The First Half Fantasy Baseball All-Stars

The All-Star rosters are set and now the hand wringing begins over why everyone's favorite candidate got left off the team. Between fan balloting, having to pick a player from every team and managers stocking reserves with their favorites, it's no wonder we have this every year.

But let's take a second to move over to everyone's favorite topic - fantasy baseball. Who have been the All-Stars in fantasy this season? Using RotoTimes' Player Rater and figuring dollar values based on an average 12-team league, here are the rosters for both leagues:

American League

C - Joe Mauer
1B - Justin Morneau
2B - Ian Kinsler
3B - Alex Rodriguez
SS - Michael Young
OF - Josh Hamilton
OF - Grady Sizemore
OF - Ichiro Suzuki
DH - Carl Crawford

Reserves
C - AJ Pierzynski
1B - Kevin Youkilis
2B - Brian Roberts
3B - Evan Longoria
SS - Orlando Cabrera
OF - Jacoby Ellsbury
OF - BJ Upton
OF - Milton Bradley
OF - Magglio Ordonez

Starters
Cliff Lee
Roy Halladay
Ervin Santana
Justin Duchscherer
Joe Saunders
Gavin Floyd
Josh Beckett

Relievers
Mariano Rivera
Francisco Rodriguez
Jonathan Papelbon
Joakim Soria
Joe Nathan

This squad works amazingly well. I made the decision to go for 18 batters and 12 pitchers. Among the batters I went for a reserve at each position and among the pitchers I went to a 7-5 starter-reliever split. I left off George Sherrill to get Beckett as the seventh starter. And to get a Tiger representative, Jermaine Dye was bumped for Magglio Ordonez.

Here's the National League roster:

C - Russell Martin
1B - Lance Berkman
2B - Chase Utley
3B - Chipper Jones
SS - Hanley Ramirez
OF - Matt Holliday
OF - Ryan Braun
OF - Corey Hart
DH - Jose Reyes

Reserves
C - Brian McCann
1B - Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez
2B - Brandon Phillips, Dan Uggla
3B - David Wright
SS - Miguel Tejada
OF - Carlos Lee
OF - Nate McLouth

Starters
Edinson Volquez
Tim Lincecum
Cole Hamels
Brandon Webb
Dan Haren
Ben Sheets
Ryan Dempster

Relievers
Kerry Wood
Jose Valverde
Jon Rauch
Brad Lidge
Francisco Cordero

The same roster assumptions for the AL team work here except I went with only two backup outfielders. I could not leave off Dan Uggla, the ninth-best hitter in the league, for a third outfielder. The only reach was the Padres, with Adrian Gonzalez bumping the third outfielder, which would have been Carlos Beltran.

There's a lot of similarity between the teams, but I think I'll take the fantasy roster in both leagues. The AL has the fans voting in Jeter and Manny Ramirez, neither of which made the fantasy team. The fans voted Soriano and Fukudome dragging down the starters. And why on earth was Billy Wagner chosen as the Mets' representative?

OK, I tried, I really did, to not write a whiny column about why my favorite candidate didn't make the team. But can anybody explain why Jose Reyes was passed over for Miguel Tejada? The Astros had a representative already with Berkman and bypassing Reyes (fourth overall fantasy hitter) meant Billy Wagner (21st-best fantasy pitcher) had the be the Mets' representative.

Here's the comparison between Reyes and Tejada:

Reyes Tejada
AVG
.299
.280
OBP
.360
.323
SLG
.485
.436
Runs
66
59
HR
9
10
RBI
38
44
SB
32
7

Tejada has been better in the field this year than Reyes, a statement I'd never imagine making at any point in their careers. But is that difference enough to make up for the huge offensive edge that Reyes enjoys?

Reyes got off to a poor start in April, but has been on fire since the first month of the season. Meanwhile, Tejada's numbers are being inflated by the Juice Box. Here are his home/road splits this season:

Home - .312/.346/.486
Road - .250/.301/.389

So, in neutral road parks Tejada has posted a robust .690 OPS this season.

And to top it all off, Tejada was one of the players named in the Mitchell Report. On one hand we have Jose Reyes, one of the up-and-coming stars of the game enjoying a superior offensive season and on the other we have Miguel Tejada, an older player in a smaller market with the stench of steroid allegations.

Which one is the better choice again?