Post by New York Mets on Jul 21, 2022 7:16:03 GMT -5
Dear fellow fantasy baseball connoisseurs,
it´s that time of the year again - here are the 2022 Moneyball All-Stars.
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. Tommy Edman qualifies at 2B - not at one of the other countless positions he played).
Rosters are adapted to the original All Star roster sizes: 33 players per team with representatives of every organization – 20 position players, 12 pitchers and one "Special All Star Selection" (well that´s new). If you have some time to kill you can treat yourself to a detailed read of how the All Star roster are constructed this year here:
www.mlb.com/news/all-star-game-roster-rules-faq-c239654292
And now onto proudly presenting the best of the best fantasy baseballers in 2022 (so far):
AMERICAN League Starting Lineup
Catcher
J.T. Realmuto (Minnesota Twins)
Note: Solid but unspectacular showing by the fake Twins catcher. The top 3 spots in the overall Moneyball C rankings are held by National League backstops so that´s where the elite can be found.
First Base
Freddie Freeman (Los Angeles Angels)
Note: After being the reserve 1B for the AL All Stars in 2021 Freeman has taken the crown from disappointing (to his standards) Vlad Guerrero. Although lacking in the power department after his move to Dodger Stadium Freeman´s well rounded offensive game keeps his scoring at elite level.
Second Base
Marcus Semien (Boston Red Sox)
Note: Semien started slow in his new Texas environment but was the overall second best hitter over the last two months. More fact than fun: Jake Cronenworth is the 2B reserve for the AL team and also plays for the Red Sox - and these are Boston´s lone All Stars. Quite a suprise for the team with the best W-L record in Moneyball.
Third Base
Jose Ramirez (Minnesota Twins)
Note: For the third time in a row the real life Guardians 3B mans the hot corner for our AL All Stars. Best hitter in Moneyball by a healthy margin of 40 points.
Shortstop
Trea Turner (Los Angeles Angels)
Note: Same as Ramirez the fake Angels shortstop was in the All Star starting lineup in 2020 and 2021 (actually I just copied this sentence and put the 2021 part in). That Angels infield with Freeman and Turner is no joke.
Outfield
Kyle Tucker (Houston Astros)
Note: Now a second time All Star I sense a lot more appearances coming for the 25 year old Astro in the future.
Bryce Harper (Oakland Athletics)
Note: Prior to his broken thump the reigning National League MVP was in the midst of a stellar start to the 2022 season slashing .318/.385/.599 with 15 home runs and 48 RBI. Despite missing some time after that badly missing Snell fastball he still made it into the AL outfield easily.
Kyle Schwarber (New York Yankees)
Note: I tried to trade Schwarber in another league last offseason...and failed badly even when offering hilarious discounts. One of the most underrated sluggers in today´s game and a first time Moneyball All Star. Sometimes the trades that are not made are the best ones.
Designated Hitter
Josh Bell (Minnesota Twins)
Note: Bell´s renaissance started in the second half of 2021 and hasn´t come to an end yet. A great offseason addition by our Twins GM.
Starting Pitcher
Sandy Alcantara (Tampa Bay Rays)
Note: Is it me or are we experiencing a changing of the guards at the level of top pitchers? The Verlanders, Kershaws and Scherzers of this world obviously still have some gas in the tank but the top pitchers in Moneyball are young fireballers Alcantara and McClanahan (I will get to him later).
NATIONAL League Starting Lineup
Catcher
Alejandro Kirk (Cincinnati Reds)
Note: My personal breakout player of the year with a great performance coming out of nowhere in his third year in the bigs. Side note: Same as every year I had to look up how to spell Cincinnati correctly.
First Base
Paul Goldschmidt (Milwaukee Brewers)
Note: The Brewers new 1B takes the top spot from the Brewers old 1B which was Matt Olson. The real life Cards 1B improved his already solid 2021 stats over the board and leaves me with fond memories of that new year´s eve trade at 11.57 PM German time when I sent Goldy to the Brewers in a three way trade for a collection of underwhelming ballplayers like Adam Frazier, Jesus Aguilar and Caleb Smith amongst others. Those Covid lockouts were fun times (not).
