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Tuned in to watch Puig, and before I get to see him a brawl erupts and he's ejected. Scully calls a brawl as calmly as a flyout to RF.

— Dave Haller (@HallerDave) June 12, 2013

Tuesday's Arizona Diamondbacks-Los Angeles Dodgers game was anything but calm, however, with benches emptying, coaches fighting, punches thrown and multiple suspensions in order. It was an ugly brawl, the kind we used to routinely see in the 1980s and '90s, not the meet-and-greet, exchange-phone-numbers stuff we usually see now.

We had Dodgers coach Mark McGwire locked up with Diamondbacks coach Matt Williams. We had Yasiel Puig throwing punches and Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario doing the honorary Darryl Strawberry bats*** crazy impression. D-backs coach Turner Ward got tossed into the ropes.

After everything had calmed down and the great Vin Scully was running down the ejections, he said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson was ejected for "hollering a lot of chicken stuff." The man is a poet.

Once again, Zack Greinke was in the middle of all this, but it's Arizona pitcher Ian Kennedy who delivered the bush-league moment of the game, throwing a pitch that seemed directed right at Greinke's head. Kennedy should face a harsh suspension; a short one that pushes his next start back a day or two won't be enough. Give him 15 days and make him miss two starts. It's one thing to throw at a guy; it's another to throw at somebody's head, especially when retribution had already been made.

It all began with a scary moment, Kennedy delivering an up-and-in, 0-2 fastball in the sixth inning that glanced off Puig's nose. He was down for a few minutes as he got checked out by the medical staff, but stayed in the game. Kennedy's reaction clearly showed he wasn't trying to hit Puig, but the chain of events had kicked in.

The next inning, Greinke delivered a fastball to the back of Miguel Montero, Arizona's cleanup hitter. Your cleanup hitter for our cleanup hitter. Have to protect our new franchise player. At least Greinke's pitch was done in honorable baseball tradition, thrown where Montero couldn't get hurt. The benches and bullpens cleared and there was some finger-pointing and yelling, but things quieted down.

Until Greinke came to bat in the bottom of the seventh. Kennedy, even though the game was tied 2-2, decided it was more important to throw at somebody's head than to try to win the game, highlighting the absurdity of the whole retribution concept. But sometimes emotions get the better of us and next thing you know, Don Mattingly was fighting Alan Trammell, Belisario was looking to take on the entire Diamondbacks roster, Clayton Kershaw scared the crap out of Dodgers fans by getting in the middle of the scrum, and Puig needed multiple players to restrain him from going after Gibson. Belisario and Puig will likely face suspensions for their roles in the fight.

(As an aside; Mattingly, McGwire, Gibson, Trammell, Williams, Don Baylor ... this had to be greatest list of coaches and managers ever involved in a brawl.)

Meanwhile, we had a baseball game to complete and after Arizona scored in the top of the eighth, the Dodgers plated three in the bottom of the eighth -- catcher Tim Federowicz delivering the bases-clearing double, to be forever remembered as the hero of the 2013 Brawl Game. New closer Kenley Jansen then pitched 1-2-3 ninth to finish off the 5-3 victory.

Whew. Is that all? Huge win for the Dodgers, who had lost five in a row to Arizona. Loved the passion and intensity from Mattingly and McGwire, and my take is that Kennedy and the D-backs were in the wrong here, so I can understand their anger. It certainly is going to make the rest of the Diamondbacks-Dodgers games very interesting.

One hopes cooler heads will prevail Wednesday. As Scully signed off after the final out, "In a sense, I am personally relieved the game is over."
 

Another fun and interesting chat session included some heated debates on Mike Trout's defense, Manny Machado's WAR versus Miguel Cabrera's, whether the Rangers are worse than the four best teams in the AL East, the hype over Yasiel Puig, Jason Heyward versus Freddie Freeman, Jose Iglesias versus Andrelton Simmons and when the Cubs will make it back to the playoffs. Here's the complete chat wrap.

We're about a month out from the All-Star Game at Citi Field in New York, so it's a good time to take stock of how the All-Star rosters might be shaping up -- after all, the debate of who goes to the game is usually much more interesting than the game itself.

The most heated discussion in the National League might be at starting pitcher. New York Mets fans will undoubtedly be vociferous about hometown hero Matt Harvey deserving the start, but, as Bill Baer outlined here a couple days ago, the Cy Young race is crowded, which means the All-Star assignment is a crowded field. With apologies to Harvey and rookies Shelby Miller and Patrick Corbin, I think the starting pitcher should have a little longer track record than a couple good months. Harvey does have 23 career starts with a 2.35 ERA going back to his 2012 call-up, although we've seen some dents of late with 31 hits allowed in 26 innings over his past four starts.

