The All Stars - Who Should you vote For?

You can now vote for baseball All-Star's teams. We are about 1/2 way to the All Star break, so by now we have some idea who we should be voting for. Let me help you make those picks right now.

Let's settle the American League in this post.....

C - Joe Mauer, Minnesota - The 25-year old is becoming the American League's best catcher. He hasn't hit with home run power yet this year, but he's swinging the bat at .346 and reaching base 42% of the time. He does 9 doubles and a triple and he gets my vote here.

1B - Kevin Youkilis - Boston - He's such a different type of player for the Sox. His OPS is nearly 1.000 as he has smacked 7 homers and driven in 27 runs early in the year. Truly many of the big name first basemen haven't performed and I thought I'd vote for Casey Kotchman here, but I can't look past what Youkilis has accomplished.

2B - Jose Lopez, Seattle - I think there are six or seven guys who are probably deserving of some consideration here. Not sure that any of them are really having a stellar season yet. But Lopez is hitting .291 with 41 hits. He's been an all-star before, and he's my vote. For Now.

3B - Chone Figgins, Los Angeles - You think this guy has any chance to win this slot over ARod. Neither do I. But based on the way he's played to start the season, and the fact that ARod has been out with the injury and been a little sluggish (at least for him), I'll go with Figgins and his .421 OBP and 11 steals.

SS - Michael Young, Texas - The former All Star MVP is off to a decent start at .301 and has driven in 16. He's solid with the glove and he's one of the game's best young stars that nobody knows about.

OF - Manny Ramirez, Boston - He very well maybe the MVP at this point, so I can't let him off the All-Star team. He's slugging almost .600 and getting on base nearly 40%. Yet we sort of expect more from him. Still, I think he'll be in this slot. And I think he deserves it.

OF - Bobby Abreu, New York - It pains me to vote for a Yankee. But Abreu is doing a lot to help his team win games. His OBP isn't as high as normal, but he's still hitting the ball and driving in some runs.

OF - Johnny Damon, New York - I contemplated Josh Hamilton or Torii Hunter here, but Damon is scoring a lot of runs hitting at a decent average and he has 19 extra-base hits. So for now he is here.

DH - Justin Morneau, Minnesota - There really aren't a lot of options. Baltimore's Aubrey Huff deserves some consideration and Big Papi may end up ultimately being the guy. So, I'm going with the guy who seems to fit in here best, even though he actually plays a position in real life.