2008 NL All Star Roster

In a previous post, I put together my rosters for next Tuesday's MLB all Star Game as dictated by WARP3. Here is the roster for the NL as elected by the fans and named by the players and manager (Hurdle) along with the WARP3 for each.

NL All Star Rosters w/WARP3

STARTERS
C
Geovany Soto
Chicago
8.2
1B
Lance Berkman
Houston
11.4
2B
Chase Utley
Philadelphia
12.3
3B
Chipper Jones
Atlanta
10.4
SS
Hanley Ramirez
Florida
9.9
OF
Ryan Braun
Milwaukee
7.6
OF
Alfonso Soriano
Chicago
5.1
OF
Kosuke Fukudome
Chicago
6.8
PITCHERS

RHP
@Aaron Cook
Colorado
8.1
RHP
Ryan Dempster
Chicago
5.6
RHP
@Dan Haren
Arizona
8.2
RHP
Brad Lidge
Philadelphia
6
RHP
Tim Lincecum
San Francisco
7.9
RHP
Ben Sheets
Milwaukee
6.6
RHP
Edinson Volquez
Cincinnati
8.6
LHP
@Billy Wagner
New York
4
RHP
Brandon Webb
Arizona
6.9
RHP
Brian Wilson
San Francisco
3.2
RHP
Kerry Wood
Chicago
6.3
RHP
@Carlos Zambrano
CHC
7.4

RESERVES
C
Russell Martin
Los Angeles
8.2
C
@Brian McCann
Atlanta
8.1
1B
Adrian Gonzalez
San Diego
7.9
1B
@Albert Pujols
St. Louis
10.3
2B
Dan Uggla
Florida
10.7
3B
Aramis Ramirez
Chicago
6.6
SS
@Cristian Guzman
Washington
5.9
SS
Miguel Tejada
Houston
6.6
OF
Matt Holliday
Colorado
8
OF
Ryan Ludwick
St. Louis
8.2
OF
Nate McLouth
Pittsburgh
6.9

So, who's missing?

Well, the NL catcher with the highest WARP3 is Ryan Doumit of the Pirates (9.1) but with Soto winning the fan vote, McCann and Martin (who, as is Soto, are all having worthy seasons) Martin's the only rep from the Dodgers, but Doumit could have gone ahead of McCann. I had all 3 first basemen on my roster, so they got that right. We also match at second base; note that Utley continues to have the highest WARP3 in all of MLB. The fans got the starter, Hanley Ramirez, right at SS - but Tejada and Guzman don't make a lot of sense backing up. Jose Reyes's WARP3 is 9.7; he's having a much better season and oughta be the backup. I had Furcal as the last guy on my NL roster; that's also error as his WARP3 is 4.4, given his missed playing time. With Berkman, Tejada isn't needed on the NL roster; Guzman's the only National; I got around that by taking their closer, Jon Rauch. Put Rauch on the roster, take off Brian Wilson (he's my guy, but at 3.2, he's the All Star having the worst season of all 62) and add Pat Burrell as the 7th OF for the NL. His WARP3 is 9.1 and it's nuts he hasn't made the team. Presumably, if he doesn't win the 32nd player vote in the NL, he'll be named to replace Soriano, who won't be able to play. Chipper won the fan vote at third, which was right; my backup was David Wright, whose WARP3 is 7.9, higher than Ramirez, and he should have gotten that spot. My OF differences were Burrell (9.1) Bay (7.7) and Beltran (7.0) in for Soriano and Fukudome (both elected by the fans, neither should have been, but the fans vote for who they vote, and Fukudome's close enough to Beltran that it's fine). Of the reserves, McLouth should have been swapped for his teammate Bay.

Of the arms, I had 7 of the 12 selected on my roster - Volquez, at 8.6, has the highest WARP3, so he'd be my starter next Tuesday, if he doesn't start for the Reds this weekend. The fundamental disagreement I have with the structure of contemporary All-Star rosters are the number of closers named; 4 of the 12 NL pitchers are closers; I chose 3 - and honestly, even choosing 3 was bowing to the reality over closer overrepresentation. Starting pitchers are more valuable than closers, even elite closers. The innings difference worked is vast, and given that managers use closers around the save rule, there is a percentage of time where the highest leverage innings are actually thrown by the set up men. So, not on my roster were Wagner (a terrible pick, chosen because he's the only Met, but both Reyes and Wright should make the team) Wilson (the most undeserving All Star this season, there's no good reason he's on the team) Dempster, Webb, and Cook (he's deserving, they got that right). As mentioned, I had Rauch (6.5) which would have solved the Wagner, Wilson, Guzman, Reyes issues all with one pick -- Jurrjens (5.5 - shouldn't make the team, Cook's a better choice) Santana (6.5 - not as good as Webb but stronger than Dempster) Hudson (5.8, shouldn't make it) and Hamels (7.9). Swap Rauch in for Wilson, Hamels in for Wagner, and Santana in for Dempster. Neither of the Braves from my roster should make it; Cook's a better choice.

Both Burrell and Wright are on the list for the 32nd player, which you can go vote for at mlb.com; a Giant, Aaron Rowand (7.3) would be the 3rd best player (Corey Hart is 6.1, Carlos Lee is 5.4) are the other 2 eligible. Go vote for Wright; I assume Burrell will replace Soriano anyway.