A regular over at Viva El Birdos put together a FanPost creating the 2010 MLB League Minimum All Star Team. The FanPost takes a look back at the 2009 team and then compares it to the 2010 team. Naturally there are Oakland Athletics on the team this year as there were last year. The Giants also have a player on each of the two teams.
In order to determine the team Aranathor used WAR, or wins above replacement. WAR looks at how many wins did a particular player contribute to his team's win total above and beyond what they would have gotten from a "replacement value" player. It is basically an attempt to create a single statistic that provides a player's worth compared to every other player.
This year's list includes Oakland Athletics shortstop Cliff Pennington and starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez. Pennington benefitted because he provides just enough offense and quality speed to go with his very solid defensive play at shortstop. Gonzalez was brought in as the fifth starter behind Clay Buchholz, Clayton Kershaw, Jaime Garcia, and Mat Latos. Gonzalez had a breakthrough year in 2010 and will look to build on it in 2011. The A's rotation will be incredibly important if they want to challenge the Rangers and Angels for AL West control.
The San Francisco Giants inclusion should not surprise anyone. Catcher Buster Posey was called up in late May and his run at rookie of the year made this an easy choice:
Giving Sandoval the catcher's spot last year was a little cheeky as he only started 3 games at catcher, there is no such problem with this year's Giant catcher, Posey played 76 of his 108 games at catcher and was an offensive force whilst acquitting himself very well defensively. He edges out Matt Wieters as a starter based on greater offensive output.
As it mentions, Pablo Sandoval was included as the 2009 catcher. It would have been tough justifying inclusion of Sandoval over Evan Longoria at third base, but it would have been a shame to not include Sandoval. So, given his three games at catcher they slotted him there.
The A's had three players on the 2009 version of this team, all of them pitchers. Starting pitcher Brett Anderson, closer Andrew Bailey, and setup man Brad Ziegler were included. Since then Brett Anderson has inked a four year contract extension with club options for 2014 and 2015.