At first glance, I thought the Braves made a mistake in trading away their young shortstop with great "potential" but after much thought, I can understand why they shipped him out of town. Escobar had steadily improved year by year up until 2010, where he is batting just .238 with no home runs and only 19 RBI. Meanwhile, Atlanta's new shortstop is in the midst of a career year, batting .259 with 17 home runs and 50 RBI. The Braves realized that in order to make a genuine run at the post season, they would have to upgrade at the shortstop position. In the end, Escobar was just too big of a liability in the field; they needed a sure thing with a considerable amount of post-season experience.

Angel Pagan has been terrific filling in for the injured Carlos Beltran, so who is going to be the odd man out?

Pagan has been the perfect fit for this Mets lineup. He adds more speed at the top of the lineup, he can get on base, hit the occasional long ball, and cover a lot of room in centerfield. I do think Pagan had a legitimate argument to be an All-Star, if Omar Infante got in, then why shouldn't he? What Shane Victorino has been for the Phillies during their run of dominance, Pagan has been the same for the Mets. They are both gritty players who are baseball savvy and will always give it 110%, as a manager, what else can you ask for? Talk about a tough decision for Jerry Manuel, who has decided to place Jeff Francoeur, the man with the best outfield arm in baseball, to the bench.

Marlin Maniac dissects how Florida's offense fared in the first half of the season.

Clearly, the statistic that stands out is how the Marlins have outscored their opponents by 20 runs but only have a 42-46 record to show for it. What does that say about their pitching staff...or most notably their bullpen? That is a discussion for another day. Although the Marlins hitters have put up a considerable amount of runs, is it wrong to say that their best hitter, Hanley Ramirez, is underachieving this year? Hanley probably set the bar too high after his career year in 2009, in which he hit .342 with 24 home runs and 106 RBI. Look for Ramirez to have a better second half. By the way, he has raised his average from .292 to .301 since Fredi Gonzalez got fired...I'm just saying...

Randall Simon's Sausages

Prediction: Ubaldo Jimenez will become the first NL 25 game winner in 39 Years.

Explanation: Ok, so I realize this would have been a LOT bolder at the beginning of the year, but still, Jimenez seems like the forgotten man of this baseball season. We're at the All-Star Break and the guy is 15-1!  If his name was Halladay or Strasburg he'd be the Sportscenter lead every night.  Jimenez should cruise to the NL Cy Young, but it could be a truly historic season.  He's made 18 starts through 88 games and needs 10 wins from his 15-17 starts in the second half to reach 25.  Jimenez will make history because of a few factors: the good defense behind him, his consistent quality starts, (17/18 starts 6.0 IP and over & only 3 starts allowing 4 or more runs), and the presence of the Rockies in the playoff hunt.  If Jimenez gets to the 25-win plateau with a no-hitter and a sub 2.50 ERA, it would be one of the great pitching seasons in the game's history.

Prediction: The Mets no-hitter will come against the Pirates.

Explanation: The Pirates are on pace to score like 520 runs and they haven't had a winning season since 1992. Somehow, they haven't been no-hit even once in that whole time span. They've already been one-hit twice this year. Johan Santana, it's your time to shine.

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann made his third rehab start with Single-A Potomac on Thursday. The 24-year-old right hander allowed one unearned run over four innings while striking out four and walking none. He scattered six hits on the night.

Zimmermann is currently rehabbing from the Tommy John surgery he underwent last summer after putting up a 3-5 record in 16 starts as a rookie. He also posted a 4.63 ERA to go with 92 strikeouts in 91.1 innings pitched.

Analysis:

Zimmermann was sharp considering it was only his third start since Tommy John surgery, and essentially only the third time he's pitched in the last year. So far through three starts Zimmermann has pitched nine innings, allowed nine hits, no earned runs, and struck out nine without walking any.

This is good news for the Nationals. While he is pitching down several levels, the high strike out totals indicates that he still has the stuff that made him arguably the best pitcher on the Washington Nationals staff last season, despite being a rookie. His low (or non existent) walk total indicates that he still has control over his pitches, which is often hard to maintain immediately after having your elbow reconstructed.

His high hit total (9h/9ip) is likely a sign of rustiness. He's probably missing spots trying to re-learn how to pitch. The good thing is that they are small inconsistent problems which are resulting in singles, and not bunches of walks and random homers.

Zimmermann is expected to be up by early August which is a good thing for the Nationals organization. If Zimmermann, Strasburg, and a healthy Marquis can showcase their potential before the season ends, it may serve as a good example for potential free agents of just how talented this young club is, and how much potential Washington baseball possesses.

How much do you like Stephen Strasburg?

$900,000 worth?

