2011 MLB Season

[sahyder1]

Hey sahyder, who else is coming up on 3000 hits in MLB? The man is about to break a historical milestone. If you'd stop being a Yankee-hater for just two seconds, maybe you'd realize that people may just prefer to watch a future Hall of Famer than not? I guess all those people that kept voting Ripken in, despite him hitting under .250 in his twilight years were morons too, right? Or would that only have been the case if he had been wearing pinstripes throughout his career?

Hey Meacon, as hard as it may be for you to believe it not everything is about the Yankees. I was fully expecting Jeter to be leading because of the New York market. The system is set up to help the big market guys with them allowing multiple votes. I'm not surprised or appalled by it like panni89 seems to be. All I'm saying is that ballot stuffing to watch a guy hitting as bad as Jeter (who you already watch roughly 155 times a year) has for the last year and a half is stupid. I already watch him enough over the course of the season....I don't want to see him at the all-star game as well. I honestly can't even remember the last time I filled a ballot outside of the ballpark.

Anyone else watching/following this Jays/Indians game?

Edited June 2, 2011 by sahyder1

[Meacon Keaton]

Ah so it's more of a "it's stupid because I dont want to see it" type thing. geez you should have just said so...

[sahyder1]

Ah so it's more of a "it's stupid because I dont want to see it" type thing. geez you should have just said so...

As opposed to the "it's not stupid because I want to see it"?

[Pizza]

I wish we still had a minus button. Now I have to plus everyone who's arguing with sahyder instead, and that's much more work.

[Meacon Keaton]

Ah so it's more of a "it's stupid because I dont want to see it" type thing. geez you should have just said so...

As opposed to the "it's not stupid because I want to see it"?

Actually, your sad attempt to make this a you-vs-me thing has failed. I've not even voted once. The fact that Jeter is first in votes means other people do want to see him in there. For some unknown reason, Major League Baseball has failed to adopt the sahyder-rule, where they don't let certain people start because he already watches them play enough times throughout the year. Get off your high horse, chief, before you fall off.

[Ol' Spanktooth]

Ah so it's more of a "it's stupid because I dont want to see it" type thing. geez you should have just said so...

As opposed to the "it's not stupid because I want to see it"?

I feel like if you don't want to watch someone be in the all-star game, the better option rather than complaining about it endlessly would be to you know, not watch it.

Just my thoughts.

[gunnar hendershow]

He'll only play 4 or 5 innings anyway, so you can still tune into the decisive few innings towards the end of the game after the Roy Halladay's have been exhausted and it's just those other pitchers on the mound.

[Ol' Spanktooth]

Or just change the channel when he's up to bat. I find it hard to even imagine a situation in which you would be absolutely forced into watching him hit.

[GhostMachine]

What I hate about the All-Star Game is that you usually end up with some players from large market teams who don't deserve to be there, or who just barely do, while the smaller market teams end up lucky if they even have one or two players in it.

And sorry, but the way Jeter is hitting, he DOES NOT deserve to be in the All-Star Game, but sadly will be.

A long time ago, baseball held 2 All-Star Games a year for a while. The way fan voting is done, I almost think they should bring back the second one, but make who gets in based on stats rather than voting.

[Maxx]

He does deserve to be there because it's determined by fan votes and fans are voting for him. How is this difficult to understand? It's not like an invitation to the All Star games comes with a Silver Slugger award. It's a game for the fans, determined by the fans. The fans voted him in, hence he deserved it. If not for what he's doing this season then for what he has done in the past.

[gunnar hendershow]

We can have the All-Virgin Team picked solely by people who spend 3 hours a day on Baseball Prospectus as the second All-Star Game. I'm sure the ratings will be just BONKERS for that one.

[Ol' Spanktooth]

MLB gives out end of the year awards for a reason, so that THEY can determine who the best players were. The All-Star game is for fans and to bring in ratings in a fun environment. And I'm sorry, but Derek Jeter is a future Hall of Famer and the biggest SS name in the game since Ripken. If the fans want him in there, he's gonna be in, because he'll make (a bigger majority) of the fans want to watch. Asdrubal Cabrera is one of the best shortstops in baseball this season, and even I as an Indians fan can admit that Jeter should get in before him, because it's about the fans and bringing in the ratings. As long as Cabrera gets more recognition in the end of the year awards than Jeter, it's perfectly fine with me.

