All-Star Infestation

[Fman99]

MLB has announced the current standings for NL All Star voting and five Phillies currently lead their positions: Utley, Rollins, Polanco(!), Werth and Victorino (technically running 2nd and 3rd behind Braun but still putting them in line for starting spots).

D-Wright is about 75k votes behind Polanco, no other Met is in the top 4 for their position (Reyes 5th among SS, Bay 10th among OFs).

If there are five Phillies starting the ASG, and a likely comparative amount of Yankees, there is a 0% chance that I watch the game. F that.

[bmfc1]

Agreed Fman. YUCK: Five Phillies, two Cardinals and Braun (we'll see if he's as obnoxious this weekend as he was when the Mets played the Brewers last year).

Possible Mets All-Stars: Wright, Barajas, Santana.

[Frayed Knot]

It's the same story every year; the early voting always goes towards the perennial all-stars and the biggest names on the biggest teams because when you put out ballots when the season is still too new to mean a whole lot you essentially leave the fans no choice but to vote that way. It would be much better if they'd define the voting period to say June 1 thru July 1 (or something similar) so not only would everyone know when it stops and starts but the results would reflect the current season much better.

But, of course, they're too tied to whatever sponsor has their name attached to the ballots so they want to get things rolling as soon as possible. Later balloting does tend to favor the guys actually having the best season so some of these "injustices" will be countered as long as the margin isn't too big.

[TransMonk]

bmfc1 wrote: Possible Mets All-Stars: Wright, Barajas, Santana.

I think, at least right now, Pelfrey would get the nod before Santana. Even he would be on the outside looking in today, IMO.

[bmfc1]

Great analysis FK.

[Guest attgig]

dwright should easily outvote polanco.
hanley should also easily outvote rollins

ethier's injury is what probably lowered his vote total under victorino. Holiday's having a slow year so far. heyward MAY go above victorino, but that's no better. kemp maybe? manny, maybe? hard to think that anyone will catch those two though unless holliday turns it around.

[metirish]

Mets have been pumping Barajas at the park recently.

[Ceetar]

and the negative Mets fan is unlikely to even bother voting for the all-stars.

It's too early to figure out the main competitor at certain positions. Right now I'm voting Reyes still, but if I have to vote Hanley over Rollins, I will.

I've been writing in Ike Davis.

Mets fans should band together to vote for a 2B candidate to fight Utley. My vote's on Kelly Johnson right now.

Matt Holliday and Ethier (and Bay) right now to try to overtake the two Phillies in the outfield.

Same philosophy in the AL. Vote for the guys with the best shot to unseat a Yankee.

[Frayed Knot]

metirish wrote: Mets have been pumping Barajas at the park recently.

That's the other problem. Telling - or even hinting - that your fans should vote for the local guys was always done in some places but even the teams who did usually at least pretended to be subtle about it. Now you've essentially got all 30 teams openly and loudly campaigning for vote-stuffing at any and every opportunity.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

True, FK.

The fact that the Phils are MLB's home attendance leaders, with a fanbase energized by three straight division titles/two straight pennants, may have something to do with that, too.

And unless he's fully healed and playing in a month, Rollins may not play, anyway-- he's back on the DL nursing his [crossout]aching pussy[/crossout] strained calf as of last weekend.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: metirish wrote: Mets have been pumping Barajas at the park recently. That's the other problem. Telling - or even hinting - that your fans should vote for the local guys was always done in some places but even the teams who did usually at least pretended to be subtle about it. Now you've essentially got all 30 teams openly and loudly campaigning for vote-stuffing at any and every opportunity.

they've got ballots at places like Lowes now too.

You think they could at least update the online ballot to reflect current rosters. Or at least rosters as they stand going into May, so that guys like Murphy and Beltran don't end up on it. I almost want to start a campaign for Beltran just to illustrate how absurd it is. Would love to see him get voted in.

[Gwreck]

Ceetar wrote: Mets fans should band together to vote for a 2B candidate to fight Utley. My vote's on Kelly Johnson right now.

I want the NL to win the All-Star game. Utley is a good choice in that regard. Rollins and Polanco, not so much.

