hotfudgedetroit.com

Gully List through Sunday 6/17/12

NL

1. Gonzalez COL 51
2. Braun MIL 44.5
3. Ethier LA 44.5
4. Beltran StL 44
5. Votto CIN 43.5
6. Uggla ATL 43.5
7. Pence PHI 42.5
8. Holliday StL 41.5
9. Wright NY 40.5
10. Cabrera SF 40.5
11. Cuddyer COL 40

AL

1. Hamilton TEX 52
2. Dunn CHI 47
3. Cabrera DET 46.5
4. Bautista TOR 44.5
5. Ortiz BOS 44
6. Kipnis CLE 43.5
7. Granderson NY 43.5
8. Jones BAL 43
9. Kinsler TEX 43
10. Willingham MIN 41
11. Encarnacion TOR 40

AL through 6/24/12

1. Hamilton TEX 55
2. Bautista TOR 52
3. Ortiz BOS 48.5
4. Cabrera DET 48.5
5. Dunn CHI 47.5
6. Encarnacion TOR 46.5
7. Granderson NY 45
8. Willingham MIN 44.5
9. Beltre TEX 44.5
10. Cruz TEX 44.5
11. Jones BAL 44.5
12. Kinsler TEX 44

That's right, Ya Mar; TLDR doesn't apply, in here.

I think it is true, that "a long career of being the 4th or 5th best player at your position is not hall worthy. Or so they say."

I mean that I agree with Ya Mar's interjection of "or so they say." I think too much emphasis is put on that comparison.
A few years back-- well, quite a few years back-- there were numerous truly solid 2Bmen, guys like Sandberg and Whitaker, Alomar and Morgan.
I’m intermingling eras, there, but my point is that things change, and we don’t have as many 2Bmen, anymore, who were smooth afield and strong with a bat.
To say “4th or 5th best” at 2B now is a very different statement from saying the same thing 20+ years ago. The 4th or 5th guy, now, probably isn’t going to be a candidate for the Hall of Fame.
In the mid-80’s, the 4th or 5th best 2Bman may have been Willie Randolph, Lou Whitaker, or Frank White. Who would it be now? Dan Uggla? Howie Kendrick? Marco Scutaro?

I may not be using the best examples, in year or in name, but the point is that a great deal of relativity is automatically relevant if such a standard is going to be used. When guys like Juan Samuel, Ryne Sandberg, and Lou Whitaker were playing, being the #4 guy did not necessarily indicate unworthiness. Right now, there is Robinson Cano, Dustin Pedroia, Chase Utley, and after that—despite the talents of some guys like Brandon Phillips & Ian Kinsler—the current crop does not have much of anything that looks potentially Cooperstown-bound to me.
I think I am doing a mediocre job of backing up my point, but perhaps you guys can think of your own examples, using SS or 3B.
When Derek Jeter began his career, there was a handful of Shortstops who were quite handy with the glove and swung a mean bat. Now, in the final years of Jeter’s career, I see Tulowitzki emerging—limping—and a couple of other guys, like Rollins & Reyes, who I would love to have in a Tigers uniform, but who are nowhere near in Jeter’s class.
(And I still see Asdrubal Cabrera trying to pull off that catch-pivot-leap-throw maneuver for which Jeter is known. G’luck, kid; start putting in the kind of practice-time that Ya Mar mentioned in reference to Jeter, and maybe someday you will look as got-damn purty at it as he is.)

So, now that I’ve done a half-assed job of covering the “4th or 5th best” issue, shall I move on to fumbling another ball by yammering on about the other matter brought up by Monsieur Mar?

I don’t think it’s fair, or appropriate, when considering Hall of Fame credentials, to give a guy extra credit for having played all, or nearly all, of his career for one team. It doesn’t even make any sense to me. The guy performs at the level at which he performs, period, and except in rare cases—for example, some guys have learned how to play LF in Fenway Park better than others—I don’t see how his team affiliation has much to do with how his career performance is judged.
However, I absolutely believe that guys who have stayed put are given extra credit, and—despite my slavish devotion to deductive reasoning and logic—to be quite candid about it, I am one of the folks who, consciously or sub-consciously, assigns extra credit for that very thing.
Gary Sheffield deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. That statement is really just a declaration of my opinion, I know, but frankly, I don’t think there is room for any argument, none at all, zero whatsoever.
And yet, the guy played for about 8 teams.
What’s wrong with that? I dunno; nuthin,’ really, I suppose, but it just looks shabby, and maybe it conveys a subliminal suggestion that there was something shitty about him.
So, I have no reason-justifiable cause for my viewpoint, but there it is: I don’t condone it, I don’t think it makes any sense, and I think it’s wrong, but I do it, too.

gullycanyon wrote:AL through 6/24/12

1. Hamilton TEX 55
2. Bautista TOR 52
3. Ortiz BOS 48.5
4. Cabrera DET 48.5
5. Dunn CHI 47.5
6. Encarnacion TOR 46.5
7. Granderson NY 45
8. Willingham MIN 44.5
9. Beltre TEX 44.5
10. Cruz TEX 44.5
11. Jones BAL 44.5
12. Kinsler TEX 44

NL through 6/24/12 (Sorry!! Forgot!!)

