Building All-Star Teams out of Every MLB Division

With Miguel Cabrera and Manny Machado soaking up all of the votes at third base in the American League for the MLB All-Star Game, there's simply no room for guys like Josh Donaldson and Kyle Seager to receive the respect that they deserve.

Unless...

What if Major League Baseball named All-Division teams the way that college sports have All-Conference teams?

It would give the talking heads even more things to argue about while also offering some recognition of excellence for the Michael Cuddyers of the world who might not otherwise receive it from the All-Star-voting public. It's a win-win proposition.

If we were to build an All-Star team out of each division today, what follows is a rough estimate of what they would look like.

*All statistics are courtesy of Fangraphs.com and ESPN.com and are accurate through the start of play on Sunday, June 23.

National League East (Batters)

Catcher: Brian McCann (ATL)

First Base: Freddie Freeman (ATL)

Second Base: Chase Utley (PHI)

Third Base: David Wright (NYM)

Shortstop: Ian Desmond (WAS)

Outfield: Domonic Brown (PHI), Justin Upton (ATL), Bryce Harper (WAS)

Designated Hitter: Evan Gattis (ATL)

There wasn't even a second viable option at most of these positions.

You could make a compelling case for Daniel Murphy ahead of Utley at second base, but Utley is still the superior player. Despite playing in 25 fewer games than Murphy, he has one more stolen base, two more home runs and has been a more valuable fielder.

Jimmy Rollins has had a solid season at shortstop in his 35th year on this planet, but you're not taking him ahead of Desmond.

The only real debate here was at the DH spot.

Gattis is currently on the disabled list with an oblique strain—which almost never results in a minimal stay on the DL. Before the injury, he was straight up mashing baseballs. Chris Davis is leading the majors in home runs and is hitting them at a rate of one in every 11.5 plate appearances. Gattis' rate is 13.1.

On the other end of the injury spectrum, Giancarlo Stanton has been on fire since coming back from his lengthy stay on the DL. He hasn't played enough this season to deserve a spot on the roster, but he's the best replacement option if Gattis is still sidelined in a few weeks.

National League East (Pitchers)

Starter: Matt Harvey (NYM)

Secondary Starters: Cliff Lee (PHI), Jordan Zimmermann (WAS), Mike Minor (ATL)

Secondary Relievers: Bobby Parnell (NYM), Rafael Soriano (WAS)

Closer: Craig Kimbrel (ATL)

Harvey, Lee and Zimmermann belong in the starting "rotation" without question. Likewise, Kimbrel and Parnell have done more than enough to earn their spot in the bullpen.

There's room for discussion about both Minor and Soriano.

The biggest competitor for the final spot among the secondary starters is Miami's Jose Fernandez, but I could see the merit in arguing for either Gio Gonzalez or Stephen Strasburg. In specifically comparing Minor and Fernandez, the decision came down to walks and durability.

Fernandez's 3.28 BB/9 rate is nearly double Minor's 1.86 rate. And even though we're talking about a game in which the pitcher would only be used for a maximum of two innings, it's nice that Minor is averaging 6.44 innings per start as opposed to Fernandez's 5.69. The fact that he's pitching deeper into games while maintaining comparable statistics tells me that Minor is the better pitcher for now.

No matter which way you go, it's going to be a fun division of starting pitchers over the next few years. Throw Zack Wheeler, Kris Medlen, Brandon Beachy, Julio Teheran, Cole Hamels and Jacob Turner into the mix and you're talking about a dozen guys with ace material under the age of 30 all pitching in the same division.

Regarding the final spot in the bullpen, you could make a case for Jonathan Papelbon, but he just hasn't looked like his old self. He's giving up more fly balls and home runs than usual while striking out considerably fewer opponents than the days of yore. When his low BABIP catches up with him, it could be ugly.

American League West (Batters)

Catcher: Jason Castro (HOU)

First Base: Mark Trumbo (LAA)

Second Base: Howie Kendrick (LAA)

Third Base: Josh Donaldson (OAK)

Shortstop: Jed Lowrie (OAK)

Outfield: Mike Trout (LAA), Coco Crisp (OAK), Nelson Cruz (TEX)

Designated Hitter: Adrian Beltre (TEX)

Wherefore art thou, Mariners?

Kyle Seager is definitely in the discussion at third base, but Josh Donaldson is just a few steps ahead of him across the board. Aside from Seager, though, no one from Seattle even comes close.

