All Stars and Baseball Cards 2018

On Thursday last week, I bought some baseball cards, since the MLB season is about one-fourth over, which is too long into a season not to have enjoyed some 2018-flavored cardboard crack. One of my favorite recent pastimes has been to buy some packs and construct a roster out of the players on the cards contained therein, not unlike a Magic Sealed Deck. Packs from this year's Topps set feature arguably the best player in the game on their cover, so imagine how excited I was to see that very player's card on top of my "sealed pool," so to speak, since the pre-boxed product I purchased from Target didn't actually include any "booster packs." I actually went to that particular retailer looking for seeded packs of Dominaria, but to no avail...

The next day, unrelated to my purchase of baseball cards, but quite related to the fact that the 2018 baseball season had reached its "quarter pole," I compiled a list of players I would include on my hypothetical All-Star ballot this year. As you might expect, the above-mentioned Mike Trout was among them, tying together two of my baseball activities this weekend, when I actually got around to building my paper roster. But he wasn't the only one! Here I'll present two lineups side by side, one made of actual good players chosen by me, and one randomly generated by a large corporation's packaging algorithm.

The player I'd pick to put behind the plate for my All-Topps team is someone I would consider voting for as NL All-Star catcher if he had a full season's worth of stats, but J.T. Realmuto missed time early in the season due to injury. Incidentally, the NL leader in fantasy points at the #2 position (and thus my hypothetical ballot-topper) is the same guy who backs up Realmuto on my card-team: Dodgers backstop Yasmani Grandal. (I picked the switch hitting Cuban over former All-Star Salvador Perez - who also spent some time on the DL this year - mostly due to situational platoon implications.) The clear top catcher in the AL, and in fact the major league, is Gary Sanchez, one of the big reasons the Yankees have been off to an MLB-best start.

At first base, my card team has Sports Illustrated-featured launch-angle specialist Joey Gallo. At least he was projected to play first for the Rangers in the offseason, but the slugger has actually spent the majority of his time in 2018 in left field, due to the emergence of rookie Ronald Guzman. Neither of these two would even sniff either of my first base All-Star ballots, with good old "First Place" Freddie Freeman leading the way for the NL. The AL actually has a decent positional battle going, at least in terms of fantasy points: C.J. Cron, an afterthought acquisition by the Rays after they traded away all their old power hitters, actually leads the league, but he's just a handful of points away from three-time All Star Hanley Ramirez, who has been splitting time at first base for the Red Sox with Mitch Moreland. This one is too close to call, but I'd say the more decorated player deserves the consideration here.

Another Brave tops the charts in terms of fantasy points at second base, with Ozzie Albies taking the league by storm in what is technically his sophomore season. He's just 21 years old, and he's already fast approaching that number of home runs on the year, leading  the team, and the league, with 13 of them through Sunday's action. In the AL, going by the numbers at the keystone, it's Rush fan Jed Lowrie, who has been absolutely on fire for the first 1.5 months of the season, although I wouldn't be surprised if Jose Altuve gets some MVP/World Series hangover effect votes. My Topps second baseman Brian Dozier came into this year a top ranked number 32 overall, but has scuffled out of the gates big time in Minnesota.

My Topps fantasy third baseman came in at exactly 100 ranks worse than Dozier, and is also off to a slow start in 2018, although for him it's been due to injury. Lamb plays for Arizona in the NL, whose starting All Star third baseman should be Kris Bryant, who if he's not technically the face of the Cubs, he's at least the one you'd most want on your side in a basebrawl. For the AL, I don't think anyone deserves an All Star nod at the hot corner more than Jose Ramirez, a position the Indians have let him settle into on a full time basis... despite the fact that he will be at second for his fantasy astrology Virgo team.

Shortstop is the third position where one of my All Star choices lines up with my Topps representative: Trevor Story of the Rockies. Based purely on the numbers, there is also a case to be made for Washington's Trea Turner, depending on whether you prefer power or speed. Actually, the top fantasy ELIGIBLE shortstop in the NL is Javier Baez, although I'm not counting him because he's taken over second base in Chicago. In the AL, it's fairly close between Manny Machado, a former third baseman who just moved back to his former-former position of shortstop this year, and Francisco Lindor, who's been a major league shortstop for much longer.

We've already talked about Mike Trout in the outfield, but he's actually not even the top choice for the AL. That honor goes to Mookie Betts, who has been showing why he trounced the Red Sox in an arbitration hearing over last offseason. An MLB-leading 15 home runs and an OPS above 1.200 on a team that could challenge for a World Series title is quite a way to start an MVP conversation. Flanking him in my All Star outfield would be Yankees juggernaut Aaron Judge, just to keep the rivalry going on the brightest stage. Incidentally, these were the two corner outfielders on the Divisional All-Stars runner-up AL East squad.

In the NL, the player who is almost solely responsible for the "arguably" from way up in the first paragraph, Bryce Harper, gets the top spot among NL outfielders. While Harper is definitely center field CAPABLE, I like to have a center field ELIGIBLE player on each of my ballots, and while the numbers would point to A.J. Pollock at this point in time, the fact that he's down with a significant injury should sap some of his votes. Even if he were to get elected somehow, it just so happens that his replacement in the top three - Colorado leadoff hitter Charlie Blackmon - also patrols center field. For the third spot, you have to take a long hard look at Nick Markakis, whose league leading 60 hits and very respectable .935 OPS are making a lot of people question whether they were wrong when they said his best years were behind him.

The rest of my Topps outfield/DH mix consists of two more quality center field options in George Springer and Brett Gardner, leaving a Kyle Schwarber/Matt Kemp platoon to fill in for an injured Yoenis Cespedes at the DH slot. Speaking of the DH slot, J.D. Martinez is the obvious choice here for the AL, and not just because of his prolonged search for a contract last offseason. And since I don't yet get to select a DH candidate for the NL (even though the All Star Game itself has evolved into using the universal DH) or pitchers, that concludes my All Star ballot.

It does NOT conclude my Topps team, since I DO get to select pitchers for that. My top two options both pitched today (Sunday 5/20): both Stephen Strasburg and Carlos Carrasco took losses, against the Dodgers and Astros, respectively. Jon Gray is the budding ace of a young and promising Rockies team, as he leads the starting staff in both strikeouts and FIP, which is better than his actual ERA by more than 2 runs. Steven Matz is still considered one of the Mets' most promising young hurlers, despite injury troubles and middling performance this year. And Nick Pivetta has gotten off to a much better start than currently-injured Zach Davies, despite a preseason ranking that was more than 250 spots worse.

My Topps bullpen has perhaps the most celebrated righty and lefty options in the game right now, Boston closer Craig Kimbrel and Cleveland high leverage long relief type Andrew Miller -- it's almost too perfect that they're both Geminis. The pitcher with the second most closing experience has to be Greg Holland, who has had nothing short of a nightmarish start with the Cardinals, after turning down TWO different superior contract offers from his 2017 team, the Rockies. Delving into setup territory, Dellin Betances is apparently not at all suited to pitch in the ninth inning of any game, according to Yankees ownership's stance in their arbitration case against him last year. Going deep, we have a second lefty in Danny Coulombe (whose card still has the out-of-style "Daniel" printed on it), and fight-starter Amir Garrett to round out the relief corps.