Announcing the FanSided AL Central All-Stars (Part 1)

After a week of discussion among FanSided’s AL Central bloggers and a few days of voting by readers, the offensive lineup of the All-AL Central team has been decided.

The participants (including myself):

• Southside Showdown (represented by John Parent)
• Deep Left Field (represented by Steve Kubitza)
• Motor City Bengals (represented by Zac Snyder)
• Puckett’s Pond (represented by Wally Fish)

Three players were unanimous selections by the panel: Joe Mauer (catcher), Miguel Cabrera (first base) and Shin-Soo Choo (outfield).

Alexei Ramirez was a clear favorite at shortstop, winning on a 4-1 vote, with Deep Left Field the lone dissenter (Asdrubal Cabrera).

Most of the other positions were decided by the panel’s vote, including selecting Royals DH/1B Billy Butler as the squad’s DH representative.  Third base, however, finished with a 3-2 vote for Danny Valencia of the Twins. over Brandon Inge of the Tigers  It wasn’t a slam dunk choice and as we discussed, we decided to put it to a reader vote.

The results are in and the fans have backed up our initial vote: Danny Valencia is our third baseman by a 79-65 margin over Brandon Inge.

The full lineup:

• C – Joe Mauer
• 1B – Miguel Cabrera
• 2B – Gordon Beckham
• SS – Alexei Ramirez
• 3B – Danny Valencia
• OF – Shin-Soo Choo
• OF – Delmon Young
• OF – Alex Rios
• DH – Billy Butler

The next step will be to determine a pitching rotation along with selecting a setup man and a closer.  Those results will come next week.

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