Post by New York Mets on Jul 13, 2021 13:45:59 GMT -5
Dear Moneyballers,
slowly but surely it`s becoming a tradition for me to announce the Moneyball All Star Teams – here is the 2021 version.
Same as every year the players who scored the most points at their position are awarded with a place in their respective All Star team. If a player is eligible for multiple positions he is only considered for the position where he played the most games (e.g. Whit Merrfield qualifies at OF - not one of the other countless positions he played).
Rosters are adapted to the original All Star roster sizes: 32 players per team with representatives of every organization – 20 position players and 12 pitchers. You can treat yourself to a detailed read of how the All Star roster are constructed here: www.mlb.com/news/all-star-game-roster-rules-faq-c239654292 .
Anyway here are the 2021 Moneyball All Stars:
AMERICAN LEAGUE Starting Lineup:
> Catcher
Buster Posey (Baltimore Orioles)
Note: Well that came out of nowhere. After a mediocre 2019 season (.257 BA/7 HR) and sitting out 2020 the future hall of famer has come back firing on all cylinders. Posey has the best PPG rating with 2.81 among all catchers and it´s not even close with Grandal coming in at second scoring 2.44 PPG.
> First Base
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays)
Note: Impressive breakout season by the Blue Jay´s third baseman. Not all top prospects hit the ground running when promoted to MLB and our Blue Jays GM showed the necessary patience to wait out two years of growing pains. Guerrero is Moneyball´s top scoring hitter with 355.64 points – that´s a whopping 15% more points than second place Jose Altuve has collected.
> Second Base
Jose Altuve (Houston Astros)
Note: And here is Moneyball´s second best hitter. Several of Altuve´s teammates have testified that Jose never wanted any part of the Astros cheating methods and this year´s performance clearly shows that Houston´s 2B doesn´t need help to hit any kind of pitch out of Minute Maid Park.
> Third Base
Jose Ramirez (Minnesota Twins)
Note: Jose Ramirez was the AL 3B in the Covid season and he is back in 2021. Cleveland´s 3B is a great hitter performing at an elite level year in and year out. Nothing more to see here.
> Shortstop
Trea Turner (Los Angeles Angels)
Note: Same as Ramirez the fake Angels shortstop was in the All Star starting lineup in 2020. That´s not easy to do when you have the likes of Tatis Jr. and Bichette breathing down your neck.
> Outfield
Ronald Acuna Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays)
Note: For every true fan of the game seeing Acuna Jr. going down with an injury for the rest of the season was a real bummer. His second appearance in our All Star team won´t be his final one though. Get well soon!
Bryan Reynolds (Houston Astros)
Note: The real life Pirates are one of the worst teams in MLB this season but make no mistake – there are some capable hitters in this lineup with Reynolds being one of them.
Kyle Tucker (Houston Astros)
Note: Another outfielder from the fake Astros. I remember how Tucker once was part of an intensely debated trade for Trea Turner in the first year of Moneyball´s existence. This (vetoed) trade led to our practice of explaining the reasoning for all deals. At the time of this deal Tucker was a solid albeit not elite prospect and most managers thought he (as one part of the trade package) is not enough of a return for Turner. The fun (and sometimes pain) of looking back on trades in a dynasty league years later.
> Designated Hitter
Carlos Correa (Toronto Blue Jays)
Note: Correa is finally meeting all expectations with his 2021 performance so far. Entering free agency after this season seems to have added some extra motivation. Toronto´s young superstar core of Tatis, Acuna, Guerrero and Correa is just awesome.
> Starting Pitcher
Jacob deGrom (Minnesota Twins)
Note: After missing out on the number one spot to Lance Lynn last year the best pitcher of his generation deservedly gets the starting nod for Monyeyball´s AL All Stars.
NATIONAL LEAGUE Starting Lineup
> Catcher
Salvador Perez (Milwaukee Brewers)
Note: Finally healthy Salvador Perez was able to keep up last year´s top performance. The Royal´s backstop is the highest scoring catcher in Sandlot by a healthy margin (16% more points than runner up Buster Posey) and a well deserved ASG successor to mildly disappointing JT Realmuto.