[Ceetar]

Gwreck wrote: Ceetar wrote: Mets fans should band together to vote for a 2B candidate to fight Utley. My vote's on Kelly Johnson right now. I want the NL to win the All-Star game. Utley is a good choice in that regard. Rollins and Polanco, not so much.

Better choices than Vicky or Werthless too.

You think they'd let us at least vote for 1 pitcher.

[Guest attgig]

Ceetar wrote: Ceetar wrote: Mets fans should band together to vote for a 2B candidate to fight Utley. My vote's on Kelly Johnson right now. I want the NL to win the All-Star game. Utley is a good choice in that regard. Rollins and Polanco, not so much. Better choices than Vicky or Werthless too. You think they'd let us at least vote for 1 pitcher.

the ballot would be huge. I think they're just trying to be green....

[Gwreck]

Ceetar wrote: Better choices than Vicky or Werthless too.

We all hate the Phillies but that's no excuse to ignore facts. Werth is OPSing at 1.048, second only to Ethier in the NL.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Jayson Werth's stats going into tonight:

9 HR
33 RBI
31 R
.327/.401/.647

Also, annoyingly good defense.

He and Utley have earned their pretend slots so far. (Which kills me, as they're supposedly the biggest off-field douches of the lot.)

[Ceetar]

Gwreck wrote: Better choices than Vicky or Werthless too. We all hate the Phillies but that's no excuse to ignore facts. Werth is OPSing at 1.048, second only to Ethier in the NL.

That depends if you even want to vote based on stats, which nothing about how it's set up suggests we have to. :-D

Ethier, Braun, Holliday, Bay.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

I'm not saying I'm voting for the guy. We're speaking behind closed doors, so to speak.

And you could also make strong cases for the rook Heyward (.290/.409/.580, 9 HR, 33 RBI, .426 wOBA) and Soriano (.326/.389/.638!, .441 wOBA, 9 HR, 25 XBH in 170 PA).

[ashie62]

Pelfrey has to be on the AS team

I'm guessing Wright wins the vote at the wire.

[Chad ochoseis]

Big news here...All-Star balloting is a crock.

The Marlins are providing outright bribes to fans to vote for their team members, in an attempt to help the NL field the worst defensive team in All-Star history.

Manager Fredi Gonzalez, showing some character and class, said, "I think this is complete (nonsense). Fans should vote for the player who they think is the most deserving, whether he's one of our guys or not."

Well, no, he didn't actually say that. But it sure would have been nice if he did.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/05/29/sports/AP-BBN-Marlins-All-Star-Push.html?_r=1

MIAMI (AP) -- Free tickets, autographed baseballs, even access to a 12-person suite, the Florida Marlins will happily give any of them away to fans. Just help send the Marlins to the All-Star Game. The Marlins have unveiled a slew of promotions designed to coerce fans into becoming ballot-stuffers for the next few weeks, all with hopes that one of baseball's poorest-drawing teams can find a way to overcome the fact that there's a lot more voters punching cards in other stadiums around the National League. ''Other teams do this,'' said Sean Flynn, the Marlins' vice president of marketing. ''We're not the only team.'' Still, they are one of the more aggressive at the ballot-stuffing initiatives. ''Let's get some of those guys in there,'' Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. Some in-stadium promotions include giving away two tickets for filling out 200 All-Star ballots, available at any of 30 locations around Sun Life Stadium. For the in-stadium offer, there's two caveats: All eight Marlins on the ballot must be voted for every time, and the ballots need to be turned in by the conclusion of the sixth inning. The Marlins are offering smaller prizes for 50 or 100 completed ballots, such as a Hanley Ramirez figurine. Ramirez was the only Florida player to be listed among the top-five leaders at any position when the first numbers were released this week. Think 200 is too many times to vote for freebies? Then go online and vote 25 times -- you'll get two tickets that way, too. And don't want to be bothered by voting during games? Take ballots home. Return 1,000, you'll get a Marlins prize pack. For 5,000, an autographed baseball. For 20,000, a meet-and-greet with Marlins players. Then comes the biggest prize -- the person who fills out the most ballots gets suite access. Flynn said two people filled out more than 40,000 cards and turned them in to the Marlins in 2009, when Ramirez made a late surge in the balloting and was the NL's starter at shortstop. In all, the Marlins said they got around a half-million ballots filled out through promotions last season. ''I think 500,000 ballots is pretty significant and I'm sure it had something to do with Hanley catching up,'' Flynn said.

