Kuzul

Josh Johnson makes history each time he takes the mound.

Since he plays for the Florida Marlins, however, media outlets fail to mention him in the NL Cy Young race as often as Ubaldo Jimenez and Adam Wainwright.

Jimenez, whose 15-2 record comes thanks to a hot start in April and May, fares much better with his team’s run support.

Over his first 17 starts, the Colorado Rockies pitcher went 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA. In Jimenez’s last six starts, he is 2-1 with a 7.64 ERA.

Against the Marlins, he had his second-worst outing of the season; five 1/3 innings of a six run- (four-earned) ball game.

But he got a no-decision when Florida blew a lead.

Five times this season the Florida Marlins’ troubling bullpen has lost a lead during Johnson’s starts.

It has prevented him from a 15-3 record, which would put him alongside Jimenez.

Four times this season the righty has had a no-decision when allowing just one run. The 26-year-old pitcher even lost during Roy Halladay’s perfect game despite giving up only an unearned run. 

Unlike Jimenez, Johnson has been consistent all season long.

He leads all of baseball with a 1.61 ERA, and over his last 13 starts, he has gone at least six innings and given up one run or fewer.

That streak is the longest since Greg Maddux achieved it in 1995. 

Eighteen of Johnson’s 20 starts are quality ones, with the season opener against the New York Mets his worst: a five-inning, four-run affair.

He has fanned 141 batters, fourth-best in baseball, and has walked just 29 in 134 1/3 innings. 

Despite these statistics, Bleacher Report doesn’t even have a tag for him!

And in the NL Rookie of the Year battle, 26-year-old Gaby Sanchez continues at a consistent pace.

Instead of the first baseman, though, 20-year-old phenom Mike Stanton attracts all the attention since he’s one of the top prospects in baseball.

Stanton’s power is that of legend. Five-hundred-foot homers have been sighted.

Yet, Sanchez’s numbers speak for themselves: .304 average, 11 home runs, 44 RBI, 23 doubles, and 46 runs.

In comparison, Atlanta’s Jason Heyward, who was voted as an All-Star starter, brings a media circus with him.

After coming back from a thumb injury, he is batting .266 with 11 homers and 48 RBI.

San Francisco’s Buster Posey, who has been on a tear during the month of July, is batting .358 with eight home runs and 32 RBI in just 47 games.

Time will tell if the rookie catcher stays on such a torrid pace.

All this begs this question: Where would both Johnson and Sanchez be if they played for an organization with a larger fan base and more national attention?

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Batters facing Florida Marlins ace Josh Johnson this season can empathize with those helpless premium dinner entrees. They can slap, bunt, and swing all they want. They can extend the at-bat with foul balls. They can take their sweet old time going in and out of the box trying to break the pitcher’s momentum.

No matter what they do they can’t hit Josh Johnson.

Johnson has cooked batters this season to the tune of 130 strikeouts against 128 innings of work with a 1.62 ERA, and a 10 – 3 record on an average club. The Marlins are currently in the middle of the pack in the NL with a 45-47 record, 9.0 games back in the N.L. East. Additionally the Marlins have one of the worst defensive units in baseball. With 72 errors thus far, they only trail the Nationals (77).

Whether it’s a 96 mph fastball, a vicious slider, or a sinking change-up, players aren’t going to touch first base often and rarely, if ever, cross home plate when JJ is pitching.

In his 19 starts this season he has given up more than two runs a mere three times. Three! The most runs he gave up all season was four, and that was in the season opener against the Mets in April.

Johnson is gaining steam towards his first Cy Young. The Rockies’ Ubaldo Jimenez has been struggling of late.

His case will only strengthen if the Marlins turn it out around in the second half and close in on the division. Regardless, he is having one of the best seasons in recent history.

Johnson’s 2010 season has a chance to go down as one of the best of the decade for a starting pitcher.

Pedro Martinez’s 2000 season, when he went 18-6 with a 1.74 ERA and 284 strikeouts, comes to mind, as does Randy Johnson in 02′, when he went 24-5 with a 2.32 ERA and an amazing 334 strikeouts.

To say that Johnson’s year thus far isn’t on par with those legendary marks in baseball history is blasphemy.

Johnson is easily among the top three pitchers in all of baseball, and arguably the best. The fact that he’s still just 26 years old just isn’t right. The guy is going to get even better.

Terrifying, I know.

