Three Southsiders Named to All-Division Team
The polls have closed and the votes are in. The position players who have made the cut for FanSided’s All-AL Central team are as follows:
- C- Joe Mauer, MIN
- 1B- Miguel Cabrera, DET
- 2B- Gordon Beckham, CWS
- 3B- Danny Valencia, MIN
- SS- Alexei Ramirez, CWS
- OF- Shin-Soo Choo, CLE
- OF- Delmon Young, MIN
- OF- Alex Rios, CWS
- DH- Billy Butler, KC
The AL Central writers will spend the next week discussing the pitching staff. Each writer will submit a group of five starters and two relievers (set-up man and closer) and the winners will be announced next week. Once the rosters are set, our All-Central squad will square off against the other American League rosters via fan vote and the winning division will face the NL winner in a World Series of sorts after that.
I think it’s safe to assume that the White Sox will be well represented when it comes to the pitching staff, and although the names might not have been what we expected, the three hitters selected by the writers match the most of any divisional club. Ramirez was a run-away winner at shortstop, receiving four of the five votes cast. Rios also snagged four votes in getting the nod over Denard Span and Magglio Ordonez, and the writers showed confidence that Beckham will rebound from a disappointing sophomore season. Beckham took home three of the five votes, edging out Mike Aviles and Tsuyoshi Nishioka.
As always, we encourage you to use the comments to let us know what you think of the group so far, and feel free to state your case for the best five starters and two relievers in the division as well.