My All-Stars

I wasn’t planning on putting up my picks for the All-Star Game this year, but I’ve found myself with a little unexpected free time, and what better way to spend it than by writing about 68 players who will spend between 5 and 60 minutes playing in an exhibition game next week?

As you will see, I lean a bit more towards 2010 performance than true talent level as I believe guys who are having big first halves should be rewarded, however, both are factors. Oh, and if you’re wondering who got bumped so that I could make the game more entertaining by putting Strasburg on the roster, the last guy cut was Matt Belisle. Raise your hand if you’d rather watch him pitch than Strasburg? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Anyway, without further adieu, here’s my picks for the game.

American League

Starters

C – Joe Mauer, Minnesota
1B – Justin Morneau, Minnesota
2B – Robinson Cano, New York
SS – Elvis Andrus, Texas
3B – Adrian Beltre, Boston
LF – Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay
CF – Alex Rios, Chicago
RF – Josh Hamilton, Texas
DH – Vladimir Guerrero, Texas
SP – Cliff Lee, Seattle

Reserves:

C – Kurt Suzuki, Oakland; Carlos Santana, Cleveland
1B – Miguel Cabrera, Detroit; Kevin Youkilis, Boston
2B – Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay
SS – Derek Jeter, New York; Alex Gonzalez, Toronto
3B – Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay; Michael Young, Texas
OF – Franklin Gutierrez, Seattle; Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle; David DeJesus, Kansas City; Nick Markakis, Baltimore

SP – Francisco Liriano, Minnesota; Jered Weaver, Anaheim; Jon Lester, Boston; Felix Hernandez, Seattle; Justin Verlander, Detroit; Phil Hughes, New York; Clay Buchholz, Boston; David Price, Tampa Bay
RP: Matt Thornton, Chicago; Mariano Rivera, New York; Darren Oliver, Texas

National League

Starters

C – Miguel Olivo, Colorado
1B – Joey Votto, Cincinnati
2B – Martin Prado, Atlanta
SS – Hanley Ramirez, Florida
3B – David Wright, New York
LF – Matt Holliday, St. Louis
CF – Andres Torres, San Francisco
RF – Jayson Werth, Philadelphia
DH – Albert Pujols, St. Louis
SP – Roy Halladay, Philadelphia

Reserves

C – Brian McCann; Atlanta; Geovany Soto, Chicago
1B – Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
2B – Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati; Dan Uggla, Florida; Kelly Johnson, Arizona
SS – Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles
3B – Ryan Zimmerman, Washington; Scott Rolen, Cincinnati
OF – Josh Willingham, Washington; Marlon Byrd, Chicago; Colby Rasmus, St. Louis

SP – Josh Johnson, Florida; Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado; Yovanni Gallarado, Milwaukee; Adam Wainwright, St. Louis; Roy Oswalt, Houston; Jaime Garcia, St. Louis; Stephen Strasburg, Washington
RP: Jonathan Broxton, Los Angeles; Luke Gregerson, San Diego; Brian Wilson, San Francisco; Evan Meek, Pittsburgh