Solution to All-Star Voting = No Snubs?

He has no problem with the all star selection process or the fact umpires cant seem to get an important call right. Even though he has better systems at his disposal- replay, robo-umps, etc… he has no intention of switching- So we might as well give up on baseball ever being “fair” as long as selig is in charge and just enjoy the ridiculousness of it all.

By the way, isnt this the 18th post on all star problems in the last 2 days? Did you read the others before posting this?

I would make better selections.

Here’s a novel idea, and it works for all other professional sports in the US: the team with the best record has home field. Crazy I know. Or you want something unique to baseball? Whichever league wins interleague gets home field.

We should really treat this game as what it is: an exhibition that is supposed to be fun.

But if we must keep the World Series shenanigans, then the proposed plan here seems as good as any. People as a whole can’t really be trusted to put the best team on the field, so leave a little more of that up to the managers…I like it.

1) LOSE THE WS TIE-IN. If the goal is to get the players to play hard towards a win rather than share a night of brotherly love, MLB (and sponsors) put up $1 million for each AL team, or $1 million for each NL team, to be used for inner city baseball program bonuses. The winning side gets the cash, the losing side gets zip. Teams are playing for charity. Win and your kids win, lose and your kids lose.

2) PLAYER CONSIDERATION IS FOR QUALITY OF PLAY SINCE LAST ASG ONLY. Players who excelled during 2nd half of previous season and/or first half of current season are to be the reason for the game, not some lifetiem acheivement award.

3) DROP THE EACH TEAM GETS AT LEAST 1 PLAYER RULE. Instead, replace it with no one team gets more than 3 players. I care not one wit that people in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh feel slighted because they don’t have a player in the game. The game is to celebrate stars, showcase stars, and allow us fans to watch stars compete against one another. By capping each team representation is spread out throughout all of baseball much better than today, but allowing 3 per team means we still have the lattitude to exclude the bucket-scraping practice of honoring franchises filled with AA and AAA players.

4) SWITCH THE FAN VOTING. Fans vote for two players per team (not pitchers) rather than one player per position. Fan ballot stuffing? Solved. Fan voting, because not every team must be represented, is non-binding.

5) SWITCH THE PLAYER VOTING. Players vote for one player per team (not pitchers), creating a total of 3 candidates per team. Players should focus on finding the players on each team that have been overlooked by fan voting. Player voting, because not every team must be represented, is non-binding. Players are responsible for replacing RECENTLY injured players selected by the fans with an active duty player from the same team.

6) DROP THE MEDIA VOTING. Conflict of interest. Media reports on stories, not make them. And they have yet to prove that their bias is any better than that of the fans. Let’s minimize the stupidity here.

7) INSTEAD, EMPANEL A COMMITTEE OF BASEBALL VETERANS. Veterans choose a max of 2 of the three position player candidates from each team. The goal is to reduce the total candidates to the necessary 20 position player finalists. They also nominate 7 pitchers to the team, 5 starting nominees, 1 middle reliever, and 1 closer. Maximum of 3 players per team will remain in force.

8) SUBMIT ROSTER TO ASG TEAM MANAGER. Manager shall work with MLB and the other managers to finalize the pitching staff, recognizing injuries, rotations and availability much as they do now. Maximum of 3 players per team will remain in force. Worthy pitchers, who would be otherwise ineligible due to a need for days off from normal rotation, may still be named as “Special Reserve”.

There. Everything all better. I now return full authority of everything in your lives back to you.

As a baseball fan, the kind of ASG I would enjoy the most would feature balanced teams of top-rank players at the top of their game from each league, period. I assume that’s what we all want. In such a case I would like the stakes to be home-field advantage in the WS. I do agree with the players, however, that under the current system it is foolish to make the game count for anything concrete. In that case, I love the charity idea.

I would actually prefer that the selection of position players be made entirely by the players and coaches from each league, with enough flexibility for each manager to assemble a balanced team. If fan picks are to be included, Dubby’s idea is probably more workable than Stirrups’; while I love the latter’s idea in terms of de-emphasizing the importance of fan base size for each team, I fear that the result would be a bunch of power hitters inadequately distributed among the positions. That might lead to an interesting game, but not necessarily a good one. Perhaps the player selections could correct for that, but if they were faced with a fan selection with 12 right fielders and one shortstop, things could get difficult. And we know who that one shortstop would be.

I seriously doubt, however, that there will be any meaningful improvements to the selection process anytime soon. Perhaps Girardi’s boorishness will force Selig’s hand to institute a limit of players per team, and maybe the players will get the WS connection removed, but beyond that I am highly skeptical that there will be any changes.

can still lead to an all al-east infield.

how about the home team gets at least one starter

I’ve said it in the other AS posts, but I might as well say it here. I think online voting is a joke. The rabid East Coast fans just spend countless hours making up countless fake email addresses to keep voting for their favorite players whether they are deserving or not. (I used 5 email addresses, but I didn’t make any of them up just to vote more.) If we return to the dark ages, and only allow fan all-star voting by real ballots at the stadiums, it would be much more fair. Each team will receive the same number of ballots, and when they run out, that’s it.

Maybe this bogus all-star selection another symptom of how our nation is broken. But seriously, voting should be a reflection of the opinions of the individuals in our country. Yet, right now all it demonstrates is which individuals have the most time to waste online. With real, paper ballots, the stadium becomes like a real polling place. It may still not be perfect because one fan may take more than his share of ballots to fill out, but it would be far better than it is now.

To take it one step further, during the voting time period of the season, stadium employees could physically hand out one ballot to each fan after entering the turn styles, like they do with give-aways. Doing this instead of just leaving the ballots unattended would ensure the greatest level of fairness. Only fans who attend multiple games would be able to vote multiple times. This way, all-star voting would actually represent the true opinion of baseball fans in the US.

  It used to be, u had to go to the actually baseball games to vote. Now, any schmoe joe can vote on teh internets. I don’t have the time or energy to actually check, but I don’t remember so many Skanks and Sux making the starting lineups everyyear.

  I just woke up.

Out of curiousity… how in the world did Weaver not make the ASG? League leader in Ks with a tremendous ERA and WHIP. I’ve read you guys talking about it… and I think everyone in the league knows he deserves the game. I would think he’d have been voted in through the players’ vote over some of the other guys. Although I’m positive Girardi is going to replace CC with Weaver (rightfully so). I’d rather bring in Weaver for an inning than all the relievers on the team (because Rivera is now off) and some of the other starters.