Red Sox: Should Dustin Pedroia win the Final Vote?

Breaking down the candidates on the Final Vote ballot to determine if a Red Sox player will claim the final American League All-Star roster spot.

The rosters are almost set for the 2016 MLB All-Star Game, but before the most talented players in the game take the field in San Diego on Tuesday, we still need to add one more player to each squad.

This is where the MLB Final Vote comes in, where fans get to select from a list of five candidates in each league to determine who gets the last roster spot. Fans can vote on MLB.com, by texting from their phones or even on Twitter.

Great, so now that we know how to vote, who are we going to vote for?

The Boston Red Sox are in full campaign mode for veteran second baseman Dustin Pedroia. While this may seem like shameless promotion fueling a popularity contest, that’s essentially what the Final Vote is. MLB wants the Midsummer Classic to be for the fans, so involving them in the process is one way to do that. This is why every team with a player on the ballot, not just the Red Sox, is trying to drive fans to cast their votes.

But what if the decision weren’t based on which fan base manages to stuff the ballot with the most votes? Stay with me here, because this may sound a bit unorthodox, but what if the Final Vote was awarded to the player that deserves to be an All-Star most based on what they have produced on the field?

Rather than predict how fans are going to vote, let’s break down each candidate to list in descending order which players are most worthy of being an All-Star this season.

Next: Michael Saunders