Michael Cuddyer ALL STAR!

[PierBridge]

Congrats to Cuddy for being selected to this year's American League All Star Team.

All things considered it was pretty obvious it was going to be Cuddyer based on his sizzling play over the last 2 months and particularly rewarding after the slow start he had.

Cuddy has been one of the few bright spots in what has been a difficult season to date thus far and to say this made my day/season is an understatement to say the least....

[PierBridge]

[zepman]

Cuddy deserves it!! He has been a pillar on a team who needs some veteran leadership.

While not always the best player on the field...he has shown the toughness and "every-day-every position" type player capabilities that the Twins are lacking right now. His versatility and persistance will allow him to retire a Twin and make him one of the players who gets invited back for future celebrations for as long as he lives.

The Twins WILL pay Cuddy...he is their type of player...he will retire a Twin.

[zamboni]

He will be invaluable to the All Star team because Washington can put him where he will need him, congrats Numero Cinco

[harvey lee]

Very happy for Cuddy.

[greebs]

I think ron washington made the right choice in selecting cuddy over this matt wieters, whoever he is, as the utility selection. still think baker is more deserving but gardy did a good job getting his guy picked so congrats. Have to admit that i do think cuddy is just as good as some of twins prior all star reps such as ron coomer, christian guzman, tim laudner, dave engle, matt lawton, etc.

[mrklean]

nice job cuddy

[zamboni]

Boy, did he TAG that ball today. Knew it as soon as it hit the bat. That was also an awesome catch out in right. Had he not stumbled towards the wall, he would have had the guy at first, too

[SledNeck]

bad choice

I think baker is more deserving by far

[soldoncass]

Hard to justify any of the Twins pitchers.....too inconsistent, and multitudes of gopher balls. Cuddy actually was an EASY CHOICE for this year. Congrats to him.

[jigging-matt]

Congrats Cuddy, Well Deserved.

[Ybone]

Baker is scheduled to pitch Sunday so isn't possible for the All Star game. Cuddy's the best choice anyway, he's been on fire for over a month.

[Stratosman]

Good for him and even better to see him coming around lately and getting some big hits for the team. Perfect storm for him this year for him to make it with all the injuries and such.

[rundrave]

congrats cuddy!

He's the best of the worst right now on this team. Without the rule that every team needs to have one player represented, he doesnt get picked.

[Scott K]

They should cut Cuddy, he never gets any clutch hits, oh wait

[mrklean]

he is one of the few playing well

[SledNeck]

They should cut Cuddy, he never gets any clutch hits, oh wait

Yep, waited... wow

[Scott K]

Sled, you crack me up! Cuddy is one of the few bright spots on this team. He is basically the reason this team even has a slight chance right now.

[SledNeck]

Sled, you crack me up! Cuddy is one of the few bright spots on this team. He is basically the reason this team even has a slight chance right now.

Hes having a good year, while everyone else is having an epically bad year.

AL

hes 18th in BA (which is good)

17th in HR (good)

36th in RBI (um, okay)

[Scott K]

Although, Nishi, and Danny V have been looking good as of late.

[PierBridge]

Yeah good to see Nishi doing something he may still end up being a decent player. And Danny V is heating up nicely as well.

[jwmiller33]

hes 18th in BA (which is good)

17th in HR (good)

36th in RBI (um, okay)

I hate to break it to you, but RBI's are not as accurate a measure of offensive performance as many think. If there isn't anyone on base infront of you, you are obviously not going to get many RBIs... He is obviously doing well at the plate as indicated by his individual metrics (batting average and homeruns) being in the top 20 in the league. A more accurate indication of offensive performance in clutch situations would be AVRSP.

Here is two different scenarios that end up with two different evaluations for you all to mull over.

Scenario 1)Player A up at the plate with nobody on base and rips a one hopper to the wall in the gap. Ends up with a double and no RBIs.

Scenario 2) Player B up at the plate with bases loaded and rips the same one hopper to the wall in the gap, driving in 3 runs and ending up on second base.

Is Player B more valuable because he has 3 RBI's from the same exact hit when Player A got 0 RBIs?? No. The only difference is who was on base infront of him, which has absolutely nothing to do with the player's skill or ability. RBI's are more a stroke of luck (having guys get on base infront of you) than anything

[Dylan33]

RBI's are more a stroke of luck (having guys get on base infront of you) than anything

[jwmiller33]

That is true to some extent. It also says something about the players ability to get a clutch hit. There is more pressure on the batter to rip that double off of the wall when the bases are loaded than when they are empty.

Exactly why I said AVRSP is a better indication of performance in "clutch" situations than an aggregrate number of RBIs.

[Dylan33]

Gotcha...nevermind...i'm dumb.

[Musky Buck]

Beg to differ a touch JW, look at the league leaders in RBI, Adrian Gonzalez led the NL and now the AL for 2 different teams, 1 good team and 1 bad. You still have to connect so the defense can't make the out. Stroke of Luck then why do the same guys end up in the top 10 year after year, stroke of luck or their stroke, but I get you there, yes you need guys with high ops batting in front of you and like Nishi, Casilla, Revere etc. I agree in New York Cuddy would have 100rbi every year or Boston. Those solo shots may be 3 run blasts, the green monster etc. Cuddy is proving his power in a deep park that is inside the M and M boys head, we'll see what Morneau's replacement Mauer can do at first tonight. His Bilateral leg weakness should improve.

[Musky Buck]

OOps Cuddy all-star certainly compared to the rest for this season, no doubt, the team would and does agree, he deserves it forget past years and isolate the team for this year, there really is no one else in who else or the AL manager would add them or mention their name. Mauer's catcher ranking yesterday was 48th in MLB and he had the day off, collected his 100,000+ for the game if my math is right.

[zamboni]

Musky, his point, and mine awhile back are valid. If NOONE is on, how are you going to get a RBI? To me, AVG is a ton more important. Not anyones fault if they continuously come to the plate either as first one up in an inning, or with noone on. Just the way the ball bounces.

[mainbutter]

Huge congrats for Cuddy. He's been my favorite player ever since I moved to MN and adopted the Twins as my home team

I often wonder if he has any kind of managerial talent, I'd love to see him continue with the game in some regard well past playing-age.

[B. Amish]

cuddyer is destined to become a part of the media after baseball.

IMO, he'd be a terrible manager because he's too nice. maybe a bench coach.