2013 All-Star Roster: Reserves Who Deserve to Be Starting Midsummer Classic

One of the many problems with the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is that the league lets the fans determine the starting lineups. As you could imagine, the public didn’t do a perfect job of selecting this year’s starters.

While some picks were obvious—Chris Davis, Miguel Cabrera and David Wright, among others—there were some positional races that went down to the wire. Throughout the voting process, many stars flip-flopped as the leaders of their respective positions. But in the end, not everyone who should start will start.

Here are three All-Stars who will be in New York on July 16, but will be sitting on the bench to begin the Midsummer Classic instead of on the field. While they likely will all get to play at some point throughout the exhibition, they deserve to be starters instead of reserves. 

Complete American League Roster (via MLB.com)

Player	Position	Team
Joe Mauer	Catcher	MIN
Chris Davis	First Baseman	BAL
Robinson Cano	Second Baseman	NYY
J.J. Hardy	Shortstop	BAL
Miguel Cabrera	Third Baseman	DET
Mike Trout	Outfielder	LAA
Adam Jones	Outfielder	BAL
Jose Bautista	Outfielder	TOR
David Ortiz	Designated Hitter	BOS
Clay Buchholz*	Pitcher	BOS
Brett Cecil	Pitcher	TOR
Bartolo Colon@	Pitcher	OAK
Jesse Crain*	Pitcher	CHW
Yu Darvish	Pitcher	TEX
Felix Hernandez	Pitcher	SEA
Hisashi Iwakuma	Pitcher	SEA
Justin Masterson	Pitcher	CLE
Joe Nathan	Pitcher	TEX
Glen Perkins@	Pitcher	MIN
Mariano Rivera	Pitcher	NYY
Chris Sale	Pitcher	CHW
Max Scherzer	Pitcher	DET
Justin Verlander	Pitcher	DET
Jason Castro	Catcher	HOU
Salvador Perez	Catcher	KC
Prince Fielder	First Baseman	DET
Jason Kipnis	Second Baseman	CLE
Dustin Pedroia	Second Baseman	BOS
Ben Zobrist	Second Baseman	TB
Jhonny Peralta	Shortstop	DET
Manny Machado	Third Baseman	BAL
Nelson Cruz	Outfielder	TEX
Alex Gordon	Outfielder	KC
Torii Hunter	Outfielder	DET
Edwin Encarnacion	Designated Hitter	TOR
* Injured; @ Injury replacement

Complete National League Roster (via MLB.com)

Player	Position	Team
Yadier Molina	Catcher	STL
Joey Votto	First Baseman	CIN
Brandon Phillips	Second Baseman	CIN
Troy Tulowitzki	Shortstop	COL
David Wright	Third Baseman	NYM
Carlos Beltran	Outfielder	STL
Carlos Gonzalez	Outfielder	COL
Bryce Harper	Outfielder	WAS
Madison Bumgarner	Pitcher	SF
Aroldis Chapman	Pitcher	CIN
Patrick Corbin	Pitcher	ARZ
Jose Fernandez	Pitcher	MIA
Jason Grilli	Pitcher	PIT
Matt Harvey	Pitcher	NYM
Clayton Kershaw	Pitcher	LAD
Craig Kimbrel	Pitcher	ATL
Cliff Lee	Pitcher	PHI
Jeff Locke	Pitcher	PIT
Adam Wainwright	Pitcher	STL
Travis Wood	Pitcher	CHC
Jordan Zimmermann	Pitcher	WAS
Buster Posey	Catcher	SF
Paul Goldschmidt	First Baseman	ARZ
Allen Craig	First Baseman	STL
Matt Carpenter	Second Baseman	STL
Marco Scutaro	Second Baseman	SF
Everth Cabrera	Shortstop	SD
Jean Segura	Shortstop	MIL
Pedro Alvarez	Third Baseman	PIT
Domonic Brown	Outfielder	PHI
Michael Cuddyer	Outfielder	COL
Carlos Gomez	Outfielder	MIL
Andrew McCutchen	Outfielder	PIT

Matt Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals

Matt Carpenter had a strong campaign last season, his first full season with the St. Louis Cardinals. In 114 games in 2012, Carpenter hit .294/.365/.463 with six home runs, 46 RBI and 44 runs. This year, he’s been much better, and he’s only played in 83 games. In 2013, he’s hitting .316/.390/.487 with eight homers and 37 RBI.

Carpenter has quickly become one of the best second basemen in the National League. But whether he’s definitely the best doesn’t matter here. All that matters is he’s had a better first half of the season than any of his opponents at second. There’s no question that he has.

Carpenter currently leads all other second basemen in the Senior Circuit in WAR by a large margin, per FanGraphs. Brandon Phillips, who will be the NL’s starter at second, is in second place on that list, but is still far away from the Cardinals second baseman. St. Louis got two players in the starting lineup, but needed three.

Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox

Dustin Pedroia’s production on offense and defense has been a big reason why the Boston Red Sox have been so successful in 2013. Pedroia has helped the Red Sox go from a last-place team to a first-place team in just a matter of months. Pedroia has absolutely been the organization’s first-half Most Valuable Player.

Through 89 games, Pedroia is hitting .321/.401/.439 with five home runs, 50 RBI, 54 runs and 13 stolen bases. In terms of WAR, he’s been the Junior Circuit’s top second baseman, according to FanGraphs. The top three second basemen in WAR made the AL roster, but Pedroia isn’t the one starting—Robinson Cano is.

There’s a bit of a dilemma here considering Cano plays for the Yankees and the game is being played in New York—at Citi Field. Yankees fans gave it everything they had to get Cano to start, and they got their wish. But Cano has been the third-best so far. Pedroia and Jason Kipnis have been better. But the hometown hero won this one.

Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee Brewers

Carlos Gomez has played better than any other outfielder in the NL through the first half of the 2013 season. If you take a look at the WAR leaders, Gomez is right at the top and by quite a lot too, per FanGraphs. You could argue his defense inflates his WAR, but his offensive production has still been stellar this season.

Through 82 games, the Milwaukee outfielder is hitting .312/.353/.559 with 13 home runs, 41 RBI, 49 runs and 20 stolen bases. The 27-year-old has literally done it all for the Brewers this season. Unfortunately for him, most of his team hasn’t played like he has, and the organization currently sits in last place in the NL Central.

So, do you think Gomez is going to be a starter at Citi Field? Nope, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Gonzalez and Bryce Harper are. Of those three, Beltran is arguably the least deserving—although I know many disagree with Harper as well. The point, however, is that Gomez should be starting, no matter whom he should replace.