{"id":9531,"date":"2014-07-08T08:30:38","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T12:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=9531"},"modified":"2014-07-14T09:24:31","modified_gmt":"2014-07-14T13:24:31","slug":"nats-all-star-review-2014-and-years-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=9531","title":{"rendered":"Nats all-star review: 2014 and years past"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Congrats<\/a>

Congrats to Zimmermann on his 2014 all-star selection. Photo dcist.com\/(AP Photo\/Manuel Balce Ceneta)<\/p><\/div>\n

Here\u2019s my annual Nationals All Star selection post. \u00a0 As with last year’s post<\/a> (which also links to subsequent years), I\u2019m including a retrospective on our \u201cillustrious\u201d All Star representative history from years past. \u00a0If you read on and it sounds familiar, that\u2019s because a lot of it is cut-n-pasted from previous versions of this post. \u00a0Even so, reading backwards to see who our All-star representatives were in the lean years is an interesting exercise. \u00a0There were many years that the “one representative per team” rule was bent pretty far in order to include a member of our lousy teams.<\/p>\n

Discussion item for the comments<\/strong><\/span>: Do you feel that the Major League all-star game should be a collection of the games biggest and best stars year after year, or should it represent who’s having the best current season?\u00a0 I’ll put in my two cents: right now (thanks partly to the one player from each team rule) the rosters are somewhat of a mix of these two philosophies but are leaning more and more towards “who is having the best season.”\u00a0 This year for example, future hall of famers like Albert Pujols<\/strong> are not on the team while 2-month flash in the pans like Charlie Blackmon<\/strong> are. \u00a0But I feel like a showcase event like the All-Star game needs to highlight the games biggest stars.\u00a0 And I don’t feel like it does.<\/p>\n

Keith Law<\/strong> is right<\/a>: when (to use our local examples) marquee\/famous players like Bryce Harper<\/strong> and Stephen Strasburg<\/strong> are not selected in lieu of middle relievers who have a great ERA through 20 innings in the first couple months of the season, it does a disservice to the game.\u00a0 Harper can’t open his mouth without it making national news and he’d be a draw at the game.\u00a0 Same for Strasburg just on fame factor.\u00a0 In this respect I always thought the NBA all-star game did the best job of making its event an actual “All Stars” event.\u00a0 If you want to have an event that rewards players for the best SEASON … then do what the NFL does and have the all-star game after the season.\u00a0 Right now we give all- star spots to guys who have a couple of hot months and who might be hitting .220 again by the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The most egregious example of this lately probably was 2012’s Cubs representative Bryan LaHair<\/strong>, who made the all-star game thanks to a scorching first half<\/a>\u00a0in 2012.\u00a0\u00a0You know where LaHair is now?\u00a0 Chicago *released* him at the end of 2012; what all-star gets released in the season in which they make the team?\u00a0 He played in Japan in 2013 (perhaps why he was released but still indicative of what the team thought of his true talents), hit .230 there, and is currently sitting on Cleveland’s AA roster (having hit .113 for their AAA team and getting demoted).\u00a0 I dunno; is this the kind of “all star” you want to see in your league’s marquee event?\u00a0 I don’t think so; even if Joey Votto<\/strong> is having a down year, I want to see him suit up and not some flash in the pan.<\/p>\n

One other quick point. \u00a0If the season ended today, here’s your playoff teams and the number of players they have in the ASG: NL: Atlanta (3), Milwaukee (4), Los Angeles (4), Washington (1) and San Francisco (2). \u00a0 And AL: Baltimore (3), Detroit (3), Oakland (6), Los Angeles (1) and Seattle (2). \u00a0 Wow; looks to me like both the Nats and the Angels have some serious griping about player selection. \u00a0The Angels have the 2nd best record in the league and got just one representative (Mike Trout<\/strong> of course).<\/p>\n

Anyway, on to the Nats historical representatives.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s a link to the All Star Rosters<\/a> for 2014, prior to the “last man in” voting and any pending injury replacements.<\/p>\n

2014<\/a><\/p>\n