Get Out the Vote
Jun 9th, 2008 by shooterb
If our public elections are ever held online, heaven help us…
The MLB All-Star Balloting is well underway, and is once again proof that the general public can’t be trusted to make good decisions…even when it comes to something as trivial as the All-Star game.
In the most recent American League balloting update, it appears that people still can’t get over the media obsession with the Red Sox and Yankees. Yes, there are other teams in the league. And yes, some of those other teams even have potential All-Stars.
Here are just a few AL voting discrepancies:
- Dustin Pedroia (.263 BA, 4 HR, 29 RBI, 6 SB) has a slight lead in 2B voting, even though Ian Kinsler (.308, 8 HR, 36 RBI, 17 SB) owns a commanding edge in every major offensive category.
- Joe Crede (.295 BA, 14 HR, 41 RBI) is arguably the best option to start at 3B over A-Rod, but is inexplicably sitting at 4th place in the voting. Even Miguel Cabrera (.274 BA, 8 HR, 36 RBI) has more votes than Crede.
- Don’t even get me started on Derek Jeter (.279 BA, 3 HR). I like the way the guy plays, but Jeter could spend his summer Dancing With the Stars and screwing sea otters…and he’d still be the starting shortstop at the mid-summer classic. Currently, he has more than doubled up Michael Young (.309 BA, 6 HR) on votes.
- Milton Bradley is a prick, and one my least favorite players…but he’s having an amazing first half. In just over 200 at-bats…he has a .340 BA, 14 HR, and 43 RBI to go along with 4 stolen bases. But thanks to his bad reputation, he’s being taken about as seriously as a Cedric Benson DWI excuse. Amongst AL outfielders, he is 14th in total votes.
Now I understand why fans aren’t allowed to vote on pitchers.
In the National League, it may not turn out quite as bad. Lance Berkman, Chase Utley, Chipper Jones, and Hanley Ramirez all have beastly numbers…so incredible than even the quick-clicking voters can’t ignore them.
However, expect a few snubs in the NL outfield. Soriano, Fukudome, Griffey, and Beltran are the current vote leaders…with Braun (16 HR), McLouth (14 HR), and Ludwick (14 HR) nowhere to be found.
Just remember that every single vote counts. And so do the other 300 million stupid ones.
Who else is pumped for the presidential election?
We can save this post and just change the names on a yearly basis. I am a fan but I wish that MLB would take the voting away from the fans once and for all. Fuck that shit about “The game is for the fans”…Not anymore. Is it still deciding the home team for the World Series?
Hell…even if it isn’t…I’m tired of the Yankee/Red Sox show in the AL.
The game may be for the fans, but the fans have a responsibility to at least apply a little logic when they are voting. To say that Ken Griffey, Jr. is having an “All-Star season” is laughable. Yet he’ll probably be there instead of other deserving players.
I think the winner still gets home field for the World Series, but I’m not 100% sure. I don’t remember hearing about any changes.
I could stand the Yankees & Red Sox if only the media didn’t focus on them 100% of the time. I’m surprised ESPN didn’t run a 24-hour news feed to watch Joba Chamberlain’s new shit schedule since he’s been moved into the starting rotation.
So what you’re saying is that National League Fans are smarter and don’t just vote for the same player every year regardless of how shitty they are playing?
Jaba is scheduled to take another dump @ 5p eastern.
NL fans may be only slightly smarter, but much more lazy. They do OK until getting to the OF category…when they realize they have to compare more than just 2 or 3 top players. At that point, they pick the first name they recognize. Not totally unlike the way Texans pick their governor.
Good luck to Joba the Hut. At least there is still one place he can be victorious.
I agree completely. But just like the Presidential election, or any other election, you’re always going to have a problem with poorly educated voters. What really gets me is the fact MLB allows you to cast 25 ballots - 25. WTF?
Just think - if we could cast 25 ballots per person I could be the next President of the United States. Would you like to be my running mate?
BTW - do you allow trackbacks? It’s easier to link to specific posts that way. Here’s a hint - allow them from me.
Later.
Moondog, I’m not sure what the deal is with 25 votes per person. Maybe they figure that if every fan votes 25 times, then it makes it even more annoying for someone to waste time stuffing the ballot.
All that is required is valid email…so if someone wanted to waste enough time, it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to swing the vote.
I’ll be the VP only if I can be in charge of hiring the interns.
The trackback option may not be right now for some reason, but I’ll fix it later when I have time to tweak.
Research, research, research. If we do research on our own we know Nate McLouth is having a monster year. We would also know which player should be voted into the all-star game. But if you watch TV all you hear is “A-Rod this” or “Jeter that”.
It is the same for the Presidential vote you guys have coming up. If I came in without any research I’d vote for lipstick boy Obama without hesitation. If I did my research, I’d find out that my options really suck balls.