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Fantasy Baseball’s Pitching Line of the Week:

Paul Maholm (SP-PIT) 

9 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, W

Paul Maholm, beneficiary of the Pirates unusual offensive barrage on Sunday, pitched the team to a 9-0 victory over the Houston Astros. Maholm pitched a complete game shutout, allowing three hits, no walks and struck out one. The win marked Pittsburgh’s first shutout of the 2010 season, who has surrendered 489 runs to opponents thus far, second to only the Arizona Diamondbacks (524).

Prior to Sunday’s winning effort, Maholm was just 5-7 in 18 starts for the Pirates with a 4.37 ERA. The twenty-eight year old Maholm is currently striking out a career low 4.8 batters per nine innings and is walking 3.43 batters per nine, the most since his 2006 season.

Maholm was taken by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the eighth overall pick in the first round of the 2003 MLB Amateur Draft out of Mississippi State University. He debuted for the Pirates against the Milwaukee Brewers on August 30, 2005, pitched eight shutout innings and earned his first career victory. 

In 2007, Paul Maholm won a career high 10 games, lost a career high 15 games and finished the season with a 5.27 ERA. Maholm’s best season in Pittsburgh came in 2008 when the southpaw finished 9-9 with career bests in ERA (3.71), strikeouts per nine (6.06) and walks surrendered per nine innings (2.75). 

Maholm features a fastball that hits 88-89 MPH (with the wind at his back), a curveball, slider and changeup in his modest repertoire. 

I can’t help to wonder what his career numbers would look like if he were playing for any other team in baseball.

Paul Maholm is currently owned in 17% of Y! leagues. 

The “Double Dipper” is a starting pitcher who will get two starts in the same week. Each Sunday we will preview top three options in each league and highlight streaming options for players owned in less than 50% of Y! leagues.

The No Brainers in the NL:

Chris Carpenter/STL ( vs. PHI, @ CHC): Back to his self after two consecutive losses.

Ubaldo Jimenez/COL (@ FLA, @ PHI): Nice and rested. 

Clayton Kershaw/LAD (vs. SFG, vs. NYM): Only lasted 4.1 innings last outing. Don’t be scared.

Tim Lincecum/SFG (@ LAD, @ ARI): 2-0, 15:3 K:BB in last two trips

The No Brainers in the AL:

Phil Hughes/NYY (vs. LAA, vs. KC): Monitor to be sure they don’t skip him.

Matt Garza/TB (@ BAL, @ CLE): Three of last four starts were QS.

Daisuke Matsusaka/BOS (@ OAK, @ SEA): Two strong match-ups

Warning: Streaming can be lethal. The following are owned in less than 50% of Y! leagues.

Tommy Hunter/TEX (@ DET, vs. LAA): Hunter is 6-0 in eight starts. Ride it.

Kris Medlen/ATL (vs. SD, @ FLA): Solid ratios and two decent match-ups

Madison Bumgarner/SFG (@ LAD, @ ARI): 2-0 in last two, allowing only one ER and logging a 11:3 K:BB ratio.

R.A. Dickey/NYM (@ ARI, @ LAD): Lost last two, but no support.

Daniel Hudson/CHW (@ SEA, @ OAK): Tons of K potential on MLB’s hottest team.

Don’t Touch ‘Em

J.D. Martin, Blake Hawksworth, Jeff Karstens, Luis Atilano

Who will win the pitching duel of the week: Lincecum or Kershaw?

Who will be the best 2-Start Pitcher owned in 50% or less in week 16?

Leave a comment, or reply to us on Twitter @TheFantasyFix

Tags: Fantasy Baseball Advice, Fantasy Baseball Blog, Fantasy Sports Blog, MLB, Two Start Pitchers, Double Dippers, Fonzy Scheme, Paul Maholm, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants, Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers, Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado Rockies, Chris Carpenter, St. Lois Cardinals, Phil Hughes, New York Yankees, Matt Garza, Tampa Bay Rays, Tommy Hunter, Texas Rangers, R.A. Dickey, New York Mets, Daniel Hudson, Chicago White Sox, Madison Bumgarner, Kris Medlen, Atlanta Braves

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I admit, I am a Toronto Blue Jays fan, that’s why you’ll notice that the picture of Halladay is in a Blue Jays uniform rather than the Phillies uniform. I grew up watching him play and truly loved watching the best pitcher in baseball completely shut down opposing offenses. As such, my opinion is a bit biased so I tried to stick to the numbers only when deciding that Halladay deserves the NL Cy Young.

