Astrubal and Chris Perez have been named to the AL All-Star team.

along with a dozen Yankees??

Asdrubal and Chris Perez?

That's fair.

I'm not much of an All Star Game fan and pretty much lost interest after Ray Fosse was taken out by one of my fave all time players, but I've got a hundred bucks to offer on my belief that one or the other will contribute to an AL All Star win.

And we want the home field advantage.....

Jhonny Peralta - SS - Tigers

Jhonny Peralta went 2-for-4 with a double and the Tigers' lone RBI in their 5-1 loss to the Angels on Monday.
The RBI was Peralta's 49th of the season, tying him with Asdrubal Cabrera for the second most amongst major-league shortstops. Since arriving in Detroit late last July, Peralta has driven in 87 runs in just 134 games.

Evidently Jhonny really WAS more comfortable at SS.

How's his defense? Hard to imagine he has acquired lateral range. Although I could imagine him trying harder.

With the numbers Peralta puts up at shortstop, his lack of range is tolerable IMO.

We all know he makes the routine plays quite well.

Obviously I would rather have Asdrubal, but just sayin' about Peralta.

The return on the Peralta trade was absurdly low. Why did they feel a dying need to give him away? Giovanni Soto has been very effective as a very young (19/20) starter in Kinston (or was until an injury put him on the DL) but he's years from the majors and doesn't come with high prospect ratings. If Casey Blake could net Santana and another talent (reminde me who?), Peralta should have yielded someone either closer to the majors than Soto or more highly prized but years away.

Speaking of Santana, he currently has drawn the 5th most walks in MLB.

Still would like to see the BA jump about 40 points.

Wasn't Peralta's contract up? Isn't Detroit now paying him considerably more than the Tribe was going to pay him?

Vic....yes and yes.

The purpose of my Peralta posts was not to critique the trading of him...but to double check
His claim that the move to third hurt his mindset and hitting.

Evidence says it was the case in hindsight....buti think trading him was the best option at the time.

Speaking of Santana, he currently has drawn the 5th most walks in MLB.

Still would like to see the BA jump about 40 points.

By "sabmetric" standards, we're only supposed to care about on base pct and slugging average these days. This year Carlos is pretty good on those measures: 351 and 425, but last year they were 401 and 467 which is All-Star caliber which is what we reasonably can expect from him. 40 points added to the batting average is the easiest way to add 50 and 40 points to the on base and slugging averages too.

Vic P. wrote:Wasn't Peralta's contract up? Isn't Detroit now paying him considerably more than the Tribe was going to pay him?

The Indians had an 2011 option on Perlata for $7 million. No way the Indians were going to pick that up based on his performance.

Even the Tigers declined that option and signed him for less:

Jhonny Peralta 3b-ss
2 years/$11.25M (2011-12), plus 2013 club option

2 years/$11.25M (2011-12), plus 2013 club option
re-signed by Detroit as a free agent 11/8/10
11:$5.25M, 12:$5.5M, 13:$6M club option ($0.5M buyout)
5 years/$13M (2006-10), plus 2011 club option
signed extension with Cleveland 3/06, replacing 1-year deal signed 2/06
$1.25M signing bonus
06:$0.5M, 07:$0.75M, 08:$2.25M, 09:$3.4M, 10:$4.6M, 11:$7M 2011 club option ($0.25M buyout)
award bonuses: $0.2M for MVP; $0.1M each for election to All-Star game, Word Series MVP; $50,000 each for LCS MVP, Silver Slugger, Gold Glove, All-Star roster
2010 salary increased by $0.25M to $4.85M based on awards
2011 option may increase (up to $1M) with:
$0.5M with MVP award, 2006-10
$0.1M with All-Star selection, Gold Glove, 2006-10
$0.25M with trade
acquired with cash by Detroit in trade from Cleveland 7/28/10
Detroit declined 2011 option 11/2/10
1 year/$0.3167M (2005)
re-signed 3/05
agent: Levinson brothers, ACES
ML service: 6.118

Heck, I wouldn't have paid what the Tigers did.

However, right now, it is looking like they knew what they were doing on this one.

Zach McCallister will pitch for Carmona on Thursday.

Isn't it interesting all the hoopla about runners crashing into catchers this season, but not a peep last year when Carlos was taken out.