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The wait is almost over, as Philadelphia is set to host the 96th edition of the MLB All-Star game on Tuesday. July 14th. It will be the fifth time the City of Brotherly Love has played host to the event and the first time since 1996 when the game was held at Veteran’s Stadium. The actual All-Star Game serves as a wrap-up to an almost weeks’ worth of festivities celebrating baseball. First, let’s break down the schedule for All-Star weekend before we dive into how the Phillies themselves will factor into everything taking place.

What’s the schedule?

Friday, July 10th: HBCU Swingman Classic presented by USA Baseball

This game that features the best Division-1 college athletes from Historically Black Colleges and Universities will be the first to take place at Citizens Bank Park this weekend. It will begin at 7 pm and will be broadcast live on MLB.com and MLB Network.

Saturday, July 11th-Tuesday, July 14th: Capital One All-Star Village

This is a four-day event that will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center where fans can come together and celebrate baseball with legends meet-and-greets, interactive exhibits, contests, and samplings of ballpark concessions.

Saturday, July 11th: 2026 MLB Draft

Also at the PA Convention Center, the first few rounds of the MLB Draft will take place starting at 1 pm and will be broadcast live on NBC and Peacock.

Sunday, July 12th: All-Star Sunday featuring the MLB All-Star Futures Game and the MLBx All-Star 3-on-3

Sunday will prove to be a busy day, as the Futures Game featuring the top prospects from across the minor leagues will kick off the day at noon at Citizens Bank Park. then following the conclusion of that game, the new 3-on-3 baseball competition will begin, featuring Phillies legends Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, and Ryan Howard, AUSL All-Stars, and other Philadelphia athletes from past and present including DeVonta Smith and Terell Owens.

Monday, July 13th: Home Run Derby

The first of the two marquee All-Star events will take place Monday night, as eight sluggers from around baseball will look to capture the title of derby champion as the rules shift back to the old swing-based format with no clock. The derby will begin at 8pm and will be the first to be broadcast live on Netflix.

Tuesday, July 14th: 96th MLB All-Star Game

Finally, the All-Star game itself will conclude the celebration as the NL looks to repeat as winners over the AL after last season’s thrilling swing-off in extra innings to decide a winner. The All-Stars will arrive to Independence Mall at 2pm for the red carpet before the game begins at 8pm at Citizens Bank Park

Who are the Phillies’ All-Stars?

The hometown team will be well represented this year, as the Phillies will be sending six of their players to represent them on their own field.

Brandon Marsh

Marsh has been arguably the Phillies’ most consistent hitter on the season, as he has taken the leap from solid platoon player into everyday All-Star. His meteoric rise dates back to last season after he returned from injury following a brutal month of April where he hit .095 across 16 games. Since returning from a rehab assignment on May 3rd of last year, Marsh has a batting line of .304/.350/.489 in 198 games entering Thursday. This season, he is hitting .305 and is sixth in batting average for the National League. He’s been rewarded for his consistently excellent performance with his first career All-Star selection, receiving enough votes to where he will be in the outfield in the NL’s starting lineup when they take the field.

Jhoan Duran

Speaking of first time All-Stars, Marsh will be joined in that regard by his teammate Jhoan Duran. The Phillies closer has been an anchor in an otherwise shaky bullpen this season with a 1.47 ERA and 22 saves, including 16 straight saves to begin his season. Duran seems a lock to appear in the game at some point, as MLB will no doubt want to feature his electrifying entrance out of the bullpen to a national audience.

Cristopher Sánchez

Sánchez was one of the biggest snubs from the All-Star roster last season, and now he’s a candidate to start the game for the NL on his home mound. The lefty already set the Major League record for the longest scoreless streak ever by a left-handed pitcher back in May when he tossed 50.2 consecutive scoreless innings. It will be the second career All-Star nod for Sánchez with his first coming in 2024.

Jesús Luzardo

Luzardo was a bit of a surprise when he was named as a replacement for Jacob Misiorowski, but he also isn’t entirely undeserving of his first All-Star nod. His traditional numbers may not seem flashy, as Luzardo was 7-4 with a 3.75 ERA at the time he was named to the roster. But if you dig deeper, Luzardo has been better than those numbers may suggest. His 2.9 fWAR has him third behind Sánchez and Misiorowski for the highest among while his 28.6% strikeout rate is seventh best.

