MTH - You know, I had a longer intro sentence that I edited out. If I were picking the all star team, I probably would have had Lowrie and Desmond as backups and not Castro, and maybe LaRoche instead of LaHair. That said, LaHair has abotu as good offensive rate stats as LaRoche. It is just his number of PAs and games that keep some totals low. Castro isn't a bad pick, it is just Lowrie is the best offensive SS and has been fine defenisively. I think that LaRussa engaged in his likes and dislikes on this one, disparages OBP, likes a guy who is more of an athlete, and has a grudge against anyone who smacks of a sabr-friendly approach to the game. Same guy who walked on on moneyball because he felt it disparaged scouts too much went with the guy who was the scouts wet dream against the college 2d baseman playing out of position, even at an all star level.
