All Star Voting

Since we're about to go through another round of "Vote for the Rangers!" in preparation for the All-Star game, I thought I would take a look at what chances the Rangers have of being All-Stars. My initial feeling was that the Rangers had almost no chance at having any All-Star starters. It doesn't help when two of the players on the ballot for your team are now in the minors (Davis and Teagarden). But, then I looked a little closer. All percentages are completely wild guesses on my part, no actual mathematics were harmed in the making of this fanpost.

Voted In As Starters:

Guerrero - 75% -- Does he really deserve this high of a percentage? Well, have you looked at the options on the ballot? One guy has already been DFA'd (Burrell), Nick Johnson is out with surgery, Ortiz and Griffey Jr should have retired two years ago (and fans of both teams know it), and that leaves guys like Andruw Jones and Travis Hafner to complete with Vlad. You can never be sure with fan voting, but this is probably the Rangers best chance at a starter. Vote for Vlad!

Hamilton - 50% -- Was voted in last year despite a horrid first half of the season. I have to think that was carryover from the 2008 Home Run Derby. He could be voted in again due to the lack of quality options -- and remember, this is a popularity contest.

Cruz - 20% -- I don't think he has enough national name recognition, and missing two weeks won't help. But I also looked at the outfield options, and there is only one slam dunk (Ichiro). The Yankees roll out Granderson\Gardner\Swisher on the ballot, and the Red Sox roll out Cameron\Ellsbury\Drew. I think the intelligent fan probably votes for Shin-Soo Choo and Cruz, but I don't know that Cruz makes the top three when all is said and done.

Kinsler - 5% -- Can he beat out Pedroia and Cano? Uh, no. He does usually get himself into the top three, so we can't say there is no chance... but there is no chance.

Selected As Reserves:

Here is where it gets a little more interesting. I can see one lock, and a couple of maybes:

Andrus - 95% -- The first of 18 consecutive All-Star game selections. Seriously. The fact is, Jeter will win every vote until he retires. But Andrus is the obvious choice to back him up, and it really isn't close. I expect Elvis to place 2nd in the voting and be selected by the players in their voting.

Cruz - 50% -- See above. The only thing that might keep him out as a reserve is the need to put one player per team on the squad. I think KC's rep is probably Podsednik, and Cleveland's is probably Choo, and the numbers might work against the Boomstick.

Kinsler - 20% -- See above. Roberts is on the 60-day DL, and Hill hasn't been good this year, so Kinsler has a shot at a backup 2B job. Zobrist is on the ballot as a 2B, and he is probably Kinsler's main competition for one of the last slots on the team. The guess here is that Kinsler loses out due to the missed month.

Young - 10% -- A-Rod is the presumed starter. Longoria deserves the backup spot over Young. Does Young make it as a third 3B? He could get in, but I'm thinking his streak stops here.

Pitchers:

While the Rangers likely won't have more than two pitchers selected, you might be able to make a case for three:

Wilson - 67% -- If he keeps up the current pace, I think he's a slam dunk selection.

Feliz -- 50% -- Should continue to be among the league leaders in saves. Might split the vote with Neftali Perez, though.

Lewis -- 25% -- I think he will continue to be underrated nationally, and unless he's leading the league in strikeouts or other pitchers have crashed and burned, he won't have too good of a chance.

Keep in mind that Girardi has seen Feliz and Wilson (the rain shortened game in NY during which Wilson got squeezed), but will not have seen Lewis in person before the ASG.