{"id":475,"date":"2008-06-27T00:01:03","date_gmt":"2008-06-26T23:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=475"},"modified":"2009-09-26T11:47:49","modified_gmt":"2009-09-26T10:47:49","slug":"all-star-game-2008-second-basemen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=475","title":{"rendered":"All Star Game 2008 – Second basemen"},"content":{"rendered":"

American League<\/strong> – With All Star selections, it’s up to the competition to take the starting spot away from the holder.\u00c2\u00a0 Placido Polanco started for the AL last year and he’s having a decent season so far in 2008, which means that another second baseman needs to make a very strong case to take his place.<\/p>\n

Dustin Pedroia looks to have got this position wrapped up thanks to the Red Sox Nation, but his performances (relatively speaking) don’t really justify his seemingly inevitable nomination.\u00c2\u00a0 Playing well on a winning team is certainly worth something and there’s no doubt that Pedroia played his part in the Red Sox’s success last year.\u00c2\u00a0 However, compare his contribution to that of Ian Kinsler’s in 2008 and there’s only one winner: across the board, the Texas Ranger has outperformed Pedroia.\u00c2\u00a0 So, is that enough to push Kinsler ahead?\u00c2\u00a0 I think so.\u00c2\u00a0 Pedroia is the bigger ‘star’ thanks to playing for Boston, but he’s not been a ‘star’ performer in any other way.\u00c2\u00a0 As a result, it’s fair to allow Kinsler’s excellent three months to take precedence as Pedroia doesn’t have a longer track record to fall back on.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether it’s enough to take the jersey from Polanco is the only question left to answer.\u00c2\u00a0 Kinsler brings a lot more power and speed, while Polanco is the better all round hitter at this moment in time.\u00c2\u00a0 The deciding factor for me is that the ASG is an exhibition game (regardless of Selig’s attempts to claim otherwise).\u00c2\u00a0 In such a contest, you have to place a higher value on the home runs and stolen bases\u00c2\u00a0that Kinsler brings to the table; therefore he just gets my vote.<\/p>\n

Outside of those three, Brian Roberts continues to perform at a high level for the Orioles, while Robinson Cano’s slow start has put him out of contention this year.<\/p>\n

National League<\/strong> – If we’re being honest, the two ASG second base spots have basically been decided by the voters already.\u00c2\u00a0 In Pedroia’s case, I don’t agree with the majority.\u00c2\u00a0 In the case of Chase Utley, I certainly do.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes he is streaky at the plate, but when he is hot there are few batters in the Majors that are capable of beating a team on his own in the way that Utley can.\u00c2\u00a0 Combine that with his improved defense and you’ve got a perennial MVP candidate for many years to come.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s an All Star in anyone’s language.\u00c2\u00a0 Dan Uggla can feel a little hard done by and he would be a worthy All Star were it not for Utley standing in his way.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Brandon Phillips is quietly enhancing his reputation with the Reds and Kelly Johnson continues to be a solid performer for the Braves.\u00c2\u00a0 Orlando Hudson could well see himself jumping to the top of the second base pack in the AL in 2009 if he switches leagues over the off-season, but for now he has to sit on the sidelines.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American League – With All Star selections, it’s up to the competition to take the starting spot away from the holder.\u00c2\u00a0 Placido Polanco started for the AL last year and he’s having a decent season so far in 2008, which means that another second baseman needs to make a very strong case to take his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32,553],"class_list":["post-475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb-2","tag-all-star-game","tag-mlb-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=475"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4600,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475\/revisions\/4600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}