AL Wild Card Divisional All-Stars

Here it is, finally: the very last one of these interminable Divisional All-Star squads. It's the American League Wild Card. I've put it off long enough, so no more, here they are:

POS	NAME	swp	swp/g		TEAM
2B	Brian Roberts	2,275	14.3		BAL
LF	Carl Crawford	2,337	15.0		TB
3B	Alex Rodriguez	2,032	16.4		NYY
1B	Kevin Youkilis	2,168	15.9		BOS
C	Victor Martinez	2,127	13.7		CLE/BOS
DH	Ben Zobrist	2,215	14.6		TB	2B
RF	Nick Swisher	1,848	12.3		NYY
SS	Jason Bartlett	1,998	14.6		TB
CF	Denard Span	1,923	13.3		MIN
SP	John Danks	1,527	47.7		CHW
	Mark Buerhle	1,485	45.0		CHW
	Gavin Floyd	1,484	49.5		CHW
	James Shields	1,476	44.7		TB
	Matt Garza	1,447	45.2		TB
CL	Jonathan Papelbon	1,853	28.1		BOS
RP	Brad Ziegler	667	9.7		OAK
	Mark Lowe	662	8.8		SEA
	Lance Cormier	588	11.1		TB
	Sean White	579	11.1		SEA
	Phil Coke	557	7.7		NYY
P	Justin Masterson	637	15.2		BOS/CLE

Aaron Hill on the Blue Jays had a monster season, which pushed the four other AL East second basemen down into the wild card hunt. The fact that this team includes not one, but two of those four runners up (Brian Roberts at leadoff and Ben Zobrist the DH) is a testament to the unusual strength of second sackers in the league this year. Roberts was a doubles machine, as usual, using his tremendous speed more to leg out extra-base hits rather than to steal bases (his SB totals has dropped by 10 in each of the last three years: 50 to 40 to 30 in '09).

Carl Crawford batted second for most of the year with the Rays, despite spending most of his career as a leadoff hitter, so he fits in nicely here behind Roberts. Back for a full season after missing significant time in '08, he ran for a career-high 60 stolen bases and was on base a career-high 36.4% of the time. Add to that his terrific defense in an underrated position, Crawford absolutely deserved this spot over runner-up Johnny Damon.

After the fabulous season he had, the only reason Alex Rodriguez missed out on a spot on the AL East team is because he missed the first month of the season recovering from hip surgery. Just barely cracking 30 HR and 100 RBI for the 12th straight season, A-Rod added an elusive feather into his cap by excelling in the 2009 playoffs, something he had been unable to do for most of his career. Sure he was embroiled in some steroid controversy, but who wasn't this year? And for all that he's accomplished in his career, he's still relatively young. Who knows if his recent reform will shed some kinder light on him if he eventually surpasses Barry Bonds as the all-time home run leader.

Kevin Youkilis has yet to stay healthy for more than 150 games in a season, but his mid- to upper-range power and his talent for getting on base has earned him a spot in the upper echelon of first basemen. His versatility is also a plus - if the Mike Lowell trade had gone through for Boston, Youk would have likely shifted across the diamond to third base.

Speaking of versatile Red Sox players, Victor Martinez, who will catch all year for Boston but who also has the ability to play first base, bats fifth for this team. He won't hit 30 home runs, but he will hit 20 to 25, drive in 100 runs and walk about as much as he strikes out. He's not an above average defender behind the plate, but he's a veteran and a team leader who fit in very well at Fenway Park after being acquired by the Indians part way through the season. The Red Sox should definitely benefit from a full year of this guy.

Ben Zobrist made a splash in his first year with regular playing time, spending significant time at both second base and right field. He was exceptional at every aspect of his game, putting up impressive power numbers (27 HR), getting on base (.405 OBP), showing some speed on the basepaths (17 SB), and playing above average defense all over the field (5.8 runs above average at second, 13.0 runs in the outfield). At age 28, Zorilla should have a long and eventful career ahead of him.

Nick Swisher is, quite frankly, somewhat of a disappointing choice for the starting right fielder for this club. Sure he walks a ton and has some pretty good power, but he was a wash in the field and he doesn't make as much contact as he should, hitting for just .249 on the season. Just behind him in points was Texas's Nelson Cruz, who flashed power and speed, but didn't come close to Swish in terms of plate discipline. I almost bent the rules and slotted Minnesota's Jason Kubel as the right fielder, but seeing as he played only 30 games in right field (plus another 29 in left) versus 80 games as the DH, it just didn't seem right.

The most surprising player on this team has to be Tampa Bay's Jason Bartlett, who somehow found he could use his bat extremely effectively at age 29. 14 home runs (his previous career-high was 5), 66 RBI (43), and an .879 OPS (.760, but in nearly 200 fewer plate appearances). If he can keep away from injuries AND keep up this kind of All-Star caliber production, he could find himself getting a lot of positive attention. And rounding out the order is Minnesota's sophomore leadoff man Denard Span, who played all the outfield positions in '09. He's an old school slappy hitter who doesn't have much power, but shows great discipline and plays a great center field.

This pitching staff is a little unbalanced, with all five pitchers coming from only two teams. The first three guys are from the White Sox: John Danks and soft-tossing lefty Mark Buerhle each won 13 games with low ERA's (3.77 and 3.84 respectively), but the latter also threw a perfect game. Their teammate, Gavin Floyd, led his team in strikeouts (163), but had just a .500 winning percentage and an average ERA (4.06). The next two guys are from the Devil Rays: James Shields had the highest K/BB ratio of the staff (3.21), but couldn't get his ERA under 4.00 (4.14). Matt Garza struck out the most batters (189), but only picked up 8 wins and 12 losses. Nothing too exciting from this group this year, which was an unimpressive year for pitchers in general, which almost makes one question if all this steroid testing hullabaloo is really doing anything to temper the recent offensive explosion.

Jonathan Papelbon gets this spot, despite his meltdown in the ALDS against the Angels. He had an ERA under 2 (1.85) for the third times in the last four years and saved 38 games, but struggled with his command, walking more batters than ever before. Hot on his trail is Seattle's closer David Aardsma who also saved 38 - including earning the first save of his career - in his first year as a ninth inning specialist.

Oakland's Brad Ziegler leads the middle relievers with his funky submarine delivery and low strikeout rates. A pair of Seattle right-handers, the durable Mark Lowe and Sean White, make up another two spots, continuing the trend of relievers with sub-8.0 strikeout/9 innings rates. Rays' long man Lance Cormier also didn't miss many bats, but he racked up a lot of innings and stayed away from the long ball. Lone lefty Phil Coke didn't post an extremely low ERA, but you need someone to take advantage of that platoon split.

This team's swingman, Justin Masterson, spent time with two different AL teams this year: Boston, for which he mostly pitched from the bullpen, and Cleveland, for which he mostly started. Maybe having a full season as a starter next year will allow Masterson to focus and hone some of his skills. Or perhaps he'll struggle again and find himself without a well-defined role once again.

Well that's all I've got. Hope you've enjoyed my lengthy and indulgent way to provide an overview of some of the best players in the game. But now it's time to move on to some more thoughts about different things.