2007 MLB All-Star Snubs

Major League Baseball with host its 78th All-Star Game on July 10th at beautiful AT&T Park in San Francisco. With the fans doing a decent job of picking the starters for the first time in recent memory, that left it up to the players and coaches to fill out the remaining roster spots with worthy participants. Unfortunately, they dropped the ball. Here is a list of this year's all-star snubs:

Gary Sheffield, DH, Detroit Tigers

Sure, Sheff got off to a slow start in April, but he's been hitting the cover off the ball ever since, hitting .328 with 16 home runs since May 1st. More importantly, a trip to such a free-spirited city like San Francisco would be the perfect opportunity for Sheffield to give us his insightful views on everything from his severed relationship with Barry Bonds to the extra "friendly" population in the Bay Area.

Sammy Sosa, DH, Texas Rangers

Slammin' Sammy slugged his way out of baseball after his lackluster performance with the Orioles in 2005. Not even this photo photo could save his reputation as a ferocious power hitter. Fast forward to 2007 and Mr. Sosa "worked really hard" to shed a bunch of weight and is on pace to drive in 120 runs while being the lone bright spot for the otherwise struggling Texas Rangers. It almost makes you forget his corked bat; or the time he forgot how to speak English on his way to meet with Congress; or when he left his last game as a Cub early in some form of protest and later lied about it despite the fact that security cameras verified he left early. Almost.

Mike Hargrove, Manager, Seattle Mariners

The "human rain-delay" raised more than a few eyebrows on Sunday when he resigned as manager of the Mariners despite the fact that his team had won seven in a row and pulled to within one game of the AL wildcard. Hargrove cited the fact that he had lost his passion for the game as his reason for leaving the team. Personally, I blame Jim Leyland. Had he invited Hargrove to be a coach for the AL squad, he could have watched such notorious 110% guys like David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez patrol the AT&T grounds for his team and it surely would have renewed his zeal for the game.

Barry Bonds, LF, San Francisco Giants

I know, I know. Bonds did make the team via the fan vote. I know, his OBP is over .500 and he is actually performing well despite the fact that he is old. And I know that the game is in the only place in the country that Bonds isn't despised, so it's best that he get to make the tip-of-the-cap start in his own backyard. However, Major League Baseball's marketing department must be fuming at the fact that Bonds made the team. Not because of the giant steroid cloud/media circus that surrounds him, but because of the fact that since he is playing they don't get the free publicity for the next week on talk shows across the country arguing whether or not baseball was sending him a message by not putting him on the team. As it turns out, this non-snub could be the biggest snub of all for Major League Baseball. Let's just move on.

Jon Miller, Announcer, ESPN

Since the game will be broadcast on FOX again this year, we are stuck with the overall smugness of Joe Buck instead of having the honor of Jon Miller saying the names of the seven Latin-born players that will be starting in this year's game. But at least Tim McCarver will be there to add nothing at all. The FOX Baseball announcing crew is one of the worst crews in recent memory.

Daisuke Matsuzaka, P, Boston Red Sox

It's too bad for Dice-K that that fans can't vote for pitchers, too. If that was the case he would have been a lock to take a trip to San Fran. After all, March was only a few short months ago when the anointing oils came out after he reported to Sox camp and threw a few no-hit innings in spring training. Everyone who predicted dominance would have been forced to instead vote him in based on over-averageness, saving them from admitting that they bought into the hype machine that surrounded his arrival.

Craig Biggio/Frank Thomas, 3,000 Hit Club/500 Home Run Club

Not that Bud Selig would have any reason to want to embarrass Bonds, but if he did, this is probably a good way to freeze out his nemesis. He could make these two milestone-reachers honorary all-stars for their respective leagues and have a special moment before the game courtesy of Major League Baseball to recognize their achievements. Then Selig could provide little to no fanfare when Bonds passes Aaron later this year and infuriate Bonds. If Big Mac and Sosa allegedly set him off the first time, imagine what he'd tell Griffey this week knowing that these two guys were going to steal his thunder. If Selig can get him to snap now, he still has time to kick him out of baseball before he breaks Aaron's record, thus completing his life's work.

Anthony Reyes, P, St. Louis Cardinals

You may remember Reyes last season going 2-0 in the playoffs with a 3.00 ERA after going 5-8 with a 5.06 ERA in the regular season, capped off by an 8-inning, 4-hit outing in Game 1 of the World Series in Detroit. Unfortunately for Reyes, he has lost his last 12 consecutive starts for the Cardinals, tying a record that had stood for 110 years. Instead of sending his troubled young pitcher down to triple-A, LaRussa should have used his manager's pick to make his starter an all-star. He is clearly a big game pitcher he could use late in the game to get out one of the four Tigers hitters he might face. He had no trouble last October getting them out. LaRussa needs to remember: this time, it counts!