My AL All-Star pitchers, with some commentary. I stick to the MLB rules. Starter is in italics.
Starting Pitchers
Lee (CLE) -- Would win the Cy Young if given today. Comes out #1 in every measure I can think of.
Danks (CHW) -- Yes, he's this good. Second on my list of pitching performances this year. Doesn't have gaudy traditional stats, though, so no one will recognize him.
Halladay (TOR) -- A guy a team can just ride. Rests the bullpen. Wipes out the competition. You've got to love this guy.
Duchscherer (OAK) -- My best feeling about watching the All-Star selection show was realizing that someone actually found Justin among all the choices and selected him. I guess leading the league in ERA helps.
Marcum (TOR) -- Has anyone even mentioned this guy? High on the list of VORP and WPA. Toronto is living off Halladay and Marcum.
Saunders (LAA) -- Unlike his NL counterpart with the big wins, Saunders actually is delivering a top 10 performance.
Greinke (KCA) -- Kansas City is so used to only getting one guy on the team, I think someone forgot about Greinke because they selected Soria.
Hernandez (SEA) -- Same phenomenon as Kansas City. Once Ichiro made the team, they forgot to look elsewhere.
Relief Pitchers
Rivera (NYY) -- For some reason no one's paying attention anymore. Maybe great has become boring. Well, take a look. The best reliever in the AL.
Soria (KCA) -- An awesome season. He's doing a Joe Nathan impression. They can't hit him.
Nathan (MIN) -- When you get some time, look up his record on www.baseball-reference.com. I'll save you some time. Since 2003, he's thrown 397 innings, given up just 265 hits and 25 home runs, walked just 119, and allowed only 92 earned runs (2.09). There's also 184 saves in there.
Rodriguez (LAA) -- You may find this incredible, but he almost didn't make my team. The saves are great, but it's a stupid stat. What saved him was WPA. Who almost got his spot? Jim Johnson. That's right, a Baltimore middle reliever. It's hard for me to imagine too. KRod gets the spot. I wish there was a spot for Johnson, though.
