Evaluating the DeRosa Deal

Cardinals Side: They acquire a multi position player (somewhere, Tony La Russa is jumping with joy) who has a lot of pop and can hit for average. DeRosa has remade himself into a legitimate super utility starter. He can help the Cards at 2B, 3B and the OF and La Russa will have a lot of fun moving him around to bring in some of his double switch favorites (Brian Barden, Skip Schumaker to CF, Joe Thurston). A great pick up for St. Louis.

Indians Side: Without knowing the PTBNL, we can only judge this with Chris Perez and Cleveland picked up a great young arm for the problem spot of their team. Perez should slot right in as the top setup man to Kerry Wood and overtake him maybe by next year. Perez is still somewhat raw, with a slider that can flatten out and some command issues, but the Indians bullpen is much better with him and recent acquiree Jose Veras then with some of the slop they have been running out there.

AL All Star Team

Here is my All-Star Team for the AL:
STARTERS
C: Joe Mauer - Is there really another choice? .394-.468-.691
1B: Miguel Cabrera - .340-.391-.573 is enough to be a starter
2B: Ian Kinsler - A really tough decision between him and Aaron Hill, but Kinsler wins out due to his stolen bases (16) and the more power he provides. .272-.351-.527
3B: Evan Longoria - .307-.386-.580 is enough to make him the class of the AL.
SS: Jason Bartlett - Even though he missed some time with a stint on the DL, there isn't really another choice (.366-.404-.566)
OF: Jason Bay, Torii Hunter, Ichiro Suzuki - Both Bay and Hunter have had amazing seasons (Bay (.278-.387-.550, 19 HR's), Hunter (.308-.385-.587, 17 HR's)) and Suzuki is currently hitting .375-.405-.505.
P: Zach Greinke - Was the best starter for most of the 1st half.

RESERVES (Will be done according to last years rosters, so 11 more pitchers, 2 C, 6 IF, 3 OF, 1 OTHER)
P: Roy Halladay: 10-1, 2.53 (Blue Jays)
P: Felix Hernandez: 8-3, 2.54 (Mariners)
P: Edwin Jackson: 6-4, 2.40 (Tigers)
P: Jered Weaver: 8-3, 2.65 (Angels)
P: Mark Buerhle: 7-2, 3.26 (White Sox)
P: Justin Verlander: 8-3, 3.40 (Tigers)
P: Joe Nathan: 1-1, 18 sv, 1.52 (Twins)
P: Jonathan Papelbon: 1-1, 18 sv, 1.91 (Red Sox)
P: George Sherrill: 0-1, 16 sv, 2.05 (Orioles
P: Brian Fuentes: 0-2, 21 sv (MLB Leader), 3.91 (Angels)
P: Andrew Bailey: 4-1, 2.18 (Athletics)

C: Victor Martinez: .323-.402-.538 (Indians)
C: No real obvious choice here, but we will go with Jorge Posada: .271-.361-.516 (Yankees)

IF: Brandon Inge: .271-.364-.514 (Tigers)
IF: Aaron Hill: .304-.343-.495 (Blue Jays)
IF: Chone Figgins: .321-.401-.412, 23 SB's (Angels)
IF: Mark Teixeira: .277-.387-.576 (Yankees)
IF: Derek Jeter: .308-.377-.451 (Yankees)
IF: Russell Branyan: .302-.399-.613 (Mariners)

OF: Adam Lind: .310-.387-.551 (Blue Jays)
OF: Jermaine Dye: .285-.354-.556 (White Sox)
OF: Carl Crawford: .314-.372-.442 (Rays)

Other: Ben Zobrist: .286-.402-.626 (Rays)

Teams That Didn't Have Anyone Originally:
Orioles

First Cuts (Player on Original Team, but got booted to satisfy 1 player per team requirement)
David Aardsma (Mariners): I believe George Sherrill was the best choice for the Orioles, barely ahead of Adam Jones.

Evaluation: Several deserving players, such as wins guys Kevin Slowey and Tim Wakefield (each tied with 10), Carlos Pena (who has 23 HR's, lost out to Russell Branyan), Nelson Cruz (18 HR's), Justin Morneau (16 HR's, .310-.390-.556), Scott Rolen (.329-.392-.479) got left out even my original list.

Jeter made the team due to its needing a backup SS. Fuentes made it due to being MLB's SV leader and those rarely get left out of All-Star Games, even though Aardsma has had a better year. Andrew Bailey was my choice as the A's rep.

