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Writings on baseball by Matt Barnard and Dan Stein.
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7.10.2003
32nd man vote results Either Frank Thomas or Jason Giambi should have won this vote - they're both much better players, even according to Varitek's mother - but I guess I can live with Jason Varitek, who is legitimately having an excellent year, because Giambi is going to be there anyway with the subtraction of Mike Sweeney from the roster due to injury. The thing I'm most disappointed about is the last place finish of Luis Castillo in the NL vote. The Marlins are a hot team right now...I'm certainly enjoying watching them every opportunity I get...and Castillo's been a big part of it. He hits second in their lineup behind Juan Pierre, but he'd be a terrific leadoff hitter for just about any team, combining speed (14 steals this year, which is actually way down for him) and the ability to get on base (.382 OBP this season, .366 lifetime). He's even added a bit of power to his game this season, slugging .419 with 6 homers (his career highs for a full season are .388 and 2). Geoff Jenkins is a damn good hitter having a fine season. I don't quite understand how he was able to win this vote, as these things are generally more a popularity contest than anything, but he's not a bad choice...certainly better than Kenny Lofton or Benito Santiago would have been. For the purposes of practical roster composition (which should be important, if we are to believe that the game is being taken seriously by those involved this year), the NL outfield is absolutely stacked, so the final player should probably play a different position. As much as I like Marcus Giles, he's struggled recently (he hit just .234/.308/.351 in June), and while he's paired with Jose Vidro at second, it looks to me like the weakest position for the NL team. For what it's worth (and realizing that that's nothing), I think Luis Castillo should be an All-Star. - |