From Last Night:

• MLB All-Star Game participants announced, see below for commentary
• Sale goes 7, gives up 2 ER, 1 BB, and Ks 9…loses again….
• Cardinals walk off on the Fish
• Santana and Parker both solid, but the bullpens decide it in favor of the Royals
• Dickey goes deep into the game, but surrenders 6 runs as the Twins beat the Jays

What I’m Watching Today:

• Kuroda goes against the O’s (1p Eastern)
• Strasburg toes the slab in DC (1p Eastern)
• Danks and Price hook up in Tampa (130p Eastern)
• Fernandez takes on the Cardinals (2p Eastern)
• Burnett comes off the DL to face the Cubs (2p Eastern)
• Kershaw faces the Giants (4p Eastern)

The Big Question:

• How do the All-Star rosters look?

So let me break the ASG rosters down in a very simple way. I’m only going to point out players who got left off criminally and players who probably shouldn’t be on the team. As usual, most of the roster is right, and it’s messed up at the margins. Here are my AL and NL picks and here are the full rosters.

Players Who Should Be on the Rosters:

• Evan Longoria is 6th in MLB in position player WAR, the only AL reserve who could even reasonably be considered more deserving than Longoria is Machado. It’s a crime that Longo isn’t in the game.
• Josh Donaldson is 9th in WAR and is on the outside looking in because you can’t have a million 3B on your team. It’s understandable that one of these guys got left off, it’s unacceptable that both didn’t make it. Either could go as a DH, or replace one of the catching backups or one of the 3 backup 2B.
• Honorable mention to Kyle Seager, because he belongs, but 3B is too deep to make much of a case.
• Ellsbury and Gardner are also better choices than Hunter and Cruz, but it’s less egregious.
• Marte and Choo probably belong over Dom Brown
• Derek Holland is 4th in MLB in pitcher WAR but isn’t on the roster. Not much justification for that.
• Homer Bailey is 5th in the NL in pitcher WAR but isn’t on the roster, hard to buy Locke, Wood, and Bumgarner over him

Players Who Shouldn’t Be on the Roster

• I know he was voted by the fans, so it’s a popularity thing, but Adam Jones has very little business being in the game over some of the guys who missed.
• Bartolo Colon probably doesn’t need to be on the roster, but he has 11 wins, and those are shiny. His A’s teammate Josh Donaldson should get to go in his place even if they play different positions
• Prince Fielder really shouldn’t be an All-Star, but he’s in because he’s well known, has RBI, and it is a pretty down year for 1B in the AL. Longoria or Donaldson really should go in his place
• I love Ben Zobrist, but he has to only be in the game over Longoria because he’s versatile and can fill in for injured guys. There is nothing else that justifies him being on the team over Longo
• Cruz and Hunter together make one good All-Star, but each on their own doesn’t do much for me. Not a huge error, but probably not deserving given who was left off
• Brandon Phillips should not be an All-Star this year. Fan vote, so can’t say too much.
• Dominic Brown is probably a no for me, but it’s not terrible.

I’m sure some of you disagree with these comments, but that’s the way this works. Undeserving players get picked because of name value or voters looking at the wrong numbers, but I stand by the ones about which I wrote most strongly. Longoria and Donaldson must be All-Stars. I don’t care who comes off as long as it isn’t Cabrera, Gomez, Trout, Davis, or Wright. Literally, 2 of the top 10 players in baseball aren’t going to the game. Come on guys.