A look at the top 8 AL pitchers for our All-Star team.
It is a rule that all fantasy news sites and blogs must list their all-stars at this time of year. Though I really don’t care for the process, as it is so subjective, it is a rule and our blogosphere credentials will be revoked if we don’t do our own all-star list. Matt and I will be splitting duties for this, and I will be looking at Starting pitchers and Outfielders. So holding our collective noses, here are our picks for the Al starting pitchers, in order:

1. C.C. Sabathia–clearly the class of the AL field in my view, though it helps his cause that he is the anchor of my high-stakes league staff. Forget the gaudy 12-2 record; his 8.1 K rate and 1.2 BB rate show he is at the top of the class, and with a 32% hit rate he actually should be a bit better. I sure hope for him to be even better in the second half. Cy Young, here he comes.

2. Dan Haren–I know it is almost heresy to not have Johan number 2, but Haren deserves the spot. He arguably has a claim to the top spot with a 10-2 2.20 record. But his K rate and BB rate are a bit below Sabathia, and his xERA of 3.67 says he has been lucky.

3. Johan Santana–He has been lucky to the tune of a 27% hit rate and 82% strand rate, hence the number three spot. 9.5 K rate is excellent but the BB rate of 2.3 means his K/BB ratio is a bit below Sabathia. Is he starting to slip?

4. Josh Beckett–He has to get the number four spot based on the fact that he has earned lots of dollars and points for his owners but he is not as good as the top three, and it is a fairly large margin. However his skill say his performance is sustainable, since he has a 30% hit rate and 76% strand rate, exactly what should be expected. The wins are left to chance.

5. Erik Bedard–The unsung hero of this group; I would rather have him than Beckett going forward. Tops in baseball among starters with 11 K/9IP, and the 2.7 BB rate is a bit high for an Ace. But with a 32% hit rate and an xERA of below 3, he should improve from here on out, a scary thought for those that don’t own him.

6. John Lackey–11-5 3.04 ERA and 1.19 WHIP give him a clear case as an All-Star, but he has been a bit lucky. He sports a 28% hit rate, with 24% in the last month, fueling a late surge up the chart. He is a bit overrated but is still nothing to sneeze at.

7. Kelvim Escobar–Who would have thought that he would be this good when he was complaining about his usage while with the Jays. With a 7.2 K rate and 2.7 BB rate he is solid but not near the top of this group, but still a damn good pitcher. Teh fact that he is on my head-to-head league team gives him extra bonus points.

8. Jeremy Bonderman–He is way better than his more heralded teammate, about who I made an earlier post. 8.2 K rate and 1.9 BB rate give him an arguable claim to the number 6 spot over Lackey, but a 3.58 ERA keeps him here. As with Bedard, if I were doing this on a going forward basis, he might be in the top 5.

Tomorrow I will do the OF. Posting may be sparse this week as Matt and I will both be on vacation (not together!). But next week we will be back at full strength.