This is a WordPress platform, right? Just look down the post page past the SEO and you’ll see the ping option. Simply click that to allow trackbacks.
As we’ve talked about previously, Ludwick and McClouth both deserve All-Star consideration. I suspect if either makes the team it will be because the Manager added them.
OK, you can hire the interns, but no cigars and no chicks that look like Rosie O’Donnell.
The big problem with terrible voting, as I pointed out with a Fred McGriff post a few weeks back, is someone somewhere will get the screwjob. Michael Young for example could be a guy who gets screwed out of 1 or 2 all-star starts during his career thanks to the Jeter factor.
Though this is a bad example, Rafael Palmiero did not go to many all-star games despite having the numbers to deserve it. Who screwed him? The fans did. He had about 4 all-star appearances or something like that, and he probably deserved doubled that. There have been several players like that over the years which is why all-star selections aren’t a big deal to me.
Moondog…I clicked on that, and also double-checked my settings to make sure the pingback option is on. So if it doesn’t work now, I have no clue why…
McLouth may make it only because of the rule that every team must be represented. For Pittsburgh, McLouth and Matt Capps are really the only 2 options. Well, actually Ian Snell and his batting practice fastball might be invited to the Home Run Derby…but that doesn’t really count.
Dan, 1st base used to be a tough position to earn an All-Star appearance. McGriff, Thomas, Grace, McGwire, Mo Vaughn, Bagwell, Thome, Will Clark and others were always in the way. Didn’t Carlos Delgado get snubbed often during his time in Toronto because of those guys?
I’m not too sure about the election choices either. Not only the candidates, but the fact that we have only have 2 options. The people who didn’t like McCain or Obama to begin with are basically forced to pick between them now. It’s like turning down the big girl for prom, only to find that all the other hotties are already taken.
That’s my problem with the All Star voting every year, is that the Red Sox and Yankee fans flood the voting and screw out more deserving players, like Mike and Ian in this case. Honestly, it should go back to the players who decide the All-Star game, as they did a better job than this current bullshit that we have going on.
trackbacks may be working. but our anti-spam is ridiculously over powered. i’ll square it away when i get home in from of my PC.
voting is what the people want. i think we have great options available to us. What are you people expecting… a superstar. The importance of the presidential election is only as importance as our votes for congress. thats where everything starts and ends. you could elect a rock to president and still have a successful country if the people who make the laws have common sense.
so we’re fucked. but at least no one I know will be sent back to the desert,
Morisato - I think the fans’ (and the ridiculous voting system) voting rights should be taken away. 25 votes per person, ballot stuffing…and don’t forget that people can start voting at the end of April. Now why in the world would voting be opened up that soon?
I think the players and all the coaching staff (hitting coaches, pitching coaches, etc.) should be trusted with the voting. Not only are they more likely to be unbiased, but they have the knowledge to make the correct decisions. I know the fans want to see their favorites, but the game deserves something more concrete. I think it’s a big reason that many players skip out on the All-Star game to nurse injuries, etc. Because it doesn’t have the validity that it once did.
If they’re going to have an All-Star game, they might as well put some logic behind it.
Demon, quite honestly…all I want at this point is a president without war on his agenda that can have a positive influence on the economy. Like you said, it’s even more important to make sure that the right people are being elected to Congress. If Obama is the leader that can inspire or force just a little bit of that change, then he is a great option.
Demon is right it doesn’t matter who you elect as the Pres. We could elect crazy ass Johnny Mc, or a guy in Obama that may not poses the skills to run a cash register at 7-11 but he could certainly talk about giving change…….
I’d like to see Jessie Ventura run, maybe pick the surviving member of Mili Vanilli as his running mate.
I can just see the two dancin’ to “Girl you know it’s true” out on the back of a Long John Silvers.
In our hearts, Milli Vanilli will never die.
I’m submitting a write-in vote and have narrowed the choices to either the Ross Perot/Optimus Prime ticket…or Salt-N-Pepa.
Jeter could spend his summer Dancing With the Stars and screwing sea otters…and he’d still be the starting shortstop at the mid-summer classic.
Such a great line …
I haven’t voted for the MLB All-Star game in years. Used to all the time.
My take: If ‘there are’ deserving players, then they should be ‘voted’ in, particularly over non-deserving players. But, by the same token — and I don’t have any numbers on this to bare me out — the fans are what sports are all about. So, if fan voting is shown to drive fan interest in any way then I’m all for letting them have the ‘majority’ say. Still, I hate the obvious snubs. But what I hate worst is when the coach chooses not to rectify the situation; instead choosing to add a few of his own players …
Definitely have a point, MeanD.
