One year ago, I posted my first-ever fan-post on AN about my amazement that Jason Varitek was an All-Star. One year later, it's that time again.

The rules: Any player who is their team's only selection I cannot take issue with due to the fact that every team has to have at least one selection. Other than that, any stupid selection is fair game.

For the second year in a row, my "Questionable All-Star Selection" Award goes to a member of the Boston Red Sox.

Congratulations, Tim Wakefield! Come on down!

 

 

Let's play a little game. I'm going to give you the stats of 5 pitchers without any names. Then, we'll choose which selection should be the all-star.

                            W-L                ERA                  WHIP                K                 ERA+             K/BB

Pitcher A             6-7                 3.13                  1.260                67                130                2.39

Pitcher B             8-3                 3.10                  1.127               86                 144                2.61

Pitcher C             10-3               4.30                  1.354               53                 108                1.47

Pitcher D             8-5                 2.80                  1.244               74                 158                1.90

Pitcher E             6-4                 3.10                  1.304               49                 131                2.19      

 

Which one of these is not like the others???

If you guessed Pitcher C, then you'd be right! Let's take a look at that again, this time with names.

 

                                      W-L                ERA                  WHIP                K                 ERA+             K/BB

Dallas Braden               6-7                 3.13                  1.260                67                130                2.39

Jered Weaver                8-3                 3.10                  1.127               86                 144                2.61

Tim Wakefield               10-3               4.30                  1.354               53                 108                1.47

Kevin Millwood             8-5                 2.80                  1.244               74                 158                1.90

Nick Blackburn             6-4                 3.10                  1.304               49                 131                2.19   

 

For the sake of expediency, I only included 4 other pitchers. But even a cursory glance at the stats seems to indicate that that Tim Wakefield is by far and away the worst of that bunch. You can exclude K/BB, because Wakefield is a knuckleball pitcher and isn't going to strike so many guys out. The only stat that Wakefield has an advantage over any of the others in is wins, which is probably the least helpful pitching statistic there is. In one of the more helpful stats, park-adjusted ERA+, Wakefield is a staggering 22 points below the lowest one of the other 4 pitchers. The other 4 pitchers are not All-Stars. Say what you want about Millwood or Weaver, but both of them, or Braden or Blackburn, easily gets the nod over Wakefield.

Let's put this into perspective. Wakefield is 29th in the AL in ERA and he did not even crack the top 50 in the MLB. Say what you want about ERA as a statistic, but it shows us that Wakefield is nowhere near the top of the list for pitchers who should be in the All-Star game.

 

It's pretty obvious how Wakefield made this All-Star team. Which brings me to the crux of what this selection tells us, which is that

Wins is still a way overrated statistic

While the other pitchers have much better overall stats, Wakefield does sport a nice 10-3 record, which is tied for the league lead. When I asked one of my friends how the hell Wakefield made the All-Star team, he replied "He's tied for the league lead in wins... you can't argue with that." Well, I can, I have, and I will. Wakefield's secondary stats make it look ridiculous that he's an All-Star... he's giving up over 4 runs a game! Kevin Slowey has 10 wins too, but I don't think anyone would make the case that he should be an All-Star... Wins tell you absolutely nothing about a pitcher's ability to get somebody out. A deserving pitcher lost out on an All-Star appearance because of a stupid obsession with wins.

Until next year...