Baseball All-Star rule changes

JHH passed along an article about four new rule changes that MLB has made for the 2010 edition of the game. Let's take a look:

The DH will be used in both AL and NL cities
I couldn't be more in favor of this rule. No one wants to see pitchers hit, even if the Tribe's Chuck Nagy did collect a hit wearing a Texas Rangers helmet one year. Considering that I think both leagues should have a DH for all games, I think this is progress.

Any starting pitcher who pitches the Sunday before isn't eligible to pitch and will be replaced on the roster
This is just ripe for fraud - what manager isn't going to try to pitch his guy on Sunday so he doesn't have to go in the All-Star Game? I don't see how anyone thinks this is going to help anything, though I suppose there's no harm in codifying it.

Rosters will be expanded from 33 players to 34 players, consisting of 21 position players and 13 pitchers.
Yeah, that's what I think every year after the game: if only each team had one more player. Yawn.

One positional player will be designated by each All-Star manager as eligible to return if a player at any position is injured.
It's amazing how we're still dealing with the fallout from the infamous All-Star tie, which was so long ago that I watched it at PHI Bar in Pittsburgh. This at least has the force of logic behind it, though I doubt it will ever come into play.


Congratulations on Fausto Carmona for being selected for a spot on the 2010 AL All-Star team! Hey, we had to send somebody, and he's our best starter.

I'm still not sold on the "every team has a representative" thing. The other sports don't have this, and it always leads to controversy and the exclusion of deserving players. Plus, it's not like fans of the token selection player get a lot out of it, because the mandatory picks tend to ride the pine most, if not all, of the game. I don't feel really strongly about this, and I can understand the flipside of the argument, but I'd prefer lifting this stipulation.

I also think they should totally change the way players are selected. No fan voting to pick starters, no league manager unilaterally picking reserves. The coaches, managers, and execs in the league should be polled and the best team assembled. Proponents of fan voting say that the game is "for the fans," which is mindless. I'm a fan, and I don't like the voting fraud (ballot stuffing, online voting) and poor choices (ladies and gentlemen, your 2010 New York Red Sox!). I want the best players to play.