Sanchez our lone rep to the All-Star Game... again

by Ketcham Bruce on Jul 5, 2009 2:39 PM EDT Comment 21 comments

Over on the MLB Pirates site they state that Freddie Sanchez is our representative in the All Star game in St. Louis. I'm not surprised. He's having a good season. This might give Sanchez more national exposure if he plays well and maybe additional team interest. By playing well I'm saying not striking out and maybe a nice defensive play. Maybe even one of his famous fifteen pitch at bats that Joe Buck can say, " Wow, he fouls off another one." over and over again.

Either way, I was kind of hoping for Zack Duke to get the nod, but if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.

Go Bucs !

http://pittsburgh.pirates.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090705&content_id=5706706&vkey=news_pit&fext=.jsp&c_id=pit

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Yea...

next year McCutchen will probably be our all-star rep. Then the year after that we might have a couple in Cutch, Alvarez, and maybe one of Brad Lincoln or Tony Sanchez.

by joegonzo on Jul 5, 2009 3:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Well Duke played himself out with his last two starts being losses, even though he didn’t pitch that badly in either of them. That in combination with the Cubs having virtually no other viable candidates other than Lilly. So Lilly gets in ahead of Duke, and Sanchez gets in as a utility infielder basically.

I mean, it’s not like when Mike Williams got in with that 5 and a half ERA that one year or something like that.

by Schide on Jul 5, 2009 3:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

yeah it was too bad...

that Duke lost those last two games….as you said he pitched well…..even one win mite have helped him.

by Bucco44 on Jul 5, 2009 5:48 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's a fair call.

Duke and Lilly have been very close this year in terms of on-field value, and Lilly’s been doing it with better peripherals.

If they hadn’t had to take Lilly, they probably still would’ve passed on Duke, in favor of Yovani Gallardo or someone like that.

by Vlad on Jul 6, 2009 10:29 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wonder if

we’ll ever have another Pirate who is legitimately voted on to the team… probably not. We get such pathetic national coverage that nobody knows who the hell is on our team. Blah.

I'm droppin' flava, my behavior is hereditary--but my technique is very necessary.

by phillybucco on Jul 5, 2009 5:22 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

ha…true

by mspirate on Jul 5, 2009 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Which is why...

fan voting should end! I mean, if Rollins was voted as the starter, that should have ended it no arguments asked.

by ryebr3ad on Jul 6, 2009 12:39 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I totally agree. Fans vote way too much based on the name on the back of the jersey than they do actual performance of the players from April-June. It’s a popularity contest. Josh Hamilton being voted in says it all. I love the guy’s story and he’s one of my favorite players in the game right now, but he should not be an All-Star this season. He was hurt for most of the first half for cryin’ out loud! You should get in based on your performance for that season, not your reputation. So Hamilton, who played just 35 games in the first half and hit .240 with 6 HR and 24 RBI, is an All-Star, but his teammate Ian Kinsler, who has played in almost every game and hitting .253 with 19 bombs and 51 RBI from the leadoff spot, is competing with 4 other players on the Final Vote just to get on the roster?!? Kinsler is putting together an MVP-like season, but he’s not even in the All-Star game yet. Makes no sense.

by mspirate on Jul 6, 2009 2:04 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Because Dustin Pedroia and his tasty .761 OPS is as deserved as any starter in that league!

Oh well. At least the NL has a better chance of finally gaining that home field advantage.

by ryebr3ad on Jul 6, 2009 3:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would not have chosen all the players who were chosen.

But the event is held for the fans, and if the fans want to see Hamilton, then I think they should be allowed to get what they want.

This isn’t a new thing. Anybody else remember Mike Schmidt being voted in as the starting 3B in a season where he’d already retired?

by Vlad on Jul 6, 2009 10:31 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Fan Voting

I do think that fan voting is fine since the all star is basically an event for the fans. However I don’t like fan voting when the all-star game decides home field advantage for the World Series since the leagues might not be fielding the best team available.

I made most of my life decisions at a Foghat concert... I stand by them.

by Chester J Lampwick on Jul 6, 2009 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, "This Time It Counts" is a terrible idea.

