The 2012 Major League Baseball All-Star Game rosters were announced over the weekend, and the St. Louis Cardinals will be well-represented. Four Cardinals players will be in Kansas City for the July 10 extravaganza. Two of them—shortstop Rafael Furcal and outfielder Carlos Beltran—were voted in as starters. They will be joined at Kauffman Stadium by pitcher Lance Lynn and catcher Yadier Molina. Lynn was selected by former Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who retired last fall after the Cardinals’ World Series victory.
La Russa agreed to run the National League squad because the managers from the previous season’s World Series traditionally manage the All-Star Game. But apparently he can’t go out without some kind of controversy: Now, some NL players are calling foul on being snubbed from the All-Star team.
Lynn—who got off to a great start this season, but has given up at least five runs in each of his last three outings—received the nod over more deserving starters Johnny Cueto of Cincinnati and Milwaukee’s Zack Greinke. For Greinke, a 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner who began his career in Kansas City, a selection to the All-Star Game would have been a nice homecoming. La Russa said he factored in the pitching schedules of both Greinke and Cueto and determined they wouldn’t be available to pitch, so he left them off the squad.
In a time when players can be excused from an All-Star Game and an alternate can be used, that’s a pretty weak excuse. Lynn is 10-4 with a 3.62 earned run average and 98 strikeouts in 97 innings. Cueto is 9-4 with a 2.26 ERA, fourth in the NL, and 79 Ks in 107 innings. Greinke is 9-2 with 102 strikeouts in 102 innings, and his 2.82 ERA is sixth in the league.
La Russa also left Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips off the team. Considering that Phillips is a pivotal figure in the Reds/Cardinals rivalry, La Russa could have had a biased agenda in finalizing the roster. But Arizona’s Aaron Hill was left off the roster as well. It seems fan votes cost Hill and Phillips roster spots as much as La Russa’s decisions.
Fans still have a voice to be heard by selecting the final All-Star spots in each league. Hill is one of the options for the National League, but it’s safe to say that St. Louis’ favorite son, Cardinals third baseman David Freese, will get the lion’s share of the Show-Me State's vote.
Commentary by Ron Clements