With further apologies to Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright, right now I'd give the nod to Nationals right-hander Jordan Zimmermann, who pitched seven scoreless innings against the Twins on Sunday to improve to 9-3 with a 2.00 ERA. Some remain skeptical of Zimmermann's success because his strikeout rate -- 5.8 per nine innings -- doesn't match the elite starters in the league. But Zimmermann is a master of movement, location, command and deception. He doesn't second-guess his stuff; his fastball has averaged 93.7 mph, and the great sinking and cutting action he gets on it induces a lot of ground balls.

As ESPN Stats & Information's Mark Simon points out, Zimmermann limits hits not by generating strikeouts but by generating weak contact. His line-drive rate allowed ranks eighth among qualified starters, and batters have hit just .207 off that fastball, even though they often know it's coming.

He's also the master of efficiency, ranking third in the NL in innings even though he's topped 100 pitches just five times this season -- his 111 on Sunday was his season high. You hate to compare anybody to Greg Maddux, but Zimmermann is the most Maddux-like in the game today: He's walked just 13 batters in 13 starts and has allowed more than two runs just twice in those starts. He's consistent and very, very good. Don't be surprised if he's on the mound at Citi Field next month.

Here's how the rest of the roster is looking right now. All-Star rosters consist of 34 players, with the eight position starters voted in by the fans, eight backups chosen by the players and the first eight pitchers (five starters, three relievers) also chosen by player balloting. For the purpose of this run-through, I'll use the fan starters but ignore player voting, which is usually the part that messes things up the most (like voting in Bryan LaHair last year at first base because he had 70 hot plate appearances in April). My own personal philosophy is to factor in some combination of 2013 stats with previous track record; you need to weigh both.

Catcher
Fans: 1. Buster Posey; 2. Yadier Molina; 3. John Buck

Should start: Molina.
Automatic: Posey.

If you want to argue that Posey should start, I'm not going to put up a strong debate. They're close in hitting value, although they've done it in different ways, with Molina relying on a high batting average and Posey hitting more home runs and drawing more walks. But Molina's masterful handling of the St. Louis pitching staff has to be recognized.

First base
Fans: 1. Joey Votto; 2. Paul Goldschmidt; 3. Brandon Belt.

Should start: Votto.
Automatic: Goldschmidt.

Like the debate at catcher, this can swing either way. Goldschmidt has the huge edge in RBIs -- 58 to 29 -- and he has hit .431 with runners in scoring position (Votto has hit .333), so if you want to say Goldschmidt deserves the start, I'm not going to fight. But if the statistical record is close, I like to go with the guy with the longer track record, and that's Votto.

Don't fret, Diamondbacks fans, as Goldschmidt would get my starting nod at the designated hitter slot (which is now used in NL parks as well).

Second base
Fans: 1. Brandon Phillips; 2. Marco Scutaro; 3. Matt Carpenter.

Should start: Phillips.
Automatic: Carpenter.

Carpenter leads Phillips in Wins Above Replacement (WAR), but this is another track-record vote. But Carpenter has played so well -- including with the glove after playing little second base before this season -- that he should garner an automatic bid.

Third base
Fans: 1. Pablo Sandoval; 2. David Wright; 3. David Freese.

Should start: Wright.
Automatic: None.

Wright should be the obvious starter in another weird season at third base in the NL. Sandoval's numbers are mediocre, as are 2012 RBI champ Chase Headley's. Freese and Ryan Zimmerman have missed time with injuries, and Martin Prado hasn't hit. Todd Frazier is actually second in WAR, and he's hitting .250 with six home runs. If Sandoval holds on to his lead in the vote, it will probably be just him and Wright on the squad.

Shortstop
Fans: 1. Troy Tulowitzki; 2. Brandon Crawford; 3. Jean Segura.

Should be: Tulowitzki.
Automatic: Segura, Everth Cabrera.

Segura is a rookie, but he's been so good that he earns the backup slot. Cabrera is also a deserving All-Star, hitting .298 with a .374 OBP, leading the NL with 29 steals and playing solid defense. He's among NL leaders in WAR at any position. He might be the only Padres All-Star, but he's not a token rep.