Silver Spring, Md. sports memorabilia auction house Huggins and Scott put to auction an autographed 2010 Bowman Prospects Stephen Strasburg rookie card Wednesday afternoon with a starting price of $9,000. At the time of this post the bidding, which ends July 28, was up to $10,000.

The owner of the card had previously tried to sell it on eBay but the auction was called off after bids as high as $900,000 could not be verified. The anonymous owner decided to put the card back up for auction, this time with the auction house. While many question the ability for the card to bring in $900,000 on the market, most expect the card will sell for at least $50,000.

Huggins and Scott's description of the card:

"Long before Strasburg seized attention of the sporting public, baseball prospectors were well aware of his accolades and potential. As the “home of the rookie card,” the Bowman card is the most coveted baseball product among modern hobbyists. Fueled by interest in Strasburg, the 2010 Bowman series is of particular mention. Headlined by Strasburg, future team/battery mate Bryce Harper and several other “up and coming” luminaries, unopened cases, boxes, packs and singles of the series are trading at unprecedented sums. The “holy grail” among 2010 Bowman consumers is undoubtedly the #1/1 Stephen Strasburg parallel singles. Claimed from a humble pack by our Florida consignor, the offered 2010 Bowman Stephen Strasburg #1/1 Red Parallel Certified Autograph is perhaps the most coveted modern insert card ever produced.

Autograph Grade: 10
Centering: 9.5
Edges: 9
Surface: 9
Corners: 8.5"

Last night, for the first time since 1996, the National League bested its American League counterparts in the All-Star Game. Atlanta's Brian McCann laced a bases-clearing three-run double in the 7^th inning which marked the difference in the NL's 3-1 victory.

Aside from McCann's big hit and a Robinson Cano sacrifice fly, pitching dominated the game. As has been the case the entire season, hurlers headlined the midsummer classic, led by two strong innings apiece from Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Johnson, and David Price. The two squads combined for just 13 hits against 18 strikeouts and the American League failed to score an earned run, its lone tally coming on the heels of a throwing error by Hong-Chih Kuo. Mets' third baseman David Wright was the lone player to record a multi-hit game.

In Nationals' news, Washington's All-Star representative, closer Matt Capps, took the win for the National League. Capps faced just one hitter in relief of Roy Halladay and struck out Boston slugger David Ortiz on five pitches.

The Nationals have today and Thursday off and travel to Miami Friday to resume play against the Florida Marlins. Washington will send Stephen Strasburg to the mound to face Ricky Nolasco.

Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reported Tuesday that the Washington Nationals first overall draft pick, Bryce Harper, was named the 2010 Golden Spikes Award Winner, an award given annually to the top amateur baseball player in the country.

Harper hit .443 with 31 home runs and 98 RBI in 228 at-bats as a 17-year-old freshman for the College of Southern Nevada this season. His impressive power, as well as his 1.513 OPS made him a lock for the award in which he trumped the competition by receiving 28 votes.

Harper became only the fourth-ever player to be selected as a Golden Spikes finalist from anything other than a division 1 collegiate program. The College of Southern Nevada is a junior college which Harper attended after testing out of high school early. The would-be high-school senior also became only the second non division 1 athlete to win the award.

It has been reported that the Nationals have yet to speak with Harper or agent Scott Boras about inking a deal to land the phenom talent, however this news comes as a surprise to few who remember the handling of Stephen Strasburg's (another Golden Spikes Winner) contract just one year ago.

The Nationals have until August 15 to sign Harper.

Tonight at 8pm ET, the National League All-Stars will take on the hosting American League All-Stars at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, CA. Here are tonight's starting line-ups in the Big A:

National League

Hanley Ramirez, SS (Florida Marlins)

Martin Prado, 2B (Atlanta Braves)

Albert Pujols, 1B (St. Louis Cardinals)

Ryan Howard, DH (Philadelphia Phillies)

David Wright, 3B (New York Mets)

Ryan Braun, LF (Milwaukee Brewers)

Andre Ethier, CF (Los Angeles Dodgers)

Corey Hart, RF (Milwaukee Brewers)

Yadier Molina, C (St. Louis Cardinals)

Starting Pitcher- Ubaldo Jiminez (Colorado Rockies)

American League

Ichiro Suzuki, RF (Seattle Mariners)

Derek Jeter, SS (New York Yankees)

Miguel Cabrera, 1B (Detroit Tigers)

Josh Hamilton, CF (Texas Rangers)

Vladimir Guerrero, DH (Texas Rangers)

Evan Longoria, 3B (Tampa Bay Rays)

Joe Mauer, C (Minnesota Twins)

Robinson Cano, 2B (New York Yankeses)

Carl Crawford, LF (Tampa Bay Rays)

Starting Pitcher- David Price (Tampa Bay Rays)