All-Star Break 2009

Despite the fact that Joe Mauer started the season on the disabled list, Jon Pauley took a calculated gamble and chose him to lead the AL in batting average. That unique pick is one of the main reasons he's tied for the pool lead at the All-Star break. This, of course, is not meant to undervalue the fact that co-leader Tony Wight is the only one to select Albert Pujols for NL runs.



In a year in which we share so many picks in common, it would seem likely that unique picks are what's going to make the difference. So, I thought I would use this All-Star break update to take a look at the unique picks that have the best chances to pay dividends. First of all, in addition to Pauley's selection of Mauer for AL batting average and Wight's choice of Pujols for NL runs, the following unique picks are currently leading their respective categories:

Carlos Pena - AL HR (Gert Quigley)
Josh Beckett - AL Wins (Will Rice)

Not surprisingly, both Rice and Quigley are currently in the top ten of the pool's standings. Beyond these four, though, there are quite a few unique picks that still have pretty good potential to pay off. These are (in no particular order):

Justin Morneau - AL HR (Frank Gatland)
Evan Longoria - AL RBI (Tim Farrell)
Brian Roberts - AL Runs (Harvey Hawkins)
David Wright - NL BA (Amy Gill)
Roy Oswalt - NL IP (Frank Gatland)
Chad Billingsley - NL Wins (Amy Gill)
Dan Haren - NL Wins (Jim Kushner)
Chris Carpenter - NL ERA (Ali Armstrong)
Javier Vazquez - NL SO (Will Rice)
Francisco Cordero - NL Saves (Tony Williams)

Of course, it would be an oversimplification to assume that unique picks are the only way to win this thing, but hopefully this shows that it's still just about anybody's contest to win, and gives a few more people a little optimism that they otherwise might not have.