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Gardner headed to All-Star Game as injury replacement for Alex Gordon

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(Presswire)
(Presswire)

Brett Gardner is an All-Star. MLB and the Yankees announced on Thursday that Gardner has been selected to the AL All-Star Team as an injury replacement for Alex Gordon. Gordon suffered a severe groin strain Wednesday night and will miss about eight weeks.

Gardner, 31, came into Thursday’s game hitting .298/.378/.478 (138 wRC+) with nine homers and 15 steals. He hit his tenth homer this afternoon and is now one of only seven players with 10+ homers and 15+ steals so far this season. And, of course, Gardner’s played awesome defense in both center and left fields.

This is the first All-Star selection for Gardner, who was New York’s third round pick in the 2005 draft. He was a walk-on at College of Charleston — Gardner was actually cut from the team at one point but kept showing up to practice — who is now a big league All-Star and will bank $60M+ in a career. Heck of a story.

Gardner had been one of five players on the AL Final Vote ballot along with Mike Moustakas, Yoenis Cespedes, Brian Dozier, and Xander Bogaerts. Royals fans stuffed the ballots for the All-Star Game starting lineups and it would have been damn near impossible for Gardner to beat Moustakas. Don’t have to worry about that now!

Gordon suffered a Grade II groin strain running down a ball in left field Wednesday. He was voted in as a starter in the fan vote, though Gardner won’t start the All-Star Game. Adam Jones will step into Gordon’s spot in the starting lineup since he was next up on the players’ ballot.

Believe it or not, Gardner is only the fifth position player drafted by the Yankees to represent the Yankees at the All-Star Game, joining Thurman Munson, Don Mattingly, Derek Jeter, and Jorge Posada. For real.

Gardner will join Mark Teixeira and Dellin Betances at the All-Star Game this year, which will be held in Cincinnati next Tuesday. Gardy!

A-Rod’s All-Star Game snub and the Greater Good

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(Presswire)
(Presswire)

For whatever reason MLB dragged the 2015 All-Star Game rosters announcement across two nights this year, with the starters announced Sunday and the rest of the rosters announced Monday. As expected, no Yankees were selected to start the game for the first time since 1998. All the fan voting updates made it clear that was going to happen.

The reserves announcement on Monday was a little more interesting because the Yankees had five players who were, at the very least, borderline All-Star Game candidates. Dellin Betances and Mark Teixeira were selected for the game, and Brett Gardner is one of five players on the Final Vote ballot (go vote!), but Brian McCann was not one of the two extra catchers selected. So it goes.

The other snub was Alex Rodriguez, who, on merit, belongs in Cincinnati for the All-Star Game. He’s hitting .284/.390/.513 (149 wRC+) with 16 home runs so far this year, and every single other healthy qualified hitter with at least an .890 OPS or a 142 wRC+ was selected to the Midsummer Classic. Not A-Rod though. The players didn’t vote him in and AL manager Ned Yost cited the desire for flexibility, as if he was building a roster for a postseason series and not a one-game exhibition. From Brendan Kuty:

“We talked about A-Rod a lot,” Yost said. “You look back at this five-man vote and we have three infielders, two outfielders, and we felt that it was important that we don’t — we have Brock Holt that can play anywhere in the infield, but any other position we have a starter and a backup. In the outfield we have three starters and three backups. So I just felt very strongly that if we could get another infielder or another outfielder out of that five-man vote it would help us. That’s what went in that decision.”

It’s no surprise the players didn’t vote Alex into the All-Star Game — he’s not exactly popular outside the Yankees clubhouse after his performance-enhancing drug issues and the fact that he, you know, sued the MLBPA last year, so I get it. Yost picked seven players for the roster according to Andy McCullough and opted for five pitchers plus Holt (token Red Sox player) and Russell Martin (third catcher), so he would have had to pick Alex over a pitcher.

Either way, Rodriguez is not going to the All-Star Game and that feels like a loss for everyone, including A-Rod himself. He said he hoped to be picked. MLB is going to miss the ratings boost because people watch this guy — his fans watch to see him mash taters and his haters watch to see him fail — and the AL team will miss having a huge right-handed bat off the bench late in the game. And spare me the PED moralization, Nelson Cruz and Jhonny Peralta were voted in as starters by the fans.

