We complain a lot about how the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox seem to dominate the American League roster year after year because of fan voting. We could find ourselves in a similar situation in the National League, as Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants seems ready to select plenty of his players for the 2011 All-Star Game in Phoenix. Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News has this to report:
Well, which Giants could Bochy possibly picked without a huge uproar?
- Tim Lincecum will be there unless he keeps his slide rolling into the summer.
- Ryan Vogelsong will be strongly considered if his magical spring run holds on for a few more starts.
- Freddy Sanchez and Buster Posey are out. Two slots taken away.
- Pablo Sandoval still has a shot (he's less likely to win the starting position though). He will be strongly considered despite playing less than half the games this season.
- With the All-Star game actually mattering to whoever wins it (winner gets the conference homefield advantage in the World Series, still one of the stupidest rules in any sport), it actually could open up slots for the most effective lefty/righty setup combo in the majors in Javier Lopez and Sergio Romo. I don't think both will make it, but Bochy could take both if he believed he needed both.
- Brian Wilson will be closing unless his beard magically hops off.
So it won't exactly be undeserved Yankee/Red Sox roster dominance, but you will see a few more Giants names than you're accustomed to. And they certainly aren't names most of us are familiar with.
How many San Francisco Giants should make the All-Star roster? Which players would you pick? Let us know in the comments!