The MLB All-Star rosters were announced Saturday night, and we know who will be starting the All-Star game now.  We know the fan voting can be skewed by certain teams’ popularity, so I will make my roster of who should start for each team.  In general, I think it was easier to for teams to vote in deserving players this year, particularly in the American League since many of the Yankees who normally occupy those starting spots have been injured all year, but there are still some spots where I think the starting rosters could be improved.

American League Actual Starters:

C:  Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins
1B:  Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles
2B:  Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
3B:  Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers
SS:  J.J. Hardy, Baltimore Orioles
OF:  Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels
OF:  Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles
OF:  Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays
DH:  David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox

Overall, I think the American League fans did pretty good here.  I don’t have any real arguments with any position.  Obviously, there were some other superstars at shortstop in the American League who have been injured most of the season like Derek Jeter, or Jose Reyes, but Hardy has been easily the best of the healthy shortstops, so he deserves the start.  I would probably pick Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers to start over Jose Bautista, as he has put up better numbers and has a ton of RBIs halfway through the season, but I don’t have a real problem with Bautista getting the nod, as he has had a very good season as well.

National League Actual Starters:

C:  Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals
1B:  Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds
2B:  Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds
3B:  David Wright, New York Mets
SS:  Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies
OF:  Carlos Beltran, St. Louis Cardinals
OF:  Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies
OF:  Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals

I think the National League roster looks pretty good, but not quite as clean as the American League vote.  First off, while Joey Votto has been great for the Reds, Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks clearly deserves to be the starter at first base for the National League.  Goldschmidt has 74 RBIs just over halfway through the season, and has been one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball this season.  There is an easy way to fix this problem, because there is no vote for a designated hitter for the National League, but one is used in every All-Star game, so Goldschmidt would be a reasonable choice to be the National League starter at designated hitter. 

The rest of the infield would be the same as my choices to start the game, including Troy Tulowitzki, even though he has been on the disabled list for nearly a month.  Tulowitzki has put up better numbers than any other National League shortstop, even with that month out, and he should be activated off of the disabled list in time to start the All-Star game.  If he decides to rest instead of making the trip to New York, I think Jean Segura of the Milwaukee Brewers would be the obvious choice to take his place in the starting lineup. 

Unlike Tulowitzki, Bryce Harper has not had the type of season to warrant a starting spot in the All-Star game despite the time off.  I would choose Michael Cuddyer of the Colorado Rockies to take his spot.  Cuddyer has had a career season in Colorado, and he deserves to start the game in what likely could be his last All-Star game.