[bmfc1]

More on the Marlins bribing their fans to vote:

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/marlins/commentary-urging-fans-to-stuff-ballot-boxes-with-723405.html

[Gwreck]

Current NL Leaders:
Pujols and Utley (both locks)
Jimmy Rollins, still a narrow lead over Hanley Ramirez
Placido Polanco (!), widening his lead over David Wright
Braun, Werth and Ethier (Victorino 4th)
Yadier F. Molina with a narrow lead over Carlos Ruiz.

[MFS62]

Not a big shocker.
When I last saw the NL leaders in the offensive categories (about a week ago) there were only a few Mets sprinkled in there in triples, stolen bases and IIRC Wright was 5th in RBI. No leaders in any category.
If out of town fans compare those to the All Star ballot, there's no compelling arguement that would make them vote for a Met player.

Later

[Gwreck]

I'm fine with no Mets starting the game but Rollins (out all year, hurt) and Polanco (particularly) are embarrassing choices.

[Ceetar]

Ashie62 wrote: Pelfrey has to be on the AS team I'm guessing Wright wins the vote at the wire.

That really depends on the Mets record.

[Fman99]

Big news here...All-Star balloting is a crock. The Marlins are providing outright bribes to fans to vote for their team members, in an attempt to help the NL field the worst defensive team in All-Star history. Manager Fredi Gonzalez, showing some character and class, said, "I think this is complete (nonsense). Fans should vote for the player who they think is the most deserving, whether he's one of our guys or not." Well, no, he didn't actually say that. But it sure would have been nice if he did. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/05/29/sports/AP-BBN-Marlins-All-Star-Push.html?_r=1 MIAMI (AP) -- Free tickets, autographed baseballs, even access to a 12-person suite, the Florida Marlins will happily give any of them away to fans. Just help send the Marlins to the All-Star Game. The Marlins have unveiled a slew of promotions designed to coerce fans into becoming ballot-stuffers for the next few weeks, all with hopes that one of baseball's poorest-drawing teams can find a way to overcome the fact that there's a lot more voters punching cards in other stadiums around the National League. ''Other teams do this,'' said Sean Flynn, the Marlins' vice president of marketing. ''We're not the only team.'' Still, they are one of the more aggressive at the ballot-stuffing initiatives. ''Let's get some of those guys in there,'' Marlins manager Fredi Gonzalez said. Some in-stadium promotions include giving away two tickets for filling out 200 All-Star ballots, available at any of 30 locations around Sun Life Stadium. For the in-stadium offer, there's two caveats: All eight Marlins on the ballot must be voted for every time, and the ballots need to be turned in by the conclusion of the sixth inning. The Marlins are offering smaller prizes for 50 or 100 completed ballots, such as a Hanley Ramirez figurine. Ramirez was the only Florida player to be listed among the top-five leaders at any position when the first numbers were released this week. Think 200 is too many times to vote for freebies? Then go online and vote 25 times -- you'll get two tickets that way, too. And don't want to be bothered by voting during games? Take ballots home. Return 1,000, you'll get a Marlins prize pack. For 5,000, an autographed baseball. For 20,000, a meet-and-greet with Marlins players. Then comes the biggest prize -- the person who fills out the most ballots gets suite access. Flynn said two people filled out more than 40,000 cards and turned them in to the Marlins in 2009, when Ramirez made a late surge in the balloting and was the NL's starter at shortstop. In all, the Marlins said they got around a half-million ballots filled out through promotions last season. ''I think 500,000 ballots is pretty significant and I'm sure it had something to do with Hanley catching up,'' Flynn said.

Embarrassing.

[Ceetar]

Hmm...What is the Marlins benefit in this? Does Marlins in the All Star game draw them more fans, or does it actually cost them more money in negotiations with their arbitration eligable players due to a perceived value increase due to the All-Star selection? Because if the second, you'd think they'd be encouraging you to vote for the Mets or something.