If the fans vote him in- ABSOLUTELY
This argument is just absurd. The rules clearly state that if a player gets voted in, he will start. Manny's suspension ends BEFORE the All-Star break which means he will be playing regular season games before the All-Star game. He will play in regular season games before and after his suspension. He has played in regular season games before the fans started voting for him. Therefore, he if the fans vote him in, he should play.
Now, does he deserve to go?- absolutely not. He has played in so few games to be considered valuable and have a large enough sample size for his stats to really count. There are many other OF that are more deserving than Manny and Manny really has no business at the 2009 All Star game. The only way Manny should and will play, is if he gets voted in.
Many times I take an opinion on a side and respect the other side. But in this instance, if you believe that Manny shouldn't play, even if he gets voted in, you are flat out wrong. There is no other side and this is not even a debate.
All of the following data is relevant for players with min 100 in 2009;
ReplyDeleteThis season, in 120 AB, Manny Ramirez ranks 13 in the NL in AB/HR (15.3), ahead of Soriano, Berkman, Votto and Justin Upton. His 15.2 AB/HR ranks just behind Prince Fielder's 14.3 and Chase Utley's 14.5.
Prior to his suspension, Manny was batting .348 (the current league leader is batting .352), walking 22% of the time (Pujols and Fielder are walking 19% of the time, by comparison), posting a BB/K rate of 1.54 (6th best in MLB), averaging 420 ft per home run (second to only Justin Upton).
His .466 wOBA is third in baseball, behind Joe Mauer and Kevin Youkilis.
I do not care if he only played 27 games -- those are DAMN impressive numbers and easily All Star worthy. I would vote him in if I believed in voting
Oh and Mauer and Manny have the same number of ABs right now, so lets not talk about "sample size sample size sample size"
ReplyDeleteyeah right now, but at the all star break who's going to have more ABs?
ReplyDeleteHow do you know he wasn't going to slump for the next 50 games? Why would I take the guy who put up great numbers in like 20 games versus the guys who put up great numbers in 80 games?
I would take Justin Upton, Adam Dunn, Carlos Beltran, Brad Hawpe, and Ryan Braun (assuming they continue their current numbers) all before I take ManRam just because they did great continuously and over a bigger sample size than what Manny did. Manny will barely have enough ABs to qualify for stats.
The same reason Manny barely had enough ABs to qualify for NL MVP is the same reason he should only go to this years All-Star if the fans vote him in