2011 MLB All-Star Voting: 4 Players Who Deserve to Be on Final Vote List

There's something special about the MLB All-Star game, especially when you compare it to those of the other three major sports.

The NHL All-Star game makes world class goalies look like fools.  The NBA All-Star game has turned into a standup routine, and a bad one at that (think Tracy Morgan).  The NFL's Pro Bowl looks more like Tecmo Bowl with less defense.

Baseball's Midsummer Classic takes us back to our youth.  Mix it in with riding bikes, lighting bugs, campfires and the sound of an ice cream truck as the things that remind us of our favorite time of the year when we were younger—summer break.

Despite its nostalgia, the All-Star game isn't without out its flaws.

Fan voting leads to an AL team that's always top-heavy with Yankees and Red Sox (deserving or not) which guarantees several deserving players won't be there.

MLB has a built in mulligan—the Final Vote.

Basically the league is saying, "Hey, fans, you screwed up the first vote. But you get another vote, for guys who are actually good."

Here's the four guys that probably won't get selected to the team but deserve to at least be on the Final Vote.

Matt Wieters

Matt Wieters of the Orioles is quietly having a good season, but unless the Yankees' Russell Martin opts out of the game for injury, the Orioles have a better shot of winning the AL East than Wieters does of making the All-Star team.

Martin will be voted in as starter and the Tiger's Alex Avila is a shoe-in as his backup (Avila leads AL catchers in nearly every offensive statistics).

Wieters' offensive numbers would justify he be an All-Star backstop in many seasons (.262, 33 RBI, 7 HR), but his defense really puts him over the top.  He's statistically the best defensive catcher in the AL by a decent margin.

He's a longshot to make it, but the Final Vote would give him a chance. 

Andre Ethier

Despite the second-best batting average by an NL outfielder, the chances don't look too good for the Dodgers' Andre Ethier to make the team.

The outfield picture is crowded in the NL with the Brewers' Ryan Braun and the Cardinals' Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman looking to be voted in and guys like the Diamondbacks' Justin Upton and Astros' Hunter Pence deserving spots.

The rock-solid Ethier is having a fantastic season (.319, 38 RBI, 7 HR), but with his relatively unheralded name and without any individual eye-popping stat, he might get overlooked in favor of teammate Matt Kemp.

Even if he doesn't make the team, Dodgers fans deserve the chance to be able to vote him in.

Al Alburquerque

I know you don't know who Al Alburquerque is.  Most Tigers fans didn't before the season, either. 

Now he's making them forget about Joel Zumaya.

Non-closers don't make the All-Star game often.  Mike Adams of the Padres and Jonny Venters of the Braves have good shots to make it this year. 

Alburquerque deserves consideration, too.

He leads AL relievers in opponents batting average, slugging percentage (he's let up one extra-base hit all season) and Ks per nine (nearly 15). 

Because he's not a closer and because it looks like the Tigers will have several representatives, Alburquerque is going to have to hope for the Final Vote to get a chance at making the roster.

JJ Putz

JJ Putz might end up being the odd-man out in the NL bullpen.

It's no coincidence that his career took an about-face in the same season that the Diamondbacks have emerged as a serious contender.  Putz boasts a 2.65 ERA and is 21-of-24 in save opportunities.

He might have a tough time since relievers such as Joel Hanrahan of the Pirates, Drew Storen of the Nationals (sorry, Jason Werth, you're not making it) and Mike Adams of the Padres might end up being their team representatives.

With the way MLB is pushing Brian Wilson and the fact that his manager is running the NL team, it's easy to imagine that he will end up taking what should be Putz's spot on the team.

It'll be a shame.  Putz deserves to be on the list for the Final Vote if he doesn't make the team.