The Should-Be All-Star Game - NL Edition

Arizona: Brandon Webb, Dan Haren
Atlanta: Chipper Jones*, Brian McCann*
Chicago: Geovany Soto, Kerry Wood
Cincinnati: Edinson Volquez*, Adam Dunn
Colorado: Matt Holliday*, Taylor Buchholz
Florida: Hanley Ramirez*, Dan Uggla
Houston: Lance Berkman*
Los Angeles: Russell Martin
Milwaukee: Ben Sheets, Ryan Braun
New York: David Wright, Johan Santana, Billy Wagner
Philadelphia: Chase Utley*, Pat Burrell*, Cole Hamels, Brad Lidge
Pittsburgh: Xavier Nady, Nate McLouth
St. Louis: Albert Pujols, Ryan Ludwick
San Diego: Adrian Gonzalez
San Francisco: Tim Lincecum
Washington: Cristian Guzman

Catchers (3): Brian McCann*, Geovany Soto, Russell Martin
First Basemen (3): Lance Berkman*, Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez
Second Basemen (2): Chase Utley*, Dan Uggla
Shortstops (2): Hanley Ramirez*, Cristian Guzman
Third Basemen (2): Chipper Jones*, David Wright
Outfielders (7): Xavier Nady*, Pat Burrell*, Matt Holliday*, Adam Dunn, Nate McLouth, Ryan Ludwick, Ryan Braun
Starting Pitchers (7): Edinson Volquez*, Cole Hamels, Brandon Webb, Tim Lincecum, Johan Santana, Ben Sheets, Dan Haren
Relief Pitchers (4): Brad Lidge, Kerry Wood, Billy Wagner, Taylor Buchholz

Toughest calls:
Ryan Braun or Carlos Lee? - Lee's leading the NL in RBIs, but he didn't make my list here. Originally, I'd had Braun added because the Brewers needed a representative, and I hadn't looked at pitching. Lee has the edge based on the superior OPS, but Braun has stolen a couple of bases more and has had a solid defensive season. The breaking point is that Lee's park factor is significantly more favorable than Braun's.

Who for the Nationals? Guzman and Jon Rauch both have arguments here. Rauch is almost as worthy as Billy Wagner in that closer role, but Guzman is only a bit behind Jose Reyes as the second shortstop. It really comes down to my general disdain for putting a closer in the All-Star game for any team that struggles to get a representative and Guzman's role as such a huge component of the Nationals' offense.

Any spot for Brandon Phillips? Poor Brandon Phillips, he's becoming the Travis Hafner of the current generation of players -- the player who's too good to stay home from the All-Star game, but may never make it because of his position. Uggla and Utley are locks, so there's just no room for an .826 OPS, 50 runs, 14 HR, 54 RBI, 17 SB player. While there's an argument to make an extra spot on the roster at second base instead of catcher (leaving Soto behind), the production from Soto is hard to overlook just because the Dodgers lack an obvious choice.

Most overrepresented: Washington Nationals – They’re not even close to having an All-Star. It’s either Guzman or Jon Rauch. Rauch has had a decent season but wouldn’t necessarily beat out any of the relievers for the roster (though the Gregg spot could go to any number of players, Guzman’s not actually the second best candidate at shortstop over Jose Reyes or Jimmy Rollins). The Phillies have the most players, but Utley’s a lock to play (not to start, he and Uggla are pretty close on that score), Burrell’s got an OPS greater than 1.000, and Lidge is the best pitcher in baseball thus far this season. So unless you want to nit pick Cole Hamels (good luck with that), there’s no doubt they’re worthy guys.

Most underrepresented: There’s a lot of teams that could claim they warrant one more player on the team. The New York Mets could claim three players are worthy on a stats-only basis. Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran are having fine seasons, but they don’t do enough to get inclusion in the face of the every-team-gets-a-representative rule. At one point, Ryan Church was the only worthy player on the team, so things have changed.

The jury hung on: Which Pirates outfielders? - Xavier Nady was the best on the numbers, but McLouth and Bay are basically identical. McLouth has driven in more runs, Bay has an OPS 20 points higher. I went with McLouth because he's a newcomer, another all-star game doesn't mean much to Bay until he gets subjected to retarded Hall of Fame voters in two decades who will ask how many All-Star games he played in.