Monday, July 6, 2009

Do NOT Vote Guzman

Sorry, but for the sake of the integrity of the game, I cannot vote for Cristian Guzman for the all-star game.

It's not that he's such a terrible choice (he is a terrible choice, but that's not what I'm worked up about), it's that if neither Matt Kemp nor Shane Victorino is voted in, the National League will have no center-fielders whatsoever.

The MLB all-star game has always been kind of like a fantasy baseball draft, where defense doesn't count at all. And the convoluted process and little league participation rules have undermined the quality of play at the all-star game for years.

But it's one thing to have a guy who doesn't really deserve to be on the team like Andrew Bailey or Adam Jones, but it's something else altogether to play an entire game with an outfield that would make Dunn/Dukes/Willingham look like a gold glove trio.

Carlos Beltran was voted in by the fans, but presumably he won't play since he's been out since June 22 with a bruised knee.

That means, unless Kemp or Victorino is voted in, the starting outfield for the NL will feature either Ryan Braun or Raul Ibanez in right field and one of these non-CFs in center: Justin Upton, Hunter Pence, or Brad Hawpe.

And, of course, the all-star game isn't meaningless. Home field advantage in the World Series is on the line.

Now, I can't quite urge you to vote for a Phillie, and Victorino doesn't really deserve to go any more than Guzman does. But Matt Kemp is a perfectly solid choice. He's an above average fielder, and he's hitting .305 / .373 / .521 for the NL's best team.

So for the good of the game, don't vote Guzman. Vote Kemp.

7 comments:

Will said...

sorry, but i've got to vote for "kung fu panda" pablo sandoval- .333/.388/.566, 12 HR, only 22 years old, really exciting player to watch.

Anonymous said...

If Beltran backs out due to injury, they'll pick someone else to replace him - independent of the fan choice vote going on now. Of course, as Bob Carpenter was speculating yesterday, that pick to replace Beltran could end up being Adam Dunn.

Deacon Drake said...

I've had Kemp and Sandoval on my fantasy team this year... tough choice, but Kemp if a far superior all-round player.

Unknown said...

I'm not saying that I would vote for Guzman anyway, but isn't part of Charlie Manual's job as the manager of the NL team to chose his reserves? If he didn't consider defense in his selections, then I don't think it's necessarily the fans' job to bail him out.

Nate said...

This argument is about seven different flavors of dumb. If the All-Star game had integrity (it doesn't) it certainly couldn't be ruined by voting Guzman onto the squad over Kemp or Victorino. How is it my obligation as a Nats fan to guarantee OF depth behind Beltran? Blame the Mets fans and the casual observers who vote name over performance year after year.

I'm with Sasskuash, this is a roster construction issue for Charlie Manuel. And with only two
3B on the NL team, they could probably use Guzie's versatility. Home field advantage in the Series? Not really my concern. MLB, the author of this entire cluster$#@%, put Cristian on the ballot. As a Nats fan he's getting my vote.

Ben said...

You know, about 24 hours after some idiot posted on you blog that anyone is trade-able if you eat enough of their salary, Guzman may disprove the point.

In the days of Sabermetrics and UZR Guzman may be the poster child of stat exposing what any fan who watches him has known all along. Namely that Guzman is no good. And I can't see any GM being fool. Not if they have google.

Souldrummer said...

I don't even think Guzman wants to go. Isn't there some quote from him saying that he feels he could use the rest? About the only reason to vote for him is to hope that some fool GM thinks he's more tradable.

One of the real tragedies of our farm system is that we weren't confident enough that someone out of Ian Desmond, Danny Espinosa, or Alberto Gonzalez could make a decent enough option to justify saving the cash and not resigning Guzman.

For an organization that seems to love being cheap Guzman is a rare exception for his 8Mil this year.