All-Star Ballot Available Near You!

So MLB has already started promoting their All-Star ballot, sponsored by Monster.com. Did anyone bother to mention to Bud's minions that we're only 20 games in? Right now, Cody Ross belongs in the mid-summer classic. Something's gotta give on this. Either they go back to having this be a great exhibition game in the middle of the season, or they get serious about how players are selected for the teams. If it's going to determine HOME FIELD FREAKING ADVANTAGE for the World Series, there's gotta be a better way than the system that has made Robert Fick and Mark Redman previous all-stars.

All-Stars Line-ups Based on 20 Games Played:

AL: Cs Pudge Rodriguez and Joe Mauer;
1Bs Ty Wigginton and Jason Giambi;
2Bs Ian Kinsler and Aaron Hill;
3Bs Alex Rodriguez and Mike Lowell;
SSs Carlos Guillen and Juan Uribe;
OFs Vlad Guerrero, Magglio Ordonez, Michael Cuddyer, Vernon Wells and Torii Hunter;
Ps Johan Santana, Josh Beckett, C.C. Sabathia, Roy Halladay, Ramon Ortiz, Mark Buehrle, Felix Hernandez, Joe Nathan, Jonathan Papelbon and Al Reyes.

NL: Cs Brain McCann and Russell Martin;
1Bs Adrian Gonzales and Prince Fielder,
2Bs Orlando Hudson and Marcus Giles,
3Bs Chipper Jones and Miguel Cabrera;
SSs Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins;
OFs Carlos Beltran, Barry Bonds, Jeff Francouer, Carlos Lee and Eric Byrnes;
Ps Aaron Harang, Braden Looper, John Maine, Brad Penny, Jake Peavy, Randy Wolf, Francisco Cordero, Jose Valverde, Takashi Saito and Bob Wickman.

Ok, so maybe Cody Ross doesn't make the NL squad. But he didn't miss by much. And I'm not sure by these rosters I'm really making my point, but it was kinda fun to compile. I certainly didn't fulfill the requirement of having an All-Star from each team. Left out from the AL were BAL and OAK, from the NL were WAS, CHC, PIT and COL.

Anyway, it's meaningless voting on All-Stars after three weeks of the season. One of my favorite activities after the ballots are released is to compile the "All Injured or Cut" All-Stars. As a reminder, all of the following players are ON THE ALL-STAR BALLOT, currently available at http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp.

AL: C Greg Zaun, 1B Dan Johnson, 2B Howie Kendrick, 3B Chone Figgins, SS Bobby Crosby (a stretch), OFs Reed Johnson, Rondell White and Scott Podsednik

NL: C Jason Bard, 1B Nick Johnson (NICK JOHNSON IS ON THE FREAKING BALLOT), 2B Kazuo Matsui, 3B Craig Counsel, SS Cristian Guzman (are you kidding me?!?), OFs Alajandro De Aza (who?), Nook Logan (wha?), and Jeremy Hermida (huh?)

As you can see, these ballots need a little more time in the cooker until they're done. There's no way a legitimate discussion of All-Star ballots can be conducted if Nick Johnson, who may never play again, Cristian Guzman and Nook Logan are on them.