Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time today to do this right, but I had so much fun putting together my AL roster last night, I couldn’t resist trying to do a rapid-fire NL roster. Here goes . . .

Starters voted in by fans:

1B – Albert Pujols
2B – Chase Utley
SS – Jose Reyes
3B – David Wright
C – Paul Lo Duca
RF – Jason Bay
CF – Carlos Beltran
OF – Alfonso Soriano

Okay, first thing’s first. Reyes has opted out due to being spiked on the hand. The replacement chosen was Edgar Renteria. I’m down with that. Throw in Miguel Cabrera beind Wright at third and we have a rep from every NL East team as well as a member of the home-town and NL-worst Pirates.

Moving up in the standings we need a Cub. Michael Barrett was in the mix for catcher, so let’s take him. Lance Berkman is tenth in the majors in VORP, so he’s our Astro. Chris Capuano is the Milwaukee VORP leader, our Brewers rep and first pitcher. Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks pulls the same trick. The Giants similarly give us Jason Schmidt. I voted for Matt Holliday to start over Soriano in the outfield, so I’ll take him as my Colorado rep. Bronson Arroyo is far and away the Reds’ VORP leader. I’m suspicious of his success, but his .282 BIPA seems legit, so he joins the pitching staff. Brad Penny and Nomahhh have equal claims to the Dodgers spot. Since I have two first basemen already, I’ll hold off on this one to see whose name pops up first when I go by position. The Padres give us Chris Young, which is fun for me because he’s a guy I had pegged for a big season this winter.

So our current roster:

1B – Albert Pujols
2B – Chase Utley
SS – Edgar Renteria
3B – David Wright
C – Paul Lo Duca
RF – Jason Bay
CF – Carlos Beltran
OF – Alfonso Soriano

1B – Lance Berkman
3B – Miguel Cabrera
C – Michael Barrett
OF – Matt Holliday
SP – Brandon Webb
SP – Jason Schmidt
SP – Chris Capuano
SP – Chris Young
SP – Bronson Arroyo

DL – Jose Reyes

Filling in backups where we need them, Dan Uggla is the easy second base choice. At shortstop, Omar Vizquel has closed in on Bill Hall, I’ll go with Omar’s marquee name and superior speed and defense given their essentially identical VORPs. In the outfield Carlos Lee and Bobby Abreu are next in line. I’m also going to add third catcher Brian McCann, because he was my starting pick and I have three AL catchers.

Penny and Garciaparra are the highest unchosen pitcher and position player in the NL according to VORP, so I’m taking them both and now I have a man from every team. That brings me to 24 men. I have room for eight more.

I have six starting pitchers already, but no relievers. I took five in the AL. Again I’m looking at VORP and WXRL–the latter of which I failed to point out in my previous post accounts for the quality of hitters faced as well as comparing to replacement level, making those call letters a bit more logical (Win eXpectation adjusted for Replacement and Lineup . . . or something like that). The AL dominates, WXRL (perhaps because of the lineup adjustment that would penalize NL relievers for facing pitchers or pinch hitters). Sorting out the ALers, Trevor Hoffman and Dodgers rookie Takashi Saito are the two most obvious choices. Tom Gordon is next, followed by Scott Linebrink. I’d be pushing it after that, so I won’t. Sticking with four relievers, giving me room for two more starters, Carlos Zambrano and Roy Oswalt.

Two spots left. Who are the neglected hitters? Nick the Stick and Scott Rolen. In the AL I declined to take a fourth first baseman (Giambi), opting instead for a middle infielder because Carlos Guillen was there to be had. Here, that player would be the Pirates’ Freddy Sanchez, but he’s a third baseman like Rolen, and skipping Nick for Freddy would give me four at the hot corner. That the game is in Pittsburgh might convince me to chose Sanchez over Rolen were it not for the fact that Rolen not only has the better numbers, but he’s Scott Rolen and the other guy is Freddy Sanchez. Meanwhile, Nomar can play short in an emergency.

So my final roster:

1B – Albert Pujols (StL)
2B – Chase Utley (Phi)
SS – Edgar Renteria (Atl)
3B – David Wright (NYM)
C – Paul Lo Duca (NYM)
RF – Jason Bay (Pit)
CF – Carlos Beltran (NYM)
OF – Alfonso Soriano (Was)

1B – Lance Berkman (Hou)
1B – Nomar Garciaparra (LA)
1B – Nick Johnson (Was)
2B – Dan Uggla (Fla)
SS – Omar Vizquel (SF)
3B – Miguel Cabrera (Fla)
C – Brian McCann (Atl)
C – Michael Barrett (Chi)
OF – Matt Holliday (Col)
OF – Carlos Lee (Mil)
OF – Bobby Abreu (Phi)

SP – Brandon Webb (Ari)
SP – Jason Schmidt (SF)
SP – Chris Capuano (Mil)
SP – Brad Penny (LA)
SP – Chris Young (SD)
SP – Bronson Arroyo (Cin)
SP – Carlos Zambrano (Chi)
SP – Roy Oswalt (Hou)
RP – Trevor Hoffman (SD)
RP – Takashi Saito (LA)
RP – Tom Gordon (Phi)
RP – Scott Linebrink (SD)

DL – Jose Reyes (NYM)

Comparing that to the actual roster we agree on Berkman, Garciaparra (via final vote), Uggla, Renteria (replacing the injured Reyes as starter), Cabrera, Rolen, Holliday, Lee, McCann, Arroyo, Capuano, Gordon, Hoffman, Oswalt (who replaced the injured Tom Glavine), Penny, Schmidt, Webb and Zambrano.

The players elected Ryan Howard over Nick the Stick and Andruw Jones over Bobby Abreu. Phil Garner went with four third basemen, choosing Sanchez over third catcher Michael Barrett. Realizing that I have Zambrano to represent the Cubs, I’m actually fine with that, especially as it gets a second hometown player in the game. Unfortunately the man chose to replace Reyes on the roster was not Vizquel but David Eckstein. Still and all, there are no real outrages on hitting side of the NL roster.

I can’t really even complain that much about the pitchers. The players elected Chris Carpenter, Tom Glavine and Pedro Martinez, but both Mets opted out due to injury, clearing the way for successful replacements Oswalt and Capuano. As for Carpenter, he actually is more deserving than Chris Young, and since I have two Padre relievers, I’m willing to make that correction to my roster (though I’m sticking with Barrett over Sanchez for logistical reasons–I’d rather have a third catcher than a fourth third-baseman). The players also voted in Derrick Turnbow, but since my alternates Linebrink and Saito, I can’t say they really blew it there. The only choice I didn’t understand was Garner choosing Brian Fuentes despite already having Holliday to represent the Rockies. Still, with Linebrink and Saito as my prefered options, I can’t complain that much, though Linebrink did pitch like an All-Star last year as well.