> First Base
Matt Olson (Milwaukee Brewers)
Note: After a miserable 2020 season hitting below the Mendoza line Olson has made it to the real life All Star Game as well as onto our fake National League All Stars.
> Second Base
Ozzie Albies (Chicago Cubs)
Note: Tommy LaStella was last year´s NL 2B after Albies early season injury which was an embarrassement to the Moneyball NL and fantasy baseball in general. The king of the cornerstone is back and all is good in the world.
> Third Base
Rafael Devers (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Note: After a mediocre performance in 2020´s Covid season Devers has re-established himself as one of the game´s premier dynasty assets. Still only 24 years old there will be many more ASG appearances to come.
> Shortstop
Xander Bogaerts (Chicago Cubs)
Note: Bogaerts production is a s steady as it gets scoring the most points so far among an ubertalented crop of elite shortstops.
> Outfield
Shohei Ohtani (Philadelphia Phillies)
Note: The Japanese superman is drawing comparisons to Babe Ruth so how could he possibly been kept out of our fake All Star Game? Still only his first ASG appearance in his fourth year in the Majors.
Whit Merrifield (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Note: Every year I am befuddled that Merrifield is ranked among the top players in fantasy baseball. One day he will meet my low expectations. Until then the Dbacks can enjoy Whit´s highly productive performance in combination with his valuable multi-position eligibility.
Nick Castellanos (New York Mets)
Note: Less fun than fact...Castellanos is MLB´s runner up in batting average (behind Vlad Guerrero) as well as in BABIP (behind Tim Anderson). Castellanos is one of the hardest hitters in MLB so this should be sustainable.
> Starting Pitcher
Kevin Gausman (Milwaukee Brewers)
Note: Gausman and Wheeler scored the same amount of points/PPG. Gausman reached that plateau in fewer innings pitched which I used as the tiebreaker and makes him the NL starter. Raise your hand if you saw that coming.
AMERICAN League Reserves
C – Yasmani Grandal (Boston Red Sox)
1B – Freddie Freeman (Minnesota Twins)
2B – Marcus Semien (Boston Red Sox)
3B – Eduardo Escobar (Minnesota Twins)
SS – Fernando Tatis Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays)
OF – Aaron Judge (New York Yankees)
OF – Raimel Tapia (Minnesota Twins)
OF – Mitch Haniger (Los Angeles Angels)
DH – Bo Bichette (Minnesota Twins)
SP – Chris Bassitt (Los Angeles Angels)
SP – Anthony DeSclafani (Oakland Athletics)
SP – Max Scherzer (Minnesota Twins)
SP – Clayton Kershaw (Tampa Bay Rays)
RP - Liam Hendriks (Oakland Athletics)
RP – Josh Hader (Toronto Blue Jays)
RP – Matt Barnes (Texas Rangers)
NATIONAL League Reserves
C – Will Smith (Cincinnati Reds)
1B – Carlos Santana (Arizona Diamondbacks)
2B – Jorge Polanco (St. Louis Cardinals)
3B – Manny Machado (Philadelphia Phillies)
SS – Trevor Story (Los Angeles Dodgers)
OF – J.D. Martinez (Cincinnati Reds)
OF – Jesse Winker (Colorado Rockies)
OF – Cedric Mullins (Colorado Rockies)
SP – Zack Wheeler (Cincinnati Reds)
SP - Gerrit Cole (Chicago Cubs)
SP – Brandon Woodruff (Philadelphia Phillies)
SP – Walker Buehler (Los Angeles Dodgers)
RP – Craig Kimbrel (San Francisco Giants)
RP – Raisel Iglesias (Colorado Rockies)
RP - James Karinchak (Milwaukee Brewers)
AMERICAN LEAGUE MLB Selections
SP – Tyler Glasnow (Cleveland Indians)
SP – Caleb Smith (Kansas City Royals)
2B – Adam Frazier (Detroit Tigers)
SP – Carlos Rodon (Chicago White Sox)
SP – Steven Matz (Seattle Mariners)
2B – Jake Cronenworth (Boston Red Sox)
NATIONAL LEAGUE MLB Selections
SP – German Marquez (Milwaukee Brewers)
SP – Robbie Ray (Chicago Cubs)
3B – Nolan Arenado (Los Angeles Dodgers)
SP – Julio Urias (Washington Nationals)
SP – Yu Darvish (St. Louis Cardinals)
OF – Alex Verdugo (Atlanta Braves)
SS – J.P. Crawford (Miami Marlins)
2B – Nick Madrigal (San Diego Padres)
As always some random notes at the end:
> The Toronto Blue Jays (7), Minnesota Twins (6) and Milwaukee Brewers (5) send the most players to our All Star Game. From past experience I can tell that there is a surprisingly high correlation between players on the All Star rosters and probability of reaching the WS. Blue Jays vs. Brewers in our fall classic…you heard it here first.