First, realize this is July 17, 2010 and this article is not going to take into account any games played on the 17th. Instead I am going to just analyze the numbers up until now and show you why I think Halladay deserves to win. 

Clearly the only real competition Halladay has is Ubaldo Jimenez—you know the guy who is 15-1 and the ace of the Colorado Rockies? He has an ERA of 2.20, a WHIP of 1.05, 113 strikeouts and 46 walks, and he’s already pitched 127 innings!

He also has three complete games, including two shutouts  I also should point out that he plays in Coors Field, as such his numbers would be even lower if he played in a regular park. As such his numbers are definitely screaming CY Young, however the NL has Roy Halladay.

Roy Halladay has a record only of 10-7. That sounds terrible but he has already pitched 148 innings! He leads the league in innings which is all the more impressive because he plays in the NL (no DH). He has an ERA of 2.19, a WHIP of 1.05, 128 strikeouts, and only 19 walks!

To top it all off, he has already gotten seven complete games, including threes shutouts and a perfect game! Absolutely phenomenal stats, and would have definitely won the CY Young if Jimenez did not choose this year to crank it up a notch. 

So with all these stats what makes Halladay better? Jimenez has slightly worse ERA, same WHIP, and not too far off on strikeouts, though way off on walks. However, Halladay has pitched a total of 21 more innings. The law in economics is called diminishing marginal performance, in this case.

What that means is as he plays more innings his performance should decline, but look the numbers are about the same—ERA, WHIP, predictably he’s better on strikeouts, but the walks are so few. This takes out the Coors Field being a hitters’ park variable.

Then we come to the true skill of Roy Halladay, a man who can give your bullpen a day off. He has seven complete games already, and it’s just barely passed the halfway mark of the season, at this pace he will get 12 complete games!

Compare that with Jimenez’s three and you see why Halladay is so dominant. It gets better though he already has three shutouts and one of them was a perfect game! Just tell me why you would not pick him for CY Young this year.

I can think of only one reason, his 10-7 record. I agree with the saying “you play to win the game” and if you don’t win, the stats should not justify anything. However, in the case of Halladay we may have to look a bit beyond considering his stats are so outstanding, right on par with Jimenez. 

However, here’s another reason: although the Phillies have only scored nine runs less than the Rockies for the entire season, they give Roy Halladay a paltry 3.32 runs of support per game, whereas the Rockies give Jimenez an outstanding 5.33 runs of support per game.

That’s quite a differential in run support considering the Phillies have scored only nine runs less the entire year. You have to admit it looks like their offense gets lazy when Halladay gets out there, whereas almost any pitcher can win a lot with that kind of run support. For that reason I say the wins mean almost nothing. 

Please note I calculated run support by runs they scored after Halladay or Jimenez may have left the game because that gives them a chance for a no decision. So who is the better pitcher?

A lot of people should run away with it. I am not going to say Halladay should run away with it, but he does deserve more consideration than people give him. I think in the end, he will get the nod simply because as the season wears on the Doc gets better, while other pitchers start tiring out. However, if it were handed out today I would definitely give it to the Doctor. 

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It is a notion that dates back as far as Don Newcombe’s 1956 season with the Brooklyn Dodgers: if a pitcher is the Most Valuable Player in his league, then he must be the best pitcher as well.

Logically, this is a very straightforward proposition: pitcher is subset of player; a pitcher who is the most valuable player must also be the most valuable pitcher.

And over the course of baseball history, or at least since Newcombe won the first Cy Young Award and the National League MVP in 1956, any pitcher who has won his league’s Most Valuable Player Award has also won his league’s Cy Young Award.  From Newcombe to Koufax to Gibson and McLain to Blue to Fingers to Willie Hernandez to Clemens to Eckersley, winning one has meant winning both.

But must it?

Our conceptions of the Cy Young Award and the Most Valuable Player Award, and the differences between those conceptions, might tell us otherwise.

The Cy Young Award, which was established in 1956 by Major League Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick to honor Cy Young, who had died the year before, is given annually to the best pitcher in each league.  There is really no subjective element to the Cy Young Award–no team success requirement, no “what did he mean to his team” element–and hence good pitchers on bad teams win the award regularly.

