St. Louis Cardinals: The All-Star voting conundrum

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PHOENIX, AZ – JULY 03: Yadier Molina #4 of the St. Louis Cardinals at bat during the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on July 3, 2018 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /

Every year, All-Star voting can be greatly skewed and distorted by a variety of unworthy votes, and some of the biggest offenders outside of the St. Louis Cardinals all fall into the same category.

The All-Star offenders typically vote for who they like, and not who is truly deserving. 2018 is looking like the year that St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina might be snubbed because of it.

These names are usually not hard to find, and there always seems to be at least one deserving candidate that is snubbed in favor of one who is more well-known or loved by fans. In recent years, MLB has attempted to shift the way that All-Star voting works to try and prevent this, to no avail.

This year, the St. Louis Cardinals catcher is the victim of the poor All-Star voting system. He is being slated not to make the team despite leading all catchers in home runs and placing second in SLG.

So why does this happen? First and foremost, the fan voting nature of the game is naturally biased, there is no getting around that. These biases can result in many deserving names to fall short of the All-Star Game.

This season’s All-Star game (and the longest break for any baseball fan) will take place on July 15 and will air exclusively on FOX. The All-Star names will be released tonight, Sunday, July 8.

NEW YORK, NY – MAY 14: A young fan waits for former New York Yankees great, Derek Jeter before a pregame ceremony honoring Jeter and retiring his number 2 at Yankee Stadium on May 14, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

Every year, All-Star voting can be greatly skewed and distorted by a variety of unworthy votes, and some of the biggest offenders outside of the St. Louis Cardinals all fall into the same category.

Exhibit A: Loving a legend

While it sometimes happens because fans are attempting to pay homage to legends like with Cal Ripken in 2001, there are also situations like in 2010 where a legend coming up on the end of his career is given a pass in favor of another great player who clearly deserved to make it over.

A prime example of this is Derek Jeter‘s election to the team in 2010 and 2011. While his election in 2012 had some merit, Jeter was clearly undeserving in these two years. He was 9th among shortstops in both WAR and batting average while playing below league average on defense in the first half of 2010.

2011 was even worse. Jeter was not 9th, but 19th in WAR among shortstops at the break. His OPS was just .683, and he was once again below average on defense. People will favor the names of legends simply because that legendary status makes casual spectators assume that they’re playing great.

If Jeter announced his retirement in one of those years and got elected like he did in 2014, that would be understandable. But here, he didn’t earn his All-Star spot based on merit, but on reputation.

In the St. Louis Cardinals’ case, Buster Posey‘s reputation as an offensive player is more appealing for an All-Star Game than Yadi’s defensive talents, despite Yadi having more home runs. However, it’s the reputation of Posey as a hitter that pushes him over Yadi in this case

LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 08: Kurt Suzuki #24 of the Atlanta Braves in the dugout during the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 8, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Every year, All-Star voting can be greatly skewed and distorted by a variety of unworthy votes, and some of the biggest offenders outside of the St. Louis Cardinals all fall into the same category.

Exhibit B: Equating team wins to individual value

This is something that also played a part in Jeter’s unjustified elections in 2010 and 2011. One of the main reasons that Jeter was chosen over Ramirez or Gonzalez in 2010 was simply because the Yankees had 56 wins at the break, compared to just 42 for the Marlins and 44 for the Blue Jays.

Wins are important, but they should be secondary when looking at individual awards, especially in baseball. Mike Trout and Jacob deGrom‘s performances this year has made it clearer than ever that one player cannot carry a baseball team to victory.

Should Trout or deGrom’s scorching seasons be discredited simply because the rest of the team can’t provide the support to defeat a more balanced team? At some point, you have to ask yourself how much more they are expected to produce in comparison to players on winning teams like Jose Altuve or Mike Foltynewicz.

In the St. Louis Cardinals case, Yadi is behind Braves catcher Kurt Suzuki despite very similar batting averages and a lower ISO.

There is an argument that Suzuki has played more this season, but the more compelling argument by many standards is the success of the Braves against the success of the Cardinals. Using team success as a “tie-breaker” between two players is acceptable, but it becomes misguided when your judgement is lead by it.

LOS ANGELES, CA – JUNE 27: Cody Bellinger #35 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates in the dugout after hitting a solo home run in the eighth inning of the game against the Chicago Cubs at Dodger Stadium on June 27, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

Every year, All-Star voting can be greatly skewed and distorted by a variety of unworthy votes, and some of the biggest offenders outside of the St. Louis Cardinals all fall into the same category.

Exhibit C: Blind loyalty

We saved the worst for last, because these people are just brutal. These are the fans who post their ballot to their team’s Twitter page in hopes of public recognition.

Look, I get that you love your team and its players, but doing this is just flat out wrong. Whether it be the best player, or a player that everyone would love to watch on a big stage, people should vote for players that all fans will enjoy watching.

It might not seem like a big deal, but when players are receiving bonuses for All-Star appearances in their contracts, it goes to show that the game is held in higher regard then many fans think.

Why is voting for your own players a problem then? Well, we can draw a parallel with the 2016 Presidential Election, where many Democrats implored people to vote for them instead of jumping to a third party. This third party jump was considered supporting the other side because the top parties needed every vote they could get to beat the other side.

The same thing can be applied to All-Star voting. Those votes in random players could have turned the tides between two players if the votes were applied correctly. This can affect the game, which in turn affects which league receives home field advantage in the World Series.

So seriously, don’t be that guy who votes Cody Bellinger in 35 times a day just because you love the Dodgers.

MIAMI, FL – JULY 11: Yadier Molina #4 of the St. Louis Cardinals and the National League reacts during the 88th MLB All-Star Game at Marlins Park on July 11, 2017 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

Every year, All-Star voting can be greatly skewed and distorted by a variety of unworthy votes, and some of the biggest offenders outside of the St. Louis Cardinals all fall into the same category.

So What Should We Do?

This question is split into two parts, being:

A: Should we do anything about this?

B: If so, what is there to do that can stop these things?

The reason that these problems have been going on for so long is because both of these questions are rather difficult to answer.

At the end of the day, the All-Star game experience is about the fans and who the fans want to see, so is it in good spirit to limit the way fans vote? Even if statistically, a player is not the best, is it wrong to be an All-Star if that’s what the fans want to see?

Well, it depends on how who perceive the game in a relation to a player’s career. If All-Star appearances hold any weight in the discussion of one’s career achievements, then all steps should be taken to ensure the most deserving players get in.

Luckily, because baseball performance is so extensively quantifiable through advanced statistics, All-Star appearances aren’t used in career discussions as much as athletes in the other major professional sports.

Every year, All-Star voting can be greatly skewed and distorted by a variety of unworthy votes, and some of the biggest offenders outside of the St. Louis Cardinals all fall into the same category.

Every year, All-Star voting can be greatly skewed and distorted by a variety of unworthy votes, and some of the biggest offenders outside of the St. Louis Cardinals all fall into the same category.

Exhibit A: Loving a legend

Every year, All-Star voting can be greatly skewed and distorted by a variety of unworthy votes, and some of the biggest offenders outside of the St. Louis Cardinals all fall into the same category.

Exhibit B: Equating team wins to individual value

Every year, All-Star voting can be greatly skewed and distorted by a variety of unworthy votes, and some of the biggest offenders outside of the St. Louis Cardinals all fall into the same category.

Exhibit C: Blind loyalty

Every year, All-Star voting can be greatly skewed and distorted by a variety of unworthy votes, and some of the biggest offenders outside of the St. Louis Cardinals all fall into the same category.

So What Should We Do?

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