h2h Corner ~ Putting the All-star Game in the Rear View Mirror

I don’t know what happened to the All-star game.

I remember it as the crowning jewel of the summer of my youth. I actually embraced the “This Time it Counts” PR ploy. Hey, it’s a little less random than simply switching home field between leagues every year. In an ideal world, Major Legaue Baseball would let the best interleague record to determine World Series home field advantage, but at least we aren’t just switching off.

However, this year, they took the mantra too far. Middle relievers, typically, have very little place in an All-star game. Some of them are having fine, even very good seasons, but give me some starters. You know what happens when you shorten the word ‘starters’, you see the word ‘stars’. Stephen Strasburg is a star, Mat Latos is a star, and Jered Weaver might be a star. You know who will never be a star? Evan Meek, Matt Thornton, Arthur Rhodes, Omar Infante, etc.

So how do you “fix” the All-star game? I don’t think you have to do much besides apply a little common sense. Really, this is probably a one year aberration of the players and managers making horrible choices. At least a Yankees starter got the loss, so when they are forced to play game seven at the Colorado Rockies, they’ll have no one to blame but their manager and Phil Hughes.

Switching gears to Fantasy Baseball…

You know what the ASB means to fantasy teams. It is time to take stock on where you are in the standings and what you need to do to get to the top.

Here are some guys who, while they underperformed, should help you in the second half:

1. Aramis Ramirez
2. Joe Mauer
3. Ian Kinsler
4. Ichiro
5. Jimmy Rollins
6. Mark Reynolds (if you aren’t worried about batting average)
7. Aaron Hill
8. Nelson Cruz
9. Chris Ianetta
10. Chone Figgins
11. Carlos Lee
12. Zack Greinke (unless you need wins)
13. Wandy Rodriguez (why not roll the dice?)
14. Cole Hamels
15. Scott Baker
16. Chad Billingsley (if you need Ks)
17. James Shields
18. Gavin Floyd

Here are some guys who you might want to sell at their apex:

1. Josh Hamilton
2. Torii Hunter
3. Corey Hart
4. Adrian Beltre
5. Dan Uggla
6. Scott Rolen
7. Ubaldo Jimenez
8. Cliff Lee
9. David Price
10. Andy Pettitte
11. Jeff Niemann
12. Jaime Garcia
13. Phil Hughes

Here are some guys owned in less than 50% of Yahoo! Leagues who could be the difference in the second half (in ranked order):

Pitchers:

1. Jason Hammel
2. Kris Medlen
3. John Axford
4. Madison Bumgarner
5. Travis Wood
6. Tom Gorzelanny
7. Alfredo Simon
8. Bronson Arroyo
9. Vicente Padilla
10. Jonathon Niese
11. JJ Putz
12. Scott Downs
13. Barry Enright
14. Bruce Chen
15. Vin Mazzaro

Hitters:

1. Adam LaRoche
2. Gaby Sanchez
3. Russell Branyan
4. Andres Torres
5. Drew Stubbs
6. Mike Cameron
7. Ike Davis
8. Juan Pierre
9. Coco Crisp
10. Fred Lewis
11. Angel Pagan
12. Dexter Fowler
13. Matt LaPorta
14. Cody Ross
15. Cliff Pennington
16. Lastings Milledge
17. Julio Borbon
18. Julio Lugo
19. Jonathan Herrera
20. Clint Barmes
21. Travis Ishikawa
22. Seth Smith
23. Michael Saunders

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