A fan of the Yankees, Red Sox, and large sample sizes.

 
Just picked up my official 2003 All-Star ballot (ok, ballots) from Subway this evening. Went through and discussed my traditional All-Star selections with a friend, but then also had some fun thinking up other "All-____" teams, such as the All-Surprise Team and the All-Overrated Team. Here are a few (with comments) for your viewing pleasure:

All-Star Team (which I define as the overall best player so far during the 2003 season)
AL:
C Jorge Posada
1B Carlos Delgado (no one else close)
2B Bret Boone (better defense and SLG% than Soriano, and hits in a more pitcher-friendly home park)
SS Alex Rodriguez
3B Hank Blalock (only a couple others are having better than decent years)
OF Raul Mondesi (something clicked - knowing why would earn you millions)
OF Carl Everett (listed as DH, but, well, he plays OF)
OF Aubrey Huff (listed as 3B, but he plays OF)
DH Edgar Martinez (yup, age 42 is a rebound year)
P Mike Mussina

NL
C Mike Piazza (best OPS by a large margin - he's lucky I'm not voting a month from now, though)
1B Richie Sexson (Helton's better numbers aren't better when considering Coors - what's up with Thome?)
2B Marcus Giles (it's not just hype: AVG: .345, OBP: .400, SLG: .580, and good defense - and the 17:6 2B:HR ratio says more homers are coming...)
SS Alex Gonzalez (slugging over .600 - saw that one coming...)
3B Scott Rolen (but if Vinny Castilla keeps up last week's pace, looks out...)
OF Gary Sheffield
OF Barry Bonds
OF Austin Kearns
P Mark Prior

Overall observations: 3B is extremely weak in both leagues. The NL goes deeper in quality SS. The AL outfield has caught some sort of suck disease. Who would have picked Mondesi, Everett, and Huff as their top three OF so far? Honorable mention pitchers: Curt Schilling (look for a crazy-good rest of year), Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Kevin Millwood, Jason Schmidt, Kevin Brown, Odalis Perez, Javier Vazquez.

Posted by Sky at 7:58 PM | 0 comments