Second Base
Tommy Edman (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Note: Edman is one of the main reasons of the Dodgers great season so far. Just like Goldy he has surprisingly found another gear in his performance. Someone please check the Cards clubhouse for illegal substances.
Edit: Edman was traded from Milwaukee to LAD at the deadline so his surprising performance has significantly more to do with the Brewers leading the NL Central than the Dodgers success story so far.
Third Base
Rafael Devers (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Note: Devers defends his spot in the NL All Star team with another great season hitting for power (22 HR) and average (.324 AVG) at the same time - a rare feat in today´s game with all underlying metrics pointing to this being a sustainable performance level.
Shortstop
Corey Seager (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Note: Another Pirates All Star and same as his real life teammate Marcus Semien Corey had a rather slow start with his new team in Texas which is in the rear view mirror now (6th best hitter over the last 60 days). When done with checking the Cards for illegal substances the MLB investigators might want to pay Arlington a short visit.
Outfield
Aaron Judge (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Note: Power hitting Judge is another part of that scary Dodgers lineup which leads our league in homeruns with 155. The runner up in that power category comes from across town with LAA having hit 109 bombs. That´s a healthy 32% less than LAD has hit so far. Go figure.
Juan Soto (San Diego Padres)
Note: The Padres must feel great having the opportunitly to build their team around the arguably most valuable asset in dynasty baseball and newly crowned HR derby winner from the Dominican. Have you seen that fake Dominican roster for the upcoming WBC? www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3420773/this-potential-dominican-republic-dream-team-for-the-2023-world-baseball-classic-has-me-all-hot-and-bothered . It´s awesome!
Yordan Alvarez (San Francisco Giants)
Note: Alvarez is another representative from the real life Astros OF. I have Houston as the team to beat in 2022 and our Giants as the team to hunt down in the WC race for my fake Mets. Alvarez won´t help my cause.
Starting Pitcher
Shane McClanahan (Washington Nationals)
Note: The Nats ace has become my favourite hurler to watch this season. Last season he was just one of those young pitchers armed with a 100 mph fastball who didn´t really know where the ball was going and how to use the rest of his arsenal. He has learned the craft of pitching in a hurry and is a complete SP now with three well above average pitches.
AMERICAN League Reserves
C – Sean Murphy (Oakland Athletics)
1B – Pete Alonso (Baltimore Orioles)
2B – Jake Cronenworth (Boston Red Sox)
3B – Austin Riley (Baltimore Orioles)
SS – Francisco Lindor (Oakland Athletics)
OF – Charlie Blackmon (Baltimore Orioles)
OF – George Springer (New York Yankees)
OF – Jurickson Profar (Chicago White Sox)
DH – Anthony Rizzo (Detroit Tigers)
SP – Max Fried (Chicago White Sox)
SP – Alek Manoah (Toronto Blue Jays)
SP – Framber Valdez (Los Angeles Angels)
SP – Logan Webb (Toronto Blue Jays)
RP - Devin Williams (Toronto Blue Jays)
RP – Jason Adam (Chicago White Sox)
RP – Scott Barlow (Chicago White Sox)
NATIONAL League Reserves
C – Will Smith (Los Angeles Dodgers)
1B – Matt Olson (St. Louis Cardinals)
2B – Brendan Rodgers (Cincinnati Reds)
3B – Nolan Arenado (Los Angeles Dodgers)
SS – Dansby Swanson (San Francisco Giants)
OF – Mookie Betts (Philadelphia Phillies)
OF – Mike Trout (San Diego Padres)
OF – Brandon Nimmo (New York Mets)
DH - Xander Bogaerts (Chicago Cubs)
SP – Corbin Burnes (Pittsburgh Pirates)
SP - Gerrit Cole (Chicago Cubs)
SP – Justin Verlander (San Francisco Giants)
SP – Aaron Nola (Milwaukee Brewers)
RP – Edwin Diaz (Washington Nationals)
RP – Clay Holmes (Chicago Cubs)
RP - Michael King (San Diego Padres)
AMERICAN League MLB Selections
C.J. Cron (Oakland Athletics)
Shane Bieber (Cleveland Indians)
Tim Anderson (Texas Rangers)
Enyel De Los Santos (Seattle Mariners)
Anthony Bass (Kansas City Royals)
Joe Musgrove (Toronto Blue Jays)
NATIONAL League MLB Selections
Triston McKenzie (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Julio Rodriguez (Colorado Rockies)
J.P. Crawford (Miami Marlins)
George Kirby (Atlanta Braves)
Carlos Rodon (Chicago Cubs)
Kyle Wright (San Francisco Giants)
Special All Star Selection AMERICAN League
Nelson Cruz (Houston Astros)
Special All Star Selection NATIONAL League
Adam Wainwright (Los Angeles Dodgers)
As always some random notes:
> As special All Stars I qualified players of an age 40+ and then took the ones with the most points scored.
