Breaking Down the AL All-Star Voting Totals

1B: Prince Fielder leads Paul Konerko by about 250,000 votes. It's been somewhat of a down year for American League first baseman, and even in a down year by his standards power-wise, Prince leads the voting. Konerko is hitting over twenty points higher, but has eleven fewer RBIs. Both will make the squad anyway.

2B: The fact that Mitch Moreland is fourth is the 1B voting makes me believe Texas is stuffing the ballot box somewhat. Ian Kinsler is a fan favorite, but having a far less productive season than Robinson Cano, yet he leads, even if only by 15,000 votes. Cano is hitting .307/.371/.579/.950 while Kinsler is at .279/.340/.458/.798. You have to hand in to the Rangers' fan base for outvoting the Yankee supporters.

3B: Texas' offensive juggernaut is going to feature multiple all-stars. Adrian Beltre is hitting the lights out, playing stellar defense, and simply outperforming Miguel Cabrera. And it shows in the vote.

SS: Derek Jeter leads Elvis Andrus by well over a million votes. Only Josh Hamilton has more votes than the captain. Jeter's hit just .240 in June, but has already done enough to start yet another ASG.

C: Hitting just .242, Mike Napoli will get the starting nod. The NL has three catchers outhitting him, but being in the Rangers' lineup and 12 HR and 30 RBI are enough.

DH: David Ortiz leads Michael Young by half a million votes. He's hitting .309/.399/.628 with 21 home runs and leads the American League in OPS and runs scored, while ranking second in slugging percentage and total bases.Well deserved.

OF: Josh Hamilton has over five million votes. Curtis Granderson is a distant second, over two and a half million behind. Jose Bautista and Adam Jones are battling for the third and final starting spot. Following are a bunch of large market guys having completely average seasons, by any standards. Many of the better outfielders seem to be in the NL this season.

Breaking Down the NL All-Star Voting Totals

National League:

1B: Joey Votto leads by a landslide. The fact that he is batting .353/.478/.643 makes him the easy choice, especially because the NL has a lack of productiveness out of the first base position this season.

2B: This one is a question mark. Dan Uggla leads Brandon Phillips by over 700,000 votes. The only edge Uggla has over Phillips is one more home run (eleven to ten). Uggla has committed four times as many errors as Phillips (eight to two). While Brandon Phillips is hitting a respectable .289, Uggla is sitting at .232, which would have to be one of the lowest batting averages for an all-star the game has ever seen.

3B: David Wright leads Pablo Sandoval by a few hundred thousand votes. Batting .357 makes that well deserved on its own.

SS: Rafael Furcal and Troy Tulowitzki are in a close race, with Furcal leading. With Tulo not going to be be off the DL for the Midsummer Classic, the nod will likely go to Furcal. I have no problem with Furcal instead of Starlin Castro, as Castro's defense has been inconsistent, and his overall offensive stats are not even with Furcal's.

C: Backstop is currently the NL voting's biggest mistake so far. 

Player A: .300/.366/.483/.850
Player B: .364/.428/.591/1.019
Player C: .316/.367/.518/.885

Player A is leading Player C by almost 200,000 votes and Player B by almost 700,000. If you follow baseball intently you probably know who these three are. While Carlos Ruiz (B) is leading all of Major League Baseball in hitting, Buster Posey (A) is in line to start the All-Star Game. Yadier Molina (C) is also having a better year than Posey. Both Ruiz and Molina are far better defensively than the young phenom, but in this voting none of that seems to matter.

OF: Matt Kemp leads all outfielders, and while he is currently on the DL, he aspires to return to play in the ASG. Carlos Beltran is in a deserving second, replacing Albert Pujols with 20 HR and 59 RBI to go along with a .312 average. Melky Cabrera and his .351 average have surpassed Ryan Braun for third. If not for the steroid allegation, Braun's popularity probably would have had him leading this vote. Following these four are Andre Ethier, Matt Holliday, Hunter Pence, Michael Bourn, Angel Pagan, Andrew McCutchen, Carlos Gonzalez, and Jason Heyward. A few of these guys will be snubbed, as many are having similarly terrific seasons. It appears the Giants are stuffing the ballots somewhat, as Pagan has no business being on this list. Heyward is a stretch as well. To put them in order, I'd go:

Beltran, McCutchen, Bourn, Cabrera, Kemp, Gonzalez, Braun. The rest shouldn't make the roster.

AL will be done tomorrow.

Resurgence

In no way am I going to attempt to justify the 5-year, $82.5 million contract Yankees GM Brian Cashman handed A.J. Burnett in December of 2008.

Prior to his Yankees signing, Burnett was simply a slightly above average pitcher. In the 2008 season with Toronto he posted a 4.07 ERA, which, while inflated by pitching in the AL East, is hardly worthy of that type of commitment.

It simply didn't make sense why the Yankees and their fans expected him to be their messiah. That being said, he drastically underachieved.

His first season with the Yankees went generally the same as his final one with Toronto: his ERA rose 0.03 points and he had 13 wins. That seemed to be a realistic projection of what he would offer for the coming four years of his massive deal, production not worth his salary.

Of course, he would go on to implode the two years after as we all know. He scuffled with Jorge Posada (as quite a few others have), prompting the Yankees to appoint Francisco Cervelli and soft-swinging Jose Molina as his personal catchers. While the results were slightly better, Burnett's battery mates weren't the ones that could control the fact that his curveball bounced two feet in front of home plate.

Burnett simply could not handle the pressure of pitching in the Big Apple. Like many other athletes that fizzle there, as well as in cities like Boston and Philadelphia, the stress was too great - particularly for a guy as emotional as A.J. Burnett. His always stuff was still there, but the correct mindset wasn't.  Being traded to the Pirates for a pair of prospects was the best thing that could have happened to him.

Fouling a ball off of his face just before the season wasn't as big a deal away from New York.

Not only is he now pitching in a smaller market with less pressure and more forgiving fans, but the NL Central lineups he faces do not consist of Ellsbury, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Ortiz, Youkilis (all healthy and hitting), ever. Pittsburgh is a place where he can relax and take on a new role of being a leader.

Burnett's leadership is paying dividends with the young Pirates staff, particularity concerning James McDonald, a guy largely unknown is his first four years in the show. Under Burnett's tutelage, the 27-year-old is dazzling fans with a 2.19 ERA and 6-3 record.

And once again, Burnett is making the most of his every fifth day as well: after six innings of two-hit ball against the Tigers earlier tonight, he sits at 8-2 with a 3.24 ERA (which would be the lowest of his career). He's won his last seven starts.

Along with Andrew McCutchen, McDonald, and the the finally emerging Pedro Alvarez, Burnett has become an instrumental part of a scrappy Pirates club that in finally convincing fans at PNC Park to believe. When they tossed in a few prospects to land Burnett, the front office was probably not expecting this magnitude of a reward.