With about a week left before All-Star balloting closes, Carlos Delgado leads all AL first basemen by a comfortable margin -- pleasantly surprising, to me at least. Barring late online ballot-stuffing by fickle Yankee fans in favour of Jason Giambi, Delgado will be the Jays' lone positional starter -- Vernon Wells is half a million votes out of first place in the outfield, and no other Jay is even on the horizon. Wells could well be added to the roster by Mike Scoiscia, and Roy Halladay is a lock to make the squad, possibly even to start -- but that will probably be all for Toronto at the Suddenly, This Time It Counts Game.

All-Star voting brings out the best kind of baseball arguments -- do you vote for your favourite player, or for the guy you think is actually best? Do you vote for a player based on his past performance, or on the half-season he's having now, or on a combination? Should the fans have the vote? (The best argument against that is in the NL, which if voting concluded today would have Marcus Giles, Rafael Furcal and Javy Lopez all starting the game.)

Personally, I think that the All-Star team should represent the best current players in the league at each position -- the guy you'd take first overall in a free-for-all one-season draft. And as my All-Star picks, just submitted online, will attest, that's exactly how I voted this year. Sort of.

AL

C Greg Myers
1B Carlos Delgado
2B Alfonso Soriano
SS Alex Rodriguez
3B Eric Chavez
OF Manny Ramirez
OF Magglio Ordonez
OF Vernon Wells
DH Edgar Martinez

NL

C Mike Lieberthal
1B Todd Helton
2B Jeff Kent
SS Edgar Renteria
3B Scott Rolen
OF Barry Bonds
OF Brian Giles
OF Lance Berkman

Okay, I clearly fell off the best-current-player wagon with Greg Myers. But he really is having a remarkable year, no other AL catcher is having an outstanding season or career, and I like to cast one vote for an underdog every year. Vernon in center is admittedly a stretch, but not a huge one: he's as good defensively as Hunter and Cameron and a better and more productive hitter than either. And I think 70+ RBIs in June should be worth a start in centerfield. Other than that, my AL picks are uncontroversial.

I found the NL choices much harder. Piazza is, I think, still the best catcher in the game (or at least, the best hitter currently behind the plate), but between his injuries and other struggles, plus Lieberthal's combo of fine career and season, I went with him. Shortstop was tough -- I really wanted to go with Orlando Cabrera -- but Renteria's numbers were just too strong. Mike Lowell is a good hitter having a great season, but Scott Rolen is a great player having another terrific season. As for the outfield -- well, there's so many to choose from, you can hardly go wrong. You could instead pick Sammy Sosa, Andruw Jones and Gary Sheffield and still have nowhere to put Shawn Green.

Anyway, the ballot has been cast, so it's beyond recall. Any disagreements with my choices?