We're now right about at 60 games into the baseball season; I did this at the 40 game mark also; it's my current All-Star ballot. Each league's roster is 34, with 13 pitchers. I've got one rep from each team. Solely based on performance to date.
NL
C Olivo, Blanco, Hundley
1B Pujols, Votto, Huff
2B Utley, Prado, Johnson
SS Tulowitzki, Eckstein
3B Wright, Rolen, Zimmerman
OF Holliday, McCutcheon, Pagan, Torres, Ethier, Byrd
DH Willingham
P Jimenez (MVP, Cy)
Wainwright
Gallardo
Leake
Pelfrey
Hernandez
Johnson
Hudson
Oswalt
Garcia
Halladay
Clippard
Broxton
-Heyward just misses; he loses the spot to Byrd because of the need for a Cub; obviously, in the real world, he'll be on the team. I'd expect Gonzalez to pass Huff and probably Votto too to backup at 1st. Note that the Mets backup catcher Blanco is still on the team, but just barely; he could easily be replaced by Ruiz right now. The DH is now a permanent All-Star fixture.
AL
C Mauer, Jaso, J. Molina
1B Morneau, Youkilis, Cabrera
2B Cano (MVP), Zobrist, Hudson
SS Andrus, Gonzalez
3B Longoria, Rodriguez, Beltre
OF Gutierrez, Crawford, Wells, Kearns, Swisher, DeJesus
DH Rios
P Romero
Lester
Price
Verlander
Buchholz
Marcum
Weaver
Carmona
Fister
Pettitte
Guthrie
Valverde (Cy)
Bailey
Bautista loses his spot to DeJesus because of the need for a Royal (I like, incidentally, the need to get a representative from every team; probably because it presents an additional challenge); Cruz is coming off the DL and might be able to nip Swisher for that last spot. Unlikely that Romero will actually be the AL starter (or that a closer, Valverde, will win the Cy Young) but there isn't an obvious replacement yet. Lester is rising and might be the choice by the 80 game mark when I do this again.
I didn't love the Giants draft; it was frustrating to see all of the MLB Network guys analyze my club before our pick and agree that lack of "athleticism" is our obvious problem. We can't hit the ball - but still, when a smart guy like Peter Gammons looks at our primary need, he wants to see speed. Speed's what we drafted; I would have rather taken one of the bats - Brentz or Cox - in fact, just before our pick, I was thinking about all the in-game announcer puns should we take Cox, "The Giant Cox steps into the box" that kind of thing. Coincidentally, the scouting report on Brown (true story) is that he is struggling with the switch from aluminum bats - so had we passed him up for that reason to take Cox, maybe something like "Giant Cox Superior Wood Swinger; Brown Prefers Pipe."
Sabean always taking away my fun.
Or we could have taken Brentz. Also fine.