Indeed, it has been five years since the NL Cy Young went to a pitcher from a playoff team, and last year the AL Cy Young went to Zack Grienke, who played for the 65-win Kansas City Royals.  Essentially, in order to win the Cy Young Award, a pitcher has to be the best pitcher in his league, and nothing else is asked of him.  

Such is not the case with the Most Valuable Player Award.

The first ever MVP awards in baseball were given out in 1911 by the Chalmers Automobile company and voted upon by a committee of baseball writers.  That award lasted until 1914.  In the 1920’s the AL and NL each had their own version of an MVP award which had silly and inconsistent rules; for example, player-managers and former winners were ineligible for the AL award.

The MVP awards as we know them came into existence in 1931, when the Baseball Writers Association of America established the awards and the rules for voting— one writer in each city (later three and now two) votes for the top ten players, and the award goes to the winner according to a calculation based on first place votes, second place votes, etc.

The definition of the Most Valuable Player award has never really been fleshed out in a satisfactory way (at least to my knowledge), but one thing is clear: the Most Valuable Player Award is not  given out to the best player in the league.  Otherwise, Stan Musial would have won every year in the 1940’s, Mickey Mantle would have more than three, Willie Mays would have more than two, and in 1941 Ted Williams would have won instead of Joe DiMaggio.

Whatever the proper conception of the MVP award is, there is doubtlessly a “winning team” requirement that usually dictates the winner.  From DiMaggio in 1941 to Ichiro Suzuki in 2001, the MVP voters generally want their guy to have contributed to his team’s successful season.

At the same time, it is equally clear that the award will not simply go to the best player on the best team.  Otherwise, Derek Jeter would have at least one MVP by now, and Albert Belle would have won the 1995 AL MVP over Mo Vaughn (but do not get me started).

MVP voters generally seem to want their guy to be a player without whom his team would have been screwed.  Hence, Vlad Guerrero, who joined the 77-win Angels in 2004 and made them a competitive team, and then went on fire for the last month of the season and led them to the AL West crown by one game over the Oakland A’s.

Of course, every now and then you get a guy like Andre Dawson, 1987.  Dawson couldn’t find a team to sign him in the off-season before 1987, but he really wanted to play in Chicago, so he signed a blank contract and let the team fill in the numbers.

All he did that year was hit 49 home runs, drive in 137 RBI, win a Gold Glove, and become a folk legend in Wrigley Field.  Dawson had a great feel-good story and the voters gave him the award even though he played for the last place Cubs.

Needless to say, a lot goes into the Most Valuable Player award.

Which brings us back to Ubaldo.

Has Ubaldo been the best pitcher in the National League in 2010?  Though he was clearly the best NL pitcher over the first month or two, it is beginning to look like the best pitcher in the NL this season is Josh Joshnon.  Take a look at their stats side-by-side:

With the exception of win-loss record, for the most part Johnson is clearly having the better overall pitching season, and if the 2010 season were to end today, I think Johnson would get my vote for the 2010 NL Cy Young Award.

At the same time, though, which player has been more valuable to their team?

In games in which Josh Johnson starts for the Florida Marlins, the Marlins are 11-7.  Compare that with their overall record of 42-46, and the fish have an eight game turnaround with Johnson on the mound.

The Marlins are in fourth place in the NL East, 10.5 games back of the Braves and five games back of the third place Philadelphia Phillies.  After Johnson, Florida has a rotation in shambles, a very good bullpen, and three very good hitters to go with an average lineup and a bad defense.

If not for Johnson, the Marlins would have no shot at the playoffs, but even with him they aren’t in it.

Meanwhile, Ubaldo Jimenez is 15-1 for the Colorado Rockies.  In games that he starts, the Rockies are 16-2, compared with their 49-39 record overall.  That means, without Ubaldo this is a 33-37 team.

And don’t forget that these are the Rockies we’re talking about; Ubaldo has a 2.20 ERA while no one else in the rotation is under 4.00 and two of their starters are over 5.00.

On the other side of the ball, somehow the Rockies have produced a league-average offense in 2010, with only Carlos Gonzalez, Troy Tulowitski (when healthy) and Miguel Olivo really getting it done at the plate.

And yet, there they sit in second place in the NL West, two games out of first place in a tightly packed four-team race that looks, right now, as though it is going to come down to the the final week of the season.  More importantly, if the season ended today, the Rockies would be the NL Wild Card.