Kyle Schwarber

The only thing keeping Schwarber from being a starter in the game like Marsh is that he unfortunately plays the same position (DH) as Shohei Ohtani. Nevertheless, the current MLB home run leader will make his third All-Star appearance with the Phillies and fourth overall. Fresh off of a new five year, $150M extension signed with the Phillies in free agency, Schwarber has continued to cement himself as one of if not the best power hitters in the game, as he is on pace for a second straight season with 50+ home runs. Don’t forget, he was also named All-Star Game MVP last season when he won the first ever swing-off to decide the result of an All-Star Game.

Bryce Harper

The face of the Phillies franchise will make his third All-Star appearance as a Phillie and his ninth overall after being added to the roster with the commissioner’s “legend” pick. However, Harper had a strong case to make the team on his own merit despite finishing third in the voting among NL first baseman, as his .880 OPS entering play on Thursday is tied for the second best among all NL first basemen and his 20 home runs is also second. In any case, Harper will look to live up to his “Showman” reputation once again at All-Star week in his home ballpark like he did when he won the 2018 Home Run Derby at Nationals Park.

Will the Phillies have anyone in the Home Run Derby?

Speaking of the Derby, Harper made it official on Wednesday night with an Instagram post that he will take part in this year’s Home Run Derby. He had previously stated that he was unsure due to his father possibly not being able to throw to him as he did back in 2018 and the different format that will be instituted this year, Schwarber meanwhile has not announced anything as of this writing but recently stated that he is open to it if he was healthy and had already made the All-Star team. With both of those conditions met, it seems likely that he will declare his participation in the coming days. Schwarber last participated back in 2022 where he lost in a swing-off to Albert Pujols in the first round.

Outside of the Phillies, we know for sure at least five other participants as of this writing. They will be Junior Caminero of the Rays, Ben Rice of the Yankees, Willson Contreras of the Red Sox, Jac Caglianone of the Royals, and Jordan Walker of the Cardinals.

Will the Phillies have any prospects in the Futures Game?

In fact, they’ll have two, as Gage Wood of the Reading Fightin’ Phils and Wen-Hui Pan of the Jersey Shore Blue Claws will represent the Phillies organization at the Futures Game. Wood was the Phillies first round pick (26th) in the 2025 draft, and the former Arkansas Razorback who threw a 19-strikeout no-hitter in the College World Series has continued to thrive in his professional career. Coming into the season as the Phillies #5 prospect and 69th prospect overall according to Baseball America, the right hander started the year at Class-A Clearwater but quickly made the jump to Double-A Reading after posting a 3.42 ERA in eight starts with 40 strikeouts in 26.1 innings.

Pan meanwhile was an international prospect signing by the Phillies out of Taiwan in 2023 as a 20-year-old. The 6’3, 220-pound right hander who profiles as a reliever excelled at Low-A Clearwater in his first real taste of professional ball and ended the year with a promotion to High-A Jersey Shore. The ensuing year was not as kind to Pan, as injuries limited him to just 29.1 total innings in 2024 before ultimately undergoing Tommy John surgery in November that cost him all of 2025. But he has rebounded in 2026, working his way to Double-A after rehabbing with Clearwater and Jersey Shore.

In addition to those two players, the Phillies will also be represented in both dugouts, as former Phillies greats and World Series champions Shane Victorino and Larry Bowa have been selected as managers for the Futures Game.

What will the Phillies do in the draft?

This year the Phillies first selection will be 36th overall, as they will incur a 10-pick penalty from their original spot (26th) for exceeding the second Competitive Balance Tax Threshold.

They had a bit of an unorthodox method in last year’s draft, as they selected pitchers with their first eight picks and 14 of their 20 selections overall. It’s a safe bet that they may lean heavier onto the hitting side this year, but really, they should have no preferences. Drafting for need in MLB is foolhardy with the timelines for prospects, but it would be especially foolish from a Phillies standpoint to draft anything other than best player available.

Baseball America has ranked the Phillies with the second worst farm system in their latest updated rankings, placing them 29th with Wood (69th) and the injured Aidan Miller (80th) as their highest Top 100 prospects. Philadelphia is almost barren of anything resembling high end talent and frankly will have a hard time swinging any trades of substance at this year’s deadline. They need a talent influx and cannot afford to be picky in which side of the ball that talent plays on.

