single. Howard also singled to put runners at the corners, but Jayson Werth struck out on a 97 mph fastball to end the game.

Whenever any game gets into the bullpen, the Padres have a distinct advantage, and they utilized that advantage on Sunday. Four Padres relievers delivered 8 1/3 scoreless innings.

After Correia left, trailing 5-3, Sean Gallagher delivered 3 1/3 scoreless innings, tying his longest outing of the season. After the Padres came back to tie it, Ryan Webb delivered two scoreless innings yielding just one hit.  Mike Adams followed with two more scoreless innings, and finally the Padres broke through.

Padres relievers lead the National League in ERA, strikeouts and have held opposing hitters to a league-low .207 batting average. After the seventh inning this season, the Padres have outscored the opposition 25-13, they are a league-best 6-3 in extra inning games and 8-4 in games decided in the last at-bat.

The much needed victory allows the Padres to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season with and sets up a chance for a series split tomorrow with the Phillies on ESPN’s Monday Night Baseball.

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After last night’s rally and dramatic bottom of the ninth victory, the Padres (17-10) assured themselves of having another successful homestand.  Winners of six of their last eight games and 11-4 at home, the Padres continue to roll.

On the offensive side, the Padres are showing an ability to hit with runners in scoring position—they are second in the National League with a .293 team average.  After collecting their third walk-off win of the season, they are also proving that they have the ability to come through when the game is on the line.

Showing that he is a go-to-guy in the clutch, with two outs, Chase Headley, lined a 1-0 count single to the right-center gap, scoring Lance Zawadski from second base.  This was Headley’s second walk-off hit of the season; the other walk-off hit for the Padres was a home run by David Eckstein.

Aside from the timely hitting, strong pitching has also been a major reason for their early season success—with a 2.81 team ERA that ranks second in the NL. 

Last night’s starting pitcher, Wade LeBlanc, called up to replace the injured Chris Young in the rotation, allowed two earned runs over six innings, received a no-decision. 

In three other starts this season LeBlanc (2-0, 1.16) has only one earned run and has shown a lot of promise.  LeBlanc was the pitcher of record in two of the Padres’ Major League leading six shutouts.

Opening day starter and free-agent acquisition, Jon Garland (3-2, 2.06) has been a steady contributor.

Veteran Kevin Correia (4-2, 3.97) leads the team in wins and strikeouts with 30.

Second-year starter Clayton Richard (1-2, 3.00) is beginning to hit his stride. 

The only sore spot in the rotation has been 22-year-old Mat Latos (1-3, 5.47), who has given up a team-high seven home runs.  All-star Heath Bell (2-0, 1.64) anchors a strong bullpen with seven saves in eight chances. 

It is still too early to tell if the first-place Padres have what it takes to take the division. But the middle of May just might give a clue as whether or not the Padres are true contenders. 

After a three game series against the NL’s worst team, Houston Astros, they are scheduled to face NL West rivals Dodgers and Giants from May 11-20 with five games at home and five games on the road.

If they manage to come out with a winning record against the second-place Giants and are able to take advantage of the struggling Dodgers, who were early season favorites to win the division, then the Padres will most likely still be atop the division. 

And that may just be time to start taking the overachieving Padres seriously. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com