Let's address a few other potential arguments, shall we?

Kendrick over Jose Altuve isn't nearly as close as it was a month ago. Altuve certainly takes the cake in the stolen-base department, but Kendrick is batting nearly 100 points better than Altuve over the past 30 days. Kendrick is frankly sneaking into the discussion for a reserve spot on the official All-Star roster.

If we were building out a bench, Albert Pujols would certainly fit on it somewhere. He doesn't belong in the starting lineup, though. He has been much more Pujols-ish in June than he was in the first two months of the season, but Trumbo remains the better option at first base, while Beltre is a better fit for the DH job.

Last but not least, Yoenis Cespedes has some power, but he has no spot on this roster until he raises his batting average by about 50 points.

American League West (Pitchers)

Starter: Yu Darvish (TEX)

Secondary Starters: Felix Hernandez (SEA), Hisashi Iwakuma (SEA), Bartolo Colon (OAK)

Secondary Relievers: Ryan Cook (OAK), Robbie Ross (TEX)

Closer: Joe Nathan (TEX)

With the exception of a possible argument between Colon and Derek Holland, this division is an open-and-shut case.

The Angels and Astros are in the bottom three of the league in team ERA, so it shouldn't come as any surprise that neither team is sending a representative to the pitching staff.

Rather than rehashing the discussion, I'll just link to last week's case for Darvish ahead of both Hernandez and Iwakuma at the top of the rotation.

The bullpen is sketchy at best, but when life hands you lemons, you make Joe Nathan your closer.

Ernesto Frieri and Grant Balfour both have an FIP that indicates a disaster is just around the corner. (I swear I wrote that before they combined to give up six earned runs in one inning of work on Sunday). Tom Wilhelmsen is an ongoing train wreck in Seattle and Houston is...well...Houston.

As such, we had to dive into a shallow pool of middle relievers as our only options to fill out the bullpen. With an honorable mention to Oliver Perez and his 4.56 BB/9 rate, Ross and Cook were the only names that came out smelling like roses.

National League West (Batters)

Catcher: Buster Posey (SF)

First Base: Paul Goldschmidt (ARI)

Second Base: Marco Scutaro (SF)

Third Base: Pablo Sandoval (SF)

Shortstop: Brandon Crawford (SF)

Outfield: Carlos Gonzalez (COL), Hunter Pence (SF), Dexter Fowler (COL)

Designated Hitter: Michael Cuddyer (COL)

This was the toughest division to assemble—not for a lack of quality options. It was certainly dominated by two teams in the end.

Catcher and first base were no-brainers. The next-best options are Wilin Rosario and Adrian Gonzalez, respectively. Solid players in their own right, but Posey and Goldschmidt could arguably be starters for the official NL All-Star team.

Second base was substantially less cut-and-dry. I bounced back and forth between Scutaro and Jedd Gyorko, ultimately settling on the guy with the much better batting average and much lower strikeout rate over the guy hitting for much more power. Just know that Gyorko is the real deal and could be back on the field this Tuesday. If he was dropped in your fantasy league, you should fix that.

If all parties were fully healthy, shortstop would have been a brief debate between Everth Cabrera and Troy Tulowitzki, with the latter almost certainly getting the nod. But with Tulowitzki and Cabrera both going on the DL in the past 10 days, Crawford finally gets a show of respect—if only by default.

Fowler vs. Gerardo Parra is a healthy debate for the final outfield position. Parra is a much better fielder, but Fowler is the better hitter—and we all know that's the more popular attribute for All-Star purposes.

Adrian Gonzalez is a good candidate for the DH role, but Cuddyer is substantially ahead of him in batting average, home runs and stolen bases. The only reason his WAR isn't higher is because of how useless he is on defense—something that couldn't possibly matter less for a DH.

National League West (Pitchers)

Starter: Patrick Corbin (ARI)

Secondary Starters: Clayton Kershaw (LAD), Madison Bumgarner (SF), Hyun-Jin Ryu (LAD)

Secondary Relievers: Rex Brothers (COL), Kenley Jansen (LAD)

Closer: Sergio Romo (SF)

This is me lowering my weapon, lying face down on the floor and interlocking my fingers behind my head.

After two months of incessantly insisting that Corbin was racing towards regression like the Niagara River towards Horseshoe Falls, I surrender. I still think he's flirting with disaster by having a below-average K/BB ratio, but if I learned anything from Nik Wallenda this weekend, it's that some people were just meant to walk on a tight rope.