[SeanDMan]

What I hate about the All-Star Game is that you usually end up with some players from large market teams who don't deserve to be there, or who just barely do, while the smaller market teams end up lucky if they even have one or two players in it.

And sorry, but the way Jeter is hitting, he DOES NOT deserve to be in the All-Star Game, but sadly will be.

Hi, welcome to the last two pages of discussion. Pleasure to have you Sahyder.

[Hickey]

What I hate about the All-Star Game is that you usually end up with some players from large market teams who don't deserve to be there, or who just barely do, while the smaller market teams end up lucky if they even have one or two players in it.

Just so you know, every team has at least one player in the All Star game. There's been plenty of times when small market teams that deserve nobody have gotten a person there, like a few years ago when Mark Redman was selected for the Royals, although his stats were awful.

Also, the point of voting is for the fans to pick who they want to see, not for the guy with the best stats to participate. That's why the managers and players get to select everyone else, except 8 players from each team.

The majority of players picked are the ones with the best stats, so sahyder and GhostMachine, stop whining.

32-8=24. 24 is a lot higher than 8... just so you know.

[Panni]

Since when is it whining to have a different opinion? I personally voted for Derek Jeter bc none of the other shortstops stand out to me. Asdrual is certainly better than Jeter right now, but he lacks a certain appeal that Jeter has. Do I think Jeter's the best shortstop these days...not even close.

That being said, it's not ridiculous at all to say you don't want to see Jeter at the game. To suggest he's been an "All-Star" caliber player this year would be foolish. About a month into the season he had the same amount of extra base hits as Chris Capuanoa (SP for the Mets). Being an "All-Star" may seem like no big deal, but I'm sure those MLB players who have never been to a game would absolutely cherish the opportunity. And to be fair, there are a handful of shortstops who have better stats and are more deserving to be considered the best at their position.

[GhostMachine]

1. I know every team has a player in the game.

2. Certain players get into the ASG based on past performances or what team they play for, and that's not right. If you suck ass in the current season, you DO NOT belong in the game, no matter who you play for. To me, Panni89's reason for voting for Jeter makes sense. Voting for him because of who he is or what he's done in the past when there players better than him right now being left out just plain doesn't.

[Meacon Keaton]

What do you consider All-Star caliber, though? If it's based on stats, they'd just take the list of League Leaders and be done with it. Some 'Fan's Game' that'd be.

And no, it's not ridiculous to say you don't want to see Jeter at the game. Everyone has an opinion of who they want to see, who they like, who they dislike. But it is ridiculous when you call the hundreds of thousands of fans that voted for him 'morons', just because you see him play 150 times a year and don't want to see him again on that particular night.

[EddieG]

At least only use 5 nominees per position, based on the best stats.

[Hickey]

2. Certain players get into the ASG based on past performances or what team they play for, and that's not right. If you suck ass in the current season, you DO NOT belong in the game, no matter who you play for. To me, Panni89's reason for voting for Jeter makes sense. Voting for him because of who he is or what he's done in the past when there players better than him right now being left out just plain doesn't.

You realize you just contradicted yourself in the same paragraph, right? You say Panni voting for Jeter makes sense, meanwhile the reason he voted for him is because he stands out. He clearly stands out because he's Derek Jeter and his past performances. That's why he has that certain appeal.

The next sentence you say voting for him because of who he is or what he's done in the past doesn't make sense. Care to make sense of your hypocrisy?

[Ananas]

We can have the All-Virgin Team picked solely by people who spend 3 hours a day on Baseball Prospectus as the second All-Star Game. I'm sure the ratings will be just BONKERS for that one.

And after that we can have the all moron team picked solely by people who thought that signing Vladdy and Mark Reynolds was going to make the Orioles better than the Rays. The ratings will be great unless there's a Two and a Half Men rerun airing opposite.