Outfield
Fans: 1. Justin Upton 2. Bryce Harper 3. Carlos Beltran 4. Ryan Braun 5. Shin-Soo Choo 6. Hunter Pence

Should be: Carlos Gonzalez, Andrew McCutchen, Braun.
Automatic: Carlos Gomez.

Upton and Harper lead the fan voting due to their hot starts, but neither is a deserving starter at this time. Harper is on the DL with a knee injury, and Upton is hitting .206 with just two home runs in 36 games since April 28. I would go with Gonzalez, McCutchen and Braun as my starters -- three proven stars who rank second, seventh and eighth among NL outfielders in FanGraphs WAR. Gomez is the one must-be-there outfielder with his power/speed/defense combo giving him the top WAR among NL position players via both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference.

Considering my three starters are different from the fan starters, and combined with the inclusion of Gomez, that's seven outfielders.

Starting pitchers
Starter: Zimmermann.
Automatics: Kershaw, Harvey, Wainwright, Shelby Miller, Patrick Corbin, Mike Minor, Cliff Lee.

Considering there are currently 17 starters in the NL with sub-3.00 ERAs, somebody is going to get the shaft. But the above guys have combined their low ERAs with low batting averages allowed and excellent strikeout-to-walk ratios.

Relief pitchers
Automatics: Jason Grilli, Craig Kimbrel, Aroldis Chapman.

The rules state the players' vote will include the top three relievers. I'd go with the above three, and I'm guessing they'll win the player vote as well.

* * * *

Where does that leave us? With fan starters added to my should-be starters and other automatic selections, we're at 29 players.

We're going to need at least two more pitchers, since rosters usually include at least 13 pitchers; we also need reps from the Marlins and Cubs. But the first guy I want to add is Domonic Brown, who might be riding a hot streak, but what a streak. He leads the NL in home runs and ranks fourth in RBIs. Of the top six leaders in slugging percentage, he's the only one who doesn't get to play his home games in a hitter's paradise in Colorado, Milwaukee or Arizona.

We better do the Marlins and Cubs reps. With Giancarlo Stanton injured -- and as much as I would like to try, I couldn't really justify his inclusion since he hasn't played much -- the Marlins lack a good candidate. Their only two players with a 1.0 or greater WAR on Baseball-Reference.com are rookie outfielder Marcell Ozuna and starter Ricky Nolasco. We'll give the nod to Nolasco, although you could probably make a case for rookie Jose Fernandez being the team's best starter. For the Cubs, it's either Travis Wood or Jeff Samardzija. Wood is 5-4 with a 2.65 ERA while Samardzija is 3-7, 3.18 ERA with more strikeouts and a better K/BB ratio. Samardzija is my choice -- he was very good last season -- but if you want Wood, that's fine.

That leaves two spots to fill. Based on consistency of WAR across both FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference, the top guys are probably Pirates catcher Russell Martin and Pence. Works for me -- especially Martin -- who also earns raves for the leadership he's brought to Pittsburgh. Relievers Edward Mujica and Sergio Romo have cases but get squeezed out. I'd love to add defensive whiz Andrelton Simmons, but it's tough finding room for four shortstops.

So, as of now, my 34-man roster would look like this:

C Buster Posey, Giants*
C Yadier Molina, Cardinals
C Russell Martin, Pirates
1B Joey Votto, Reds*
1B Paul Goldschmidt, Diamondbacks
2B Brandon Phillips, Reds*
2B Matt Carpenter, Cardinals
3B Pablo Sandoval, Giants*
3B David Wright, Mets
SS Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies
SS Jean Segura, Brewers
SS Everth Cabrera, Padres
OF Justin Upton, Braves*
OF Bryce Harper, Nationals*
OF Carlos Beltran, Cardinals
OF Carlos Gonzalez, Rockies
OF Andrew McCutchen, Pirates
OF Ryan Braun, Brewers
OF Carlos Gomez, Brewers
OF Domonic Brown, Phillies
OF Hunter Pence, Giants

SP Jordan Zimmermann, Nationals*
SP Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
SP Matt Harvey, Mets
SP Adam Wainwright, Cardinals
SP Shelby Miller, Cardinals
SP Mike Minor, Braves
SP Patrick Corbin, Diamondbacks
SP Cliff Lee, Phillies
SP Jeff Samardzija, Cubs
SP Ricky Nolasco, Marlins
RP Jason Grilli, Pirates
RP Craig Kimbrel, Braves
RP Aroldis Chapman, Reds

Disagree? Debate below and then check back tomorrow for the American League.

