Scott Podsednik
OK, so the guy got the last spot on the All Star team. Rightly so? No. I love the guy; I love prototypical leadoff hitters, guys that cause havoc on the basepaths, guys that bunt and score tons of runs - I love those guys. I love the underdog: guys that spend years and years in the minors and manage to put it all together and be successful in the big leagues.

I love Scott Podsednik.

But he just didn't deserve to be there. Not when you compare him to the other guys in the running.

I hate the Yankees but Derek Jeter deserves to be there over Podsednik.

I said it.

Look at the numbers:

Pod Jeter
.289 AVG .308
.363 OBP .395
48 R 66
41 SB 10
.337 SLG .446

Yes they are both leadoff hitters, just in different molds. Jeter is not your prototypical leadoff man and Pods is. The real issue that is being debated here is the value of certain statistics over others. Yes, Pods has a ton of steals. But what has that gotten him? More runs? Nope. Has it caused a lot of pressure on the defense whenever he gets on or even comes up to bat? Of course. There is no number for that, and that's why it's tough to say he deserves the all star nod.

The other thing that worries me is that Pods' numbers are down, way down, from last year. His average is up and so are his steals - but that's it. He is on pace to maybe hit one homerun and one triple, if any at all. He hit 12 homers last year. Seven triples too. Sure he only hit .244 and it's good that he's hitting in the .280s now but still. It's the same argument I have about Ichiro: unbelievable numbers - depending on which ones you look at. Ichiro can hit .350 in a season and get tons of hits. He's awesome.

Last season he hit .372 but his OBP tends to be about 40 points higher. That's not great for a leadoff guy. Sure, he'll score 100 runs a season, but shouldn't he?

Ah.