The rules governing All-Star Game roster construction have changed over the years, but one thing has been constant for quite some time: Every team must have at least one representative on the team.  Naturally, this makes for some undeserving selections now and then.

There are plenty of examples, but in recent years, my favorite has been the 2006 selection of Mark Redman.  (I've been fascinated with Redman for a while now--see this article from March 2007.)  In browsing through some ASG history yesterday, I came across another galling Royals pick--Jose Rosado, who made the team twice in four-and-a-half year career.  Seriously--he was an All-Star twice in the late '90s, and I barely remember the guy.

Of course, the Brewers weren't a good team for quite a long time, and one member of the team needed to be selected every year between the Molitor/Yount era and the Ben Sheets era.  In fact, the Brewers had only one All-Star thirteen years in a row, from 1989 to 2001, including such luminaries as Kevin Seitzer, Ricky Bones, and Fernando Vina.

Looking over this year's All-Star rosters, one can find a few picks of this sort, but they are few and far between.  I don't know what it says about parity--even bad teams ought to have one good player, right?--but it is encouraging that we'll see close to 18 half-innings of good pitching.

Here are a few of the 2008 All-Star selections that might raise eyebrows:

• Cristian Guzman.  He's having a career year, but even his empty .313 batting average leaves him with a 102 OPS+, far behind guys like Jose Reyes and JJ Hardy.  Actually, the Nats aren't that hard up--either John Lannan or Jon Rauch would've made for a credible selection.
• Brian Wilson.  This one baffles me.  At first, I thought, "Yeah, of course the Giants are sending a lame All-Star."  But of course, the Giants are also sending Tim Lincecum.  Wilson has 25 saves with a WHIP over 1.5.  He's racking up the numbers because the Giants offense never scores enough runs to amass anything bigger than a 3-run lead.
• George Sherrill.  He's the Wilson of the AL.  He's got 28 saves, which makes him the easy choice as a token team rep, but he's not even the best (or second-best) choice from the bullpen.  Brian Roberts probably deserved the spot more than Sherrill, too.
• Miguel Tejada.  This, like the Wilson pick, is just weird.  Lance Berkman is a no-questions-asked starter, so there's no need for Tejada on the team, and Miggy's performance certainly hasn't earned him the trip.  Tejada has been out-hit by Guzman (his OPS+ is 95), meaning that he's less deserving than someone who really isn't very deserving.  Jose Reyes should be ticked.  Heck, even Ryan Theriot should be ticked.  At least he's not a lying druggie with no range.
  

Such a list wouldn't be complete without Derek Jeter (740 OPS with crappy defense!) and Jason Varitek (299 OPS!), but the fans and the players (I presume) are to blame for those. 

In other words, the one-player-per-team rule didn't bite too hard this year.  Really, Guzman and Sherrill are the only guys who snuck in under that rule, and either one could've been replaced by a better option (if not a slam-dunk All-Star, in the case of the Nats) without wreaking too much havoc on the roster.

Thomas ("Stros Bro"), of SBN sister site The Crawfish Boxes, was kind enough to answer my questions about his team.  We've got a three-game set against the Astros this weekend, and now we'll have a little better idea of what we're watching.

Q: You've gotten to watch Carlos Lee every day for a full season now.  What do you think?  Is he worth $12MM this year?  How about $18.5MM in 2012?

A: Last season, I would have said without much doubt in my mind that he was worth the money and will be worth it over the life of his contract.  Now seeing how he's playing this season, I can't help but wonder whether that is now true.  He seems to be gaining weight and isn't getting better in the outfield.  If he was still hitting like last season I would be okay with it, but he's not even doing that this season.  Right now he's playing as a below average defensive player and an average offensive player.  He's definitely not playing up to what we're paying for him.

Q: Fun fact: The opening day starting five for the Astros were all born within 21 months of each other.  The rotation seems to me to be the achilles heel of this team, especially with Oswalt struggling.  What do you think?

A: Quick answer to this would be... who knows?  Before the season started, most people believed the Astros were solid everywhere but their starting rotation and the starting rotation was Roy Oswalt and then a bunch of question marks.  Well, now that the season has started, Roy Oswalt was terrible for his first 3 starts and 3 of the 4 other Astros starters were at least solid.  I think the Astros rotation is still going to end up being the weak point for the Astros, but they haven't shown it so far this season for the most part.

Q: I'm really curious about J.R. Towles.  Catchers (at least of the non-Joe Mauer variety) usually don't get promoted straight a starting job, much less hold on to it when a vet is sitting on the bench.  What are your impressions of him so far?

A: I can't say that I've been overly impressed with J.R. Towles so far this season.  He has some pop and can definitely bring more to the plate than Brad Ausmus... but Ausmus is one of the worst offensive catchers in baseball, so that's not much of a compliment.  Towles is a solid defensive catcher but still has a few strides to take before he becomes a real major league catcher.  If I had my choice right now, I'd rather the Astros have Quintero up taking most of the catching duties and let Towles have another season down in Triple-A to work on some things.

Q: Brewers fans like grit, and we've got our share, but Kendall, Counsell and Kapler pale in comparison to Ausmus, Matsui, and Erstad.  How do you feel about your team's bench construction?

