MLB All Star teams and some thoughts on the state of the Celtics

For my first blog entry, I was planning on writing about the Celtics’ first pick in the draft this past Thursday night, but with Danny Ainge running things, and changing him mind about what type of team he wants every few months, I don’t feel like writing too much about that.

My few comments: I like Ray Allen, and think he’s a good player and a class act. Unfortunately, he’s almost 32 and has two bad ankles. That’s two big question marks for him. At first, I thought I might have been too biased, and just hated this trade because of my man-crush on Delonte West. And I’m not the only one; he may have been the most popular player on the team (much like Allen was in Seattle). Delonte is a hard nosed player who isn’t afraid to back down and plays hard all the time. Is he a superstar? Far from it. But he’s the type of player that can be a big time contributor on a good team. Seattle fans (or Oklahoma City or Vegas fans perhaps) are going to love this guy. As it turns out, many experts who did not have my affection for Delonte agreed with my assessment of the deal, basically that Danny Ainge has no clue what he’s doing. My brother has already declared the Celtics dead to him, and for now, I’m not ready to go that far. However, if Al Jefferson gets traded at all, it’ll be pretty simple. As far as I’ll be concerned, the Celtics will be dead.

Now for the other reason for today’s blog, the MLB All Star teams as I see them. The rosters for the 2007 All Star teams will be announced tomorrow, so I will give the rosters if it was up to me to choose them. This is not a prediction of who will make it, but rather, who I think should make it. I will keep with the fan voting for the starters, using the results from June 26. If those results change, my rosters would probably change slightly too, depending upon the who and the how of the changes. Also keep in mind that all Major League teams must have a representative on an All Star team. So without further adieu, I give you my 2007 MLB All Star teams:

American League

Starters

C	Rodriguez	DET
1B	Ortiz	BOS
2B	Polanco	DET
3B	Rodriguez	NYY
SS	Jeter	NYY
OF	Guerrero	LAA
OF	Ordoñez	DET
OF	Suzuki	SEA

Reserves

C	Posada	NYY
C	Martinez	CLE
1B	Peña	TB
1B	Morneau	MIN
2B	Roberts	BAL
3B	Lowell	BOS
SS	Guillen	DET
SS	Young	TEX
OF	Hunter	MIN
OF	Granderson	DET
OF	Rios	TOR
OF	Teahen	KC

Pitchers

SP	Haren	OAK
SP	Guthrie	BAL
SP	Santana	MIN
SP	Lackey	LAA
SP	Beckett	BOS
SP	Verlander	DET
SP	Sabathia	CLE
SP	Blanton	OAK
RP	Rodriguez	LAA
RP	Putz	SEA
RP	Papelbon	BOS
RP	Jenks	CHW

National League

Starters

C	Martin	LAD
1B	Fielder	MIL
2B	Utley	PHI
3B	Wright	NYM
SS	Reyes	NYM
OF	Beltran	NYM
OF	Griffey	CIN
OF	Soriano	CHC

Reserves

C	Molina	SF
1B	Pujols	STL
1B	Lee	CHC
1B	Young	WAS
2B	Hudson	ARI
3B	Cabrera	FLA
SS	Ramirez	FLA
SS	Hardy	MIL
OF	Bonds	SF
OF	Holliday	COL
OF	Byrnes	ARI
OF	Lee	HOU

Pitchers

SP	Penny	LAD
SP	Young	SD
SP	Peavy	SD
SP	Snell	PIT
SP	Smoltz	ATL
SP	Lowe	LAD
SP	Sheets	MIL
SP	Maine	NYM
RP	Cordero	MIL
RP	Saito	LAD
RP	Hoffman	SD
RP	Wagner	NYM

So there you have it, my picks for the All Star teams and some other possibilities. I know there are many other deserving players, but I feel confident with my actual 32 man rosters. On Sunday we’ll see if the MLB people agree with me.