{
With under three weeks until the All Star Teams are announced, we're looking at what's changed since our original previews. }
Preview I
here.
#AL - Bill James & Cum Posey Divisions
Original selections:
Eddie Collins,
Tim Raines,
Larry Gardner.
After struggling briefly on his return from the DL, Chicago's Collins has resumed being the class of the second basemen in the league with a 309/431/517 slash line. He's the clear starter.
But after that, it gets awfully muddled. Purely by OPS, you would go with Kansas City's
Rogers Hornsby (309/390/500) and Baltimore's Gardner (288/419/464).
But Ottawa's Raines certainly deserves strong consideration (and he may be Ottawa's only representative in the midseason classic). Raines' OPS is a shade worse at 282/365/445, but he leads the group with 7 homeruns and 38 runs scored, and is way ahead with 38 steals, putting him behind only Collins in WAR (2.5 to 1.8). Los Angeles'
Bobby Grich is also at a 1.8 WAR, slashing 300/374/485.
Grich sits just behind Collins and the New York Gothams'
Cookie Rojas in the defensive rankings. (Houston's HR Johnson--who has hit well enough to be in the conversation--has been among the worst defensive 2B in the league, moving him clearly out of contention at this point.)
So, what to do ...
This is a position I expect to change a little as the month plays out, but right now, I would go with Raines and Gardner behind Collins. But I could also be convinced to carry four to include Hornsby. And, if Baltimore drops off as a team, that probably weakens Gardner's argument as well.
Somewhat inexplicably, the AI goes with Collins, Johnson, and Raines.
#NL - Effa Manley & Marvin Miller Divisions
Original selections:
Chase Utley,
Jimmy Bloodworth,
Tom Herr.
Brooklyn's
Jackie Robinson presents a bit of a conundrum, having split his time almost equally between 1B and 2B. He clearly hasn't hit well enough to make it as a 1B, but his 291/350/511 is pretty spectacular for a middle infielder. For now, I'm going to punt on him though, and perhaps add a
utility category for each league in the final selections.
The feel-good story of the season so far, Birmingham's Herr, is not only still performing at an all-star level, he's likely the starter right now, hitting 338/381/455. It doesn't seem sustainable, but it didn't at the last update either.
San Francisco's Bloodworth sits just behind him in OPS at 288/328/488 with 9 homeruns and 25 RBIs. Utley has been in a slump, but he remains the only other candidate with an OPS over .800, and at 263/335/481 still would make it, although a surge by Homestead's
Davey Johnson or Indianapolis'
Joe Morgan could remove him.
Utley and Bloodworth have been the best defensive 2B so far, which helps them here as well.
So I would stick with the same three, just in a different order. The AI selects
only Herr, which is amusing.