Rotohelp's Complete 2002 NL All-Star roster is listed at the bottom of the article. I plan to spend today's column discussing our AL selections and tomorrow discussing our NL choices. The starting lineup represents the players for whom we voted in the balloting.

Our votes and selections were based on a number of criteria, but primarily we focused on selecting the players who are performing best this season. While we haven't made excuses for players with injuries, we did not discount anyone simply because they might decline the honor and need to be replaced. We feel that those deserving of an All-Star berth should be named to the team, even if they are in a full body cast or on crutches like Jason Kendall in 1999. They can easily be replaced after their accomplishments have been recognized. Players with an asterisks on the below roster are those that we feel might choose not to play the game.

We also believe that every team deserves representation. Managers should also make certain to get everyone in the game except maybe one or two pitchers (at least one starter needs to be available should the game go deep into extra innings), even at the potential expense of losing this exhibition. This game is for all the fans, and watching for your home team player to get in the game and make his fans proud is a part of the contest. How else will kids convince their parents to let them stay up to watch Lee Smith pitch through the 12th inning?

As Tim briefly discussed in yesterday's Fantasy Rx, we select players by first using objective criteria like park-neutral statistics, and then narrow the list with traditional quantitative statistics before insuring all teams are represented. We relied upon the stats Baseball Prospectus to select most of our roster.

MLB added another level of voting to last year's game, allowing fans to select the 30th player from a list of five for each league provided by the All-Star Managers after the rest of the players have been named. In response to last year's tie, MLB expanded rosters to 32 this season, so the 32nd man will now be determined in this manner. We've included our five player lists below and bolded the player we think the fans will vote on the team.

Rotohelp's 2002 National League All-Stars

Starting Lineup:
1B - Todd Helton, COL
2B - Jose Vidro, MON
SS - Edgar Renteria, STL
3B - Mike Lowell, FLO
C - Javy Lopez, ATL
OF - Barry Bonds, SF
OF - Jim Edmonds, STL
OF - Albert Pujols, STL

Bench:
Richie Sexson, 1B, MIL
Mark Loretta, 2B, SD
Rafael Furcal, SS, ATL
Alex Gonzalez, SS, FLO
Scott Rolen, 3B, STL
Paul LoDuca, C, FLO
Cliff Floyd, OF, NYM
Brian Giles, OF, PIT
Luis Gonzalez, OF, ARI
Jose Guillen, OF, CIN
Gary Sheffield, OF, ATL

Candidates for 30th Roster Spot Vote:
Orlando Cabrera, SS, MON
Ray Durham, 2B, SF
Marcus Giles, 2B, ATL
Andruw Jones, OF, ATL
Chipper Jones, OF, ATL

Pitchers:
Kevin Brown, LA
Jason Schmidt, SF
Hideo Nomo, LA
Kerry Wood, CHC
Woody Williams, STL
Brandon Webb, ARI
Mark Prior, CHC
Randy Wolf, PHI
Shawn Chacon, COL
Eric Gagne, LA
John Smoltz, ATL
Billy Wagner, HOU

Alternate Pitchers:
Miguel Batista, ARI
Russ Ortiz, ATL
Dontrelle Willis, FLO