A: The Astros bench consists of weak-hitting Brad Ausmus, light-hitting Geoff Blum, decent-hitting Mark Loretta, not-hitting Jose Cruz Jr and swings-at-everything Darin Erstad.  I wouldn't rank our bench in the top 20 in baseball.  If I had a choice of who to keep and who to get rid of... only Erstad and Loretta would still be on the team.  The other 3 aren't of much use to me other than defensive replacements.  Blum is good for a clutch hit every now and then, but at the end of the night, he's still just a light-hitting .250 hitter.

Q: Since the Miguel Tejada trade, Miggy has, uh, "matured," and Troy Patton has had shoulder surgery.  It's early, but what's your take on the big swap?

A: With Patton going down this trade comes out as Tejada for Luke Scott.  I really liked Luke Scott when he played for Houston and don't think he ever really got a chance to be a starter; no matter how well he did.  I think the Astros leash on him was too short.  That being said, Tejada is a monster and has been one of the best Astros players this season.  You have to look past all of the steroid talk and the age issue and see the good clubhouse guy and energetic leader who has been one of the only bright spots on the Astros this season.  So I'll have to say that I am happy with the trade overall... although, I think ultimately, the O's will be happy with the trade as well, once Patton becomes healthy.

Thanks Thomas!

So, as Jeff mentioned in yesterday's Plastic Cup, I was on the road yesterday. A brief anecdote from the road:

The fiancee and I were traveling together yesterday, and my last item of business was finished a couple of hours before hers. So there I was, in the back of a coffee shop, headphones in, listening to the Brewers, waiting for the call that would say "it's time to go." I tuned in around the time Manny Parra was exiting. I spent about 4 innings wishing she would hurry up and call, as the game was...well, less than encouraging. But I was there when Prince's double tied it in the 8th, and I was trying hard not to make a scene when Ryan Braun singled to lead off the 10th...

And the phone rang. "Ok, I'm ready for you to pick me up." I reluctantly packed my things, walked to the parking garage, and by the time XM Radio could pick up reception, it was 5-3 in the bottom of the 10th. Not only did I miss Prince's first home run, I didn't even know that's how they scored until the post-game show. Hopefully I'll catch about 50 more of them this season to even it out.

Win Expectancy Graph
Baseball Reference Box Score
ESPN Video Highlights
Baseball Digest Daily Recaps

With the win, Baseball Prospectus' Postseason Odds have the Brewers winning exactly 81 games, with a 16.2% chance of winning the Central.

All kinds of stuff about Prince following the game:

Tom H. has Fielder's postgame quotes.
Home Run Derby named it Home Run of the Day.
In-Between Hops notes the Fielder is even with his home run pace from last year, but would need to hit 4 in his next 5 games to keep it up.
Baseball Musings notes that, before the HR, 7 of Prince's 13 hits had come with runners in scoring position.
Yahoo has a photo of Prince rounding the bases.

Also, if you're looking for quotes from the Cardinals regarding yesterday's game, Fungoes has a wealth of them.

Bugs and Cranks has a nice review of the situation at the back end of the rotation, with Bush, Villanueva and Parra holding spots and Gallardo looking for one.

Speaking of Villanueva, John Sickels has an in depth look at him.

He's had one at bat in the last three days, but Ken Rosenthal still can't get enough Gabe Kapler.

Forbes has released their annual valuations of all 30 MLB teams. The Brewers rank 24th.

Brief Alphabetical Morning (BAM) Injury Reports:

Erik Bedard may have torn cartilage in his hip. I'm not sure what that means for his return.
Carlos Beltran missed last night's 14-inning marathon with a stiff neck.
Rangers OF Marlon Byrd has been placed on the DL with a sore knee.
Braves reliever Peter Moylan is out for the season with a bone spur pressing against the UCL in his elbow.
Rays reliever Al Reyes is on the DL with an impinged shoulder.
Richie Sexson will miss a game or two with nagging shoulder and leg pain.
Miguel Tejada isn't hurt, but he sure is aging fast.

Speaking of things that'll make you age fast, the Rockies and Padres played 22 innings last night. Even Fangraphs gave up after 17.

Two stories out there today showing Cub fans in a (well deserved?) negative light: First, via Redleg Nation, I found this clip of Marty Brennaman's reaction to Cub fans throwing dozens of balls on the field following a home run. Also, Fukudome's reaction to a racist t-shirt being sold by vendors outside Wrigley is a must read. I know a lot of very bright, intelligent Cubs fans that are a credit to their franchise...it's just unfortunate they seem to be in the minority.

Bucs Dugout continues their search for baseball's worst GM. Polls are open right now for Omar Minaya v. Jim Hendry and Ken Williams v. Wayne Krivsky.

Gaslamp Ball wants to hear about your favorite baseball books.

Finally, in response to a question asked in the game thread a couple of nights ago, TheJay has compiled a list of the last players to wear #42 for every franchise. Scott Karl was the last Brewer, and also the last Rockie. Interestingly enough, Mo Vaughn was the last player to wear #42 for three teams.

That's all for today. I'm back on the road in a few hours, so Jeff will be filling in again tomorrow and Sunday. If you have something to submit for inclusion in a future Mug, please post it in the comments. Drink up.