Reaction? Who do you believe got snubbed and should have been a starter/on the team?

Chart Observations: CHC @ CHW

1) Mark Buerhle: 108 pitches. 6 strikes swinging. Slider (4th), 3 Changeups (1st, 2nd, 5th) and 2 on Cutters (2nd, 4th)

• Buerhle is a 6-2, 230 pound lefty. The 30 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He comes from a high 3/4 release. His 4-seam fastball is straight. His 2-seam fastball has some run in on righties and some sink. His change has good sink and a little fade away from righties. His curve is a big breaking 11-4 with good depth. His cutter moves a little bit like a slider and is a 10-4 offering. He has plus command and can locate all his pitches. He is a guy dealing with an incredibly small margin of error, especially with his home ballpark. When he starts slipping, it will be an instant. But, he could also be a Jamie Moyer who pitches until he is 40.

1st: FB (85-88), Cut (82-87), CU (78-80), CB (72)

2nd: FB (85-87), Cut (84-87), CU (77-79), SL (81)

3rd: FB (86-89), Cut (82-84), CU (79-81)

4th: FB (85-86), Cut (80-83), CU (77-78), SL (83)

5th: FB (85-88), Cut (82-86), CU (77-81)

6th: FB (83-85), Cut (82-86), CU (76)

2) Ryan Dempster: 104 pitches. 3 strikes swinging. 3 Sliders (4th, 2 in 5th)

• Dempster is a 6-2, 215 pound righty. The 32 year old has a medium frame that is maxed out. He has a glove wiggle to mask him setting up his splitter. He comes from a high 3/4 release. He shows a fastball with some run in on righties and some sink. His slider is a 2-7 with good bite. His split has solid dive.

1st: FB (90-92), SL (84-86), Split (82)

2nd: FB (89-92), SL (82-87)

3rd: FB (90-92), SL (84), Split (81-82)

4th: FB (90-92), SL (83-86), Split (79)

5th: FB (88-93), SL (83-86), Split (82-83)

3) Aaron Heilman: 39 pitches. 6 strikes swinging. 2 Fastballs (6th, 7th), 2 Sliders (7th), 2 Changeups (7th)

• Heilman comes from a 3/4 release with a fastball that has some run in on righties and a little sink. His change shows good fade and sink. His slider is a 2-7 offering with good bite. He will throw his change to righties. Still has a dominant FB-CU combination.

6th: FB (91-94), CU (84-85)

7th: FB (91-93), CU (83-86), SL (80-83)

4) D.J. Carrasco: 30 pitches. 3 strikes swinging. Fastball (6th), 2 Cutters (6th, 7th)

• Carrasco came from a high 3/4 release with a 2-seam fastball with some sink and run in righties. He will throw his sidearm frisbee slider as his out pitch and a cutter that shows good late cut and some sink. His curve is a solid 12-6 pitch with good depth. Solid long reliever.

6th: FB (89-92), Cut (88-89), SL (71)

7th: FB (89-91), Cut (89-90), SL (79-80)

8th: FB (90), Cut (88-90), CB (79)

5) Carlos Marmol: 26 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Marmol came from a 3/4 release with a fastball that had good sink and run in on righties and a sharp 2-7 slider with good bite. None of his command issues cropped up in this game.

8th: FB (90-94), SL (80-84)

6) Aaron Poreda: 7 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Poreda came from a high 3/4 release with a fastball that has some run and sink in on righties.

8th: FB (92-94)

7) Octavio Dotel: 19 pitches. 2 strikes swinging. Fastball, Slider

• Dotel came from a 3/4 release with a fastball with some good cut, sink and some late life, a 2-7 slider with good bite and a loopy 2-8 curve.

8th: FB (91-94), SL (81-82), CB (77)

8) Bobby Jenks: 14 pitches. 2 strikes swinging. Fastball, Slider.

• Jenks came from a high 3/4 release with a fastball that had some run in on righties and a little sink, a hard, sharp 2-7 slider with good bite and a sharp 11-5 curve.

9th: FB (91-98), SL (89), CB (84-86)

9) Sean Marshall: 8 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Marshall came from a high 3/4 release and showed a straight 4-seam fastball, a 11-5 cutter that just keeps going down, a big breaking 11-5 curve with good depth and a sharp 11-4 slider with good bite.

