Best in Baseball, Part Two of Part IV

This is the final portion of my "Best in Baseball" series. Hopefully you've enjoyed the previous three and a half parts, and if you haven't, well, then I fail at life, apparently. The last part of this is the presentation and justification of my All-American League team. The same rules apply for this team that applied for the All-NL team (DH allowed, no stars in backup roles, 5 front-line starters, and blah, blah, blah…read the first part of part IV for the full details).

Well, let’s go straight to the team:

All-American League Team

Starting Lineup:

Catcher: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

• Mauer won the AL batting title and was a serious MVP candidate in 2006. He’s in a familiar position so far this year, once again leading the American League in hitting with a .369 batting average. On top of that, he plays great defense and has tremendous sideburns. He’s got the whole package.

First Baseman: Mark Teixeira, Texas Rangers

• Yes, I did say that I thought Morneau was the best overall first baseman in the American League. His offensive numbers are through the roof, and he does have an MVP award to his credit. At the same time though, I value defense very highly when I’m building a team. That’s why Teixeira gets the nod, because of his two Gold Gloves and the fact that his offensive numbers (33 HR, 110 RBI) aren’t exactly putrid.

Second Baseman: Placido Polanco, Detroit Tigers

• I personally think that Robinson Cano, because of his age and Polanco’s injury history, is the safer bet. That being said, I like Polanco because he strikes out so little (only 27 Ks in 461 ABs last year). I want a guy that can move the runner over, keep at-bats alive, waste away good pitches, and wear down pitchers. Polanco’s the best choice for that.

Third Baseman: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees

• This is one position where I am sacrificing defense for offense. But come on, it’s A-Rod. He’s cooled off since clubbing those 14 quick home runs, which means that the boos should be back pretty soon at Yankee Stadium. Sure, he’s a little bit of a risk out there at third, but that’s a risk you take with one of the best hitters of all time.

Shortstop: Carlos Guillen, Detroit Tigers

• This really was the toughest choice I had to make. I could have gone with Captain Intangibles (Derek Jeter), Miggy the RBI Machine (Miguel Tejada), or Mr. Under/Overrated (Michael Young). Good thing A-Rod and Nomar aren’t AL shortstops anymore, or this group would be even more ridiculous. Why’d I pick Guillen? Well, he does a little bit of everything: he hits for power (19 HRs in 2006) and average (.320 BA), and he can swipe a base if need be (20 SB in 29 chances last year). Want to know what really sets him apart though? I think all these players are relatively close together, talent-wise. The only difference is in the salaries. Young just signed a ridiculous long-term deal, Jeter makes upwards of $20 million a year, and Tejada comes in at about $13 million per. Meanwhile, Guillen makes $5 million a year. He’s an absolute bargain compared to his contemporaries.

Left Fielder: Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay Devil Rays

• Manny Ramirez is an offensive juggernaut, but for this team, I need to have some defense and intensity, neither of which Manny is especially famous for. I’m sacrificing Manny’s bat for Crawford’s defense and speed, because I’m going to have enough power with this lineup, but Crawford adds an element of speed that wouldn’t exist with Manny. Crawford stole 59 bases, good enough for first in the AL and second in the majors (behind Jose Reyes). I love having base-stealers batting leadoff.

Center Fielder: Grady Sizemore, Cleveland Indians

• Sizemore is set to be the next big superstar in baseball, as he’s great at almost anything. The only things he needs to work on are his strikeouts (153 in 655 ABs last year) and his batting against left-handers (only a .214 BA in 2006). Other than that, though, he’s outstanding.

Right Field: Vladimir Guerrero, California Angels

• A side note before I explain this choice: I’ve decided that from now on, I’m just going to refer to the baseball team from the Anaheim area as the California Angels, both because it’s easy to remember and because it reminds me of the movie Angels in the Outfield. Ok, back to Vlad. Like I said earlier, I put a premium on defensive players, and Guerrero has one of the strongest arms I’ve ever seen. He’s still a great offensive player (although Jermaine Dye was better than him last year), and I’ll accept the injury risk that swinging at everything within 26 feet of the plate incurs.

Designated Hitter: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox

• Admittedly, I could have gone with Travis Hafner here, he’s also spectacular at the plate. Hafner’s nickname is Pronk, which is just awesome. I didn’t go with Pronk (even though that’s pretty much the best handle ever) only because Ortiz has been doing it longer and well, I’d like to see Hafner play more that 140 games in a season. I mean, it’s not like he has to take the field every day, he just has to pop the batting helmet onto his noggin and step up to the dish.

Batting Order :

1) Carl Crawford, LF (left-handed)

2) Placido Polanco, 2B (right-handed)

3) David Ortiz, DH (left-handed)

4) Alex Rodriguez, 3B (right-handed)

5) Mark Teixeira, 1B (switch-hitter)

6) Vladimir Guerrero, RF (right-handed)

7) Grady Sizemore, CF (left-handed)

8) Joe Mauer, C (left-handed)

9) Carlos Guillen, SS (switch-hitter)

Bench Players

Backup Catcher: Vance Wilson, Detroit Tigers

• I mentioned this in the last post, but I’ll do it again. Basically, for a good backup catcher, you need a guy who is good defensively and not embarrassing offensively. Wilson is that guy for the AL. He’s thrown out an impressive 40% of attempted base-stealers for his career, and last year he hit .283 in a backup role for the American League pennant-winners.

