MLB All-Star Voting 2011: Proof That Fans Know Nothing About Shortstops

Late last night, right around the time the NBA lockout officially went into effect and NFL officials finally called off their own lockout talks, there was a slight bit of Major League Baseball news to report.

In case you missed it, voting for the 2011 MLB All-Star Game came to a close at 11:59 p.m. ET. With the exception of one "Final Vote" player for each league, the rosters for this year's American League and National League All-Star teams will be announced at noon on Sunday.

While it's true that we have a little less than 48 hours to go before we learn which players actually made the cut this year, the truth is that we have a pretty good idea which names are going to be called, and better yet, which players are going to start.

When things do finally become official, odds are we're going to find out something we've already know for a while now: that the fans who voted for this year's All-Stars seriously dropped the ball when it came time to vote for shortstops.

As the Sporting News tells the tale, the leading shortstops at last check were Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees in the American League and Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies in the National League. Both of them are undoubtedly big-name players who have a good standing with the baseball-loving populace, but the fact of the matter is that neither of them deserve to be starting at shortstop for their respective leagues.

Obviously, Jeter's standing in the voting is the biggest outrage. Despite all he's accomplished in his brilliant career, 2011 has not been one of Jeter's better seasons. In fact, it's arguably been his worst.

Before he went on the disabled list in mid-June, Jeter was batting just .260 with two home runs and 20 RBIs. His WAR, the almighty sabermetric stat that measures a player's true value, is 0.5. In 2009, Jeter's last good year, his WAR was 7.2.

Just behind Jeter in the voting was Asdrubal Cabrera, who is having an outstanding season for the Cleveland Indians. He is batting .296 on the season with 13 home runs and 47 RBIs. His WAR is 3.1, making him one of the most valuable shortstops in the American League.

As if that wasn't enough, his slick fielding has made him a nightly feature on SportsCenter.

Make no mistake, Cabrera is what an All-Star is supposed to be. Jeter, on the other hand, is not.

That Tulowitzki is leading the way in the National League is not nearly as outrageous. Despite some slumps here and there, Tulo is still hitting a respectable .271 with 15 homers and 53 RBIs, both of which lead major league shortstops. His WAR checks in at an impressive 3.3, which definitely makes him a worthy All-Star.

However, Tulo is not quite a starting All-Star. That honor should belong to Jose Reyes, who has spent the final year of his contract with the New York Mets establishing himself as one of the best players in the game.

His .352 average ties him with Adrian Gonzalez for tops in baseball, and he also has a major-league leading 121 hits. His 65 runs and 30 stolen bases are both second in the big leagues. His 5.3 WAR is a figure that only Jose Bautista can match.

To clarify, it's not exactly final that Jeter and Tulowitzki are going to be the starting shortstops in the 2011 All-Star Game. Cabrera and Reyes might just have caught them in the last hours before the polls closed, which would mean this is all much ado about nothing.

That said, the fact that Jeter and Tulo were able to gain the advantage in the first place is a big enough problem in its own right. It indicates that there are far too many ignorant baseball fans out there, which doesn't exactly reflect well on the sport.

Baseball is, after all, a thinking man's game.