> Trevor Bauer would have made the NL´s rotation but following real life MLB I decided to keep him out of our All Stars.
> On a personal note the fake Mets send the same amount of players to the ASG as the real life Mets: One. Since my team has the second best overall record I will try to refute above thesis about the correlation between the number of All Stars and WS appearances and take my team to the WS with a deep roster consisting of solid but unspectacular MLB regulars.
> Midseason Awards go to the following players:
NL MVP: Matt Olson (Milwaukee Brewers)
AL MVP: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays)
NL CY Young: Kevin Gausman (Milwaukee Brewers)
AL CY Young: Jacob deGrom (Minnesota Twins)
NL ROY: Trevor Rogers (Cincinnati Reds)
AL ROY: Ian Anderson (Tampa Bay Rays)
> After losing last year this time the National League team wins a rather lopsided ASG with the score of 6:3. Congratulations!
That´s it for 2021. I apologize for my German English and look forward to the games starting again on Friday.
slowly but surely it`s becoming a tradition for me to announce the Moneyball All Star Teams – here is the 2021 version.
Same as every year the players who scored the most points at their position are awarded with a place in their respective All Star team. If a player is eligible for multiple positions he is only considered for the position where he played the most games (e.g. Whit Merrfield qualifies at OF - not one of the other countless positions he played).
Rosters are adapted to the original All Star roster sizes: 32 players per team with representatives of every organization – 20 position players and 12 pitchers. You can treat yourself to a detailed read of how the All Star roster are constructed here: www.mlb.com/news/all-star-game-roster-rules-faq-c239654292 .
Anyway here are the 2021 Moneyball All Stars:
AMERICAN LEAGUE Starting Lineup:
> Catcher
Buster Posey (Baltimore Orioles)
Note: Well that came out of nowhere. After a mediocre 2019 season (.257 BA/7 HR) and sitting out 2020 the future hall of famer has come back firing on all cylinders. Posey has the best PPG rating with 2.81 among all catchers and it´s not even close with Grandal coming in at second scoring 2.44 PPG.
> First Base
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays)
Note: Impressive breakout season by the Blue Jay´s third baseman. Not all top prospects hit the ground running when promoted to MLB and our Blue Jays GM showed the necessary patience to wait out two years of growing pains. Guerrero is Moneyball´s top scoring hitter with 355.64 points – that´s a whopping 15% more points than second place Jose Altuve has collected.
> Second Base
Jose Altuve (Houston Astros)
Note: And here is Moneyball´s second best hitter. Several of Altuve´s teammates have testified that Jose never wanted any part of the Astros cheating methods and this year´s performance clearly shows that Houston´s 2B doesn´t need help to hit any kind of pitch out of Minute Maid Park.
> Third Base
Jose Ramirez (Minnesota Twins)
Note: Jose Ramirez was the AL 3B in the Covid season and he is back in 2021. Cleveland´s 3B is a great hitter performing at an elite level year in and year out. Nothing more to see here.