> The mighty Dodgers send the most players to our All Star game (5). Runners up with 4 representatives each are the Blue Jays, White Sox, Athletics, Cubs and Giants.
> Injuries to some of the game´s superstars led to some notable omissions from the 2022 All Star Game with Acuna Jr., Tatis Jr., DeGrom, Scherzer and Albies probably being the most prominent ones. Also the fake crowd will surely miss Shohei Ohtani.
> Once again my fake Mets send only one player to the ASG. I am still in the process of weighing depth vs. quality.
> Midseason Awards go to the following players:
NL MVP: Paul Goldschmidt (Milwaukee Brewers)
AL MVP: Jose Ramirez (Minnesota Twins)
NL CY Young: Shane McClanahan (Washington Nationals)
AL CY Young: Sandy Alcantara (Tampa Bay Rays)
NL ROY: Bobby Witt Jr. (San Diego Padres)
AL ROY: Spencer Strider (Cleveland Indians)
> The National League team wins for the second time in a row with superior pitching and hitting - final score: 7:4. Congratulations!
That´s it for 2022. I apologize for my German English and look forward to the setting my lineup again on Friday.
it´s that time of the year again - here are the 2022 Moneyball All-Stars.
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. Tommy Edman qualifies at 2B - not at one of the other countless positions he played).
Rosters are adapted to the original All Star roster sizes: 33 players per team with representatives of every organization – 20 position players, 12 pitchers and one "Special All Star Selection" (well that´s new). If you have some time to kill you can treat yourself to a detailed read of how the All Star roster are constructed this year here:
www.mlb.com/news/all-star-game-roster-rules-faq-c239654292
And now onto proudly presenting the best of the best fantasy baseballers in 2022 (so far):
AMERICAN League Starting Lineup
Catcher
J.T. Realmuto (Minnesota Twins)
Note: Solid but unspectacular showing by the fake Twins catcher. The top 3 spots in the overall Moneyball C rankings are held by National League backstops so that´s where the elite can be found.
First Base
Freddie Freeman (Los Angeles Angels)
Note: After being the reserve 1B for the AL All Stars in 2021 Freeman has taken the crown from disappointing (to his standards) Vlad Guerrero. Although lacking in the power department after his move to Dodger Stadium Freeman´s well rounded offensive game keeps his scoring at elite level.
Second Base
Marcus Semien (Boston Red Sox)
Note: Semien started slow in his new Texas environment but was the overall second best hitter over the last two months. More fact than fun: Jake Cronenworth is the 2B reserve for the AL team and also plays for the Red Sox - and these are Boston´s lone All Stars. Quite a suprise for the team with the best W-L record in Moneyball.
Third Base
Jose Ramirez (Minnesota Twins)
Note: For the third time in a row the real life Guardians 3B mans the hot corner for our AL All Stars. Best hitter in Moneyball by a healthy margin of 40 points.
Shortstop
Trea Turner (Los Angeles Angels)
Note: Same as Ramirez the fake Angels shortstop was in the All Star starting lineup in 2020 and 2021 (actually I just copied this sentence and put the 2021 part in). That Angels infield with Freeman and Turner is no joke.
