Investing in players hasn’t been one of the Milwaukee Brewers’ strong suits in the last decade or so. But to their credit, it seems the Brewers have learned from their mistakes and are making all the right decisions in 2011.
One of those right decisions was re-signing second baseman Rickie Weeks to a five-year, fifty million dollar contract.
Weeks is having a career year while leading all NL second baseman in at-bats (299), runs (51), hits (87), doubles (19), home-runs (14), on-base percentage (.359) and slugging percentage (.508).
With that said, why is he second to the Cincinnati Reds Brandon Phillips in All-Star votes?
By: Nick Grays
The only way I can realistically justify giving Brandon Phillips his second straight all-star appearance is because of his extraordinary defense. Phillips has proven to be a human highlight reel with his numerous strong-armed throws and diving catches on the famous Sports Center Top 10.
It also doesn’t help that Weeks leads all second baseman with eight errors and has a league-low .974 fielding percentage.
But, even with the great defense, I still find it hard to understand why Weeks is not the front-runner for the starting job in the Midsummer Classic.
Phillips offensive numbers (.279/.327/.399) are not even close to those of Weeks and everyone knows that great offensive numbers trump bad defense in the game of baseball.
Weeks has gained some significant ground in the polls in the last couple of days and very well could pass up Phillips, but just in case he doesn’t, it’s worth noting that Weeks is having a break-out year from his position.
Check out some great tweets from Brewers’ Nation in the #VoteRickie Campaign:
(@Bernie_Brewer): Rickie Weeks trails by only 191,876 votes…Oh Rickie you’re so fine, you’re so fine you blow my mind–#VOTERICKIE!
(@brewcrewbeat): Whoever doesn’t vote for Rickie to start in the all star game isn’t getting Christmas this year. #VoteRickie
(@Andy_BrewCity): after work im pulling an all nighter to fill out 3,000 ballots to bring to tomorrow`s game! #VOTERICKIE
If you think Weeks deserves to make the 2011 All-Star Game at Chase Field in Arizona, make sure to vote for him at the MLB website!
Do you think I’m crazy and defense really matters? Who did you vote for? Let me know by commenting below!
Nick Grays is a senior writer at the Sports Bank where he covers the Wisconsin Badgers, Green Bay Packers, and Milwaukee Brewers. He also enjoys to share Fantasy Advice from time-to-time. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here or visit his blog Nick Knows Best.