You always hope that the “behind the scenes” votes would get the All-Star game voting right. Last year, the leagues best 3rd baseman, Anthony Rendon, was a snub. The Nationals were in first place and had five players chosen: Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Ryan Zimmerman, Daniel Murphy and Bryce Harper. Rendon was a deserving 6th player, and he never made it.
Somebody made a comment that basically went like this: “The Nationals are a .500 team and got 3 All-Stars” basically inferring that Nats fans should be happy that Max Scherzer, Sean Doolittle, and Bryce Harper were representing the Nationals. Does team record matter because the last place Reds got 3 players on the team: Eugenio Suarez, Scooter Gennett and Joey Votto. Great players are great players regardless of team record. The All-Star game is about great players.
This is a common workplace problem if we considered all of MLB as the workplace, and we were recognizing the best overall employees out of a pool of 750 people. You will always have some popular picks based on previous performance in prior periods. We can look at our own Bryce Harper. He is now a popular pick, but not a chance he is one of the best 3 outfielders in the National League. Statistics say Bryce Harper is the 7th best outfielder by OPS. Maybe he does deserve to be an All-Star because Charlie Blackmon made it as a reserve pick and he’s 9th overall based on OPS and nowhere near the Top 10 if we go by Wins Above Replacement (WAR).
Because defense and baserunning are also components of WAR value, Harper ranks 19th and Blackmon 42nd of all NL outfielders. How did Blackmon get voted in by the player vote? Juan Soto and Michael Taylor rank ahead of Blackmon in value, and it’s hard to believe the 19-year-old is so valuable given that he only has 179 plate appearances.
How did the Rockies get 3 players in? Well, Nolan Arenado was voted in and Trevor Story made it ahead of Trea Turner and Charlie Blackmon made it in ahead of other deserving players like David Peralta and Kyle Schwarber.
So there are other All-Star snubs, but probably none as egregious as Trea Turner. He is number 1 by a large margin in WAR as of yesterday:
Trevor Story would rank 3rd in WAR but when you look at Story’s story it is a tale of Rocky Mountain High where his home/road splits make him look like a Triple-A player when he plays on the road.
Those numbers just are not All-Star worthy.
Trea Turner should be an All-Star by a landslide vote — but he may not make the Top 5 in the fan vote. He has a huge lead ranking #1 in WAR, hits, stolen bases and runs scored for shortstops and 2nd in home runs and OBP and 3rd in RBIs, and if it wasn’t for the thin air of Colorado, Turner would lead in both power and baserunning.
If you go by WAR on Fangraphs, there are only 8 players in the National League ahead of Trea Turner — names like Freddie Freeman and J.T. Realmuto, and Turner is within .5 WAR of being on top of the entire NL. If you go by BBRef WAR, Turner only has 4 players ahead of him.
Here’s Trea Turner’s splits and he actually plays better on the road:
The other note for anyone who looks at Trea Turner’s numbers and compares OPS is that Trea turns singles into doubles because he steals so many bases successfully. Trea’s numbers transcend traditional stats which is what Fangraphs does such a good job going beyond the traditional stats to an overall value.
Get out the vote for Trea because he is part of this “Final Vote” and you can vote an unlimited amount of times. If we can get 100,000 Nats fans voting 100 times a day then Trea should make it. The Nationals have teamed up with the Angels to push Andrelton Simmons as their “Final Vote” guy. Let’s do it! To quote Daniel Murphy “Do you go to Fangraphs at all?”
I just cast my Final Vote Ballot to send Trea Turner to the All-Star Game! Help him win the Final Vote! #VoteTrea on your social media!