> Shortstop
Trea Turner (Los Angeles Angels)
Note: Same as Ramirez the fake Angels shortstop was in the All Star starting lineup in 2020. That´s not easy to do when you have the likes of Tatis Jr. and Bichette breathing down your neck.
> Outfield
Ronald Acuna Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays)
Note: For every true fan of the game seeing Acuna Jr. going down with an injury for the rest of the season was a real bummer. His second appearance in our All Star team won´t be his final one though. Get well soon!
Bryan Reynolds (Houston Astros)
Note: The real life Pirates are one of the worst teams in MLB this season but make no mistake – there are some capable hitters in this lineup with Reynolds being one of them.
Kyle Tucker (Houston Astros)
Note: Another outfielder from the fake Astros. I remember how Tucker once was part of an intensely debated trade for Trea Turner in the first year of Moneyball´s existence. This (vetoed) trade led to our practice of explaining the reasoning for all deals. At the time of this deal Tucker was a solid albeit not elite prospect and most managers thought he (as one part of the trade package) is not enough of a return for Turner. The fun (and sometimes pain) of looking back on trades in a dynasty league years later.
> Designated Hitter
Carlos Correa (Toronto Blue Jays)
Note: Correa is finally meeting all expectations with his 2021 performance so far. Entering free agency after this season seems to have added some extra motivation. Toronto´s young superstar core of Tatis, Acuna, Guerrero and Correa is just awesome.
> Starting Pitcher
Jacob deGrom (Minnesota Twins)
Note: After missing out on the number one spot to Lance Lynn last year the best pitcher of his generation deservedly gets the starting nod for Monyeyball´s AL All Stars.
NATIONAL LEAGUE Starting Lineup
> Catcher
Salvador Perez (Milwaukee Brewers)
Note: Finally healthy Salvador Perez was able to keep up last year´s top performance. The Royal´s backstop is the highest scoring catcher in Sandlot by a healthy margin (16% more points than runner up Buster Posey) and a well deserved ASG successor to mildly disappointing JT Realmuto.
> First Base
Matt Olson (Milwaukee Brewers)
Note: After a miserable 2020 season hitting below the Mendoza line Olson has made it to the real life All Star Game as well as onto our fake National League All Stars.
> Second Base
Ozzie Albies (Chicago Cubs)
Note: Tommy LaStella was last year´s NL 2B after Albies early season injury which was an embarrassement to the Moneyball NL and fantasy baseball in general. The king of the cornerstone is back and all is good in the world.
> Third Base
Rafael Devers (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Note: After a mediocre performance in 2020´s Covid season Devers has re-established himself as one of the game´s premier dynasty assets. Still only 24 years old there will be many more ASG appearances to come.
> Shortstop
Xander Bogaerts (Chicago Cubs)
Note: Bogaerts production is a s steady as it gets scoring the most points so far among an ubertalented crop of elite shortstops.
> Outfield
Shohei Ohtani (Philadelphia Phillies)
Note: The Japanese superman is drawing comparisons to Babe Ruth so how could he possibly been kept out of our fake All Star Game? Still only his first ASG appearance in his fourth year in the Majors.
Whit Merrifield (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Note: Every year I am befuddled that Merrifield is ranked among the top players in fantasy baseball. One day he will meet my low expectations. Until then the Dbacks can enjoy Whit´s highly productive performance in combination with his valuable multi-position eligibility.
Nick Castellanos (New York Mets)
Note: Less fun than fact...Castellanos is MLB´s runner up in batting average (behind Vlad Guerrero) as well as in BABIP (behind Tim Anderson). Castellanos is one of the hardest hitters in MLB so this should be sustainable.
> Starting Pitcher
Kevin Gausman (Milwaukee Brewers)
Note: Gausman and Wheeler scored the same amount of points/PPG. Gausman reached that plateau in fewer innings pitched which I used as the tiebreaker and makes him the NL starter. Raise your hand if you saw that coming.
