Petition To Get Joe Saunders Into the All-Star Game

Casey Kotchman hasn’t played well enough to deserve a spot (much like Pedroia hasn’t). Saunders is pitching well, but the four people ahead of him on the ERA list all have significantly more strikeouts. I’m guessing the final selections may have more to do with name and rep than overall performance.

I’d recommend setting something up here. A Sox blog really isn’t the place for an Angels-related poll / petition. Also, the pitchers are selected by player vote, not by the fans, so a SBNation petition isn’t going to have much impact.

you can see it on Camden chat and A’s nation too.
thanks for the advice, and did you vote yes?

Man, at the very least Marcum, Lee and Halladay have been better than him. Danks is also having a career year, and I’d even give first King Felix or Lester a chance for the All-Star. Nothing wrong with Saunders, but this year there are a lot of great pitchers on the AL.

i feel your point and its a good one…. what about at least a spot though if not the start?

Excellent numbers, and has really been a surprise, to me at least.

I’d give Felix the start though, especially after seeing him shut down the Sox twice.

Saunders and Santana have made the Lackey’s and Escobar’s injury much easier for the Angels to deal with. Saunders deserves a spot on the All-star team. IMO Saunders, Santana, Hunter and K-Rod deserve a spot. We will see how many actually get on.

Angel fan coming to the enemy for help though? Very strange.

I mean, according to the hordes of Halo’s Heaven, the standards of baseball don’t apply to the LAAA. They will continue to beat their poor Pythagorean record because they have speed, small ball, good pitching, and God on their side.

I would expect Saunders to get a spot.

Strikeouts are nice, but they are only a method to the goal of winning games. Saunders has been winning more and giving up fewer runs than a lot of strikeout pitchers.

The top five K pitchers in the AL are
CC Sabathia 97 Ks 4.26 ERA, 5 wins 8 losses
Javier Vasquez 93 Ks 4.13 ERA 7 wins 5 losses
Felix Hernandez 91 Ks 2.87 ERA 6 wins 5 losses
Josh Beckett 89 Ks 3.87 ERA 7 wins 4 losses
Roy Halladay 86 Ks 3.09 ERA 8 wins 6 losses

All-star selections are usually geared much more to W-L
Pitchers with 8+ wins:
Mike Mussina 46Ks 3.87 ERA 10 wins 4 losses
Cliff Lee 76Ks 2.55 ERA 10 wins 1 loss
Saunders 46 Ks 3.06 ERA 10 wins 3 losses
Vincente Padilla 63 Ks 3.73 ERA 9 wins 3 losses
Halladay (above)
Wang (injured)
Ervin Santana 82 Ks 3.40 ERA 8 wins 3 losses
Dice-K 55 Ks 2.53 ERA 8 wins 0 losses

I would imagine Halladay, Mussina, Lee, and Dice-K are all on the team right now. Wang would have been on the team had he not injured himself. Beckett and King Felix would have to get a few more wins, although having Francona pick the team might help Beckett. As for King Felix, Ichiro is probably going to start, and given that the Mariners are in last place, there is going to be little desire to throw another roster spot their way.

If it were up to me, I would take both Saunders and Santana. Of course, they’re both on my fantasy team (along with Cliff Lee – I tend to not draft for pitching, since there are always a few starters who blaze through April).

Vasquez and Sabathia are not going to be on the team, even with high K counts, since their ERAs and W-L records are not particularly impressive.

not a chance. Not with Youkilis, Giambi, Morneau, and Cabrera all ahead of him. I’m guessing Youk will start and Giambi and Morneau will be the reserves.