Our own Dan Cormican has been profiling some options for the Phillies in the draft, and you can read those previews here.

Seriously, does anyone think this is weird? When the Draft was moved to align with the All-Star Break, it seemed like a no-brainer to actually put the draft during the All-Star Break. Instead, this weekend, the Draft will begin while teams are still playing their final games heading into the Break. It’s just so weird, like cannibalizing your own viewership. I guess it’s somewhat consistent with MLB’s overall contempt for the regular season, and the idea that no one is going to revolt in terms of local viewership just because a couple of games coincide with something else… but it still feels suboptimal.

Like, the Draft itself is from 1pm to 7:45 pm ET on Saturday, and from 11:30am to 7:30 pm ET on Sunday. You could have everyone play day games and push it into the night. Or, more duh-ingly, just push it into Monday and Tuesday. I understand that MLB might want to have the Draft be more of a hoopla/spectacle like the drafts in other sports, but come on: Day 1 will feature 135 picks in nearly seven hours, a rate of about 20 picks an hour. One pick every three minutes is an awful, interminable “pace of play” as far as viewership goes, and the fact that it’s going four rounds and teams can play underslot games really dents the wide audience viewing interest of it all. If you want to hype up the first few picks, start the Saturday games earlier, put Round 1 on weekend primetime and let the rest go after, trailing into the night. Day 2 is more rapid-fire but also not much to watch live, so they could even put Day 1 on Sunday where all games are over before evening primetime anyway, and burn off Day 2 when there are no games.

In the end, this doesn’t matter, it’s just… weird. I guess like, “Still trying to make the All-Star Game a thing in 2026,” weird, so that tracks.

If you have been following the Nats farm system at all this season, you would know Yohandy Morales is having a monster year. The corner infielder is hitting .303 with 21 homers and a .930 OPS on the season in AAA. He has been one of the most productive hitters in the system, but Paul Toboni has been hesitant to call him up.

When you look at some of the underlying data, Toboni’s reasons make some sense. Morales has a very low in zone contact rate and was hitting the ball on the ground over 50% of the time for most of the season. Despite the big surface level stats, that profile is tough to make work in the MLB.

For those wondering why we haven’t seen a Yohandy Morales callup, here are the only 2 MLB hitters with a lower Z-Contact rate than YoYo in 2026:

M. Murakami (157 wRC+, 16% PullAir)
R. Devers (92 wRC+, 10.2% PullAir)

It is possible to succeed with that much whiff, but so hard pic.twitter.com/4e6toxgcAf

— Paul Cubbage (@PaulCubbage23) May 20, 2026

However, I think the time is right for Morales to get the call to the big leagues. Morales has been striking out less and elevating the ball more lately. As I said, his GB rate has been over 50% for most of the season, but that is starting to come down. Right now, his season GB rate is 49.3%. I remember checking a couple months ago, and that number was closer to 54%.

Morales is also striking out a lot less so far in July. He only has 6 strikeouts in 30 at bats so far this month. It is a small sample, but it really does feel like Morales is starting to make the changes necessary for him to get a big league call-up.

One thing that Morales has done in July that is not a new phenomenon is mash homers. He already has four homers this month, including a two homer game the other day. Morales has the most homers of any Nats prospect, and just has highly impressive raw power.

a two-home run game for yohandy morales and he's up to 20 on the season 💪 pic.twitter.com/JImgw3wvt6

— Nationals Player Development (@Nats_PlayerDev) July 8, 2026

Morales has high end power to all fields. Despite not pulling the ball in the air that much, he is still able to access his pop. The 6’3 225 pound slugger consistently posts excellent exit velocities. With Morales getting the ball off the ground more, this recent power surge makes a ton of sense.

With these improvements to his process, the time is right for a call up. There is not an everyday role for Morales, but I think there are ways to create regular enough playing time. Calling up Morales and sending down Andres Chaparro just feels like a pretty straightforward move right now.

Yohandy Morales homered for the second time in the game. Can we please call him up. I mostly get the reasons why they aren’t but he would just be a monster upgrade on Chaparro in that role and could get some 3B and DH reps too

— federalbaseball (@federalbaseball) July 8, 2026

I get that the front office will want Morales to be playing more than Chaparro has, but it is not like Morales is some top 50 prospect who needs everyday reps. He can be Luis Garcia Jr’s platoon partner while also getting some starts at third base and DH every once in a while. 

