Early tallies are out for the National League All-Star voting, and it shouldn’t be any surprise that Joey Votto is at the top of the heap. Even if there weren’t a sudden vacuum of first basemen in the NL, Votto blow ’em all out of the water anyway.

Brandon Phillips, though also obviously the best in the NL at his position, is behind Dan Uggla. Surely we can do something about that. Jay Bruce has the disadvantage of being lumped in the all-encompassing “outfield” category, but he still ought to be higher than ninth.

Add your voice! You can vote up to 25 times per email address by going to the MLB website. And don’t forget to stuff the ballot boxes when you go to the park.

Tallies as of June 5, 2012:

FIRST BASE

• Joey Votto, Reds: 1,314,516
• Lance Berkman, Cardinals: 634,473
• Freddie Freeman, Braves: 576,255
• Bryan LaHair, Cubs: 391,497
• Adam LaRoche, Nationals: 331,772

SECOND BASE

• Dan Uggla, Braves: 872,136
• Brandon Phillips, Reds: 586,835
• Omar Infante, Marlins: 512,049
• Rickie Weeks, Brewers: 512,021
• Jose Altuve, Astros: 472,292

OUTFIELDERS

• Matt Kemp, Dodgers: 1,952,910
• Carlos Beltran, Cardinals: 1,212,030
• Ryan Braun, Brewers: 1,112,971
• Andre Ethier, Dodgers: 827,262
• Melky Cabrera, Giants: 714,642
• Matt Holliday, Cardinals: 667,544
• Jason Heyward, Braves: 515,340
• Michael Bourn, Braves: 498,070
• Jay Bruce, Reds: 460,853
• Andrew McCutchen, Pirates: 457,223
• Hunter Pence, Phillies: 446,460
• Corey Hart, Brewers: 417,929
• Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies: 386,860
• Jon Jay, Cardinals: 373,833
• Shane Victorino, Phillies: 373,034

To see the tallies for the other positions, you can go to this story on MLB.com and scroll all the way to the bottom.

With two weeks remaining of All-Star voting, only he of the spectacular plays and active Twitter life, Brandon Phillips is leading the voting in his position. Now, while Phillips is all manner of spectacular, but this line-up ought to be loaded with deserving Reds starters. Consider Joey Votto; consider Jay Bruce; hell, consider Paul Janish. Credit where credit is due.

Of course, there is the part of me that wants Pujols to win to drive up his price for whatever sucker team signs him next season, especially since that will probably be the Cardinals.

But that’s consolation prize talk. There are still 2 weeks of voting to send our boys to the game properly. So get out there and vote! Your 25 ballots per email address do make a difference.

The MLB.com headline is “Reds reward MVP Votto with three-year deal.” Apparently the folks at MLB forgot that, though Votto sometimes plays like a seasoned veteran, due to the free agency rules, Votto was going to be in Cincinnati for the next three years regardless.

The only question left was how much he was going to make for those years, and that question has been answered:

The Reds on Sunday agreed to terms on a three-year, $38 million contract with first baseman and National League Most Valuable Player Joey Votto, baseball sources told MLB.com.

There is surely more analysis to come, such as whether the Reds or Votto got a bargain (the Red Hot Household is split on the issue) and whether the length of the deal is adequate (everyone but Votto probably would have liked another year).

On this, the day we’re all expecting Joey Votto to be announced as the recipient of the National League Most Valuable Player award, MLB wants you to know that there’s another award up for grabs. The 2010 This Year in Baseball Awards has Votto up for best hitter.

I would link to or quote a description of the awards, but it’s a huge mess of unlinkable Flash. You can go here to vote for Votto, though.

A nice Halloween treat for all Reds fans out there:

October 31, 2010 – Joey Votto has been named the National League’s winner of the 2010 Hank Aaron Award, awarded annually to the best overall offensive performer in each league.

The Hank Aaron Award was introduced in 1999 to honor the 25th Anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record, and, at that time, was the first major award introduced by Major League Baseball in more than 25 years.