My American League All-Stars (so far)

We're a little over a third of the way through the season, so I figured it was a good time to post my AL All-Stars if the game were today. I'll try to post the NL ones in a couple days, but for now, well, hopefully this is enough.

Catcher: Jorge Posada (NYY)
Victor Martinez has been good as well, but the mini-Renaissance from Posada puts him in front. Martinez has more HR and RBI than Posada, but Posada has a huge doubles edge which actually gives him the advantage in SLG, to go along with a 30 point edge in OBP. Joe Mauer would have been his recent injury knocks him out of it.

First Base: Kevin Youkilis (BOS)
This was a bit of shocker for me when I was doing research, but Youkilis has been outstanding (if only I could have bet on that at the sportsbook). I imagine there could be some disagreement because he doesn't have the HR and RBI numbers of some other guys (such as reigning MVP Justin Morneau), but Youkilis gets on base at an excellent .428 clip, and his .536 SLG is nothing to sneeze at. He is actually 6th in the AL in OPS.

Second Base: BJ Upton (TB)
He's not quite a defensive whiz at 2B, but his offensive effort has been quite sterling. His OBP is nearly .400, his SLG is in the mid 500s, and he's even stole 13 bases. Maybe he's not a Gold Glover defensively, but his offense more than makes up for it.

Third Base: Alex Rodriguez (NYY)
This one doesn't even really need any explanation. A-Rod has been far and away the best 3B in the AL so far.

Shortstop: Carlos Guillen (DET)
The talent in the AL at SS is not nearly as strong as the NL talent, but the cupboard is not totally bare. Really, any of Carlos Guillen, Jhonny Peralta, Derek Jeter, and Orlando Cabrera are viable choices here, but I go with Guillen. Jeter gets on base more, Peralta hits more HR, and Cabrera plays better defense, but Guillen combines them all the best.

Outfield: Magglio Ordonez (DET)
Magglio has been the best hitter in the MLB so far, so of course he gets the nod in one of the OF spots. His average is great, he's getting on base a ton, and he's hitting for lots of power (over 40 XBH). At age 33 Ordonez is having by far his best year and is the AL MVP at this point.

Outfield: Vladimir Guerrero (LAA)
Magglio has been the bestr, but Guerrero isn't too far behind. Guerrero has been very patient at the plate so far, and surprisingly is first in the AL in OBP right now. Of course, he's still hitting for power, just not as much as Ordonez.

Outfield: Torii Hunter (MIN)
Gary Sheffield's recent surge has him way up there, but Hunter gets the nod for his offense and defense. He's having a career year at the plate, and as his foot has healed from last year he has returned to his great form in CF. He doesn't get on base as well as Sheffield, but has hit for more power than him so far this year and has made up the rest of the difference in the field.

Designated Hitter: David Ortiz (BOS)
Regular readers of this blog might know I'm a big fan of Travis Hafner, but Ortiz has just been clearly better so far. His power is down a little bit from last year, but he is 2nd in the AL in OBP and is still slugging over .600. He has been excellent in picking up the slack for Manny Ramirez.

Starting Pitcher: Dan Haren (OAK)
Haren's the easy choice here, with his ERA currently sitting at 1.70. He has a very good 3.33 K/BB ratio, is striking out 7 hitters per 9 innings, and is just not giving up many hits. His DIPS ERA suggests that this won't quite last, but he's been really good so far, best in the AL.

Any disagreements?

dan

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