It’s disappointing Alex won’t be in the All-Star Game this year, he deserves to be there based on his performance, but it’s also for the best in the grand scheme of things. Remember, we are talking about a player with two surgically repaired hips (and a surgically repaired knee) who turns 40 later this month. Rodriguez is a full-time DH now yet he still admitted regular days off help him stay fresh. It shows in the numbers too: Alex is hitting .392/.517/.725 in games immediately following a day off and .259/.362/.464 in all other games this season.

“I never welcome days off. I love to play. But it worked pretty well for me in (during the two interleague games in Washington). After those two days off, I swung the bat pretty well at home,” said A-Rod to Wally Matthews a few weeks ago. Rodriguez has played a ton of baseball over the years — he averaged 153 games per season from 1996-2007! — and there’s a lot of wear on his body. That’s baseball. All those games catch up to you and extra rest is needed later in your career. That’s where A-Rod is right now. In need of extra rest. Not more games and travel.

The Yankees are currently atop the AL East but that doesn’t really matter at this point. The division is so tight they could be in fourth place and still be only two games out. A-Rod has gone from a total unknown in Spring Training to a core player this season. He’s at the center of the offense and the Yankees will need him to continue to produce like he has in the first half to have a shot at returning to the postseason. So yeah, Alex not being selected for the All-Star Game is a bummer. But those four days off his feet next week are the best thing for him and the Yankees.

Betances and Teixeira selected for 2015 All-Star Game, Gardner on Final Vote ballot

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(Presswire)
(Presswire)

The 2015 All-Star Game rosters were announced on Monday night and the Yankees are sending two players to Cincinnati next week, maybe a third. Dellin Betances and Mark Teixeira were selected to the AL squad and Brett Gardner is one of five players on the Final Vote ballot. The full All-Star Game rosters are right here.

I thought Betances was the club’s only shoo-in for the Midsummer Classic. He has a 1.50 ERA (1.58 FIP) in 42 innings this season and leads all relievers with 1.8 fWAR. Dellin, 27, has played two full seasons in the big leagues and had made the All-Star Game both times. Pretty awesome. Betances is very deserving.

“I‘m thankful and honored to have been selected by the players to represent the New York Yankees in the 2015 All-Star Game, and I’m looking forward to having a great time in Cincinnati with Tex,” said Betances in a statement. “I also hope our fans get behind Brett Gardner in the online final vote. He’s a big reason for the success we’ve had this year, and I believe he should be an All-Star.”

Meanwhile, the 35-year-old Teixeira was added to the All-Star Game roster as an injury replacement for Miguel Cabrera, who will miss six weeks with a calf strain. Teixeira is hitting .243/.356/.532 (141 wRC+) with 20 home runs and an AL-leading 59 RBI. This is his second All-Star Game with the Yankees (2009) and only his third overall, believe it or not.

Gardner, who is hitting .297/.373/.481 (137 wRC+) with nine homers and 15 steals, is up against Xander Bogaerts, Mike Moustakas, Yoenis Cespedes, and Brian Dozier on the Final Vote ballot. Here is the ballot. Voting ends Friday. Royals fans stuffed the ballot box for the starters, so I imagine it’ll be tough for anyone to beat out Moustakas in the Final Vote.

“Gardy has turned himself into a dynamic all-around player,” said Joe Girardi in a statement. “He has also evolved into one of the true leaders in our clubhouse. He’s a tremendous outfielder and an offensive force who can affect the outcome of a game in so many ways. I know Yankees fans gravitate toward the way he plays the game, because he plays it with a great deal of grit and determination. It’s my hope that we can all rally behind him and give him the opportunity to play in his first All-Star Game. It’s hard not to root for a guy like Gardy.”

In all seriousness, if you would have told me two years ago that Betances and Teixeira would be 2015 All-Stars, I never would have believed it. Dellin was still struggling to throw strikes in the minors at the time and Teixeira was out with his wrist injury after battling other injuries in previous years. Quite a turn around for those two. Congrats to both.