Outfield
Kyle Tucker (Houston Astros)
Note: Now a second time All Star I sense a lot more appearances coming for the 25 year old Astro in the future.
Bryce Harper (Oakland Athletics)
Note: Prior to his broken thump the reigning National League MVP was in the midst of a stellar start to the 2022 season slashing .318/.385/.599 with 15 home runs and 48 RBI. Despite missing some time after that badly missing Snell fastball he still made it into the AL outfield easily.
Kyle Schwarber (New York Yankees)
Note: I tried to trade Schwarber in another league last offseason...and failed badly even when offering hilarious discounts. One of the most underrated sluggers in today´s game and a first time Moneyball All Star. Sometimes the trades that are not made are the best ones.
Designated Hitter
Josh Bell (Minnesota Twins)
Note: Bell´s renaissance started in the second half of 2021 and hasn´t come to an end yet. A great offseason addition by our Twins GM.
Starting Pitcher
Sandy Alcantara (Tampa Bay Rays)
Note: Is it me or are we experiencing a changing of the guards at the level of top pitchers? The Verlanders, Kershaws and Scherzers of this world obviously still have some gas in the tank but the top pitchers in Moneyball are young fireballers Alcantara and McClanahan (I will get to him later).
NATIONAL League Starting Lineup
Catcher
Alejandro Kirk (Cincinnati Reds)
Note: My personal breakout player of the year with a great performance coming out of nowhere in his third year in the bigs. Side note: Same as every year I had to look up how to spell Cincinnati correctly.
First Base
Paul Goldschmidt (Milwaukee Brewers)
Note: The Brewers new 1B takes the top spot from the Brewers old 1B which was Matt Olson. The real life Cards 1B improved his already solid 2021 stats over the board and leaves me with fond memories of that new year´s eve trade at 11.57 PM German time when I sent Goldy to the Brewers in a three way trade for a collection of underwhelming ballplayers like Adam Frazier, Jesus Aguilar and Caleb Smith amongst others. Those Covid lockouts were fun times (not).
Second Base
Tommy Edman (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Note: Edman is one of the main reasons of the Dodgers great season so far. Just like Goldy he has surprisingly found another gear in his performance. Someone please check the Cards clubhouse for illegal substances.
Edit: Edman was traded from Milwaukee to LAD at the deadline so his surprising performance has significantly more to do with the Brewers leading the NL Central than the Dodgers success story so far.
Third Base
Rafael Devers (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Note: Devers defends his spot in the NL All Star team with another great season hitting for power (22 HR) and average (.324 AVG) at the same time - a rare feat in today´s game with all underlying metrics pointing to this being a sustainable performance level.
Shortstop
Corey Seager (Pittsburgh Pirates)
Note: Another Pirates All Star and same as his real life teammate Marcus Semien Corey had a rather slow start with his new team in Texas which is in the rear view mirror now (6th best hitter over the last 60 days). When done with checking the Cards for illegal substances the MLB investigators might want to pay Arlington a short visit.
Outfield
Aaron Judge (Los Angeles Dodgers)
Note: Power hitting Judge is another part of that scary Dodgers lineup which leads our league in homeruns with 155. The runner up in that power category comes from across town with LAA having hit 109 bombs. That´s a healthy 32% less than LAD has hit so far. Go figure.
Juan Soto (San Diego Padres)
Note: The Padres must feel great having the opportunitly to build their team around the arguably most valuable asset in dynasty baseball and newly crowned HR derby winner from the Dominican. Have you seen that fake Dominican roster for the upcoming WBC? www.barstoolsports.com/blog/3420773/this-potential-dominican-republic-dream-team-for-the-2023-world-baseball-classic-has-me-all-hot-and-bothered . It´s awesome!
Yordan Alvarez (San Francisco Giants)
Note: Alvarez is another representative from the real life Astros OF. I have Houston as the team to beat in 2022 and our Giants as the team to hunt down in the WC race for my fake Mets. Alvarez won´t help my cause.
