Earlier today, Major League Baseball announced the rosters for the 79th All-Star Game being held at Yankee Stadium, which is only appropriate since this is the final season for the historic ballpark.

The starters were determined solely by the fan vote once again, unfortunately.

Really, baseball needs to do something about the fan voting. Every year the fan voting messes up something based solely on the most popular teams (Dustin Pedroia being selected over Ian Kinsler) or country of origin (Kosuke Fukudome even being an All-Star). If this is supposed to be a game that matters, then the players that are performing best should be the ones competing.

Make it 50/50 or something where the fan vote is only 50 percent of the determining factor in deciding the starters.

Nevertheless, we wanted to do what we hadn’t seen anywhere else and break down the selections team-by-team, so that you could easily see who was selected from your favorite team (in alphabetical order with starters are in bold):

American League

  • Baltimore Orioles: George Sherrill (P)
  • Boston Red Sox: J.D. Drew (OF), David Ortiz* (DH), Jonathan Papelbon (P), Dustin Pedroia (2B), Manny Ramirez (OF), Jason Varitek (C), Kevin Youkilis (1B)
  • Chicago White Sox: Joe Crede (3B), Carlos Quentin (OF)
  • Cleveland Indians: Cliff Lee (P), Grady Sizemore (OF)
  • Detroit Tigers: Carlos Guillen (1B/3B)
  • Kansas City Royals: Joakim Soria (P)
  • Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Francisco Rodriguez (P), Ervin Santana (P), Joe Saunders (P)
  • Minnesota Twins: Joe Mauer (C), Justin Morneau (1B), Joe Nathan (P)
  • New York Yankees: Derek Jeter (SS), Mariano Rivera (P), Alex Rodriguez (3B)
  • Oakland Athletics: Justin Duchscherer (P)
  • Seattle Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki (OF)
  • Tampa Bay Rays: Dioner Navarro (C), Scott Kazmir (P)
  • Texas Rangers: Milton Bradley (OF), Josh Hamilton (OF), Ian Kinsler (2B), Michael Young (SS)
  • Toronto Blue Jays: Roy Halladay (P)

*Milton Bradley will start at the DH position due to David Ortiz’s injury.

National League

  • Arizona Diamondbacks: Dan Haren (P), Brandon Webb (P)
  • Atlanta Braves: Chipper Jones (3B), Brian McCann (C)
  • Chicago Cubs: Ryan Dempster (P), Kosuke Fukudome (OF), Aramis Ramirez (3B) Alfonso Soriano (OF), Geovany Soto (C), Kerry Wood (P), Carlos Zambrano (P)
  • Cincinnati Reds: Edinson Volquez (P)
  • Colorado Rockies: Aaron Cook (P), Matt Holliday (OF)
  • Florida Marlins: Hanley Ramirez (SS), Dan Uggla (2B)
  • Houston Astros: Lance Berkman (1B), Miguel Tejada (SS)
  • Los Angeles Dodgers: Russell Martin (C)
  • Milwaukee Brewers: Ryan Braun (OF), Ben Sheets (P)
  • New York Mets: Billy Wagner (P)
  • Philadelphia Phillies: Brad Lidge (P), Chase Utley (2B)
  • Pittsburgh Pirates: Nate McLouth (OF)
  • San Diego Padres: Adrian Gonzalez (1B)
  • San Francisco Giants: Tim Lincecum (P), Brian Wilson (P)
  • St. Louis Cardinals: Ryan Ludwick (OF), Albert Pujols (1B)
  • Washington Nationals: Christian Guzman (SS)

There have also been a number of good articles already written about the selections made by Major League Baseball:

  • The Love of Sports‘ Brandon Rosenau has probably the best article on the All-Star selections as he breaks down each of the starters and pitchers and discusses who was left out. (Rosenau also lists all starters and reserves.)
  • Spiffy selects his AL All-Star team and Manny Ramirez doesn’t make the squad.
  • Natural Hize has a list of “big time snubs.”
  • Robert Eldredge shows what everyone knows…Fukudome is not All-Star worthy.
  • Awesome F’in Sports thinks the fans are retarded, but I disagree that every team should have a representative.
  • Camden Chat poses the question: Is Jason Varitek the worst All-Star ever?

Shotgun Spratling

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