Houston Astros' Carlos Lee will not be traded to the Dodgers. (AP)
All Star Game Rosters All Set
Rosters for the 83rd annual MLB All-Star Game that will take place on July 10 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City were revealed Sunday.
There's a Latino flavor in both American and National League rosters in an exhibition game that oddly determines the league that will have home-field advantage in the World Series.
The National League will be going for its third straight win in the midsummer classic after having lost 13 straight to the junior circuit.
St. Louis' Carlos Beltran will start in the outfield and is making his seventh appearance in the game. He will be joined by teammates Rafael Furcal, who is playing in his second All-Star game and starting for the first time at shortstop, and Yadier Molina, who is the backup catcher.
A pair of San Francisco Giants will start as well with Pablo Sandoval, making his second appearance, holding down the hot corner after beating David Wright in the balloting. For Melki Cabrera, it's his first trip to the All-Star show.
Outfielder Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins, second baseman Jose Altuve of the Astros, outfielder Carlos Gonzalez of the Rockies and catcher Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies make up the NL reserves.
Nationals starting pitcher Gio González and Reds reliever Aroldis Chapman will appear out of the bullpen for the NL.
Robinson Cano became the first Yankees second baseman to start in the All-Star Game three times in a row.
"It's much more than an honor to come and go to the All-Star. You go home and prepare yourself in the off-season. All you want to do is make the All-Star team," Cano told Fox News Latino yesterday.
"You can take good memories. Those are memories that you can share with your kids and your family in the future."
Cano, who is making his fourth appearance in the All-Star Game, will be joined in the starting lineup with divisional rival and good friend, Boston's eight time All-Star David Ortiz, who will start at DH.
Toronto's Jose Bautista is making his third trip to the All-Star Game and will be a starter for the second straight year in the outfield.
He expressed displeasure through his Twitter handle when teammate Edwin Encarnación was left off the team and wasn't included in the 34th man ballot that will be decided by the fans.
"How does Edwin Encarnacion @Encadwin not make the team and then he’s not on the 34th man vote? Something is not right about that ...," the AL leader with 26 home runs tweeted on his account @joeybats19.
Texas third baseman Adrian Beltre is starting for the second time in a row and is in the All-Star Game for the third consecutive year.
The American League bench is rounded off by his teammate and shortstop Elvis Andrus, shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera of the Indians, Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera.
Seattle ace Felix Hernandez and Tampa Bay closer Fernando Rodney were the pitchers selected to the AL squad.
Deal is Off Between Dodgers/Astros For Carlos Lee
After agreeing to a deal Friday night that would have given them a bat that would had brought some much needed power to their lineup, the Los Angeles Dodgers pulled out of the deal for Houston's Carlos Lee, according to various reports.
ESPN.com reported a few hours after the Dodgers had beaten the New York Mets that Lee had vetoed the deal.
Lee, who has a limited no-trade clause, is in the final year of a $100 million contract with the Astros.
The 36-year-old would have definitely been a welcome addition to a Dodgers offense that has struggled over the last 13 games and are missing All-Star Matt Kemp, Andre Either and Mark Ellis. They've been shutout six times in that span and have scored only 10 runs in the last 63 innings before breaking out the bats last night..
The Dodgers led the Giants by 7 1/2 games on May 27 and are now one game behind their archrivals in the NL West.
Dodgers, Cubbies Sign Cuban Prospects
Dodgers ownership have been showing their fans that they're all about winning and did so by investing what's said to be a record contract for a Cuban defector by signing Yasiel Puig to a seven-year, $42 million deal Friday.
The 21-year-old who outfielder was declared a free agent last Wednesday did not play last year after having spent the last three seasons with Cienfuegos in the Cuban National Series.
Under baseball's new collective bargaining agreement, the limit that MLB teams could spend on international prospects was set to $2.9 million, so both sides quickly agreed to the deal which was approved by the commissioner's office.
During the 2010-11 season, he hit .330 with 17 homers and drove in 47 runs.
The Chicago Cubs and White Sox were said to have been interested in Puig as well.
Theo Epstein, who built a World Series winner in Boston, is starting to work on that goal with Cubs. Small steps have to be taken to get there but they made a big one by signing 20-year-old Jorge Soler to a nine-year and $30 million.
Soler defected from Cuba after playing for their national team in the World Junior Championship in 2010. Cuba won the bronze medal in those games as Soler hit .304.
Adrian Gonzalez: Youkilis Trade, Team's Play
Adrian Gonzalez always maintained confidence that the Red Sox would start to right the ship and start playing better baseball.
The Red Sox slumped at the beginning in April and fell into a funk again in May losing three straight series to the Athletics, Orioles (a three-game sweep) and the Royals.
But since then they've definitely made some strides, going 10-3-2 in their last 15 series.
"Things at the beginning of the year didn't come out the way we wanted it to. We're starting to do what we do and we are going in a good direction," Gonzalez told Fox News Latino.
The arrival of rookie Will Middlebrooks at third base once Kevin Youkilis returned from a stint on the disabled list created a logjam at the position especially with the way the prospect was hitting. They weren't going to move David Ortiz and Gonzalez, so Youkilis was the odd man out.
"It's a trade the organization made because they like the youngster. He has a tremendous bat. Someone had to be the starting third baseman and they went in that direction."
First Time for Everything for San Diego Prospect
Yasmani Grandal was one of the key prospects in the deal that San Diego made with Cincinnati during the offseason when they sent Mat Latos.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Grandral became the first player in MLB history to have his first two career hits as homers from both sides of the plate in an 8-4 win at Colorado on Saturday night.
He had one plate appearance back on June 2 but was sent down.
At the time of his second call up to the majors, the switch-hitter was tied for seventh, hitting with a .335 average at Triple-A Tuscon in the Pacific Coast League. He hit six homers and had 35 RBIs.
Time to Break It Up?
Although the trade deadline is not until July 31, the Phillies and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. are trying to find out what they could get in return if they go on and move lefty starter Cole Hamels, according to CBSSports.com
The Phillies are in last place in the NL East, 11 games behind Washington and already this weekend were active on the trade front. They shipped out Jim Thome to Baltimore on Saturday and traded reliever Chad Qualls to the Yankees yesterday.
Hamels will be a free agent at the end of the season and the Phillies could try to get up to four or five players, according to a report on ESPN.
Fan favorite Shane Victorino could also go as well.
The Phillies have been beset by injuries. Their lineup has struggled as they've been without slugger Ryan Howard all season. He's already appeared in some minor league games over the past few days, playing at first and appearing as a DH at Class A Lakewood. Chase Utley was activated last Wednesday after missing half of the season due to a knee injury. Roy Halladay has been out since the end of May because of shoulder soreness. He threw off a mound Friday and could be back after the All-Star break.
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