Blake Butera has shown he can get creative to give guys playing time. He can do the same for Morales. Right now Andres Chaparro and his .157 batting average stick out like a sore thumb. Chaparro is getting pinch hit opportunities in big spots for the red hot Garcia and just not coming through.

I understand that Garcia is not great against lefties, but despite his reputation as a lefty masher, Chaparro has not hit them well either. It would be much easier to stomach taking Garcia out of games if Morales was the guy pinch hitting instead.

There is not a whole lot that Morales needs to prove at the AAA level. One potential reason they might be holding off on this move is that they would have to find a 40-man roster spot for Morales. However, the slugger is Rule-5 eligible this offseason, so they will have to put him on the 40-man soon anyways. There is also no shortage of potential DFA candidates on this roster.

With how Morales has hit all season, it only feels right to give him an opportunity. His surface level numbers are outstanding, and now he is improving some of the underlying stuff that may have been holding him back. It is time for Paul Toboni to give Yohandy Morales a shot, and I hope it happens as soon as possible. The young man has earned it in every possible way.

The Mets open a three-game series against the Red Sox on Friday night at Citi Field at 7:50 p.m., pushed back from 7:15 p.m. due to Boston's travel delay earlier this afternoon.

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Mets Notes

• Carson Benge has reached base safely in 20 of his last 21 games, including multi-hit games in each of his last four. During this 21-game span, Benge is hitting .322/.385/.517 with four homers, three doubles, and one triple in 96 plate appearances
• A.J. Ewing is hitting .310/.389/.583 (.973 OPS) with six homers, five doubles, 14 runs scored, and 17 RBI in 95 plate appearances over his last 24 games
• Juan Soto is leading the National League in OBP (.414), slugging percentage (.579), and OPS+ (175)
• Luke Weaver hasn't allowed an earned run since April 30. In 26.0 innings over 24 appearances since then, he has given up just 11 hits while walking seven and striking out 3

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Today's Lineups

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Here's what happened in Mets Land on Thursday, in case you missed it...

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• Sean Manaeawas sharp and the Mets' bats were potent in Thursday's 7-3 win over the Royals at Citi Field
• A.J. Ewinggot his first taste of big league action at second base
• Ewing sliding to second base was the result of Mark Vientos exiting the game after being hit by a pitch in the hand. Testing revealed a fracture, and Vientos will be heading to the IL 
• Clay Holmes, a potential trade candidate at the deadline, is open to a midseason extension to remain with the Mets long-term
• Here are five things to watch as the Mets and Red Sox play a three-game weekend series 
• The Mets are unlikely to trade Jonah Tong ahead of the deadline
• WATCH: Mets react after Thursday's win over Kansas City

The Yankees wrapped up a trip to Tropicana Field on Thursday with a much needed win and a breakout from the still Aaron Judge-less lineup. The double digit runs allowed them to salvage a series split after the two middle games of the series were a struggle. As a result, the Yankees ended the visit to the Trop four games back in the AL East, which is right where they began it.

Now, the Yankees are set to continue their road trip with a visit to the nation’s capital. At 48-46, the Washington Nationals are a somewhat surprising team over .500 and still in the playoff running. Ahead of Thursday’s games they were 3.5 games back of the last NL Wild Card spot and 6.5 back in the NL East. With a .948 OPS, James Wood is turning into a star in his third MLB season, while CJ Abrams, Luis García Jr., and Curtis Mead have also been pretty stellar in the Nats’ lineup. Their pitching has been less good, allowing one of the highest runs per game averages in the league, but the offense has been enough to cover some of that up so far.

Before the series gets going later tonight, let’s have a look at the pitching matchups we’ll see over the next couple days.

Friday: Ryan Weathers vs. Carson Palmquist (6:45 pm ET)

Weathers has been notably shaky of late, and that continued in his last start, as he gave up four runs in four innings against the Twins on Sunday. After seven shutout innings against the Rays back on May 24th, Weathers had a 3.14 ERA and 3.50 FIP. Those numbers now sit at 4.29 and 4.06, as he’s only had one game that you can categorize as good in that time.

