MLB All Star Voting: Is It Time to Let Baseball Fans Vote for Pitchers?

Since we're talking about MLB All-Star voting, let's go ahead and admit something many of us are thinking: it sucks.

I know, I know. Kind of a pessimistic point of view, and saying something sucks isn't exactly the pinnacle of professionalism, but that doesn't make it any less true.

Letting the fans vote players into the Midsummer Classic is a great idea in theory. It gives the fans the impression that they are in cahoots with their favorite players, and the fact of the matter is that voting for things is just plain fun. Except when it comes to political elections, of course.

The only problem is that MLB fan voting is hindered by two things: ignorance and loyalty. Many people just aren't aware of which players actually deserve to be All-Stars, and many more simply stuff the ballot box in favor of the guys they know and love. Yes, that means you, Yankee fans.

But oh well. I'm afraid we're stuck with All-Star voting for now, as it's pretty apparent by now that the idea has caught on. The only remaining question is how MLB can continue to push the envelope.

Well, here's one idea: How about letting the fans vote for pitchers? After all, if we're going to vote for our favorite position players, why not let us vote for our favorite pitchers?

In all the time I've been voting for All-Stars, this is something that I've always wondered about. Sure, we all love bats and gloves, but we love arms too. I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying that all of us would love to show our favorite hurlers a little appreciation.

The obvious danger with this idea is that it would be afflicted by the same problems that afflicts the voting for the position players. Fan loyalty allowed Derek Jeter to lead the American League shortstop voting over Asdrubal Cabrera, and ignorance (plus lack of Mets fans) allowed Troy Tulowitzki to lead the National League shortstop voting over Jose Reyes. So it goes, and so it will go if we extend fan voting to pitchers.

It's possible, but I, for one, don't think so. Fans have a different relationship with pitchers than they do with hitters. I've always thought that it's much easier to give a struggling hitter the benefit of the doubt than it is to give a struggling pitcher the benefit of the doubt. For example, Yankee fans are always going to be quick to support Jeter, but this is not going to be the case with A.J. Burnett any time soon. The same would have gone for Red Sox fans and Josh Beckett in the last two years.

And the ignorance issue? I think that too would not be as much of a factor. For whatever reason, pitching greatness tends to stand out. Cliff Lee and Justin Verlander would get votes, but it would be also be very hard to ignore lesser-known players with outstanding pitching totals. Atlanta's Jair Jurrjens and Oakland's Gio Gonzalez would definitely get some looks among starters, and so would relievers like Cleveland's Chris Perez and Pittsburgh's Joel Hanrahan.

Assuming this is at all plausible, the only real catch is that turning the pitcher voting over to the fans would leave the players with no say in the matter. As things stand right now, they get to vote for five starters and three relievers to be added to each team. They also vote for back-ups, and they definitely tend to pick the right guys. So why take that right away from them?

A good question, but I have a solution. Instead of the power to vote for pitchers, how about we give the players the right to veto the fans' selections? Remember, the game counts, so they should have the final say in who they're running out there.

For example, veto power would allow them to start Reyes over Tulowitzki, but it would also allow them to do something like exchange a right-hander for a left-hander. And so on. After that, it would be up to each manager to fill out the rosters.

In this scenario, you get the best of both worlds. Fans get a higher level of interaction, and the players still get to show some love for deserving peers. If everything goes according to plan, both the AL and NL will have perfect All-Star teams.

I don't know about you, but that sounds a little less sucky from where I'm sitting.