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Wright Makes All Star Team Over Actual All Stars
By Jonathan Atwood on July 11th, 2008 4:29 PM |
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It was announced Friday by NL All Star team manager Clint Hurdle, also the manager of the Colorado Rockies, that New York Mets third baseman David Wright has been named to the all star team as a replacement for injured Cubs‘ outfielder Alfonso Soriano. This year’s MLB All Star Game is being held at Yankee Stadium in New York, the same city in which Wright’s Mets play. hmm….
David Wright in no way deserves to be named as an all star. Wright currently ranks 18th in the NL in home runs with 17, tied for third in the league in RBIs with 70, and 26th in the league with a .288 average.
Those numbers are fairly impressive, sure, especially his RBIs. But lets take a moment to look at who is ahead of him. Ahead of Wright in RBIs are Ryan Howard (83) and Carlos Lee (72). Howard (27) and Lee (21) are also both ahead of Wright in home runs, as is Pat Burrell with 22. Lee (.293) also has a better batting average than Wright.
Most people would assume I think that Howard or Burrell should be named as all stars and since they weren’t, that’s why I’m ragging on Wright. I do think that Howard and Burrell should have made the all star game, but I also think that Lee should have made it. And I very much think that Wright should not have.
I understand that every team sends one player to the Mid Summer Classic (ala Nate McLouth, Pittsburgh) and that means that some deserving players won’t get the call. But some players don’t, like Ryan Ludwick of the St. Louis Cardinals and Wright. Neither does recently elected Corey Hart, but that has more to do with fan favorites than anything else.
The numbers just aren’t there for Wright. I could understand if the debate was between Burrell and Wright, their numbers are fairly close and I could see giving Wright the edge because he plays in New York and the All Star game is an exhibition game at heart, regardless of whatever stupid junk Bud Selig adds to it to try and make it more legitimate.
But when compared to Howard and Lee, Wright pales in comparison. Wright certainly has a better batting average than Howard, whose average is a dismal .234. But as much as Howard strikes out, his on base percentage (.383) is only .005 percentage points lower than Wright’s (.388). And he has 10 more home runs and 13 more RBIs than Wright. Lee has more home runs, RBIs, a better average, and a higher slugging percentage.
The point is that David Wright in no way deserves to be on this year’s National League All Star team.
There are currently 6 responses to “Wright Makes All Star Team Over Actual All Stars”
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Where did you get those stats from? I hate David Wright as much as the next Phillie fan, but you need to look at their numbers a little closer:
Wright: .285 AVG, .382 OBP, .506 SLG, .888 OPS
Howard: .236 AVG, .328 OBP, .517 SLG, .844 OPS
If you take away the raw numbers and look closer, Wright is having the better year and, unfortunately, is deserving of making the All-Star team. Pat Burrell, on the other hand, was robbed and should be on the team, but not Ryan Howard.
The fact that Wright looks like such a homo in that picture should automatically exclude him from the All-Star Game. What the hell is that? A scully and a blazer? I’ve lost all respect for him. The fact that Howard’s a former MVP and Rookie of the Year should give him the edge on that alone. Period… MVP’s have always been awarded more respect then Howard’s ever recieved.
Listen, I tear Carlos Beltran apart routinely for being a .270 hitter while being paid like a premier hitter, so you can imagine my opinion of a guy hitting .234. Adam Dunn gets kicked around in baseball circles all the time – just listen JP Riccardi’s remarks the other week. How is Ryan Howard any different? Howard hit .313 in his MVP year – what happened to that guy? And the fact that Howard should somehow receive more respect for his MVP is laughable. He’d receive plenty of respect if he earned it by even flirting with the .300 mark in years subsequent to his MVP. When instead you’re hitting .230 after nearly 100 games, you’re just gift wrapping ammunition for your detractors. I mean, admit it, Phillies fans, the 84 RBIs are HUGE, but even so, you must be growing weary of strikeouts at this point, no? I mean, he’s on pace to strike out 218 times this season. Doesn’t that embarrass him, or are homers the only thing that matter in Philly these days? I know people are bound to be defensive listening to a Mets fan dump on their guy, but personally, I remember the Ryan Howard that used to hit line drives through the outfield wall – that‘s how you hit .300. What Howard has morphed into – that’s not hitting.
My mistake. When looking at Howard’s OBP I looked at his career average, not this year’s.
Look, anyone that knows me knows that I think Ryan Howard is the most one dimensional player I have ever seen and that I think the Phillies should trade him immediately. It’s obvious he doesn’t want to play here, or doesn’t think he’s going to get the money he believes he’s worth in Philly, and is going to leave after his contract is up. The Phils should trade him while they can still get something serious for him.
Howard makes Dunn and Richie Sexson look like triple crown winners. The glaring difference between Dunn (and Sexson) and Howard is that those two guys get on base, they walk, a lot. Howard does not, which really hurts. I definitely agree that home runs aren’t everything and that Howard hurts this team with all his strike outs, but his power numbers are still pretty amazing at this point.
Taking Howard and Burrell out of the discussion, Wright still does not deserve to make the All Star team. Carlos Lee should be an all star, not Wright.
I agree that Carlos Lee should be at the All Star game, but I disagree that Wright isn’t have an All Star year as well. I also think if you asked a lot of managers, ‘who would you rather have on your team: lee or wright?’, most managers would say wright. That’s essentially the decision that Hurtle had to make, and given how close the numbers are, I don’t think you can kill him for it. Wright’s on pace for 29 homers and 120 RBI, has been an All Star in each of the last two seasons, and is coming off an MVP-type year in ’07. If you’re going to file a complaint about the NL roster, tell me why the hell Corey Hart is on the team. Or how is Aramis Ramirez having a superior season to Wright? And do we really need three catchers on the roster? And is Russell Martin really having an All-Star year? Moaning about Wright’s inclusion seems an odd place to start. If I were to moan about anything, I’d want to know why Jose Reyes isn’t on the roster while Miguel Tejada is. That right there is a joke.
If we’re talking about who you’d rather have on your team, I think it’s obvious Reyes is not the type of guy you want on your team. He’s immature. Not that Tejada is Jason Varitek or Aaron Rowand, but he’s more mature than Babyface.
That being said, Reyes’ numbers are definitely better than Tejada’s and based on that alone should definitely be on the team. And I agree, guys like Ludwick and Martin shouldn’t be on there. Or Corey Hart.
The reason I take issue with Wright is that he was added at the last minute by the manager. We can complain all we want about Corey Hart, but he was chosen by fan vote, which is never based on rational reasoning. There were other guys more deserving than Wright to be named as Soriano’s replacement. Do we really need three third basemen?