I'm writing this Monday morning, and at any moment David Bell might be yesterday's news. Then again, he might be your American League All-Star third baseman. So here are a few questions about Bell and the All-Star Game that I've been seeing lately ...
The other day, you wrote about the various ways that people can vote for All-Star candidates? Is there anything you didn't tell us?
Yes, there is. In fact, I missed a big piece of the puzzle. From MLB's web site:
Major League Baseball's All-Star Balloting Program, the largest in professional sports, encompasses Claritin in-stadium balloting at all 30 Major League ballparks, RadioShack online balloting at MLB.com and RadioShack.com, Pepsi retail balloting at Kroger Grocery Stores and international balloting throughout Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Japan and the Dominican Republic.
Last Monday, I discussed the ballpark balloting, the online balloting, and (cursorily, I'll admit) the international balloting. But what I neglected was the "Pepsi retail balloting at Kroger Grocery Stores."
Now, a lot of you haven't ever seen a Kroger Grocery Store, and it's been quite a while since I've seen one. Kroger, however, owns many other grocery stores, some of which I know about and some of which I don't. Here's the complete list: Kroger, Ralphs, Dillons, Smith's, King Soopers, Quality Food Center (QFC), City Market, Hilander, Owen's, Jay C Food Stores, Cala Foods/Bell Markets, Kessel, Pay Less, and Gerbes.
Kroger also owns what are called "multi-department stores," large building in which you can find both Captain Crunch cereal and Captain America action figures, among many thousands of other necessary items. Kroger's multi-departments stores include Fred Meyer and Fry's Marketplace.
Now, this information might seem arcane, if not absolutely pointless. But bear with me, because in a moment this all starts to get interesting. Because you see, that Pepsi retail balloting at Kroger Grocery Stores is rigged against some players (Yankees, Indians, Red Sox) and for others (Mariners and Angels, to name a few). Here are eight American League teams, all of them featuring viable/popular All-Star candidates, along with the number of Kroger or Kroger-owned stores within 20 miles of each team's home stadium:
Anaheim Angels 87
Seattle Mariners 67
Texas Rangers 31
Oakland Athletics 18
New York Yankees 0
Boston Red Sox 0
Cleveland Indians 0
Toronto Blue Jays 0
Troy Glaus can't blame his showing on Kroger, as the Anaheim area is even thicker with Kroger stores (Ralphs and Food 4 Less, actually) than Seattle is. But isn't it apparent that Seattle's players enjoy a substantial advantage over All-Star candidates from the Yankees, Red Sox, Indians and Blue Jays? Is this Bud Selig's idea of fairness?
Wait, I know the answer to that last question. Bud Selig doesn't have any ideas of fairness, unless they relate to teams (like the one owned by his daughter) that don't enjoy the fruits of a hefty local TV deal.
Within 20 miles of Safeco Field there are 67 Kroger Stores (QFC and Fred Meyer, or "Freddy's" as we call them), and that number doesn't even consider the many other QFC and Fred Meyer stores that dot the Northwest. Meanwhile, there was not even a single, solitary All-Star ballot in Key Food stores (New York area) or Star Markets (Boston) or Giant Eagles (Cleveland).
How many "extra" votes might this mean for Bell? Steve Cuthbert works for Pepsi Bottling here in Seattle. When I asked him how many ballots might have been submitted in the Seattle area, he responded, "Between 2,000 and 3,000 per outlet, so I would say an average of about 2,500." After calling a few other QFC stores in Seattle, that figure squares pretty well with what the store managers said. So with 67 stores, that's approximately 165,000 more ballots just within 20 miles of Safeco Field ... which certainly would account for at least some of the great showing by every Mariner on the ballot.
Aren't you forgetting something? David Bell is the best defensive third baseman in the American League.
Really? Says who? Bell is almost certainly a good defensive third baseman
Last year, Bell posted a .765 Zone Rating, which essentially means that he successfully fielded 76.5 percent of the baseballs hit into his area of responsibility. The MLB average was .751, which suggests that Bell was, indeed, better than average. But Scott Brosius was better, and so was Corey Koskie. And the oft-maligned Troy Glaus also "zoned" .765.
And here are the Zone Ratings for this year's regular third basemen in the American League, top five only:
Chavez .827
Koskie .811
Bell .772
Brosius .768
Batista .758
Yes, Bell has been playing quite well defensively, and should probably be considered for the Gold Glove this year. But if David Bell, then why not Corey Koskie? He's got the best defensive numbers in the American League, he plays for the first-place Minnesota Twins ... and he's got significantly better hitting stats than Bell.
And I guess the question I would ask is, since when did defensive prowess figure into All-Star voting (Ozzie Smith notwithstanding)? When Alex Rodriguez played for the Mariners, were the good fans of Seattle eagerly punching out chads next to Omar Vizquel?
Haven't players of less than star caliber been making All-Star teams for a long time? Don't you remember Terry Steinbach?
I remember Terry Steinbach quite well. In 1988, Oakland catcher Steinbach was elected to the starting lineup, and he entered the Midsummer Classic sporting a nifty .212 batting average and four home runs, thanks largely to injuries. Yes, a real clunker (his third-inning home run off Dwight Gooden notwithstanding).
But these situations, David Bell in 2001 and Terry Steinbach in 1988, aren't really analagous at all. Steinbach was coming off a solid 1987 campaign that saw him hit 16 home runs and slug .463 in 122 games. His 815 OPS ranked second among American League catchers in '87. Bell, meanwhile, is coming off a 2000 campaign that saw him hit 11 home runs, slug just .381 and post an anemic .316 on-base percentage. Steinbach was, by some accounts, a budding star. Bell is, by most accounts, roster filler (though a somewhat versatile one).
More to the point, Steinbach went to the All-Star Game because there really weren't any great catchers in the American League. Here are the names of the dozen American Leaguers who caught at least 80 games in 1988, along with their OPS that season: Rich Gedman (649), Matt Nokes (735), B.J. Surhoff (612), Ernie Whitt (762), Don Slaught (788), Andy Allanson (630), Mickey Tettleton (617), Terry Steinbach (740), Tim Laudner (726), Bob Boone (738), Geno Petralli (753), and Dave Valle (697).
There are some good ballplayers on that list, but there aren't any Hall of Famers here. How weak was the group? Steinbach's backup in the All-Star Game was Tim Laudner (perhaps because the All-Star manager -- Tom Kelly -- happened to be Laudner's manager that season, but there certainly wasn't any hue and cry to pick somebody else). How weak was the group? In the late 1980s, people were writing articles suggesting that Carlton Fisk might be the last great catcher we would ever see, because ?kids these days just don't want to catch, they're not tough enough.?
Uh, sure. In 1991, Ivan Rodriguez arrived in the major leagues; a year later, Mike Piazza followed. And suddenly nobody was spouting any nonsense about the extinction of talented young catchers.
Rob Neyer is a Senior Writer for ESPN.com. His column runs Monday through Thursday. You can e-mail Rob at rob.neyer@dig.com.
| |
|
