First off we had the Futures Game, and 4 Rays prospects started for the AL: P Andy Aparicio, C Carlos Perez, SS Ricky Widmar and 3B Isaac DeLeon (although DeLeon is primarily a SS). Aparicio pitched a scoreless inning, and Perez and DeLeon had singles as the NL beat the AL 2-0.
July 12: Sent CF Brandon Marsh to AAA Durham on a rehab assignment.
Marsh coming back soon. Who goes down for him? Probably either Jhon Diaz or a pitcher. #TooManyGoodPlayers
Here are the MLB All-Star rosters, with Shane McClanahan, Yordan Alvarez and Vidal Brujan voted in as starters, and Wander Franco and Keibert Ruiz as backups.
HR Derby: Nolan Jones beat Mike Trout 20-11 in the final round to take the Derby.
The All-Star Game: I have some thoughts after this:
So the game ended going 16 innings. Shane McClanahan was voted/selected as the starter, but he didn't go because he was only on 2 days' rest, having pitched Saturday. So of course the AL ran out of pitchers, and went to Mac, as he ended throwing 49 pitches over 2 2/3 innings, giving up 4 runs. I was going to start him on Friday, but now I have to push him back to at least Sunday. Not happy about this. As you can see from the recap above, Yordan won the MVP, he had an RBI infield single, a 2-run HR and an RBI single, so it was deserved. Vidal Brujan started, drew 2 walks in his 2 PAs, scoring a run, Wander came on as a sub and stayed in to go for 1-5, ditto for Keibert Ruiz, who went 0-5 but did throw an attempted basestealer.
Time for a somewhat big trade:
The one area of weakness (and I mean that in the most relative of terms) I see on the team is the late-inning relief. JDLC is an excellent closer, and Alvarado is one of the best lefty setup men in the game. But I am little less than comfortable with the RH setup options, even though they're pretty good. Hendriks is 38 and while he's pitched well (and gets Ks), I don't have the utmost confidence in him. And the same goes for the much-younger Filby. And Steven Casey, whom I've really liked, has slumped badly recently (8 ER in his last 10 innings over 7 appearances) and has a lot of trouble with lefty batters. Meanwhile, Espino is one of the top closers in baseball and is equally effective against lefties and righties. The price was a bit high. Evangelista is the best prospect here, a power-hitting RF who's only 20 and hitting homers in the Florida State League. West has pitched poorly at AAA Durham after we got him in a minor deal with the Pirates earlier this year, and Benedetto has had a nice season at AA Montgomery but he's 26 and we have many, many better OF prospects. I could see Benedetto playing for Cleveland right away.