We all know the meme about how the Yankees struggle against pitchers they’ve never seen before, and this will be their first game against the former Rockie and now National Palmquist. That being said, Palmquist has not had a good start to his MLB career. Last year in Colorado, he put up a 8.91 ERA in 34.1 innings. Getting away from the high altitude hasn’t done much to improve those numbers so far in 2026. He’s only pitched 6.1 innings in the bigs this year after moving to Washington, but he has a 7.11 ERA so far. That being said, he has a high strikeout rate in that time, and that’s something the Yankees have been prone to do a lot lately.

Saturday: Cam Schlittler vs. Miles Mikolas (4:05 pm ET)

With Judge on the shelf and the Yankees’ offense sputtering, Schlittler has been one of few things you can almost 100% count on for the Bombers. He continued that by allowing just one run in eight innings in a win over the Rays last time out, picking up the win before the rest of that series got annoying.

The veteran Mikolas has been, to put it politely, “butt.” He’s made 19 appearances this year, with eight coming as the Nats’ starter. In 90.1 total innings, he has a 5.78 ERA and a 5.52 FIP and has allowed 20 home runs. Over 5% of the batters Mikolas has faced have hit a home run off him. The offense truly needs to be able to do something in this game.

Sunday: Will Warren vs. TBD (1:35 pm ET)

Warren is another Yankee starter that’s been in a massive slump after a good start to the season. Since May 1st, he has a 5.34 ERA and his overall season total has gone up by nearly two whole runs, going over four for the first time this season in his last start. Even when Warren was doing well, he could be a bit of a tedious watch, but he’s been walking nearly 9% of batters over that stretch.

At time of writing, the Nationals have not announced a starter for Sunday’s series finale. They have one regular starter — Jake Irvin — on the IL, and another — Cade Cavalli — has been serving a suspension for playing a part in a brawl the Nats had with the Red Sox. Cavalli will have completely served said suspension by this game and would be on more than normal rest, so he would probably be the logical option to go in this game, but we shall see.

Happy Friday, everyone. We’ll start off today with a bit of baseball talk. The MLB Draft starts tomorrow, and SS Justin Lebron looks to become Alabama’s first top 15 selection in 35 years. Keith Law has Justin mocked to the Arizona Diamondbacks with the 15th pick, while ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel thinks the Angels will snag him at 12.

Lebron’s predecessor is in the majors, and he had a whale of a game yesterday.

Jarvis went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and a double in Thursday’s 10-5 win over the Pirates

Jarvis extended Atlanta’s lead to 5-2 in the fourth inning with his two-run, 397-foot blast off Cam Sanders, the first homer of his big-league career. Jarvis has seen regular playing time at shortstop since he was recalled from Triple-A in early July. He’s gone 6-for-19 across five games after slashing .313/.406/.461 with six homers across 348 plate appearances in the minors this year.

Jarvis didn’t just get it done at the plate, either.

What a play by Jarvis! 👀#BravesCountrypic.twitter.com/ebyMQrVOAT

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) July 9, 2026

The question on Jim has been whether he could be a serviceable hitter at the big league level. His glove and athleticism are elite, and he has earned himself a chance to prove that he can stick in the lineup.

Moving on to football, Katie Windham notes that year three has been good to Alabama head coaches.

Dating back to Billy Curry in 1989, every Crimson Tide head coach has reached double-digit wins during his third season. Sometimes those seasons with at least 10 wins led to national championships that season or the next, and sometimes it created expectations that the coach could not live up to the following year.

Winning at least 10 games this year is a minimum expectation for DeBoer in 2026. How far past that can he get? Will he be like Saban and Gene Stallings and win a national title in Year 3? Will he be like Ray Perkins or Mike DuBose with a strong third season that just creates even higher expectations for Year 4?

Ten wins doesn’t mean what it did for most of those, but may the trend continue.

Dre Kirkpatrick is the latest in the “50 players” series.

Kirkpatrick remained suspended for the rest of the season but has since rejoined the team. The exact legal resolution is unknown, but his case and charges are no longer listed in the online court system.

Kirkpatrick was back practicing with Alabama this spring and now moves toward his junior season where he will be part of one of, if not the best, secondaries in the country.