9th: FB (91), SL (85), Cut (85-90), CB (74-76)

10) Jose Ascanio: 7 pitches. 1 strike swinging. Fastball

• Ascanio is a 6-0, 170 pound righty. The 24 year old has a medium frame that can add a little more muscle. He comes from a high 3/4 release. He showed a fastball with good run in on righties, a 2-7 slider with some bite and a curve that moves the same, but is slower.

9th: FB (94-97), CB (79), SL (87)

Chart Observations: NYY @ NYM

1) A.J. Burnett: 108 pitches. 12 strikes swinging. 2 on Fastballs (4th, 7th) and 10 on Curves (2 in 1st, 2nd, 4th, 2 in 5th, 3 in 6th, 7th)

• Burnett came from a 3/4 release and showed a fastball with good run in on righties, a plus power curve that was a sharp 12-6, 1-7 pitch with above average depth and a change that showed above average sink and fade from lefties that he will throw to righties. Burnett was simply dominant, as he generated those 10 swings and misses on curves after throwing 34 of them, a 29 % swing and miss rate.

1st: FB (94-96), CB (82-83)

2nd: FB (93-95), CB (78-83)

3rd: FB (93-95)

4th: FB (93-95), CB (80-82), CU (87)

5th: FB (92-96), CB (79-83), CU (88)

6th: FB (93-94), CB (80-83), CU (87)

7th: FB (93-94), CB (80-82), CU (87-88)

2) Tim Redding: 102 pitches. 5 strikes swinging. 4 on Fastballs (2nd, 2 in 4th, 5th) and a Slider (1st)

• Redding came from an over the top release and showed a fastball with some run and sink in on righties, a 2-7 slider with solid bite, a change with some fade and a little sink from lefties and a slurvy 12-6 to 2-7 curve with okay depth. Redding mixed speeds and eye level very well until the 6th, where he started the leaving the ball at the belt consistently.

1st: FB (88-92), SL (83-85), CB (77), CU (82)

2nd: FB (88-92), SL (83), CB (75-77), CU (82)

3rd: FB (86-92), SL (82-85), CB (73-75)

4th: FB (89-92), SL (86), CB (75-77), CU (80-81)

5th: FB (90-92), CB (74-77), CU (83)

6th: FB (89-91), SL (82-85), CB (76)

3) Brian Stokes: 25 pitches. 2 strikes swinging. Changeups (6th)

• Stokes came from an over the top release and showed a straight 4-seam fastball that falshed run and a little sink and a change with excellent fade and sink from lefties. The one curve he threw was overthrown and garbage.

6th: FB (95-96), CU (78-83)

7th: FB (93-96), CU (81-84), CB (80)

4) Pat Misch: 11 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Misch is a 6-2, 195 pound lefty. The 27 year old has a medium frame that can add quite a bit more muscle to his frame. He comes from a high 3/4, almost over the top release. His fastball has good run in on righties and some sink. His slider has a sweeping 10-4 action with some bite. His change has some sink and run in on righties. His curve is an 11-5 pitch with solid depth. He is a tweener, not enough fastball to be a consistent starter and no real out pitch to be a reliever.

8th: FB (85-86), CB (74), CU (77-80), SL (84-85)

5) Brian Bruney: 7 pitches. 0 strikes swinging.

• Bruney came from an over the top release with a fastball that had some run in on righties and a little sink and a 2-7 slider that is sharp with good bite. They just wanted to get their 8th inning setup man some work.

8th: FB (92-94), SL (88)

6) Elmer Dessens: 23 pitches. 2 strikes swinging. Fastball, Slider.

• Dessens is a 5-11, 200 pound righty. The 38 year old has a small frame that is maxed out. He comes from an over the top release. His fastball has some run and a little sink in on righties. His change shows good fade from lefties and some sink. His slider is a 2-7 pitch with solid bite. His curve is a big breaking 12-6 with good depth. He has solid command, but is just a temporary solution type pitcher.

9th: FB (87-91), SL (84-85), CU (79-84), CB (75)

7) David Robertson: 17 pitches. 1 strike swinging. Fastball.

• Robertson comes from an over the top release with a straight 4-seam fastball and a power 12-6 curve with good depth. You have to like these Yankees relievers who all have strikeout stuff and average to above average command.

9th: FB (87-92), CB (76-78)

• Argenis Reyes is a 5-10, 165 pound 26 year old. The switch hitter, righty thrower has a small frame that can get up to at least 175. From the left side, he has an open stance that is fairly straight up and holds the bat somewhat in front of his back shoulder and moves the bat in a circle as he awaits the pitch. Trigger is a cocking of the bat and a stride. He is a utility infielder and not much more.