State of the Sox: My Analysis of the Boston Red Sox All-Stars

(Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Well after hearing that Boston would have six representatives in this years All Star Game in St. Louis, I have a lot of mixed feelings regarding some of the men going into the game. Therefore, I will be looking at all of these All Stars and I will see if these men truly deserve to be All Stars this season.

Though I am a big Red Sox supporter, I would like to be skeptical towards some of these players (Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jonathan Papelbon, Tim Wakefield, Jason Bay, Josh Beckett).

Jason Bay

Well there is not much to look at when it comes to Jason Bay. Bay has been the most productive hitter in the American League and he is definitely in for some big money this offseason.

Bay currently has 19 home runs and has knocked in 73 runs. Though he is slumping as of late, Jason has shown signs that he is hitting better again as he continues to hit career numbers. Jason Bay has made Boston fans love trading Manny Ramirez now and this young kid deserves to be in the All Star Game this year.

Josh Beckett

Despite his struggles early on in the season, Josh Beckett has been lights out for the Sox with a 9-3 record. There is no doubt that Beckett deserved to be in this game, though there may be arguments about his poor start this season, though I believe that he has been unstoppable since the end of April.

Josh is likely to have won 10 or more games in each of his past five seasons, which helps his chances as well. I think Beckett is an obvious pick and he deserves to be in this game in St. Louis.

Jonathan Papelbon

I have a lot of mixed feelings when it comes to Papelbon in the All-Star Game. I do think his ERA (1.73) and amount of saves (20) should give him a spot, but I feel that Papelbon is very lucky that he has these great numbers.

If you observe his outing, you see that he never has a quick one-two-three inning, he is always scaring fans in the ninth inning. Obviously he has been solid in some of his games, but he frankly scares me every time he comes out to pitch.

The kid has undeniable talent for sure, but it may be just me, but his numbers are very misleading because he allows so many baserunners. He makes us leave Fenway Park saying, "Wow, that was a close call right there."

Does his ability to get out of these jams earn him a spot? Well maybe, but someone of his caliber should not be getting us into these jams every time he comes out. He has had moments where he looks terrific, but that is just half of the time in my eyes. I just think that Ramon Ramirez or Takashi Saito deserve to be in St. Louis over Papelbon, but that just may be me.

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