Without Ubaldo, the Rockies would be screwed and their season would probably be over.  With him, they’re a playoff team.

At the end of this season, when the hot summer air has given way to cool autumn breezes and the leaves have turned brown and fallen from their trees, we may look up and find that Josh Johnson has been the best pitcher in the National League during the 2010 season.

But if the Colorado Rockies, as currently constructed, end up making the playoffs and are still playing come October, there may well be no escaping the conclusion Ubaldo Jimenez has been the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 2010.

Don Newcombe would be so proud.

Asher B. Chancey lives in Philadelphia and is a co-founder of BasebalEvolution.com .

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NFL betting players don’t have to worry about crowning a Triple Crown winner, but in Major League Baseball, the Triple Crown is a big deal.  Here’s a look at five players who have the chance to write their names in baseball history.

Miguel Cabrera, Detroit

At the break, Cabrera leads the American League in RBI, he’s tied for first in average, and he’s tied for second in homers. Even by his high standards, Cabrera is on pace to set career highs across the board, which would put him in a very good position to be the first American League hitter since Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 to win the Triple Crown.

Josh Hamilton, Texas

Cabrera’s competition for the Triple Crown is Hamilton, who is actually tied with Cabrera in average. They’re both tied behind Toronto’s Jose Bautista in homers, and Hamilton is fourth in RBI.  However, he may be hurt by the fact that Vladimir Guerrero hits in front of him, and he’s second to Cabrera in RBI, which takes RBI away from Hamilton. NCAA football betting players would compare this to having two 1,000-yard rushers, which isn’t a bad problem to have, but it’s not good for Hamilton’s Triple Crown odds.

Josh Johnson, Florida

Johnson is going to have to get some help from his teammates in terms of wins, as he has just nine, but he is sixth in the National League in strikeouts and his 1.70 ERA is far and away the best in the entire major leagues. But playing in the tough East division with Atlanta, the Mets, and Philadelphia could throw a wrench in Johnson’s plans to catch up in wins. He’ll pitch well and hold up his end, but can the Marlins help him out?

Roy Halladay, Philadelphia

“Doc” has lived up to the hype in Philadelphia, and it’s not his fault that the Phillies’ MLB betting odds are falling.  Halladay is 10-7 with a 2.19 ERA (including a perfect game against Johnson and the Marlins), and he would have more if the Phillies gave him run support. Halladay is third in wins, fourth in ERA and tied for second in strikeouts, but he’s going to need a massive second half to beat the final player on the list to the Triple Crown.

Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado

Jimenez is trying to become the third National League pitcher this decade (Randy Johnson in 2002, Jake Peavy in 2007) to win the Triple Crown, and he has a no-hitter as well. Jimenez’s 15 wins leads the majors, he’s fifth in the league in ERA, and he’s ninth in strikeouts, which is the category that he needs the most work in, especially to catch the two-time defending strikeout and two-time defending Cy Young winner champ, Tim Lincecum, in San Francisco. But the way he’s pitching, I wouldn’t lay a bet against him. 

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The pitching numbers have been staggering as the baseball season hits its mid-point.

There have been two no-hitters as well as two perfect games thrown. Then there was the perfect game that was not in Detroit thanks to Jim Joyce.

Travis Wood and Ted Lilly also had no-nos going into the ninth inning before they were broken up.

Ubaldo Jimenez is at 15-1 with a 2.20 ERA as the ace of the Colorado Rockies staff. He is putting up these amazing numbers while pitching in Coors Field.

Begin Slideshow

With the All-Star Game now over with, it’s time to look ahead to the second half of the season.

The National League finally ended its string of losing at the Midsummer Classic, beating the American League, 3-1.

Does that mean the NL has the advantage in this year’s World Series? Or, can the Yankees create another dynasty and win their second consecutive Fall Classic?

Plus, what other teams will surprise and which current surprises will flop? Here are all of the bold predictions for what to look forward to during the stretch run of 2010.

Begin Slideshow

Ubaldo Jimenez is without a doubt the best pitcher in all of Major League Baseball this season.

His 15-1 record is easily the top mark in the majors, while his 2.20 ERA is fifth best among pitchers with 10+ decisions.

His three complete games include a no-hitter versus the Atlanta Braves, which is the first ever in the Colorado Rockies’ 18-year franchise history.

