Bigger Rays All-Star Snub: Soriano Or Zobrist?
Ben Zobrist, Rafael Soriano, Ty Wigginton July 6th. 2010, 11:00am
Since it was announced that Evan Longoria, Carl Crawford and David Price would represent the Rays in the 2010 All-Star game next week, many have cited Rafael Soriano as one of the bigger snubs in the American League.
It is hard to argue with his 21 saves (in 22 opportunities, with his 1 blown save coming on an error) and his 1.47 ERA (2.75 FIP). Statistically, Soriano has been worth about 1 win (0.9 WAR), but it would be easy to argue that he has been worth more than that.
Still, we wonder if Ben Zobrist is even more deserving of an all-star nod.
Yesterday, Jayson Stark mentioned on Twitter why the all-star managers chose Omar Infante for the NL squad and Ty Wigginton for the American League. Both are considered controversial choices…
Heard today both ASG mgrs were told to pick a “multi-position” player (Infante, Wigginton). So why weren’t fans told that? Clarity is good!
In other words, the managers were told to include a utility player among their final rosters.
And if that is the case, why was Wigginton chosen over Zobrist? Prior to last night, Wigginton was hitting .246/.331/.445 and has been worth a mediocre 0.3 WAR. Meanwhile, Zobrist is hitting .288/.374/.404 and has already been worth nearly 3 wins (2.8 WAR).
Defensively, Wiggy has played three infield positions (1B, 2B, 3B), but he is a liability with the glove (-8.3 runs overall and negative UZR at all three positions). Zobrist has played five different positions and has been worth 17 more runs than Wigginton defensively (+8.6 runs overall).
What hurts Zobrist is that Wigginton was the only player selected from the Orioles. Still, Wiggy is at best the sixth best player on the O’s right now. Joe Girardi had plenty of other choices to be Baltimore’s lone representative.
Soriano might deserve an all-star selection. But Zobrist is the Rays biggest snub.
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Zobrist is not the BEST Baseball player on the Rays (CC is)
But he is the MVP because he can do so many different things
our other stars can’t do..ie. Don’t ask CC to play 2nd base or Longo to play CF…
Zo can do it all and still hit .300…….amazing…our ALL star!
Ya but I think Wigginton was the only Oriole so they chose him because he was the only Oriole who was all star game caliber.
Prof addessed that in the last paragraph. You might have missed it if you were reading from the main page.
oh ya. my bad
While I agree with Professors’ comment about Wiggy not the best choice for the Orioles, let’s not forget that the manager only chooses 9 players. Of the 34 spots, 8 come from fan voting, 16 from player voting, and 1 “last spot” election. When you look at the roster, it appears Girardi had to find one player from each of CLE, OAK, BAL, KC, CWS, and LAA. Adding in the requirement of a utility player takes up 7 of those 9 manager selection slots. Even though I agree Zorilla is slighted compared to Wiggy, that selection taking 2 of JG’s required picks makes sense to me in giving him some flexibility.
Maybe we trade Upton or Shields to Cleveland for Choo. Now if he has army service issues for Korea in next year that is one thing BUT
He is a very very good player.. pretty much a shoe in for .300 – 20 and 20.. He was actually pace for 30 and 30 but is out with thumb injury that might require surgery… Should be considered an all-star..
He would be a very servicebale, high character, economical outfielder for the rays for several years and the drop off would be minimal.. well if he was taking Upton’s spot.. an upgrade.. because he can hit from the left side with power and a high BA