There won’t be much New York in Seattle at the All-Star Game this year
The Mets and Yankees have the two largest payrolls in Major League Baseball, with over $600 million in player salaries, according to Spotrac. Luxury tax bills, due to be finalized later this year, will bring the combined number well above $700 million.
For all that money, the teams had selected a total of three players for this year’s All-Star Game roster, which was announced Sunday-evening. Pitcher Gerrit Cole and injured outfielder Aaron Judge will represent the Yankees at the game in Seattle on July 11. First baseman Pete Alonso will represent the Mets.
Last year, when both teams were thriving, they made 10 All-Star selections combined.
Standing 46-38 and currently in position for the American League’s third wild card spot in the playoffs, the Yankees have had at least one player appear in 90 of 92 All-Star Games since 1933. are held. due to injuries and rest, it remains an open question if they will have anyone compete in the competition this year.
Judge, who was selected as the starter for the AL, has 19 home runs but is limited to 49 games due to a toe injury that will keep him out indefinitely. Cole, who is having an excellent season with a 2.79 ERA, pitched on Sunday and will likely throw the next pitch on July 7, which would put him a day short of his regular halftime.
Despite the halftime problem, Cole spoke as if he intended to play in the game.
“One of these days I would really like to get on it,” Cole told reporters over the weekend. ‘I have to tick that off. I’m not sure how that will play out next week. I know there are a lot of deserving guys out there.”
His competition to start would include former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi, who is thriving for the Texas Rangers, and Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Angels two-way superstar who started for the AL last year.
For the Mets, who were a huge disappointment at 38-46 despite their record wages, Alonso is a reasonable choice as their lone representative. His batting average of .221 is the worst of his career, and he trails outfielder Brandon Nimmo and shortstop Francisco Lindor for the team’s lead in wins over replacement, but his 25 home runs are second in the National League to Atlanta’s Matt Olson Braves.
In addition, Alonso announced that he would compete in the Home Run Derby on July 11, an event he has dominated in the past. He won the derby in 2019 and 2021 and was a quarter-finalist last year. While formats change from year to year, making comparisons difficult, his 174 home runs in three games are the most combined home runs in the event’s history.
Manager Buck Showalter told reporters over the weekend that he thought the All-Star roster and participation in the Home Run Derby could help Alonso out of his recent slump.
“I hate to see good people beat themselves up,” Showalter said. “But I think it’s a good time to remind him how good he is as a player. I think he’s one of the frontrunners in bad luck, so to speak. Pete is as real as it gets.”
The Mets entered the season with World Series aspirations, but the team’s owner Steven A. Cohen acknowledged last week that they could be sellers at the trade deadline. To put some salt in that wound: Atlanta, which leads the Mets by 18.5 games in the NL East despite spending more than $100 million less on payroll than their league rival, will send an MLB-high eight players to the All-Star Send game.