When I first saw that Varitek made it, especially as a reserve that wasn't voted in based on popularity with the fans, I was shocked.
However, upon further review, I think it makes a lot of sense. Though he's been abominable at the plate recently, his true value is behind the plate, managing pitchers.
Throughout his career his been lauded for calling the best game in the bigs. You can't really put a statistical value on that. I'm glad to see that he was recognized for that.
You can't seriously argue that Pierzynski does not deserve Varitek's spot.
I've been very frustrated with Varitek lately. However, as someone who has spent a lot of time on the Celtics' boards bashing stats and lauding intangibles, I can't sit here and pretend like Varitek's hitting is the only thing that matters.
Varitek has been universally lauded as handling pitchers better than anyone else in the game. While Pierzynski might be hitting better, if Varitek's having more of an impact on his team's pitching performance, he's arguably having the better year. Of course it's very tough to measure that. Sure, the middle relief has been weak, but would they be weaker without Varitek? I don't know.
It'd be one things if the fans voted him in based on name recognition, but the players voted him in. To me, that says that they recognize that his play behind the plate may mean more than anything any catcher can do with his bat. Remember, players only bat 5 times a game or so. While Varitek may suck at that, he can conceivably influence 40 or 50 other at bats from behind the plate. That's much more meaningful.
Topic: 7 Sox named to All Star team --- 4 starters (Read 5016 times)