Bruce Bochy has selected Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier to take the place of the injured Shane Victorino in the 2011 All-Star Game, again leaving Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen behind.
At this point, there’s really no conclusion other than that Bochy is upset over Clint Hurdle’s comments about how “everybody whiffed” by not including McCutchen in the first place. Either that, or Bochy is selecting players not based on how well they play but on some mysterious set of criteria that mere mortals can only guess at. If it’s the former, that’s way more unprofessional than anything Hurdle did, but maybe Bochy didn’t get the memo that the All-Star Game isn’t purely about him.
Ethier is batting .311 with a .380 on-base percentage and a .447 slugging percentage. McCutchen is hitting .292/.393/500, for a better on-base percentage and slugging. Also, McCutchen is a better defensive player than Ethier – he plays a tougher defensive position (Ethier has played right field exclusively this year), and he plays it better. By any reasonable standard, McCutchen has been more valuable than Ethier this year.
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