So here you go, Mr. Corbin. As an apology for doubting you for so long, I'm giving you the crown of "best pitcher in the NL West" ahead of Kershaw. It was a tossup until this weekend, but by pitching a gem against Cincinnati while Kershaw struggled with San Diego, Corbin has earned the starting job.

Not much else to discuss here. Jhoulys Chacin gets an honorable mention, but he can't possibly supplant any of the other four starting pitchers. Unless we're talking about him supplanting Corbin on my list of people to complain about regressing, because there's not a snowball's chance in Tempe that the league leader in HR/9 is going to pitch for the Rockies.

American League Central (Batters)

Catcher: Carlos Santana (CLE)

First Base: Prince Fielder (DET)

Second Base: Jason Kipnis (CLE)

Third Base: Miguel Cabrera (DET)

Shortstop: Jhonny Peralta (DET)

Outfield: Alex Rios (CWS), Alex Gordon (KC), Michael Bourn (CLE)

Designated Hitter: Joe Mauer (MIN)

Minimal debates in this division. The toughest decision was between Santana and Mauer for catcher, but the DH spot gave us a wonderful cop-out from that dilemma.

There's room for a minor discussion at second base, but I don't believe Omar Infante is anywhere near the same echelon as Kipnis. Since finishing the month of April with one home run and a .200 batting average, Kipnis is batting roughly .300 with eight home runs and a dozen stolen bases.

The final outfield spot was the only piece of this lineup that gave me any heartburn. Torii Hunter, Alejandro De Aza and Lorenzo Cain receive an honorable mention, but Bourn has been more valuable than each of them while playing in fewer games.

American League Central (Pitchers)

Starter: Max Scherzer (DET)

Secondary Starters: Chris Sale (CWS), Anibal Sanchez (DET), James Shields (KC)

Secondary Relievers: Glen Perkins (MIN), Greg Holland (KC)

Closer: Jesse Crain (CWS)

Justin Masterson is a solid candidate for the American League Comeback Player of the Year award. Doug Fister is eighth in the American League in WAR. Justin Verlander is still breathing. Yet, none of those guys can quite crack the top four. The amount of starting talent in this division is just incredible. Aside from Minnesota, of course.

At least the Twins have a solid closer. Perkins beats out both Addison Reed and Drew Smyly in my book, while Crain gets the closing gig without having saved a game all season. Among the 122 American League pitchers with at least 30 innings of work, no one has a better FIP than Crain.

It isn't all that close, either. Coupled with the third-best K/9 in the AL, you have to wonder if the White Sox would've handed the ninth-inning reins over to Crain by now if their games even mattered anymore.

National League Central (Batters)

Catcher: Yadier Molina (STL)

First Base: Joey Votto (CIN)

Second Base: Matt Carpenter (STL)

Third Base: Pedro Alvarez (PIT)

Shortstop: Jean Segura (MIL)

Outfield: Carlos Gomez (MIL), Andrew McCutchen (PIT), Shin-Soo Choo (CIN)

Designated Hitter: Jay Bruce (CIN)

I anticipate a lot of debate over this slide, but at least we can all agree on one thing.

There is not a single Cub who belongs in this lineup.

You could maybe—repeat, maybe—make a case for Anthony Rizzo as the backup first baseman, but I would rather have Allen Craig's .312 batting average coming off the bench than Rizzo's .245 average.

Even excluding Chicago from the discussion, the other four members of the NL Central are submitting a ton of quality candidates.

There's no debate about whether Molina deserves to be the starting catcher, but kudos to Russell Martin for remaining relevant. First base and shortstop are similarly beyond reproach—Votto and Segura will likely lock down the starting gig for the NL All-Star team.

Beyond that, the choices are about as clear as mud.

Matt Carpenter has become a poor man's Ben Zobrist in the sabermetric community—piling up an impressive WAR by playing solid defense at multiple positions and batting north of .300. He doesn't have nearly the power that Brandon Phillips has, though.

Having gone with WAR over power at second base, I took the opposite approach at third base, electing to go with Alvarez instead of Todd Frazier. I promise I don't hate Cincinnati, even though their guys ended up on the wrong end of those two arbitrary decisions.

It blows my mind that neither Ryan Braun nor Carlos Beltran has a spot in this lineup, but where would you put them? (Especially with Braun on the disabled list with no return in sight). You don't want Beltran in the outfield because of his horrible defense, but are you seriously taking him at DH ahead of Jay Bruce?

