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FanGraphs | Jeff Sullivan: There have been a total of 13 midseason deals involving a 5+ WAR player, and Manny Machado is soon to be one of them. In looking back for comparisons, there are a few in recent memory: Johnny Cueto, David Price, Yoenis Cespedes, and Yu Darvish all fetched returns that could be similar to the one we see with Machado.
The Athletic | Eno Sarris ($): Even though position players who pitch come in low leverage situations, they are still, in general, better than pitchers who hit. Danny Worth can strike out a couple in two innings of work, but the best hitting pitcher in recent history, Dontrelle Willis, only had a wRC+ of 75.
Baseball Prospectus | Matthew Trueblood ($): For a team as poorly performing as the Pirates, it’s odd how much they embrace beanball and punitive baseball justice in games that, frankly, don’t matter. What should matter is staying level-headed, building momentum, and trying to build a competitive core of players who focus on the game, and not the fighting.
Acta Sports | Mark Simon: Using Total Runs (basically BIS’ version of VORP), who was the most deserving of an All Star nod? The ones that missed the fan vote (to be a starter) were Francisco Lindor, Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, Trea Turner, Lorenzo Cain, JT Realmuto, and David Peralta.