Obviously the Yankees’ biggest snub is Alex Rodriguez — every player in baseball with a .900+ OPS is in the All-Star Game except for Alex, who is hitting .284/.390/.513 (149 wRC+) with 16 homers. AL manager Ned Yost said he left A-Rod out because he wanted a more versatile roster. Whatever. I’m cool with Alex getting four days off next week. Brian McCann was a minor snub as well.

The 2015 All-Star Game will be played next Tuesday in Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park. The Home Run Derby is the day before that (Teixeira? McCann? A-Rod???) and the Futures Game is the day before that. Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez will represent the Yankees at the Futures Game.

No Yankees voted in as starters for 2015 All-Star Game

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(Mike Skobe/Getty)
(Mike Skobe/Getty)

As expected, no Yankees were voting into the starting lineup for the 2015 AL All-Star Team, it was announced tonight. No Yankees were close to the top spots at their positions in the various fan voting updates in recent weeks. The starters were announced during a live television broadcast on Sunday night.

This will be the first All-Star Game without a Yankee in the starting lineup since 1999, believe it or not. The starters for both the AL and NL can be seen right here. Here are the final voting results for the NL and here are the final voting results for the AL:

AL All-Star Game votingJacoby Ellsbury, who hasn’t played in weeks, was the closest Yankee to a starting spot, and he was a mere 7.6M votes behind Alex Gordon for the final outfield spot. Brian McCann and Alex Rodriguez were well short of the top spots at catcher and DH, respectively. Mark Teixeira wasn’t even in the top five at first base.

The rest of the All-Star Game rosters will be announced Monday night. Dellin Betances is the only Yankee who seems like a lock for the game, though McCann, A-Rod, Teixeira, and Brett Gardner certainly have strong cases as well. We’ll find out tomorrow.

The 2015 All-Star Game will be played on Tuesday, July 14th in Cincinnati.

Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez selected for 2015 Futures Game

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Judge. (Presswire)
Judge. (Presswire)

Outfielder Aaron Judge and catcher Gary Sanchez have been selected to participate in the 2015 Futures Game, MLB announced earlier today. Judge will suit up for Team USA and Sanchez will play for the World Team, because duh. The full rosters are right here. Baseball America has free mini-scouting reports on all the players as well: Team USA and World Team.

Judge, 23, is New York’s best prospect. He is hitting .277/.345/.500 (139 wRC+) with 16 doubles and 12 home runs in 66 games this season, most with Double-A Trenton and a handful with Triple-A Scranton. Judge stands out for his size (6-foot-7 and 230 lbs.) and his raw power, though he has a line drive approach in games, so he doesn’t always tap into his pop. His athleticism and right field defense are assets as well and often overlooked.

The 22-year-old Sanchez is currently on the Double-A DL with a bruised hand after being hit by a foul tip, though the injury is considered minor and he’s expected back soon. Sanchez is hitting .256/.313/.432 (113 wRC+) with seven doubles and eighth homers in 45 games with the Thunder in 2015. He’s a bat first prospect with big power who is still trying to improve behind the plate so he can catch long-term.

Sanchez. (Star-Ledger)
Sanchez. (Star-Ledger)

Teams do have input for the Futures Game — Bill Shaikin says the Dodgers didn’t approve Corey Seager’s selection even though he’s the best prospect in the minors right now, for example — so it’s possible the Yankees declined to allow right-hander Luis Severino to participate, possibly because they are considering calling him up at some point. Then again, players who are called up are simply replaced on the Futures Game roster. Who knows?

It’s also possible the Yankees pushed for Sanchez to be included so they could showcase him for trades. Crazy? Maybe. But Peter O’Brien was a Futures Gamer last summer and was then traded a few weeks later. If Sanchez goes 0-for-2 in the Futures Game, no one blinks an eye. But if he homers off a top pitching prospect, well hey now, someone will take notice of that. It’s a no-lose situation for the Yankees. Well, unless Sanchez gets hurt, but you know what I mean.

This is the first Futures Game selection for both Judge and Sanchez. Severino and O’Brien represented the Yankees last season and Rafael DePaula the year before that. The Futures Game is Sunday, July 12th in Cincinnati. The final day before the All-Star break. Congrats to Judge and Sanchez. It’s always cool to be recognized as one of the best prospects in the game.