“Yeah, he had consequences for what he did and the things he’s gone through,” Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer said after Alabama’s second spring practice. “There’s still pieces to that that he’s taking care of when it comes to those consequences with the team.

“He met those requirements and has a great attitude about him. He loves ball. He’s got to build the trust up with his teammates out there every day. He’ll do the things not just on the field, but off it as well to meet the standard our program expects.”

Dre probably won’t have a huge role on this year’s team, but it’s good to see him getting his life together.

Reclassified point guard Anderson Diaz and family spoke about why he chose Alabama.

“I think the thing that stood out the most was the consistency from day one,” Diaz’s father said. “There were times where I would get a phone call that (Alabama) was at Overtime Elite just to check on him. I thought that was really cool. Every time they rolled through Atlanta and had time, they would go see him for a practice. They stood really consistent with him from the beginning. They made him a priority.”

Diaz’s father shared a story during the recruitment when Diaz went through a little bit of a slump while competing out in Memphis (TN) during the contact period. (Nate) Oats and assistant Preston Murphy gave him a call after one of the games. 

“It wasn’t like ‘he did this and he did that’,” he explained. “It was more of ‘we can fix that, he just needs to do this and do that’ and that fits him to me.”

Last, ‘Baron looks like he belongs in the NBA.

Labaron Philon Jr. DEBUT 🔥🔥🔥

18 PTS
3 REB
7 AST
1 STL
40% from 3pic.twitter.com/f9xHBQEPBU

— Sixers Nation (@PHLSixersNation) July 9, 2026

That’s about it for today. Have a great weekend.

Roll Tide.

Good morning, LSB.

The Rangers walked it off against the Angels last night.

Kennedi Landry says ignore the blown 5-run lead part, a win is a win.

Evan Grant says Texas avoided a catastrophic loss and instead walk away in first place.

Wyatt Langford was the hero in his first game back from the IL.

Elsewhere Shawn McFarland looks at the best No. 16 picks in MLB draft history.

And McFarland also continues his reranking of the Rangers prospect system with Nos. 11-20.

That’s all for this morning. The Rangers start up a series against the Astros tonight at 7:05 with Cal Quantrill on the mound for Texas.

Happy Friday!

There is a precedent among North American professional sports for the reigning champions to visit the White House. It is believed to have taken precedence when the Washington Senators visited President Calvin Coolidge in 1925, and it has become commonplace among the four major sports.

The Dodgers are certainly no stranger to visiting the White House over the course of the two most recent administrations, and the team is now scheduled to visit President Donald Trump at the Oval Office for a second time. Edward Lewis of the California Post reported Thursday that the Dodgers will arrive at the White House on July 23, wedged between trips to both Philadelphia and New York.

“President Trump is excited to welcome the Los Angeles Dodgers BACK to the White House to celebrate their World Series championship!” White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said in a statement.

“As was the case one year ago, the Dodgers’ upcoming visits to the White House and Capitol Hill follow the longtime tradition of visits by other World Series champions. We appreciate these tributes in recognition of our back-to-back championships,” the Dodgers said in a statement to The Post.

Roki Sasaki had a decent ending to his first full half season at the big league level, going six innings while allowing three earned runs in a no-decision against the Colorado Rockies on Wednesday.

It was the first time Sasaki had a quality start since his 10-strikeout performance against the Angels on June 5, and his first half has been defined by flashes of brilliance overshadowed by wild inconsistencies. When asked about how he assessed his season so far, he recognized his ability to remain in the rotation and improve on his fastball, per Sonja Chen of MLB.com.

“When you look at the numbers, I’m not satisfied with that,” Sasaki said through interpreter Kensuke Okubo. “But I was able to [stay in] the rotation and the velo’s kind of gotten a little bit up. So I’m kind of happy with it.”

The Dodgers bullpen will be patiently waiting for the return of Edwin Díaz, and following Evan Phillips’s activation, there will be another tough decision for Dave Roberts to make. One of those names in the “trust tree” right now is right-hander Edgardo Henriquez, as Roberts briefly mentioned during his post-game press conference on Wednesday.