1. Gonzalez COL 52
2. Beltran StL 50
3. Braun MIL 49.5
4. Holliday StL 47.5
5. Votto CIN 47
6. Pence PHI 46
7. Ethier LA 45.5
8. Uggla ATL 45.5
9. Wright NY 44

Gully's 2012 All-Stars
(I know that Outfielders are not voted by position, but I think they should be, so-- of course!!-- that's how I chose mine)
AL
C Pierzynski CHI
1B Konerko CHI
2B Cano NY
3B Cabrera DET
SS Cabrera CLE
LF Hamilton TEX
CF Jones BAL
RF Bautista TOR
(DH Ortiz BOS)
NL
C Ruiz PHI
1B Votto CIN
2B Hill ARI
3B Wright NY
SS Desmond WAS
LF Gonzalez COL
CF McCutchen PIT
RF Pence PHI
(Choosing irrespective of position would omit Pence and include Braun)

To begin, I will state that I am delighted to hear that Bryce Harper will be joining this year's NL All-Star squad.
I have no interest in the issue of whether or not he deserves it. I don't care. I've seen dozens of undeserving guys in All-Star games. There's a lot of buzz around Harper, and I think the fans would like to see him in the game. I know that I do; why not? Baseball has a problem in that it can be a bit boring. I have seen a bit of Bryce Harper and kept up, a bit, with his ascent to the majors.
Bryce Harper is brash and, excuse the cliche, full of piss & vinegar. He's full of Bryce Harper. He's also packed with talent and ability.
Boring, he is not.
Bryce Harper is Bryce Harper. Other guys may be great, but they are not Bryce Harper. Bryce Harper means to demonstrate the difference. I want to watch.
Again: why not?
(You may hear that he is the "youngest position player ever selected" to go. Some of the folks citing that fact are neglecting to clarify the implied other part of that statement, so allow me: Pitchers Bob Feller & Dwight Gooden were younger.

Anyway.
I have never heard so much pre-event jabber, particularly the degree of dispute and nit-pickery.
Good Christ, every season there are guys who don't exactly deserve to go, but go anyway, usually due to recognition of their past achievements and ignorance of their present performance. Derek Jeter would make for a good example, but for the fact that the pain-in-the-ass, at age 38, is having another great season. My nod goes to the Cleveland Indians' Asdrubal Cabrera, but not to the extent where I can say Jeter is a bad choice.
Besides, he's Derek Jeter. The fans want him there, voted him in, and the All-Star Game is their rock concert. It's not about qualitative analysis. It really is more like a rock concert, and the fans don't want to hear the stuff from the new CD so much as they want to hear the hits.

The "deserves" issue comes down to this: it isn't about which players deserve the honor, it's about the fans deserving to see who they want to see.
Daniel Hudson, a Starting Pitcher with the Arizona Diamondbacks, has been pimping (and I don't mean that in a crummy way) for his teammate, 2Bman Aaron Hill, to get there. I happen to agree with Hudson because, arguably, Hill is having a better year at the plate than any other NL 2Bman.
But, so what? The fans voted in Dan Uggla, so even if Uggla was having a lousy year-- which, very decidedly, I will testify that he is not-- Uggla should be the NL's starter at 2B.

Yeah, sure, I recognize that LaRussa probably should have gotten him in there, anyway; personally, that's what I think, but while Hill may be a rather glaring omission, the list of deserving guys who are not going does not end with Hill, and if LaRussa & Washington were allowed to expand their rosters so as to include every player who deserves to go, each league would need a fleet of double-decker busses in order to transport their squads from the hotel to the park.

And, of course, Austin Jackson-- whose percentage-based stats are glowing but whose actual totals, because of his having missed games due to injury, are less than they could be-- would be on one of those busses.

The Bottom Line, for yer pal Gully, is the same as it is every year: let's just get the goddam thing over with, so we can get back to the Real Deal. The All-Star Game is an unwelcome, tiresome interruption of the only sports-season that I really care about.

I'm about 75x more interested in seeing what happens as the July 31 non-waiver trade-deadline approaches.

AL through Sunday 7/8/12

1. Hamilton TEX 64.5
2. Bautista TOR 62
3. Cabrera DET 61.5
4. Ortiz BOS 59.5
5. Encarnacion TOR 56.5
6. Fielder DET 55.5
7. Dunn CHI 54.5
8. Granderson NY 54.5
9. Cano NY 54
10. Willingham MIN 53.5
11. Beltre TEX 52.5
12. Kinsler TEX 52

NL

1. Gonzalez COL 59.5
2. McCutchen PIT 59
3. Braun MIL 58.5
4. Beltran StL 57.5
5. Wright NY 57.5
6. Holliday StL 56
7. Pence PHI 54