There’s a lot of sentiment around the organization that Chris Sale shouldn’t be the only pitcher who represents the White Sox in Tuesday’s All-Star Game.
It’s not that they’re shocked at the outcome. But teammates, coaches and the play-by-play man all expressed disappointment Wednesday when Jose Quintana was left off the American League All-Star roster. Even though he’s among AL leaders in several prominent pitching categories, Quintana was denied his first All-Star bid yet again. Quintana’s exclusion would seem to be largely based upon his losing record, which is largely dependent upon his run support (Quintana is tied for 136th out of 140 qualified starters with a 2.9 run-support average).
“The really tough thing about All-Star Games is there are a lot of deserving people,” announcer Jason Benetti said. “My only concern with how its being chosen at points is that you might look beyond some more important numbers for certain guys."
“You’ve got to win games. You have to win games for your team. That’s the point of baseball. You don’t get into the playoffs because of your (Fielding Independent Pitching). However, if you’re not winning games, it shouldn’t be to the exclusion of your award winning. It just shouldn’t be.”
They don’t know for sure, but the White Sox believe Quintana’s 6-8 record is a significant factor for being left off the AL roster.
How else could you explain it?
Not only does Quintana lead all AL pitchers with 3.2 Wins Above Replacement, he’s second in FIP (3.21), eighth in earned-run average (3.06) and fifth in homers per nine innings (0.73).
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Still, White Sox manager Robin Ventura didn’t seem overly surprised Quintana wouldn’t make the trip to San Diego.
"You know, you look at him and we understand we value him as high as anybody just because we see him every day and know how good he is,” Ventura said. “I think win-loss record is going to end up hurting him. But, you know, we understand how good he is. He's up there with anybody else, as well, to be able to go to the All-Star Game."
Sale — who could very well be the AL’s starting pitcher — said he’s surprised Quintana wasn’t included. Wins aside, Sale, a five-time All-Star, doesn’t see much difference between himself and his teammate.
“If you compare him and I and put our numbers back to back, you would probably have a hard time figuring out who is who honestly — other than wins and losses,” Sale said. “Those are things you really can’t control. There’s not a doubt in my mind he’ll be there one day. I thought this year was the year. He’s as good as anybody.”
As Benetti pointed out, there are always plenty of deserving candidates.
Though the AL roster includes 14 pitchers, only five are starters. The others to get the nod over Quintana include Texas’ Cole Hamels, Toronto’s Marco Estrada, Cleveland’s Danny Salazar and Boston’s Steven Wright. Manager Ned Yost brought nine relievers, though Kansas City closer Wade Davis is on the disabled list.
But you could make an argument that Quintana has put together a better season than any of the other starters on the list.
“There are other metrics that say Jose Quintana is one of the top pitchers in Major League Baseball and that would be the thing that concerns me about him not going,” Benetti said. “If it’s based on other criteria, fantastic.”