2012 MLB All-Star Game Roster: Least Deserving Starters for Each League

The 2012 MLB All-Star Game is supposed to highlight the best players of this season, but sometimes popularity and bias can get in the way.

While no National League or American League starter this year has had a bad season by any means, there were some players who deserved to start over them.

Here's a look at the least deserving players for each league in the 2012 MLB All-Star Game.

National League

Pablo Sandoval, 3B, San Francisco Giants

As a Giants fan, I'm just going to get this one out of the way.

Pablo "Kung Fu Panda" Sandoval has only played in 51 games so far. He still has decent numbers (.307, eight home runs, 30 RBI, 30 runs), but he honestly should have been beaten out by a slew of third basemen, including the New York Mets' David Wright and the St. Louis Cardinals' David Freese.

Leave it to the Giants faithful to put Sandoval in the National League starting lineup.

Rafael Furcal, SS, St. Louis Cardinals

Rafael Furcal's numbers this season: .275 average, five home runs, 36 RBI, 54 runs, nine stolen bases.

Ian Desmond's numbers: .285 average, 17 home runs, 51 RBI, 46 runs, 11 stolen bases. 

You add in Starlin Castro's numbers combined with his elite defensive ability, and there is absolutely no way Furcal should be the NL starter this season.

American League

Mike Napoli, C, Texas Rangers

Me Mike Napoli. Me hit ball far. Me have .228 batting average.

That describes in a nutshell what I think about Mike Napoli this season.

Sure, Napoli has 12 jacks on the year—and chicks dig the long ball—but his batting average combined with his ho-hum 30 RBI don't make him a worthy starter for the National League.

The Minnesota Twins' Joe Mauer and Chicago White Sox's A.J. Pierzynski would have been better choices (Pierzynski didn't even make the reserve squad, despite hitting .285 with 16 home runs, 49 RBI and 39 runs).

Curtis Granderson, OF, New York Yankees

Curtis Granderson does have 61 runs—so there's something to be said about that—but he's also hitting just .248, so a large part of that has to do with the fact that he's on the powerful New York Yankees.

Granderson did deserve to make the All-Star team, but I would have liked to have seen Mike Trout or Mark Trumbo get the nod over him.

Of course, Trout has plenty of time to grab the starting AL spot, given he's only 20 years old.

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