Those of us that are hoping that the Kansas City Royals will make big trades during the MLB trade deadline at the end of July need to start bracing ourselves for the possibility of a quieter trading season. Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of the Athletic are reporting that the Royals are maintaining high asking prices on veteran pitchers Michael Wacha and Seth Lugo, and that they don’t expect teams to meet the Royals asking price:

The Royals, according to people briefed on their plans, are telling clubs they will listen on Lugo and Wacha, but their asks will be massive.

It’s certainly possible some team will meet a massive ask by the Royals, or that this attitude will change by the end of the month, but as things sit right now, I’m expecting Wacha and Lugo to be on the team for the remainder of the season.

Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino is hoping to return from the IL Friday. Manager Matt Quatraro talked to MLB.com reporter Bill Ladson about the first baseman:

Pasquantino is expected to play his last rehab game for Omaha on Thursday night.

“He is trying to see pitches and judge his health,” Quatraro said. “He is not making any swing adjustments.”

Pasquantino suffered a hamate bone fracture in his right hand. Those injuries are notorious for sapping power from a hitter even after they return, so temper your expectations on what we can expect from Vinnie when he returns.

Wacha pitched in his final game on Thursday before being one of two Royals representatives at the MLB All-Star game. The starter discussed his outing against the New York Mets with Ladson after the game:

 “But there were a lot of long ABs. They were fouling off pitches and they ended up with some walks. The pitch count was getting up there [104 pitches total]. I had a long stressful inning [that] added up there in the fifth. I just have to do a better job right there. I have to limit the damage, limit those big innings and give our guys a chance to win.”

The Royals lost the series finale 7-3.

The MLB draft is on Saturday, but the Royals front office will not be in their draft room in Kansas City this time. General Manager J.J. Picollo explained why to Kansas City Star reporter Pete Grathoff:

“All the days leading up to the draft, there would be days impacted by the World Cup, so we just decided to move it to Arizona, just for simplicity of not having to worry about logistics, dancing around the World Cup,” Picollo said.

If the Royals are disappointed with their draft this year they can blame Lionel Messi.

Kiley McDaniel of ESPN posted his final mock draft, and has the Royals taking pitcher Jared Grindlinger at No. 6:

I think this pick comes down to Grindlinger, (Jackson) Flora and underslot pitching options such as Gio Rojas, Hunter Dietz and Mason Edwards. The choice from that group would depend on the bonus price and who can then be targeted at later picks.

McDaniel has the Royals taking UCLA pitcher Logan Reddeman at pick 30, as well as high school pitcher Jack Slightom at pick 56.

We are starting to get more information on the Royals plan for the new stadium at Crown Center: Kansas City Star writer Neil Nakahodo wrote about some newly released city records that show how the area could be reshaped and what the Royals are thinking about how people are going to get to the stadium:

A traffic study identifies a potential supply of 18,257 parking spaces, including 8,219 spaces at Crown Center and another 10,038 at off-site locations near the stadium.

The study estimates that as many as 67% of attendees would arrive by car, while 15% would use ride-share services such as Uber and 10% would walk or bike.

His article has a number of maps and images you can look at well, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com noted that most teams in contention could use starting pitching help:

“Every team needs a starter,” one American League executive said. “They’re the easiest players to move at the Deadline and often, [they’re] the ones that bring back the best return.”

Interesting!

Detroit Tigers rookie Eduardo Valencia hit a home run in his first major-league plate appearance.

Munetaka Murakami is expected to return to the Chicago White Sox lineup on Friday.

The New York Yankees are having slugger Aaron Judge reevaluated, but are planning to be cautious with him as he returns from a fractured rib.

France defeated Morocco 2-0 in their Wold Cup quarterfinals match, sending the favorites to the semifinals.

The Toronto Rapors and Los Angeles Clippers trade involving Kawhi Leonard is on hold until the investigation into whether Leonard and the Clippers circumvented the salary cap is complete.

Eight men were indicted on attempted murder and terrorism charges for allegedly planning an attack during the UFC Freedom 250 event that was held at the White House in June.

President Trump’s proposed 250-foot triumphal arch cleared initial federal review.

Qatar and Pakistan are hoping to deescalate tensions between the U.S. and Iran and restart negotiations on a nuclear deal.

Drinking up to five cups of coffee a day can be good for your liver health, which is great new for me and my caffeine addiction.

Song of the Day is “Stamina” by Andy Mineo and Wordsplayed, aka Magic & Bird. Happy Friday everyone!