In the Name of Self-Promotion

It's a little late as I sit here unwinding after a late shift, so I've got nothing original for the day. What I think I'll do instead is link to my labor of love from today - an argument against the continued existence of the Home Run Derby.

That said, below are two quick things that I wanted to address in the article, but cut either because of length or flow considerations.

1) For those who would say that the goal of the Derby is not to bring together the biggest stars, but rather the leading home run hitters that year, fine - I'll concede that point. But then you'd have to explain to me why, in the past five years, only 18 of the top 40 home run hitters (the top four from each league each year) participated. That's 45 percent, for those keeping score at home. If you're going to emphasize bringing together the leading home run hitters at the time (which would be an acceptable justification for the Brandon Inge fiasco), then you'd best be able to deliver the top four from each league. Or something very, very close. No more taking players who are as low as 27th in their league in homers, as happened with Hanley Ramirez in 2010. In fact, in each of the past five years, at least one player who ranks 20th or worse in their respective league has participated in the Derby - Matt Holliday was tied for 20th in 2011, the aforementioned Ramirez was tied for 27th, Joe Mauer was tied for 24th in 2009, Justin Morneau was tied for 21st in 2008, and Magglio Ordonez was tied for 25th in 2007.

2) In some sense, the Derby is the hitting equivalent of a fastest pitch competition. If Stephen Strasburg (who decimated the Sox lineup tonight), Justin Verlander, Aroldis Chapman and oh, I don't know, let's say David Price - if they all trotted out to the mound on All-Star Monday and were told to unleash holy hell from their right/left arms over 10 pitches to see who could throw the fastest average pitch, we'd probably all think this was a terrible idea. Entertaining? Hugely. Smart health-wise? Not at all. You'd likely have an elbow blown out, a rotator cuff torn, or - if you're Joel Zumaya - an arm broken before long. And nobody wants that, least of all the guys who'd be participating. While the Derby presents no immediate injury risk that severe, it's the same basic concept - guys pushing themselves to get to the limit of what is possible for their respective craft, but through means that are/toward a result that is counterproductive to their in-game performance.