Hideki Okajima of the Red Sox maintained his narrow lead over Jeremy Bonderman of the Tigers and the three other candidates for the final roster spot on the American League ballot. They are followed by Pat Neshek of the Twins, Kelvim Escobar of the Angels and Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays.
On the National League ballot, San Diego’s Chris Young sustained his spot at the top, followed closely by Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs, Roy Oswalt of the Astros, Tom Gorzelanny of the Pirates and Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks.
Wait…a reliever who has pitched 40-some odd innings is leading the vote over a bunch of starters who are infinitely more important to all of their teams? This after Hideki Okajima’s team the Boston Red Sox already have one reliever on the AL All-Star team? This absolute infatuation with the reliever is getting absurd.
The cult of the closer is rearing its ugly head again, this time with the fans themselves leading the way. The 32nd Man vote usually has a mix of pitchers and hitters, some worthy and some not. However, this year’s vote is decidedly pitcher-heavy, with 8 starting pitchers and 2 relievers. Let’s just look at the quantity that each candidate has to work with, since this should be a combination of quantity and quality:
INNINGS
Roy Oswalt – 128
Brandon Webb – 124
Carlos Zambrano – 118
Tom Gorzellany – 112
Chris Young – 103.2
Roy Halladay – 103.1
Kelvim Escobar – 100
Jeremy Bonderman – 98
Hideki Okajima – 41
Pat Neshek – 40.1
Two of these do not belong. Take a guess which.
As for quality, one pitcher in the NL is far and away ahead of the others: San Diego Padres pitcher Chris Young. He leads the Majors in ERA(2.00) , has a 1.06 WHIP, 99 Ks, and has given up only 3 homers. The only pitcher in the NL more dominant than Chris Young has been his teammate Jake Peavy (2.09 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 119 Ks, 2 homers). Why wasn’t he selected to the all-star team right out of the gate? Because they needed to pick 6 relievers? Get outta here with that bullshit.
And the AL? Well I’d go for Kelvim Escobar there. He’s sporting a 3.32 ERA and 1.18 WHIP(very good for the AL!), 80 Ks and only 6 homers in 100.1 innings. His last outing was a drubbing by the Orioles(7 runs, 2 homers in 4.1 IP) and all of a sudden he’s no longer a lock for the All-Star game? Give me a break. A setup man who has pitched 41 innings is not as vital of a cog to his team as a starting pitcher putting up the kind of numbers that Escobar has.
Chris Young and Kelvim Escobar should be your picks. Break the cult of the reliever. Hell, vote for Jeremy Bonderman because it’s supposedly so close (but how would we know since they don’t release the numbers). Please vote.