Jeter helps AL to 5-3 win in 2014 All-Star Game

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With an assist to leadoff hitter and Yankees captain Derek Jeter, the American League beat the National League by the score of 5-3 in the 2014 All-Star Game on Tuesday night. The AL will have home field advantage in the World Series this fall, which will be helpful after the Yankees make their huge second half surge and secure a postseason spot.

Jeter received the loudest ovations of the night, both during pre-game introductions and before each at-bat. He was pulled after taking the field in the fourth inning and was cheered as he exited to the dugout, eventually coming out for the curtain call. It was a pretty cool moment. Jeter went 2-for-2 with a double off Adam Wainwright in the first and a single off Alfredo Simon in the third, both to the opposite field (of course). He scored the game’s first run on Mike Trout’s triple. Trout was eventually named MVP. I thought Jeter would get it.

Following the game — or really in the middle of it — Wainwright created some controversy by saying he grooved a pitch to Jeter in his first at-bat. He eventually backtracked and said he misspoke, but whatever. It’s not the first time a pitcher has grooved a pitch to a legend in an All-Star Game, see Chan Ho Park and Cal Ripken Jr. Don’t forget Ian Kinsler’s weak attempt to field a Chipper Jones ground ball during the 2012 Midsummer Classic, allowing it to scoot by for a hit. Who cares. Grooved pitch or not, it was an awesome night for Jeter.

Dellin Betances did not pitch in the game and as far as I know he did not even warm up. Disappointing but I’m fine with it. He could use the rest. Masahiro Tanaka, the team’s third All-Star, was not in Minnesota because he is receiving treatment for his partially torn elbow ligament. What a sad sentence. Here is the box score, if you’re looking for it. There is no Major League Baseball at all these next two days. Everything returns to normal on Friday, when the Reds come to the Bronx for a three-game weekend set.

2014 All-Star Game Thread

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2014 All-Star GameI enjoy the All-Star Game more than most people seem to. It’s the cool thing to bash, I guess. It’s totally silly that the game determines home field advantage in the World Series, I have no idea why that is a thing, but the game itself is a lot of fun. You’ve got all these great players in one place, they wear funny looking cleats and batting gloves, it’s cool. It’s the perfect game to just chill out and watch.

The Yankees have three All-Stars this year but only two are in Minnesota. The players voted Masahiro Tanaka into the game — he received more votes than any other starting pitcher — but he is currently dealing with the partially torn ligament in his right elbow. For shame. Derek Jeter was voted into the starting lineup by the fans and he will leadoff for the AL team. Dellin Betances was voted in by the players as well. AL manager John Farrell said he would like to get as many players into the game as possible, and as awesome as it would be to see Betances pitch, I would be more than fine with him getting the night off and resting.

There are a total of 81 All-Stars this season between players originally elected to the game and various replacements. Basically 11% of the league. If you’re an MLB player right now, there’s better than a one in ten chance you’re an All-Star. Crazy. That might be a few too many. Anyway, here are the full rosters and here are the fan-voted starting lineups:

National League

  1. CF Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
  2. RF Yasiel Puig, Dodgers
  3. SS Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies
  4. 1B Paul Goldschmidt, Diamondbacks
  5. DH Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins
  6. 3B Aramis Ramirez, Brewers
  7. 2B Chase Utley, Phillies
  8. C Jonathan Lucroy, Brewers
  9. LF Carlos Gomez, Brewers
    RHP Adam Wainwright, Cardinals

American League

  1. SS Derek Jeter, Yankees
  2. LF Mike Trout, Angels
  3. 2B Robinson Cano, Mariners
  4. 1B Miguel Cabrera, Tigers
  5. RF Jose Bautista, Blue Jays
  6. DH Nelson Cruz, Orioles
  7. CF Adam Jones, Orioles
  8. 3B Josh Donaldson, Athletics
  9. C Salvador Perez, Royals
    RHP Felix Hernandez, Mariners

Unlike last night, the weather in Minneapolis is nice and clear tonight. It is cool and cloudy but there is no rain in the forecast, thankfully. The All-Star Game can be seen on FOX and the broadcast is scheduled to begin at 7:30pm ET. They have to go through the baseline introductions and all that first, remember. Talk about the All-Star Game or anything else right here tonight. Enjoy the game.