Daily Dose: On Goes Frazier

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Welcome back, Home Run Derby.

A new format provided a much-needed jolt to what had been a stale competition and Todd Frazier provided a jolt to Cincinnati and Great American Ball Park on Monday, capturing the 2015 Derby crown.

After finishing runner-up to Yoenis Cespedes in 2014, Frazier bested Joc Pederson 15-14 in the finals in 2015 by knocking the first pitch he saw in bonus time over the left-field wall. The hometown favorite was clearly buoyed by the GABP crowd, often starting slow but then going on longball streaks as the fans went nuts. Frazier had a flair for the dramatic all night, also topping Prince Fielder in the first round and Josh Donaldson in the second round as time was winding down.

Pederson put on quite a show himself, as he had the longest home run of the night (487 feet) and routinely was reaching the upper portion of the bleachers with majestic blasts. The 14 he hit in the final round were the most in any round at the time before Frazier one-upped him.

It was a cool night for Frazier, Pederson, and probably most of all Major League Baseball and its fans, as the new timed, head-to-head bracket system was a rousing success.

Greinke, Keuchel Named All-Star Starters

As always, this year’s All-Star Game managers really couldn’t go wrong with their selections of who will start the contest. When a guy like Clayton Kershaw didn’t even make the team initially, you know there’s plenty of pitching talent to go around.

National League skipper Bruce Bochy went with the hottest pitcher in baseball in Zack Greinke to start on Tuesday in Cincinnati. Greinke has a scoreless streak of 35 2/3 innings and has retired 36 of the last 37 batters he’s faced. His 1.39 ERA at the break is the lowest since 1968 of any hurler with at least 100 innings pitched.

American League manager Ned Yost has tapped Dallas Keuchel as his starter. Keuchel is second in the AL in ERA at the break with a 2.23 mark, he’s tied for the Junior Circuit lead in wins with 11 and he also boasts a 1.00 WHIP that ranks third in the league.

The managers also revealed their All-Star Game starting lineups, and they are as follows:

American League:

CF Mike Trout
3B Josh Donaldson
1B Albert Pujols (injury replacement for Miguel Cabrera)
DH Nelson Cruz
RF Lorenzo Cain
LF Adam Jones (injury replacement for Alex Gordon)
C Salvador Perez
2B Jose Altuve
SS Alcides Escobar

National League:

CF Andrew McCutchen
3B Todd Frazier
RF Bryce Harper
1B Paul Goldschmidt
C Buster Posey
DH Anthony Rizzo
SS Jhonny Peralta
LF Joc Pederson (injury replacement for Matt Holliday)
2B D.J. LeMahieu (injury replacement for Dee Gordon)

Trade Winds

It looked like the Phillies were close to trading Jonathan Papelbon before spring training, but it didn’t happen. Rumors of teams having discussions with Philly about the closer have popped up on occasion since then, but the fiery ninth-inning man is still waiting to be dealt, and he’s getting impatient.

“Like I said earlier, it’s time to you know what or get off the pot,” Papelbon told the media at the All-Star festivities on Monday. “The Phillies have got to make a decision. You’ve gotta go one way or the other. You can’t be in limbo and sit here and saw ‘what if we do this or what if we do that?’ You gotta make a decision and you gotta go with it.”

It’s not the first time Papelbon has expressed a desire to be traded. You can understand why he’s getting frustrated, as it would seem to be a matter of when, not if, he’ll be dealt, and Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro has been dragged his feet for a while when it comes to the team’s rebuild.

So where might Papelbon be headed when the Phils do finally ship the closer elsewhere? The Brewers were his primary suitor before spring training, but that’s not happening since Milwaukee, like Philadelphia, will be in seller mode this month. The Cubs have been connected to Papelbon and reportedly would be the reliever’s desired landing spot, but their bullpen has stabilized after a rocky start and will be adding Rafael Soriano to the mix soon. The Blue Jays seem like the best fit, as they’ve been interested in Papelbon for a while and really need to add some pitching help as they try to make a move in the there-for-the-taking American League East.

If (when) Papelbon is traded, Ken Giles is poised to take over as the Phillies’ closer. The righty’s velocity was down early on this season, but he’s slowly but surely gotten it back and been dominant since the beginning of June, allowing just two runs while striking out 28 across 17 1/3 innings. If he happens to still be available in your league, stash him away now.

Another guy who it appears could be on the move this month is Jay Bruce. FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reported last week and CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman confirmed on Monday that the outfielder is available via trade.

Bruce is not an impending free agent like Johnny Cueto (who Heyman hears could be the Astros’ top target) and Mike Leake, who are both also likely to be dealt, but Heyman says the Reds “are expected by rivals to become a full-fledged seller in coming days.” In addition to the aforementioned three, Aroldis Chapman and Manny Parra are candidates from the Reds to be traded. Not surprisingly, the club wanted to wait until after it hosted the All-Star Game before they started the re-tooling of their roster.

Bruce really struggled last season after admitting to coming back too soon from knee surgery, but he’s bounced back in 2015 following a slow start. The 28-year-old is batting .251/.341/.465 with 13 homers and 42 RBI overall and has hit .308/.386/.549 with eight of those longballs in his last 50 games. Bruce is making $12 million in 2015, is due $12.5 million in 2016 and has a $13 million club option (or $1 million buyout) for 2017. He has a limited no-trade clause that allows him to block a deal to eight teams.

Neither Rosenthal nor Heyman note any specific clubs that have talked to the Reds about Bruce, but there is no shortage of teams looking for outfield help or just a big bat in general. Heyman lists the Angels, Pirates, Royals, Giants, Blue Jays and Yankees as possible fits for Bruce.