If someone wants to vote Miguel Tejada over Hanley Ramirez…I’ll be OK with that, even though it’s the wrong call. Tejada’s having a good season, and if fans want to see him…fine.
But when guys like Griffey, Jr. & Fukudome are 2 of the top vote-getters…something is seriously wrong. Griffey is a great player, but he’s only receiving votes because he’s a comeback story media darling at the moment (it wasn’t that long ago that fans turned on him for being injured). He’s about 30 points below his career average, has just 7 HR’s (not great, not bad), and there are at least a dozen more deserving outfielders.
It really isn’t that big of a deal. But as they say, anything worth doing…is worth doing right. Apparently Bud Selig never got that memo.
But that’s the problem. The fans can get a little TOO enamored with their favorites. Logic does need to come into play at some point, especially when you consider that a lot of the fan favorites just aren’t that good this year. Jeter’s been awful and is starting to justify his critics calling for his move from shortstop, and A-Rod is getting in thanks to past accomplishments. Pedroia is okay, but not All-Star worthy, but I’ll quit there lest my blog email explode with Red Sox hate once again (those emails are hilarous though.)
I will say this though. The coaching staff from the All Star game typically gets it right, as they tend to pick deserving players, with a few exceptions (Tony LaRussa’s reliever fetish last year, Ozzie Guillen picking several members of his own team a year or two ago.)
BTW - I still have Milli Vanilli’s original (well, not sung) album in storage. Next to Vanilla Ice’s failed rock album that I got for Christmas one year.
BBTW - Shoot, do you think New Mexico is going to vote republican this year like they did last year? It never fails to amuse me when I go to Albuquerque or Santa Fe and I hear people complain about Bush, only to find out that they voted Republican. I chuckle.
The managers usually do well picking the rest of the team. Like you said, LaRussa & Ozzie made some weird choices.
Sadly, I have the Milli Vanilli cassette tape hiding somewhere. I remember that the record company offered to buy it back for 2 or 3 bucks. Maybe one of these days it will be a collector’s item.
Albuquerque & Santa Fe seem to be filled with liberals that have severely strong opinions…but it is odd that it isn’t reflected in the voting sometimes. I think many of the smaller rural areas have those that tend to vote Republican. Even though the populations are small in those places, the percentage of those that vote is ridiculously high.
With Richardson as our governor, and the current state of the Republican party…I don’t think there is much chance of New Mexico going Republican this year. But who the hell knows?
As they say, friends don’t let friends vote Republican.
Good question regarding Delgado. I could not really recall thinking that he was royally screwed, and if he was it may have happened once. 96 and 97 he wasn’t putting up the juice numbers other guys were at that time. 1998 he broke a bone in his wrist in spring traning and was suppose to be back in late-May, and came back late April with a wrist brace, so the month off hurt him there. 1999 he was hitting around .250 at the All-Star break and that would not cut it at First Base. BUT he should have made it over Ron Coomer, who made it as the lone Minnesota rep.
One way to ease the process is to eliminate having each team represented. Too many bad teams with bad players have gone to the All-Star game over many players who were having a fantastic year. Delgado has only 2 All Star appearances but so did Scott Cooper of the Red Sox and Jose Rosado of the Royals. Cut that crap out because they are taking spots away from legit All-Stars.
Like most election years our choices are shit or shit. Where the hell is Ross Perot when you need him?
I haven’t looked at the All Star Ballot, does it have pre-written choices? a. Jeter b. Ta-hate-cha c. somefucker………
Or do you get to write in for each position?
If they are predetermined by the league they should do a better job at who they put on the ballots. If Jeter is batting 150 and 6 rbi’s he probably shouldn’t be on the ballot regardless of how popular he is or his ability to pull in world class poo tang.
If it’s the latter we have no one else to blame other than some pedophile in Ohio with 3000 email addresses that keeps voting for Bronson Arroyo because he likes his hair doo.
Pretty much every starter for each position is on the ballot, not really listed in any particular order that I know of.
Jeter might have earned a freebie All-Star selection by nailing Alyssa Milano. But A-Rod should have one taken away for giving that Toronto stripper/body-builder the high hard one.
I think that’s Jeter’s problem. Instead of high-class tail, he needs him a slumpbuster deluxe.
Hey Shooter-Even though I always thought the balloting was full of errors, it never really bothered me that much. I looked at it as an exhibition. But now that it decides home field advantage for the World Series, it’s downright ludicrous. Just to piss ‘em off, I think I’ll write Clemens, McGwire, Palmiero and Pete Rose. You can still write in players, can’t you?
Now I’m rembering getting the punch-out ballots every year by Gillette and mailing them in as a kid. I’m also reminded of a trivia question. I think Steve Garvey was the only write-in to ever be voted a starter.