Utility Infielder: Alex Cora, Boston Red Sox

• It boggles my mind how the Red Sox could spend so much money on Julio Lugo (4 years, $36 million). I mean, the guy is just awful defensively, and he’s not a top-tier offensive player either. Good thing he’s got Cora backing him up. The thing about Cora is that he can play either second or short (or third in a pinch), and he’s a definite improvement over Lugo in that department.

Utility Outfielder: Melky Cabrera, New York Yankees

• You could also call him the only Yankee outfielder that doesn’t have a wet noodle for a throwing arm. He tied for the lead in outfield assists last year, and he’s only in his second year in the majors. Unfortunately, he’s been shoved to the back of the outfield line behind defensively-challenged Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon, and Bobby Abreu.

Pinch Hitter: Wily Mo Pena, Boston Red Sox

• Pinch-hitters are hard to come across in the American League, what with the DH taking the pitcher’s spot in the batting order. I chose Wily Mo because he’s been stuck behind Coco Crisp on the depth chart, and because when he gets hold of a ball, he usually deposits it about 12 miles from its previous location.

Pitching Rotation

1) Johan Santana, Minnesota Twins (LHP)

· I don’t need to explain myself here, do I? As they say in MVP Baseball 2005, “this guy will have a cabinet full of Cy Youngs by the time he’s finished pitching.”

2) Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays (RHP)

· Santana’s obviously the best pitcher the game has to offer right now, but the gap between him and Halladay is not all that great. These are Halladay’s ERA numbers since 2001: 3.16, 2.93, 3.25, 4.20, 2.41, and 3.19. I mean, those are great numbers. The only thing holding him back is that last year was the first time he’d made 30 starts since 2003.

3) Chien-Ming Wang, New York Yankees (RHP)

· He’s got the deadliest sinker in the game (sorry, Brandon Webb), and he went 19-6 with a 3.63 ERA. It’s also significant to mention that he makes $489,500 this year. Why is that important? Well, Roger Clemens got $1.75 million last year for each win, and Wang had 19 wins last season for under half a million dollars. Now that’s what I call a bargain.

4) John Lackey, California Angels (RHP)

· The thing that I like most about Lackey is his reliability. He’s made 33 starts a season for four consecutive seasons, and he’s off to a good start this year, with a 2.35 ERA and 3 wins. He hasn’t given up more than three runs in any of his starts so far this season.

5) Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners (RHP)

· I’m worried about King Felix here. I really hope that his injury doesn’t turn into something more serious, because he has absolutely dominating stuff, and it looked like he had finally put it all together (a .107 opposing batting average, a 1.56 ERA, and a complete game one-hitter against the vaunted Red Sox lineup).

Bullpen

Closer: Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins (RHP)

• I’ve mentioned Nathan at least twice already in this series, and if you’ve read each part, you’ll notice that I hold him in very high regard. I mean, he has 123 saves in the past 3 years, with only 10 blown saves in that time. Trust me, I love Papelbon as much as anybody else, and if his shoulder holds up to a whole season of strain, then sure, we can talk about him in this conversation. But not yet.

Setup Man: Scot Shields, California Angels

• Shields is the best setup man in all of baseball right now. If you’re an Angel pitcher, and you throw seven innings and leave with the lead, you’re pretty much assured of getting the win. Shields is automatic in the 8 th, always has been, and Francisco Rodriguez is also great (with some help from his trusty rosin cap). Shields has never had an ERA higher than 3.33 (in 2004), and that was actually the only time his ERA rose above 3. That’s what you want out of a setup man. Joel Zumaya of the Tigers is also great, but he seems to be erratic so far this year

Left-handed Specialist: Mike Myers, New York Yankees

• Let’s be honest; Myers invented the lefty specialist role. For his career, he averages just under 2/3 of an inning per appearance. His batting average against for left-handed batters over the past three seasons is .213, which is just outstanding.

Middle Relievers: Fernando Rodney, Detroit Tigers, and Scott Proctor, New York Yankees

• Rodney was part of that great 2006 Tigers bullpen, with Zumaya and Todd Jones, that helped take the Tigers to the World Series last year. His 3.52 ERA was also pretty good, even though he’s gotten off to a slow start this year, just like Zumaya.
• Proctor’s also a very good reliever (also had a 3.52 ERA in 2006), but I’m worried about him. Last year he appeared in 82 games and pitched 102 1/3 innings, both of which are very high numbers. In 2007, he’s already appeared in 15 of the Yankees 23 games. Joe Torre’s going to blow out his arm sooner or later, and my money’s on sooner. Nobody can handle that type of workload for very long.

Long Relievers/Spot Starters: Darren Oliver, California Angels, and Hector Carrasco, California Angels

• Yeah, I’ve got a lot of Angel relief pitchers on this list. But there’s a reason that they’ve finished in the top-5 in bullpen ERA in the American League every year since 2000. Oliver did an exceptional job as a long reliever for the Mets last year, with eighteen relief appearances of 2 or more innings, and he had a 3.68 ERA.
• Carrasco was even more impressive than Oliver, as he made 22 appearances of the 2-inning or longer variety. He also finished with an ERA of 3.41 for 2006, which is great, considering the length of his appearances.