The fans should not be voting

[mikezpen]

You have a bunch of Japanese voting in Fukodome and Suziki as starters. Neither deserved to start and probably didn't even deserve to be on the All-Star teams.Suziki has only three more home runs than I do for cryinoutloud, and a whole lot fewer than Nick Markakis.I'm pretty furious with the Greeks right now, to tell you the truth.You have Jason Varitek, whose numbers are outdone in almost every instance by Ramon Hernandez's.What's he doing there at all? It's a matter of whose fans can sit down at a computer and vote 20 times for somebody. Or is it 25? I forget.

Fans shouldn't be voting for the All-Star team. The game shouldn't be about a bunch of people who live 20,000 miles away wanting to stuff the ballot box for a couple of their national heroes.It's not about the starry-eyed getting their favorites in the starting lineup, regardless of how devoted they are. It's not about who the fans want to see; it's about who is an ALL STAR. There is a difference-or at least there should be.

Granted, no system is perfect. But what we have now is a joke.

[bird watcher]

You have a bunch of Japanese voting in Fukodome and Suziki as starters. Neither deserved to start and probably didn't even deserve to be on the All-Star teams.Suziki has only three more home runs than I do for cryinoutloud, and a whole lot fewer than Nick Markakis.I'm pretty furious with the Greeks right now, to tell you the truth.You have Jason Varitek, whose numbers are outdone in almost every instance by Ramon Hernandez's.What's he doing there at all? It's a matter of whose fans can sit down at a computer and vote 20 times for somebody. Or is it 25? I forget.

Fans shouldn't be voting for the All-Star team. The game shouldn't be about a bunch of people who live 20,000 miles away wanting to stuff the ballot box for a couple of their national heroes.It's not about the starry-eyed getting their favorites in the starting lineup, regardless of how devoted they are. It's not about who the fans want to see; it's about who is an ALL STAR. There is a difference-or at least there should be.

Granted, no system is perfect. But what we have now is a joke.

Ask Tony what happens to a website's advertising revenue when they get millions of clicks regularly. It is a problem any website owner would love to have. MLB won't be letting that go anytime soon.

[TGO]

Jason Varitek was voted in by the players. So was Dustin Pedroia. Nuff said.

[RayFink1e]

Varitek was prolly voted in because everyone outside of the White Sox clubhouse hate AJ Pierzynski

[orioles119]

Don't let them vote on the Internet. That will cause people to actually go to the stadium and vote. How about that?

[RayFink1e]

Don't let them vote on the Internet. That will cause people to actually go to the stadium and vote. How about that?

Then the teams with good attendance will have a big advantage.

[orioles119]

Then the teams with good attendance will have a big advantage.

Okay... then MLB needs to hire some tech-savvy people to track IP addresses and not allow e-mail addresses more then one vote.

[bird watcher]

Don't let them vote on the Internet. That will cause people to actually go to the stadium and vote. How about that?

You must have missed my post.:laughlol:

[davearm]

Why can't/shouldn't it be about who the fans want to see?

That's probably the best definition there is of a "star."

[orioles119]

Why can't/shouldn't it be about who the fans want to see?

That's probably the best definition there is of a "star."

There needs to be qualifiers though - a guy batting .230 or lower should not be an All-Star for that season. It has to be stats based to a point. If that means that Cal Ripken may not have made a few All-Star games, then so be it.

[RayFink1e]

Dont start the voting so early. And have scouts and writers select a group of players at each position deserving. Then have the fans select from the group

[davearm]

There needs to be qualifiers though - a guy batting .230 or lower should not be an All-Star for that season. It has to be stats based to a point. If that means that Cal Ripken may not have made a few All-Star games, then so be it.

Fans aren't allowed to like an icon like Cal Ripken unless/until he surpasses some arbitrary statistical threshold?

[orioles119]

Fans aren't allowed to like you unless/until you surpass some arbitrary statistical threshold?

Well dave, it's an ALL-STAR game, not an ALL-POPULAR game.

[TGO]

Well dave, it's an ALL-STAR game, not an ALL-POPULAR game.

There's a certain level of popularity/notoriety contained within the word "star."

Another point, should players be picked solely on the year they are having at the break? That's how you wind up with All Star Ken Harvey.

[GeorgiaBird]

I think the worst thing they could do would be to create a system where everyone actually can agree that the best and most deserving players make the team, thereby eliminating the debate.

Or, said another way, they shouldn't do much of anything, and we can keep on having the fun of thinking up and discussing new ways to pick the team.