National League Central (Pitchers)

Starter: Adam Wainwright (STL)

Secondary Starters: Mat Latos (CIN), Jeff Samardzija (CHC), Homer Bailey (CIN)

Secondary Relievers: Trevor Rosenthal (STL), Aroldis Chapman (CIN)

Closer: Jason Grilli (PIT)

Consider this an olive branch to any Reds fans I infuriated with the previous slide. Shelby Miller and Lance Lynn are arguably more deserving of the final spot in the "rotation" than Bailey, but I'm going to stand by my allegiance to FIP and WAR and give the edge to Bailey.

I will point this out for the Bailey haters: Though it is fielder-independent, FIP is not opponent-independent. Ten of Bailey's 15 starts have come against teams in the bottom half of the league in runs scored. And in the five games against the top half of the league, he has allowed 25 earned runs in 26 innings pitched for an ERA of 8.65.

With that in mind, if either Miller or Lynn was clearly a better option than the other, I probably would have given him the nod over Bailey.

In other news, how ridiculous is relief pitching in the NL Central? Mark Melancon and Edward Mujica almost certainly belong on the NL All-Star team, but I don't know how you argue for either of them ahead of Chapman, Rosenthal or Grilli. I guess we know why the Cardinals, Pirates and Reds have had such prolonged success this season.

American League East (Batters)

Catcher: Jarrod Saltalamacchia (BOS)

First Base: Chris Davis (BAL)

Second Base: Dustin Pedroia (BOS)

Third Base: Manny Machado (BAL)

Shortstop: J.J. Hardy (BAL)

Outfield: Jose Bautista (TOR), Adam Jones (BAL), Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS)

Designated Hitter: Evan Longoria (TB)

Fortunately, it's never been in my nature to worry about making friends in New York.

This is without question the division that would have the most WAR coming off of the bench. Brett Gardner (2.5), Robinson Cano (2.2), Shane Victorino (2.1), David Ortiz (2.1) and Edwin Encarnacion (2.0) are all on the bench with a WAR of at least 2.0. The only bench player in either of the other AL divisions to fit that description is Kyle Seager (2.7).

Encarnacion is the biggest casualty, in my opinion. In either the AL Central, AL West or NL East, he would be a better option than both the existing first baseman and designated hitter.

In the AL East, though, he's out of luck.

Though Encarnacion is tied for second place in the AL in home runs, he just so happens to play the same position in the same division as the guy who is seven ahead of him on the leaderboard. And with Machado possessing the best glove in all of baseball and necessitating the starting job at third base, Longoria joins and narrowly beats both Encarnacion and Ortiz in the DH debate.

An almost equally colossal injustice is the absence of Cano in the lineup. Like Davis compared to the rest of the league, Cano has a cushion of seven home runs over the next-best second baseman in the AL. Look at literally any metric other than slugging, however, and Pedroia is either marginally or substantially ahead of Cano.

Cano's 16 home runs look pretty amazing compared to the other second basemen, but when compared to the other options at DH, he arguably finishes in a distant fourth place.

American League East (Pitchers)

Starter: Clay Buchholz (BOS)

Secondary Starters: Hiroki Kuroda (NYY), CC Sabathia (NYY), Alex Cobb (TB)

Secondary Relievers: Koji Uehara (BOS), Brett Cecil (TOR)

Closer: Mariano Rivera (NYY)

Options at starting pitcher sure do get ugly in a hurry in the AL East. They get even uglier if Buchholz and Cobb are unable to compete in the game because of injuries. If forced to choose at gunpoint, I would have to take Andy Pettitte and Felix Doubront as their replacements. Perhaps after another start or two, Josh Johnson could also sneak into the discussion.

Relief pitching in the division isn't a whole lot better. I suppose this is why there were so many amazing bats being left off the roster.

If you recall, it wasn't that long ago that we were marveling at the ineptitude of the once-dominant bullpens of both Tampa Bay and Baltimore. They've both turned the corner as of late, but we're still a little ways off from trusting them again.

Left with just three teams to choose from, why not take the most reliable reliever from each bullpen? There's room for debate over whether the most reliable guy in Boston is Uehara or Junichi Tazawa. Same goes for Cecil or Casey Janssen in Toronto.

There's no debate in New York, though. Not until Rivera retires.