Justin Verlander...All-Star?

Justin Verlander was recently named to the 2013 American League All-Star Game roster. Why? There are two reasons.

Reason 1: His reputation.
Justin Verlander (probably correctly) is considered by many to be the best pitcher in baseball. It's been a near-unanimous opinion since his MVP season two years ago.

Reason 2: Jim Leyland picked the players.
This is one of the many reasons why I hate the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

There are more reasons to NOT pick him, however.

Reason 1: What Dan Uggla is to All-Star hitters/fielders, Verlander is to pitchers.
The 2012 All-Star Game was a lame one, with virtually no suspense. Justin Verlander's first inning is a huge reason why. He gave up 5 runs (only one fewer than AL had hits for the game) and put his team out of contention, eventually screwing his own Detroit Tigers out of homefield advantage (though that didn't have any impact on the World Series).

Reason 2: He has a 1.36 WHIP
For those of you who don't know what a WHIP is, just know that not only is 1.36 not very good, it's actually kind of bad.

Reason 3: Other people deserved it.
I hate bringing up snubs because it's hard enough to pick players for this game, but when there's Hiroki Kuroda out there, with a .77 lower ERA and .33 lower WHIP, it's hard not to do this.

Verlander has a decent ERA, a mediocre WHIP, and a good amount of strikeouts. He's not All-Star material this year, especially with guys like Hirok out there.