Three Folks with Real Beefs

If I were these three people, I'd be legitimately mad at the baseball world today. Why? Because I would have earned a spot as one of the best in my league, but I wouldn't be going to the MLB All-Star game next week.

Orlando Cabrera

Carlos Guillen is the AL's backup shortstop, and when Guillen has played he's been better than Cabrera. That being said, Guillen has been hurt, so I think the overall contribution by Cabrera's been larger.

Adrian Gonzalez

Gonzalez gets shafted for:


a.) playing in a ballpark that reduces run production by 16%, and
b.) playing a sport where the powers that be don't adjust for that.





I would include Gonzalez by cutting Freddy Sanchez. Then replace Jose Valverde with a Pirate pitcher to get a Pittsburgh player on the roster.






Eric Byrnes



Eric Byrnes should be starting the all-star game over Carlos Beltran. Instead, he's watching the game from home. There I said it.

Beltran has been better than Byrnes in: Home Runs (by one), win-based fielding (it's actually a coinflip), and RBI (by three). Byrnes has been better than Beltran in: everything else.

Beltran's home park is tougher than Byrnes's, but his road parks are WAY easier.

I suspect Beltran got in because:
a.) only three stats actually count to baseball people (BA, HR, RBI), and
b.) Beltran has a name that Byrnes doesn't have, and
c.) All-Star voting isn't taken nearly as seriously as the awards or the Hall of Fame (that's probably a good thing).

Don't get me wrong, I'm ok with Beltran starting. Byrnes hasn't been worlds better than Beltran. But if Beltran gets to start, Byrnes should at least be going to the game.