MLB All-Star Game’s Top 6 Snubs
Ah, snub season. Each year deserving players are left off of the MLB All-Star roster in favor of those that were voted in by the fans (maybe we don’t take the entire Chicago Cubs infield?) which leads to people complaining. Well, bloggers. Ok, I am complaining.
Obviously not all of these players would have been able to fit onto their League’s roster with each team needing a representative, and some positions being weaker than others, but there are a number of players that should be added in the coming week due to injuries (Wade Davis was just put on the disabled list on Tuesday, Clayton Kershaw also on DL) or having pitched on Sunday, making them unavailable to pitch in the All-Star game itself.
Two of the players that will be mentioned should be at the top of the list to replace both Davis and Kershaw on their respective teams, while another is in the Final Vote and has a chance to make it in with a fierce rallying cry.
Of course I will leave some deserving players off of my snubbed list, and there will be snubbed from the snubbed list posts popping up all around the interwebs, but these are the six most deserving players that aren’t on the current rosters, in my humble opinion.
Next: Better Than Sale?
Jose Quintana, LHP–Chicago White Sox
Quintana certainly doesn’t have the record at 6-8 that his 14-win teammate Chris Sale does, but according to FanGraphs, Quintana has the highest WAR among starting pitchers (3.1) in the American League–and he’s not even on the roster.
His peripherals are in line with Sale’s, with the lefty besting Quintana by slight margins across the board, except when it comes to allowing home runs. Sale has a HR rate of 11.9% allowed per fly ball, while Quintana has the fourth-lowest rate in the league at 7.1%. Obviously home run rate is not a sexy stat and shouldn’t get someone onto an All-Star roster, but his ERA is almost even with Sale, at 3.06 to 2.93, and five of the six players that have a better ERA in the AL made the club. The other player above him appears later on this list.
How to Get Quintana on the Roster: I know Ned Yost is the manager of the AL squad and all, but does the team really need nine relievers? Five starters, nine relievers. I get that he likely plans on throwing everyone out there for one inning to keep everyone healthy and all that jazz, but still. Without Quintana (record be damned) the White Sox wouldn’t be within shouting distance in the AL Central.
Next: First Base is Deep
Brandon Belt, 1B–San Francisco Giants
Technically you could have picked either Brandon from the San Francisco Giants to be counted as a snub, but I’m going with Belt. He has always had the tools to be a productive player, but his problem has been staying on the field. No matter which preseason projection system you go with on FanGraphs, Belt has already played more games than was expected of him. He mans first, but has plenty of experience in the outfield, making him a little more versatile that your typical All-Star addition.
Through 82 games, Belt has 10 homers and 44 RBI for one of the best teams in baseball, and without his consistency at the plate and on the field, it’s tough to say whether or not the injury-plagued Giants would be in the same position without him.
Belt has the sixth-best WAR in baseball among first basemen, but the top three are already on the team, and Freddie Freeman ranks fourth. Belt gets the nod over Freeman here since the Atlanta Braves aren’t competitive this year, and this would be Belt’s first appearance at the Midsummer Classic.
How to Get Belt on the Roster: Vote!
Next: Blue Jays Have Pitching?
Aaron Sanchez, RHP–Toronto Blue Jays
Relying on a mid-90s fastball, Sanchez has had one heck of a start to the 2016 campaign. He’s 9-1 with a 2.94 ERA and is the player directly ahead of Quintana in ERA, rounding out the top six. He has greatly improved his walk rate over last season, going from a 4.29 to 2.78. His WAR is just 0.1 behind Madison Bumgarner, so he’s in good company.
After splitting time between the bullpen and the rotation in his previous stints in the big leagues, Sanchez has been a starter all season and has compiled 14 quality starts in 17 outings. Outside of three rough starts, Sanchez has been utterly dominant, posting a 1.76 ERA.
It’s unlikely that Sanchez will be added to the All-Star team, mostly because people haven’t realized that Toronto has some solid arms in their rotation, thinking of the home-run-happy lineup first. In fact I’d be willing to wager that most fans could name at least half of the Blue Jays lineup and be unable to name one pitcher on the roster. That will change, and Sanchez will get his MLB All-Star game nod in the future if he continues to pitch like this.
