All Star Voting: Part One

I plan to post my All Star ballot, and all the rationale behind my choices, close to the deadline to vote.  Because even though the ballots have been open for almost a month, it's still too early to be able to vote intelligently.  Other than a strict "I never vote for dodgers" policy, I try to be as objective as I can when voting.  Close calls are determined by some combination of past success and who I'd rather see in the game.  But even the most diligent voter (possibly Brian Cronin) has not even half a season's worth of stats and performance on which to base their vote.

But after something that happened today, I cannot wait until I cast my 25 ballots to talk about All Star selections.  The Giants announced (via Twitter) an All Star voting "alliance" with the Boston Red Sox.  They want Giants fans to vote for "all Red Sox and Giants players listed on the 2011 All-Star Game Ballot," with the idea being that Red Sox fans will vote for Giants on the NL side.  So I responded by asking them to clarify that they were asking people to vote for "Tejada, Belt, Burrell, Crawford and Scutaro as All Stars?"  They simply responded "Correct."

Fresno Grizzlies slugger
Brandon Belt

I realize that the Giants Twitter account is probably manned by an unpaid intern, but still.  They want us to vote for:

• Miguel Tejada (lost his job to Mike Fontenot, back in the lineup only because Sandoval and DeRosa are hurt)
• Brandon Belt (sent to AAA over a month ago)
• Pat Burrell (lost his starting job to some combination of Nate Schierholtz and Aaron Rowand)
• Carl Crawford (dropped from 1st in the Red Sox lineup to 8th, due to his .215 batting average)
• Marco Scutaro (lost his job to Jed Lowrie).  

And that's not even mentioning the other undeserving Giants and Sox on the ballot, like:

• Pablo Sandoval (on the DL)
• Dustin Pedroia (.246, 2 HR)
• Jarrod Saltalamacchia (.229, 3 HR)
• J.D. Drew (.240, 3 HR)
• Andres Torres (.265, 1 HR, missed a month on the DL)
• Aubrey Huff (.228, 4 HR)

There's no question that almost every year fans vote in an All Star starter who has no business being on the roster based on that year's production.  On one hand, that annoys me.  On the other, it's one of the only things fans can do that has a direct, tangible result on the field.  On the other, other hand, I do tend to get all snooty towards the fans who vote for players who don't belong.

The bottom line is, sorry @SFGiants.  I will not be voting an all San Francisco/Boston ticket.  And I'm pretty annoyed that you are encouraging ... no, let's call it what it is: enabling.  I'm annoyed that you're enabling poor voting practices, and encouraging fans to tow the company line.  It's time for the PR department to get a little "misfit" in them.