Omar Infante... All-Star

6 of my players made the NL all-star team... Albert Pujols, Hanley Ramirez and Ryan Braun as starters... Ryan Howard and Omar Infante as reserves... and Matt Capps as a relief pitcher. Justin Upton missed out as Chris Young was selected as the one Dback to make the team. Can't argue with that (though Upton is the better talent). Matt Kemp certainly has the ability to be an all-star too, but his stats just aren't at that level right now.

Placido Polanco is the biggest disappointment. He makes the team if he doesn't get hurt, probably as the starting 3B. Not the he deserved it, but still... would have been cool to have a 4th starter.

Speaking of not deserving... Omar Infante did indeed make the team. Lots has been made of his selection. Here are my though... broken down into... the good, the bad and the ugly.


The Good
There are always players that don't get to play in the all-star game, in part because managers have to hold someone back in case of an injury or extra innings. Omar Infante is going to be that guy. He wont play in the 2010 all-star game unless there is an injury (or something crazy happens). By him being on the team... "good" hitters will be more likely to get an at-bat. There will be no reason to hold players back, because Infante has that covered.

According to Bobby Cox... who has managed his fair share of all-star games... that's a big deal. Omar Infante will be a helpful addition to the roster.

His selection to the team is also a tip of the cap to utility and role players. They ~are~ an important part of baseball. It's sort of like in the NFL where a 'special teams player' is selected to the squad. Plus, Evan Meek and Arthur Rhodes made the team... pitchers that are set-up men, about as glamorous as a utility role... and no one seems to have a huge problem with that.

Finally, less than deserving all-stars have been selected in the past. Superstar players that were at the end of their career... players making the team because of ballot stuffing by fans... mediocre players forced in because they're the best on a bad team... it's not even close to unheard of for there to be undeserving players on the team. It's never *really* been about the best players. Charlie Manuel gets to pick the players he wants, and he wanted Infante on the team... and that's good enough.


The Bad
Omar Infante isn't the best utility player in the NL. Juan Uribe... with 12hr and regular ABs... has severed as a utility player for the Giants. He's better. There are some other possibilities too. If you're going to take a utility player, why not make it the best one?

Or how about take the utility player that will best help the NL win the game. A good candidate for that job would be Emilio Bonifacio. He can play 2B, 3B, SS and OF... and all pretty well, maybe even better than Infante could. Since the idea is for this player to not get an AB (or at least should be) his lesser skills as hitter really shouldn't matter. However, Bonifacio is one of the fastest players in the NL. Besides serving the same role Infante would... he could also be a pinch-runner. In a close game, that could make a difference.

So, Omar Infante comes up short as both the best utility player... and the utility player most likely to help the NL win the game. That's bad.


The Ugly
He's Omar Infante! He's not the best SS on the Braves... or 2B... 3B... LF... CF... or RF. He is a good utility player, and he's batting over .300 which is a very nice acomplishment. But, his OPS is barely above .700, which is weak. He doesn't have any real speed. He is a utility player for a reason. He just shouldn't be on the all-star team.

Ugliest of all is the fact that he will keep a deserving player off the team. Joey Votto has now made the team thanks to the fan vote (and he should start at DH). Imagine how sick it would have been if he'd have missed out though... while Infante made the team. Still, a deserving player will indeed miss out on his chance. Ryan Zimmerman, Carlos Gonzalez, Dan Uggla, Colby Rasmus... there are really good options still out there.

While I appreciate Charlie Manuel's point of view here, and I certainly like the idea of a player on my rotis team (and a Brave too) making the team... as a baseball fan, I don't believe Omar Infante should be on the team.