How to Add Sanchez to the Roster: Sanchez has an outside chance of getting the spot vacated by Wade Davis, but there is another snub coming up that will likely get that spot instead. Plus Quintana is likely one spot ahead of Sanchez on the depth chart, and with only one potential spot to go around, the odds to not appear to be in the 25-year-old’s favor.
Next: The Final Boss
Seung-hwan Oh, RP–St. Louis Cardinals
If you haven’t heard it by now, Oh’s nickname is “The Final Boss” which is the best nickname given to anybody of all time. He is now your new favorite player (even you, Cubs fans. Sorry, thems the rules). Oh was just inserted into the closer’s role in St. Louis and has racked up two saves in two chances and has yet to be issued a defeat this season.
His one blown save on the season came back on May 7 against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 7th inning. The Cards came back and won that game.
The biggest case to be made for Oh is that he ranks fifth among all relievers–AL and NL– in WAR with a 1.3. A.J. Ramos of Miami, who is one the All-Star team, ranks 18th in the NL at 0.6. Ramos is not Miami’s only representative, with Marcell Ozuna also getting a spot on the team, so this one is a bit of a head-scratcher. Perhaps Mets manager Terry Collins is just more familiar with Ramos as a divisional foe? Oh has a 1.71 ERA over 42 innings.
How to Get Oh on the Roster: It’s possible that with Kershaw on the disabled list, and Bumgarner likely to squeeze in one more start on Sunday, that two spots will open up on the NL roster. Oh has a decent chance of taking one of those, and the final player on the NL side has a good chance of taking the other.
Next: A Slew of A's
Ryan Dull, RP–Oakland Athletics
Dull’s addition to the roster seems to be a no-brainer with Davis, a reliever, unable to take his spot on the roster. I mean, the right-hander has only done something that hasn’t been done since records started being kept in 1961.
Ryan Dull has not allowed a single inherited runner to score this season, and he has had plenty of opportunities to do so–36 of them in fact. A guy that can come into a pressure situation and work out of it seems like the kind of player that should be on the All-Star team, since, it does in fact matter, right?
Stephen Vogt is a fine player and catcher is one of the weaker positions in the AL to choose from, and given that Oakland needed a representative I can see why Vogt was named to the team. Yet there are a few more deserving guys on the roster, led by Dull, that should have gotten the nod instead. Danny Valencia has become a hot trade deadline topic, but good luck cracking through Josh Donaldson/Manny Machado/Adrian Beltre and the rest of them. Khris Davis has 19 homers and 53 RBI and would be a great impact bat off the bench. Rich Hill seemed like a lock for the team until he missed a few weeks with a groin injury.
So really that leaves Ryan Dull as the most deserving A’s player with a realistic shot at being added. Oakland has not been good this year, and not good teams generally only get one spot on the roster, but this one should have gone to Dull. Hopefully he gets added in the next couple of days.
How to Get Dull on the Roster: If he doesn’t get added with Wade Davis out, then he likely isn’t going to be added at all, which would be a shame.
Next: Trade Deadline Audition?
Drew Pomeranz, LHP–San Diego Padres
Pomeranz was the 5th overall pick in 2010 by the Cleveland Indians, and was then shipped to Colorado to complete the deal for Ubaldo Jimenez. After struggling at Coors for parts of three seasons he was shipped off again to Oakland, where he pitched effectively both out of the bullpen and in the rotation. A self-induced broken hand (darn chairs being so punchable) slowed what had been a terrific start to the 2014 season, and in 2015 he saw his role shift to the long-man with the A’s. He was then shipped to San Diego this past offseason, and has flourished with the Padres.
Well that’s more than you needed to know, but much like Brandon Belt, the stories are somewhat important when thinking about the All-Star team. Pomeranz has been moved around, and very well may be moved again in the next month, but has slowly but surely started to find his way.
This season Pomeranz is 7-7 with a 2.65 ERA and a 2.2 WAR, tied for 10th in the NL with Aaron Nola and Jacob deGrom. His strikeout rate per nine of 10.33 is by far the best of his career and ranks 7th in the NL. His walk rate is a bit higher than one would like at 3.69, which is far from the top of the leaderboard, but given that two spots are likely to be available, Pomeranz would still be a solid addition to the NL All-Star team.
How to Get Pomeranz on the Roster: I feel like this one’s a given.