Yesterday, I offered fans of American League teams a self-serving, unsportsmanlike approach to the MLB All-Star vote: in order to help ensure that their favorite clubs receive home-field advantage, AL fans are incentivized to pick the worst NL players with a chance to make a difference in the voting leaderboards.
Today, Senior Circuit fans can get their revenge.
If Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants fans want home-field advantage in case their teams make the Fall Classic, here’s who they should be casting their ballots for in the voting’s final day-and-a-half.
Catcher: Russell Martin, Yankees (first place, 2,779,592 votes). Martin (.229/.333/.393, 108 wRC+, 1.6 WAR) has roughly 400,000 votes on second-place Alex Avila (.303/.373/.541, 149 wRC+, 2.6 WAR). Avila has been much better, and he’s in striking distance of a starting job. Surely NL pitchers would rather face Martin.
First Base: Mitch Moreland, Rangers (fourth, 1,209,258). The top three vote-getters at first are pretty well set, but less than 300,000 ballots separate Moreland (.289/.352/.485, 128 wRC+, 1.0 WAR) from fifth-place Paul Konerko (.318/.389/.578, 159 wRC+, 2.3 WAR). A strong fourth-place finish could give manager Ron Washington the cover he needs to add the undeserving Moreland to the AL roster.
Second Base: Orlando Cabrera, Indians (fourth, 1,127,840). How Cabrera (.247/.278/.339, -6.8 UZR, -0.4 WAR) is ahead of Ben Zobrist (.268/.347/.475, 9.7 UZR, 4.0 WAR) and Howie Kendrick (.304/.362/.479, 10.1 UZR, 3.6 WAR) is beyond me. But if O-Cab can maintain his 160,000-vote lead over the far superior Zobrist, it could make naming him to the team a hard decision to support.
Third Base: Chone Figgins, Mariners (n/a). The hot corner is pretty much set, and the contenders are all worthy. So why not just try to get the worst player in the leaegue, Chone Figgins (.186/.232/.249, 31 wRC+, -1.2 WAR) enough votes to get on the Top 5 list?
Shortstop: Derek Jeter, Yankees (3,392,128). Asdrubal Cabrera (.292/.342/.495, 139 wRC+, 3.0 WAR) has been way better than Jeter (.260/.324/.324, 83 wRC+, 0.5 WAR). NL fans, can you really let Droobs close the 500,000-vote gap? The Senior Circuit could very well win on a blooper “pastadiving Jeter.”
Designated Hitter: Jorge Posada, Yankees (third, 1,453,385). The DH who can’t hit, Posada (.234/.324/.409, 99 wRC+, -0.1 WAR) has 200,000 votes on Victor Martinez (.335/.384/.494, 140 wRC+, 1.8 WAR) and 400,000 on Michael Young (.322/.357/.478, 126 wRC+, 1.6 WAR). I suppose it doesn’t much matter with the game in an NL park, but still: Posada an All-Star?
Outfield: Josh Hamilton, Rangers (third, 3,173,000); Carl Crawford, Red Sox (fifth, 2,294,337); Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners (seventh, 1,912,062). There’s a real battle for a starting job here between Hamilton (.297/.354/.529, -1.2 UZR, 1.4 WAR) and Jacoby Ellsbury (.299/.361/.455, 25 steals, 5.8 UZR, 3.5 WAR). Red Sox Nation could give Ellsbury the surge he needs to make up the 122,000-vote deficit—NL fans, can you live with that?
The other two, Crawford (.243/.275/.384, 76 wRC+, 0.0 WAR) and Suzuki (.276/.322/.336, 89 wRC+, 0.0 WAR) are big names who have been replacement-level players this year. Neither has a chance at cracking the starting three, but their popularity combined with strong finishes in the voting (Crawford has just under a 400,000-vote margin, while Suzuki is only 721 votes away from sixth place) could net them reserve spots on the team.
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