Cristopher Sánchez passed over again as MLB fails to acknowledge that All-Star selection actually matters

A few days ago, we made our best effort at trying to explain why the Phillies’ three biggest All-Star snubs were indeed All-Star snubs.

The toughest snub defense was Cristopher Sánchez. But even in his case, there were ways to spin it — bad, insufficient ways, certainly — but ways to squint and tell yourself that all nine starting pitchers (not counting “Legend Pick” Clayton Kershaw) initially selected to the National League All-Star team deserved it over Sánchez. Even if the only reason was strikeouts, as was the case with MacKenzie Gore.

Sánchez’s latest All-Star Game snubber leaves no room for debate.

That would be the Mets’ David Peterson, the second NL pitcher added (after the Reds’ Andrew Abbott) as a replacement. Peterson, who has outperformed Sánchez in very little, was named as a substitute on Thursday for Robbie Ray.

Sánchez has been better in ERA. Strikeout rate. Walk rate. ERA+. Opponent average. Average exit velocity. Opponent on-base. Hard-hit rate. Opponent slugging. bWAR. fWAR. WAR per million. Hell, wins. Hell, losses.

The two are tied in starts and home runs allowed. Peterson has thrown 1 1/3 more innings than Sánchez and, unlike Philadelphia’s left-hander, has a complete-game shutout under his belt.

The reason Sánchez got passed over for Peterson is entirely unrelated to performance and — evidently — entirely related to timing. And it only underscores the absurdity of the All-Star selection process, especially considering how much it apparently seems to matter.

Sánchez is scheduled to start for the Phillies on Sunday, meaning he’d need a replacement for Tuesday because he wouldn’t participate in the Midsummer Classic on one day of rest.

MLB should not care.

There are many things wrong with the way All-Star selection is conducted. Among them are the inconsistencies between what the league deems All-Star worthy and who the league makes eligible in the fan voting process (as discussed here in the case of Ranger Suárez and Ronald Acuña Jr.), the entire existence of fan voting itself, and the bonkers idea that every team absolutely needs to have an All-Star representative, even if that team is bad and has 26 players who are not good.

But the biggest flaw, the reason why all these flaws are bothersome in the first place, is that — for better or for worse — All-Star status actually matters.

Every deliberation season, All-Star tallies become a go-to argument in support of (or opposition to) a given bubble player’s Hall of Fame case. All-Stars are awarded $25,000 if their league wins, per Forbes. And, perhaps most importantly, All-Star status is often used as contract escalators: No one is crying about Juan Soto missing out on a bonus this year due to his snub, but the $100,000 he would’ve cashed at least shines a light on the amounts those bonuses can reach. A better example: Matt Strahm, whose contract then was worth 1.96% of Soto’s current one, earned $50,000 for his selection last year.

Per the publicly available information about Sánchez’s contract escalators — and there is plenty — he doesn’t have any All-Star bonus at stake.

But it would be icky at best (and the MLB Players Association would certainly like a word) if the league factored that information into its selection process at all. Escalators shouldn’t change MLB’s All-Star roster construction. Escalators should simply make the league take the thing seriously. 

The over-the-top nature of how much All-Star selection tangibly impacts players’ careers and legacies is not entirely MLB’s fault. It’s not the league’s fault that the Baseball Writers’ Association of America or the various Era Committees value this mid-July popularity contest to the degree that they do. The league isn’t responsible for the specific contract language that enables some, but not all, of its players to reap financial benefits by throwing one pitch (or zero!) or taking one at-bat (or zero!) in a midseason exhibition game.

But it’s the reality of the situation. Those things matter. It would be nice if the league acted accordingly.