The Players Can Suck It

All-Star Voting really isn't meaningful. I know that. And the Mets have been the beneficiary of some generous fan voting in recent years.

But the most recent selections are a disgusting travesty. And the guys to the right are pissed off (or should be).

Not only are Kosuke Fukudome and Alfonso Soriano starting outfielders (Soriano ranks ninth among NL left fielders! in VORP, and Fukudome ranks seventh among NL right fielders! in VORP), but Miguel Tejada (8th among all NL shortstops in VORP) is making an appearance on the team as a reserve over the much more deserving Jose Reyes, Rafael Furcal, and (DARE I SAY IT!) Jimmy Rollins.

Aramis Ramirez ranks third at third in the NL in VORP, but some Met who ranks second by a wide margin (both in front of Ramirez and behind Larry Jones) has to make the team via the fan vote.

Ryan Ludwick, who, as we recently saw him in St. Louis, is now in an outfield platoon, made the team over a much more deserving Pat Burrell, Jason Bay and Xavier Nady. (what's in that water in Pittsburgh?) And, yes, I could talk about Cristian Guzman making the team, but as the only National, we'll cut him some slack.

And onto the pitching staff, where more travesties abound.

Some fellow named Johan Santana ranks ninth among NL starting pitchers in VORP (better than Ryan Dempster, who's 13th, but still on the team, and the sixteenth-ranked Brandon Webb, who's been struggling mightily lately.) Non-pick Tim Hudson ranks seventh and also has a legitimate gripe.

In the relief pitcher selection, the Mets were unnecessarily rewarded - Wagner should not have been selected as the token Met. He ranks 26th among NL relievers in WXRL, a stat measuring how many wins a reliever is worth over a replacement level player, smack-dab between Tyler Walker and the equally overrated Jose Valverde.

EDIT (7:47 PM): He also really, really, really sucks. Like, a lot. He really sucks.

Brad Lidge ranks first, and made the team. San Fran's Brian Wilson ranks second, and also joined the club. Kerry Wood? Well, he ranks 22nd.

If one knows me at all, it's pretty easy to discern that I'm not a huge fan of the Cubs, how their players perpetually receive undue adulation. That's the case again this year. The team is good - but the individual players that comprise it really aren't all that great.

The Cubs win because the team lacks a great weakness - replacement level hacks are by and large no longer eating up plenty of innings (Ronny Cedeno, anyone?) – and not because of all their stellar individual contributors.

So the MLB players who voted for all of those Cubs? They can suck it. Clint Hurdle can suck it too. (Unless, of course, he brings some Mets onto the team as replacements.)