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The FanSided 2012 AL All-Star Team

Lewie Pollis — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 10:08:31 +0000

The fan-selected starting lineups will take the field in Kansas City tonight for the 2012 MLB All-Star Game, but we at FanSided MLB weren’t content to let the nationwide vote stand unchallenged. So we held a mock All-Star vote of our own.

Thirty-three writers from around the network offered their picks for the best players in each league between June 28 and July 2 (the dates coincided with the end of the fan voting). Here are the results from the American League (NL results here). (more…)

Opposition Research: Ricky Keeler Talks New York Yankees

Lewie Pollis — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 19:13:08 +0000

With interleague play now behind us, the Indians head to baseball’s biggest stage this week as they swing through New York for a three-game set at Yankee Stadium. This is the first time we’ll see the Bombers this year, so I asked Ricky Keeler from the great Yanks Go Yard blog to talk about New York’s playoff hopes, Derek Jeter‘s defense, and what the Yankees will do at the trade deadline. (more…)

FanSided MVP Awards Revealed: Explaining My Ballot

Lewie Pollis — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:46:21 +0000

The FanSided end-of-season MLB awards series completed today with the announcements of the Most Valuable Players. Jacoby Ellsbury beat out Jose Bautista, Miguel Cabrera, and Justin Verlander in the AL, while Matt Kemp ran away with the NL vote. For full breakdowns of the voting, I highly recommend checking out Blaine Blontz’s posts at Call to the Pen (AL, NL).

As for each of the other awards, I’m making my ballot and reasonings public. Here’s who I chose for FanSided’s highest honors, and why:

1. Jose Bautista, Blue Jays. Bautista was the best hitter in baseball this year, mashing 43 homers with a .302/.447/.608 triple-slash and a ridiculous 181 wRC+. He led the league in WPA (7.86) and tied for first in rWAR (8.5); he finished more than a full win behind Ellsbury in fWAR, but that’s entirely due to inconsistent fielding metrics—no other statistic puts Ellsbury’s glove at more than 20 runs better than Bautista’s. Joey Bats’ insane hitting ability, by contrast, is not up for debate. (more…)