Just like basically everything else Bud’s ever come up with.

by Vlad on Jul 6, 2009 12:02 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Seconded.

Or it should only count for like 25% or so of the vote.

True Blue Jazz
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RIP Nick Adenhart. 4/9/09

by UtesFan89 on Jul 6, 2009 8:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

The voting system

is incredibly stupid. It’s so bad it allows teams to openly encourage stuffing the ballot boxes, and they do. So that for every thoughtful fan who puts a lot of time and effort into picking a team, there’s a moron who punches out ballots by the bushel for every home-town player no matter how bad.

And for this banana-republic voting system you blame … the fans? Most fans could devise a much better voting system than MLB has, but just for one: Turn each ballpark into a separate precinct, plus precincts for the minor-league and online vote. Each precinct is self contained, so no matter how many votes the winner at each position pulls in each one, he only gets I dunno … 10 points. And the second-place guy gets 9, and on down. This would negate the difference between Boston’s electorate comprising 2 million voters and Pittsburgh’s comprising 750,000.

Actually, the fans do a pretty good job most years. You can always point to one or two selections that don’t make a lot of sense, but I guaran-damn-tee you if you left the voting up to the players and managers you’d get some head-scratching too. You think it would never ever be a popularity contest? Two words: Gold Gloves.

Anyway, the first thing you have to do is ask yourself: Who is this game for, anyway? Is it for the players, or is it for the fans?

It ain’t for me, I don’t give a crap about the All-Star game. But I jump in here because I’m tired of people who haven’t thought about it for more than 2 seconds breast-beating about what bad voters the fans are. That’s absurd.

by bucdaddy on Jul 6, 2009 10:21 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hoping

that Pedro is a beast when he makes it up to the bigs, odds are that he’ll the next Bucco to be voted in by the fans. Once he starts slugging longballs and driving in Cutch all the time, people will take notice. Will be tough for Pedro to start though if he’s playing 1st like it seems like he will be, going up against Pujols, Howard, Gonzalez.

If not Pedro, then it shall be Cutch.

by franktownmarsh on Jul 5, 2009 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pedro’s prime might be after Pujols, Howard and Gonzalez’s.

"Baseball is better than football. Think about it, eighty degrees, a cold beer and a short-sleeve shirt is better than 30 degrees, a hip flask and six layers of clothes under a lap blanket. Take your pick: suntan or frostbite. " - Thomas Boswell

by Ketcham Bruce on Jul 5, 2009 6:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Good point

Didn’t think of that, that’s definitely a possibility

As least the Buccos have the cheapest beer in professional sports, right?

by franktownmarsh on Jul 6, 2009 12:28 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe even one of his famous fifteen pitch at bats

I thought he was famous for the first-pitch groundout..

He’s basically on his way to duplicating his 2006, minus the batting title, which isn’t a bad player, but I still wish he’d take a walk once in awhile. He’s running at about a 5% walk rate and that’s UP substantially from last year. Still, it’s hard to argue with a guy who’s on pace to put up 50 doubles (again) with a dozen homers, even if he IS 31 and his closest similarity score as a hitter belongs to someone named Cotton Tierney.

by bucdaddy on Jul 5, 2009 5:50 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Voting hasn't been kind to the Bucs

I agree with that earlier post that it’s going to take some like Pedro for us to have someone actually voted into the all-star game again. McCutchen would be a long shot for such voting. Duke could have been taken this year just as easily as Sanchez in my opinion, only because I thought there might be better infielders to load the NL roster with.

by Scully on Jul 5, 2009 7:24 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Is there any precedent

For a team trading it’s only All-Star representative before the Break? Would someone else be chosen? Would Freddy still be an All-Star? I only ask because his name has been mentioned in the rumors for some time now, and no team would hold up a deal because of a silly exhibition game, right?

by Bucko on Jul 5, 2009 9:30 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Carlos Beltran

was traded by Kansas City to Houston in 2004. He was on the AL team and then got traded and some how got put on the NL team. Correct me if I’m wrong, he replaced an injured NL player.

by Ketcham Bruce on Jul 5, 2009 9:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs