More Rosenthal Douchebaggery

Among Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal's NL selections at the pitcher spot...you will not find the current NL saves leader with 24, San Francisco's Brian Wilson. Fuck, I know saves are like wins and thus, imperfect when measuring a player's effectiveness, but Jesus, man. He doesn't even get a "Notable Omissions" nod, which goes to the likes of :

Taylor Buchholz, RHP, Rockies; Francisco Cordero, RHP, Reds; Jair Jurrjens, RHP, Braves; Hong-Chi Kuo, Dodgers; Kyle Lohse, RHP, Cards; Carlos Marmol, RHP, Cubs; Kerry Wood, RHP, Cubs.

Writes Rosendouche:

Love the staff, even though I included only two relievers. The starters on my team are just too good — so good, I couldn't find a spot for Jurrjens, who is sixth in the league in ERA.

When discussing AL pitchers, Rosenthal includes the O's George Sherrill because he's second in the league in saves. So saves is a stat that matters to Rosenthal. So where is the fucking love for the guy leading the NL in saves?

Similarly, Rosenthal shafts Bengie in favor of Yadier Molina for Notable omission at the NL catcher's spot, despite similarish OBP, Slugging, BA, HR, and OBPS, though Bengie is killing in RBIs, because "(Yadier) Molina throws as well as any catcher in the league and is one of the most difficult players to strike out." Really? Bengie strikes out once every 14 ABs and Yadier strikes out once every 21. That seems like a lot, except when you notice Bengie has struck out 7 more times in 49 more AB's, but let's not even pretend it matters half a fuck when selecting an All-Star team. Also, throws as well as blah, blah, blah? Jesus, man.

So of course the issue is, Rosenthal hasn't seen shit this year outside the FGOTW, and unless a player he hasn't seen has stats that jump out of his computer screen and blow stat goo all over his face, Rosenthal ignores him. The biggest problem I have with this list is the lack of consistency. He picks Jose Reyes despite acknowledging Reyes' being an error machine because he's "one of the five most exciting players in the game," yet would take Yadier Molina because of a strong arm? Would take Griffey Jr. as a lifetime achievment despite a OBPS lower than 11 of the qualifying right fielders in the NL and the 14th best SLG among right fielders?