My All-Star Team: The Best of the Rest

We tried to fill out the rosters for the All-Star Game. I picked the hitters from the American League, the hitters from the National League, and the American League pitchers, and the National League pitchers, but still we had 5 teams without a representative. And since Major League Baseball has a silly rule that every team has to have a representative, we'll comply as well by listing the best of the rest from the 5 teams without a clear All-Star:

Baltimore Orioles: Ty Wigginton got an honorable mention at 2nd base for us and in a year of infield injuries (especially with Dustin Pedroia down), he may be a good a pick as any from the struggling Os. His .262/.347/.473 line with a .356 wOBA doesn't scream out "All Star", but 14 HR and 42 RBIs may put him over the hump. This is not a good team and it shows that a guy with a WAR of 0.7 is their best candidate for the All-Star Game. ESPN also goes with Wigginton. Counting Stats: .262 avg, 30 runs, 14 HR, 42 RBI. Photo from SNY

Honorable Mentions: Luke Scott (.274/.348/.520, .376 wOBA, 12 HR, 30 RBI) could certainly slot in as an OF/DH type on the team as well, though there are plenty of good candidates for the role and Scott just hit the DL. Brian Matusz is about as close as the Os come to having a pitching candidate but although it's a good start for the rookie, 2-9 with a 4.90 ERA isn't enough to play in the Mid-Summer Classic. Nick Markakis leads the team with a WAR of 1.7 and his slash line looks great at .303/.399/.425, but with only 3 HR and 24 RBI, he's going to have a hard time beating out a lot of good candidates in the OF.

Cleveland Indians: With Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez and CC Sabathia traded away and Grady Sizemore hurt, the Tribe is without most of their most reliable all- candidates but that doesn't mean that Shin-Soo Choo doesn't deserve to play in the All-Star Game. Choo's .289/.391/.480 line, 13 HR, 12 SB, and good defense add up to a 3.1 WAR so far which is certainly All-Star material (the only OFs in baseball with a higher WAR are Carl Crawford, Josh Hamilton, Matt Holliday, and Alex Rios). ESPN and The Cleveland Plain Dealer agree with my Choo suggestion. Counting Stats: .281 avg, 47 runs, 13 HR, 43 RBI, 12 SB. Picture from The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Honorable Mentions: Carlos Santana has been insane in his 72 PAs: .345/.458/.707 with a .488 wOBA, and .362 ISO. Fausto Carmona has had a bounceback year winning 7 games so far with a 3.68 ERA. Mitch Talbot has slotted in nicely as a #2 with 8 wins and 3.88 ERA. Johnny Peralta's 28 XBH are tied for first on the team. And that's about it for the Tribe.

Oakland Athletics: Andrew Bailey looks to be the A's lone representative again. he has 15 saves and a 1.69 ERA though it seems luck is greatly involved as his FIP is 3.26 and some sort of correction seems in order due to his somehow losing almost 3.5 K/9 between this season and last. That being said, Bailey is still one of the top closers in the AL and should get the nod for this squad. Not bad considering this guy was the Rookie of the Year last season. Counting Stats: 0-2, 1.69 ERA, 15 saves, 23 K, 0.969 WHIP. Picture from Examiner

Honorable Mentions: It's a toss-up between Dallas Braden and Gio Gonzalez for second among A's pitchers. Braden has the perfect game, has walked only 1.53 per 9, has an identical ERA and FIP (3.83) and a WAR of 1.6--but a 4-7 record goes along with that. Gonzalez is 6-5 with a 3.74 ERA, 1.5 WAR and a higher K-rate, but has walked 4.11 per 9 which is way too high. Daric Barton (.282/.386/.408) is probably the A's best player so far this season but his position (1st) and his propensity to lay down ill-advised sac bunts hurts his cause. Kurt Suzuki (10 HR) could sneak in because of the scarcity of top catchers in the AL as ESPN suggests though I would think John Buck or Mike Napoli deserve it more than he does. Trevor Cahill is 7-2 with a 2.88 ERA and has put up a nice season for the A's.

Pittsburgh Pirates: I know it may seem like I have a bias for guys with the first name of "Andrew" but Andrew McCutchen should be the Bucs representative for many years to come. In his second full season McCutchen is hitting .301/.379/.457 with a .375 wOBA, 7 HR, and 19 SB. His 2.1 WAR is dragged down by a poor UZR showing so far in 2010. His projection of 56 XBH, 15 HR, and 40 SB is pretty awesome for a 23-year-old and you can see the pieces being put into place to make this team into a winner at some point. Counting Stats: .302 avg, 49 runs, 7 HR, 24 RBI, 19 SB. Picture from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Honorable Mentions: Evan Meek suffers from a really strong year by set-up men but his 1.02 ERA doesn't go unnoticed by me or ESPN. Garrett Jones is second on the team in WAR at 1.4 due to his bat which has produced solid numbers for a second straight year. Paul Maholm has struck out less and less over the past 3 years which is a bad sign but his 3.98 ERA is good enough for the "ace" of the Pirates staff. Octavio Dotel has 16 saves and 11.45 K/9---but he also has almost 5 BB/9 and has an ERA of 4.70.

Houston Astros: Long gone are the days where the Killer B's roamed the diamond for the 'Stros but Roy Oswalt is still the best player on the team. He's sadly only 5-10 (and those 10 losses lead the majors) but he has a 3.55 ERA and racked up a WAR of 2.0 for an awful Astros squad. The question remains how much longer Oswalt will play in Houston since the team and Oswalt both seem interested in a trade. Oswalt would look great slotting in every 5th day for a contender and will probably get to showcase his stuff in Anaheim for the All-Star game. Counting Stats: 5-10, 3.55 ERA, 97 K, 1.135 WHIP. Picture from the Washington Post.

Honorable Mentions: Michael Bourn has had a rough season at bat so far but has started to come around and has 25 steals to go with Gold Glove-caliber defense and ESPN takes him as their candidate. Felipe Paulino has been victimized by a bit of bad luck so far because his FIP of 3.28 is excellent and doesn't translate to his 1-8 record. Brett Myers may end up being Houston's best trade chip as he's put up a 3.61 ERA so far this season in 107.1 innings.

So what do you think? Who would you like to see represent these 5 teams? Let us know in the comments below!