Felix Hernandez: All-Star

Rosters for the 2012 MLB All-Star Game were just announced this morning, or this afternoon if you live wrong. Every team still needs a representative, even the Padres, and what that means is that the Mariners get a representative, too. Somehow, the committee overlooked the Mariners' selection of position players and landed on Felix Hernandez, who was also an All-Star in 2009 and 2011. Of the last four years, the one year in which Felix was not an All-Star was the one year he won the Cy Young Award. Okay!

There was some thought that Tom Wilhelmsen could represent the Mariners, or even that Charlie Furbush could represent the Mariners. Back when he had that unblemished ERA, I even saw speculation that Lucas Luetge could represent the Mariners, and nothing against Lucas Luetge but that might have been the saddest thing. Wilhelmsen and Furbush have been outstandingly good, but I can't see any argument with the Felix pick. The way I figure, he's Felix Hernandez. Who is the most All-Star Mariner? It's Felix Hernandez. Has been for years. Wilhelmsen and Furbush have been terrific, but if the ASG is about talent and popularity, there's no contest and now I'm deep into my second paragraph about the 2012 MLB All-Star Game.

The game will be played in Kauffman Field, and I wish I could still make the joke that Kauffman will be representing the Royals. Instead the best I can do is allude to that joke. Among qualified AL starting pitchers, Felix ranks seventh in ERA, fourth in FIP, and fourth in xFIP. He's third in innings, and he's fourth in strikeout rate. His strikeout rate is a tenth of a percentage point higher than Justin Verlander's! He seems like a good player to be better than in strikeout rate.

Felix, All-Star, yay. Ichiro hasn't been an All-Star since 2010. Feels weird, and absolutely appropriate. In 2004, Ichiro had 262 hits. Since the start of 2011, Ichiro has 273 hits. Ichiro has gotten worse, is what I'm saying.