“(He’s) one of the great talents, and he’s a treat to watch pitch. He’s 15-1. His record speaks for itself. I said Jimenez from the beginning, he was my pick,” National League manager Charlie Manuel said of choosing Jimenez to start over Florida’s Josh Johnson.

“I want to say it’s a huge honor just to be out there. Having the chance to share all those moments tomorrow with all the stars, just to be there, I’m honored just to be in the clubhouse,” Jimenez said of the opportunity to start the midsummer classic.

Jimenez’ selection to make the team and to start the 2010 All Star game were no-brainers, as was the case for Rockies’ star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Tulowitzki would have started the game if not for the broken left wrist he endured June 17. And while it’s disappointing that the young star won’t be able to play tonight, an even bigger travesty has left another young and extremely talented Colorado player off the roster.

Carlos Gonzalez, one of the three players the Rockies received in a trade for Matt Holliday following the 2008 season, is in the middle of enjoying a better season than the All Star Holliday.

Holliday is currently hitting at a .300 average, with 51 RBI and 16 HRs. Gonzalez on the other hand, has a .314 average, 60 RBI, 17 HRs with four more runs scored (56-52) and double the stolen bases Holliday has swiped (12-6). On top of all that, Gonzalez is completely comfortable on defense as he is the NL leading outfielder with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage, with three assists and zero errors compared to Holliday’s .994 fielding with two errors on the season.

Carlos “CarGon” Gonzalez is a rare commodity in the MLB to be sure, as a truly legit five-tool player.

CarGon can easily smash baseballs into the Mile High night and his sweet swing allows him to hit for a solid average as well.

Once on the base paths, Gonzalez gallops gracefully with blistering speed that allows him to smartly steal bases or be used in hit-and-run situations that produce runs for the Rockies.

In the field, Gonzalez glides effortlessly towards balls hit into the expansive Coors Field outfield and his arm is surprisingly strong as well.

In fact, the argument can be made that Gonzalez is outperforming Hollidays since the 2008 trade that both were the centerpieces of. While the Rockies also gained a great closer in Huston Street and starter Greg Smith that put in some time earlier this year as a fill-in.

And while Gonzalez continues to improve while Holliday is plateauing, CarGon was left off of the All Star roster—he was straight up robbed.

Ryan Braun (.292 average, 13 HR, 54 RBI), Corey Hart (.288 AVG, 21 HR, 65 RBI) and Andre Eithier (.324, 14 HR, 54 RBI) are the three starters for the NL and Gonzalez’s numbers are comparable with Hart’s and better than the other two. CarGon’s numbers are much better than reserve OFs Michael Bourn, Marlon Byrd and quite comparable to Holliday’s and Chris Young’s production.

Still, Gonzalez didn’t make the All Star team.

It’s another instance of a stellar player from the Mile High City being overlooked in favor of others from bigger towns. Holliday lost out on the MVP when he was with the Rockies, and Tulowitzki was robbed of the Rookie of the Year as well. Despite Carmelo Anthony playing at an extremely high level the last three seasons, he was basically an afterthought for the NBA MVP.

As Denver continues to “grow up” (a funny term when reminiscing about the three professional championships and four major professional teams the city sports) in the eyes of coast-biased media outlets, more respect will come regarding our sports’ stars.

The Rockies have opened eyes as a well-run organization that grows its own stars and now competes annually for postseason play—and along with his incredible performance, Jimenez has been getting shine from all across America.

People will wake up and realize that Gonzalez is a star in the making, just as they did with Tulo, and CarGon will make his fair share of All Star games.

But that’s not much of a consolation for now, Gonzalez is meant for an All Star game, he’s flashy, exciting and plain fun to watch. The MLB could have at least let CarGon go deep a few times in the Home Run Derby—he would have done better than Nick Swisher, Holliday and some of those other chump performances.

For Gonzalez, he should use this snubbing as another motivating force and if he keeps playing at this extremely high level, we’ll all see him in the outfield in 2011.

Rich Kurtzman is a Colorado State University Alumnus and a freelance journalist. Along with being the Denver Nuggets Featured Columnist on bleacherreport.com, Kurtzman is a contributor on NFLTouchdown.com , the CSU Rams Examiner and Fort Collins Beer Bars Examiner on examiner.com and the Colorado/Utah Correspondent for stadiumjourney.com .

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All week long, there have been whispers that Ubaldo Jimenez, after a three-game slump, would not start the All-Star Game in Anaheim next Tuesday.

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