AMERICAN League Reserves
C – Yasmani Grandal (Boston Red Sox)
1B – Freddie Freeman (Minnesota Twins)
2B – Marcus Semien (Boston Red Sox)
3B – Eduardo Escobar (Minnesota Twins)
SS – Fernando Tatis Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays)
OF – Aaron Judge (New York Yankees)
OF – Raimel Tapia (Minnesota Twins)
OF – Mitch Haniger (Los Angeles Angels)
DH – Bo Bichette (Minnesota Twins)
SP – Chris Bassitt (Los Angeles Angels)
SP – Anthony DeSclafani (Oakland Athletics)
SP – Max Scherzer (Minnesota Twins)
SP – Clayton Kershaw (Tampa Bay Rays)
RP - Liam Hendriks (Oakland Athletics)
RP – Josh Hader (Toronto Blue Jays)
RP – Matt Barnes (Texas Rangers)
NATIONAL League Reserves
C – Will Smith (Cincinnati Reds)
1B – Carlos Santana (Arizona Diamondbacks)
2B – Jorge Polanco (St. Louis Cardinals)
3B – Manny Machado (Philadelphia Phillies)
SS – Trevor Story (Los Angeles Dodgers)
OF – J.D. Martinez (Cincinnati Reds)
OF – Jesse Winker (Colorado Rockies)
OF – Cedric Mullins (Colorado Rockies)
SP – Zack Wheeler (Cincinnati Reds)
SP - Gerrit Cole (Chicago Cubs)
SP – Brandon Woodruff (Philadelphia Phillies)
SP – Walker Buehler (Los Angeles Dodgers)
RP – Craig Kimbrel (San Francisco Giants)
RP – Raisel Iglesias (Colorado Rockies)
RP - James Karinchak (Milwaukee Brewers)
AMERICAN LEAGUE MLB Selections
SP – Tyler Glasnow (Cleveland Indians)
SP – Caleb Smith (Kansas City Royals)
2B – Adam Frazier (Detroit Tigers)
SP – Carlos Rodon (Chicago White Sox)
SP – Steven Matz (Seattle Mariners)
2B – Jake Cronenworth (Boston Red Sox)
NATIONAL LEAGUE MLB Selections
SP – German Marquez (Milwaukee Brewers)
SP – Robbie Ray (Chicago Cubs)
3B – Nolan Arenado (Los Angeles Dodgers)
SP – Julio Urias (Washington Nationals)
SP – Yu Darvish (St. Louis Cardinals)
OF – Alex Verdugo (Atlanta Braves)
SS – J.P. Crawford (Miami Marlins)
2B – Nick Madrigal (San Diego Padres)
As always some random notes at the end:
> The Toronto Blue Jays (7), Minnesota Twins (6) and Milwaukee Brewers (5) send the most players to our All Star Game. From past experience I can tell that there is a surprisingly high correlation between players on the All Star rosters and probability of reaching the WS. Blue Jays vs. Brewers in our fall classic…you heard it here first.
> Trevor Bauer would have made the NL´s rotation but following real life MLB I decided to keep him out of our All Stars.
> On a personal note the fake Mets send the same amount of players to the ASG as the real life Mets: One. Since my team has the second best overall record I will try to refute above thesis about the correlation between the number of All Stars and WS appearances and take my team to the WS with a deep roster consisting of solid but unspectacular MLB regulars.
> Midseason Awards go to the following players:
NL MVP: Matt Olson (Milwaukee Brewers)
AL MVP: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Toronto Blue Jays)
NL CY Young: Kevin Gausman (Milwaukee Brewers)
AL CY Young: Jacob deGrom (Minnesota Twins)
NL ROY: Trevor Rogers (Cincinnati Reds)
AL ROY: Ian Anderson (Tampa Bay Rays)
> After losing last year this time the National League team wins a rather lopsided ASG with the score of 6:3. Congratulations!
That´s it for 2021. I apologize for my German English and look forward to the games starting again on Friday.