Starting Pitcher
Shane McClanahan (Washington Nationals)
Note: The Nats ace has become my favourite hurler to watch this season. Last season he was just one of those young pitchers armed with a 100 mph fastball who didn´t really know where the ball was going and how to use the rest of his arsenal. He has learned the craft of pitching in a hurry and is a complete SP now with three well above average pitches.
AMERICAN League Reserves
C – Sean Murphy (Oakland Athletics)
1B – Pete Alonso (Baltimore Orioles)
2B – Jake Cronenworth (Boston Red Sox)
3B – Austin Riley (Baltimore Orioles)
SS – Francisco Lindor (Oakland Athletics)
OF – Charlie Blackmon (Baltimore Orioles)
OF – George Springer (New York Yankees)
OF – Jurickson Profar (Chicago White Sox)
DH – Anthony Rizzo (Detroit Tigers)
SP – Max Fried (Chicago White Sox)
SP – Alek Manoah (Toronto Blue Jays)
SP – Framber Valdez (Los Angeles Angels)
SP – Logan Webb (Toronto Blue Jays)
RP - Devin Williams (Toronto Blue Jays)
RP – Jason Adam (Chicago White Sox)
RP – Scott Barlow (Chicago White Sox)
NATIONAL League Reserves
C – Will Smith (Los Angeles Dodgers)
1B – Matt Olson (St. Louis Cardinals)
2B – Brendan Rodgers (Cincinnati Reds)
3B – Nolan Arenado (Los Angeles Dodgers)
SS – Dansby Swanson (San Francisco Giants)
OF – Mookie Betts (Philadelphia Phillies)
OF – Mike Trout (San Diego Padres)
OF – Brandon Nimmo (New York Mets)
DH - Xander Bogaerts (Chicago Cubs)
SP – Corbin Burnes (Pittsburgh Pirates)
SP - Gerrit Cole (Chicago Cubs)
SP – Justin Verlander (San Francisco Giants)
SP – Aaron Nola (Milwaukee Brewers)
RP – Edwin Diaz (Washington Nationals)
RP – Clay Holmes (Chicago Cubs)
RP - Michael King (San Diego Padres)
AMERICAN League MLB Selections
C.J. Cron (Oakland Athletics)
Shane Bieber (Cleveland Indians)
Tim Anderson (Texas Rangers)
Enyel De Los Santos (Seattle Mariners)
Anthony Bass (Kansas City Royals)
Joe Musgrove (Toronto Blue Jays)
NATIONAL League MLB Selections
Triston McKenzie (Arizona Diamondbacks)
Julio Rodriguez (Colorado Rockies)
J.P. Crawford (Miami Marlins)
George Kirby (Atlanta Braves)
Carlos Rodon (Chicago Cubs)
Kyle Wright (San Francisco Giants)
Special All Star Selection AMERICAN League
Nelson Cruz (Houston Astros)
Special All Star Selection NATIONAL League
Adam Wainwright (Los Angeles Dodgers)
As always some random notes:
> As special All Stars I qualified players of an age 40+ and then took the ones with the most points scored.
> The mighty Dodgers send the most players to our All Star game (5). Runners up with 4 representatives each are the Blue Jays, White Sox, Athletics, Cubs and Giants.
> Injuries to some of the game´s superstars led to some notable omissions from the 2022 All Star Game with Acuna Jr., Tatis Jr., DeGrom, Scherzer and Albies probably being the most prominent ones. Also the fake crowd will surely miss Shohei Ohtani.
> Once again my fake Mets send only one player to the ASG. I am still in the process of weighing depth vs. quality.
> Midseason Awards go to the following players:
NL MVP: Paul Goldschmidt (Milwaukee Brewers)
AL MVP: Jose Ramirez (Minnesota Twins)
NL CY Young: Shane McClanahan (Washington Nationals)
AL CY Young: Sandy Alcantara (Tampa Bay Rays)
NL ROY: Bobby Witt Jr. (San Diego Padres)
AL ROY: Spencer Strider (Cleveland Indians)
> The National League team wins for the second time in a row with superior pitching and hitting - final score: 7:4. Congratulations!
That´s it for 2022. I apologize for my German English and look forward to the setting my lineup again on Friday.
