Can Somebody Explain The CC Snub To Me?

(Best pitcher in the AL?  Top 3?  Courtesy of The AP)

How the hell did CC Sabathia NOT get selected to the All Star Game?  I mean, really, how does that happen?  The guy is statistically one of the 3-5 best pitchers in baseball this year, let alone the AL, he's a big hulking monster of a man, which is always fun for matchups, and anybody who has ever talked to him says he's one of the most friendly, down to earth, gregarious people in professional sports.  The All Star Game was made for players like CC, and yet somehow he managed to get snubbed by the rest of his fellow players and the AL managers who vote for the reserves, most likely because they all felt some sort of unwarranted unfairness for the Yankees already having 6 players on the team.

Well you know what?  That's just too fucking bad.  It's not A-Rod, Cano, C-Grand, or Jeter's faults that they got selected by the fans.  Shit, 3 of those 4 guys deserve the votes they got because they're the best players at their position in the league.  And Jeter, like it or not, is still a big star and a big draw because of the fans, and that's supposedly what the All Star Game is about, right?  Tell me how many fans out there don't like CC Sabathia.  Tell me how many people would rather watch Aaron Crow and Brandon League pitch an inning against Prince Fielder, Matt Holliday, and Brian McCann.  Aaron Crow walks 4.14 batters/9.  Brandon League only strikes out a hair over 6 batters/9 and has an ERA/FIP/xFIP tripleslash that is good at best for a reliever.  And don't even get me started on Chris Perez or Jose Valverde.  If people think 6 Yankees is too many, first of all get bent.  Second of all, why would you select Russell Martin?  Don't get me wrong, he's having a nice year, but he's been cold over the last 2 months and has been injured too.  If there's a Yankee that didn't deserve the spot, it's him.

These are the facts.  After last night, CC is now leading the AL in wins (12) and is tied with Jered Weaver for the lead in WAR (4.3).  His ERA (2.90) is lower than those of Felix Hernandez, David Price, and C.J. Wilson.  His FIP (2.56) is better than those of Josh Beckett, James Shields, Gio Gonzalez, and Justin Verlander.  And he's thrown more innings (136.2) than anybody in the AL except Verlander.  You could make the case that CC should be STARTING the All Star Game, let alone be on the roster.

I know with his next scheduled start coming on Sunday that he most likely wouldn't be available to pitch anyway, but that's beside the point.  There are a handful of other pitchers who will be in the same boat and they still got picked.  The point is a player who is more deserving than almost every other pitcher on the roster got snubbed and there's no good reason for it.  Brandon League, Chris Perez, and Jose Valverde have no business being on the team, and each of their respective teams already has a representative, so it's not like they are there for that.  At the very least, CC should have been chosen and then you could bring in one of those guys as his replacement once it's announced that he won't be pitching.  That way he would be recognized for how well he's pitched and one of the other guys, relievers who are used to pitching one inning, could get a nod too.

Just like it's called the "Hall of Fame" and not the "Hall of Very Good," this game IS still called the "All Star Game," not the "Bunch of Pretty Good Players Game."  When you're picking the team, you should pick the best players first and then fill in with subs as needed, and there's no possible way anybody could argue that CC Sabathia is not one of the best pitchers in the American League this year.  Once again, the anti-Yankee bias seeps through and screws something up.  And it's even worse this time because the bias came from CC's own colleagues and not the media.

P.S.- Is is Yankee fan treason to say that I would rather CC be on the All Star team than Mo?