1965: Reds draft Johnny Bench
Back in the first draft, it was still possible to dig up a relatively unknown kid from rural Oklahoma. Bench wasn't selected until the second round -- the 36th player overall -- and seven other catchers went ahead of him. Jim McLaughlin, the Reds' farm director in 1965, in Kevin Kerrane's classic book on scouting, "Dollar Sign on the Muscle":

A friend of mine with another club said, "You better send someone down to Binger, Oklahoma, to look at this kid Bench. We're not gonna draft him because the general manager's seen another he likes up in New England." ... They took that New England catcher on the first round, and the kid never got above Double A. And we took Bench on the second round. It was kind of a poker game. Nobody else knew much about him; his team hadn't played many games, and our scout was usually the only one there, so we could wait. After the draft Bill DeWitt, my boss, said, "I've never heard of him." I said, "I know you haven't, but you will. And that's why you hired me -- to hear about kids like this one."

Does McLaughlin's story check out? Sort of. There was no catcher from New England drafted in the first round, but the Orioles did take a catcher from Dartmouth in the second round -- one pick ahead of Bench. As to the claim that nobody else knew about Bench, at least one other team saw him: the Dodgers drafted a high school teammate of Bench's in the seventh round, but passed twice on selecting Bench.

1966: Reggie Jackson falls into A's lap
In one of the more famous draft blunders, the Mets' had the No. 1 pick and passed on Arizona State outfielder Jackson to select a high school catcher named Steve Chilcott, who would battle injuries and never reach the majors. "It was a position pick," said Joe McDonald, a Mets executive at the time. "We did not feel we had an adequate catching prospect in the organization."

1966: Braves draft Tom Seaver
The Braves? Yep. Atlanta selected Seaver in the now non-existent January secondary phase of the draft (for players who had previously been drafted). Seaver, pitching at USC, had been drafted the previous June by the Dodgers, but didn't sign after the Dodgers turned down his $70,000 asking price. The Braves took him with the 20th pick of the January phase, setting off a weird chain of events. The Braves signed Seaver for $40,000, but commissioner Spike Eckert ruled Seaver was ineligible to sign because USC had already played two exhibition games (Seaver didn't pitch). But the NCAA then declared Seaver ineligible, because he had signed a pro contract. So Eckert ruled that any team willing to match the Braves' offer would enter a lottery. The Mets, Phillies and Indians matched, and the Mets won the lottery.

1971: George Brett and Mike Schmidt drafted back-to-back
Pretty cool that arguably the two greatest third basemen in history were drafted the same year with consecutive picks. The catch: They went in the second round, Brett and then Schmidt. The Royals' first-round pick was a pitcher named Roy Branch, who briefly reached the majors but never won a game; the Phillies' pick was Roy Thomas, who had a marginal eight-year career as a reliever, although never pitched in the majors for the Phillies.

1976: Trammell and Morris ... and Ozzie (sort of)
In 1976, the Tigers had one of the great drafts ever, selecting Steve Kemp in the January phase and then Alan Trammell (second round), Dan Petry (fourth round), and Jack Morris (fifth round). Trammell and Morris aren't in the Hall of Fame yet, but both could get there someday. No team has ever drafted (and signed) two future Hall of Famers in the same draft. The kicker: They also drafted Ozzie Smith in the seventh round, but he didn't sign, and the Padres selected him the following year.

1987: Mariners draft Ken Griffey Jr.
The Mariners owned the first overall pick, and penurious Mariners owner George Argyros wanted the club to draft college pitcher Mike Harkey, because he would be easier to sign and presumably quicker to reach the majors. Scouting director Roger Jongewaard won out in the end. (Harkey went fourth overall, to the Cubs.)

1988: Dodgers draft Mike Piazza ... in 62nd round
Maybe the most famous late-round pick, Piazza was the Dodgers' final pick that year -- the 1,390th pick overall out of 1,395.

1990: Braves land Chipper Jones
Hard-throwing high school right-hander Todd Van Poppel was the consensus top talent in the 1990 draft -- "the best pitching prospect ever" label had been slapped on him -- but his declaration that he didn't want to sign and instead attend the University of Texas scared teams off him. So the Braves took Jones, which worked out pretty well for them.

2000: Cardinals draft Yadier Molina
The 2000 draft as one of the worst ever -- after top pick Adrian Gonzalez (by the Marlins), the rest of the top 15 were Adam Johnson, Luis Montanez, Mike Stodolka, Justin Wayne, Rocco Baldelli, Matt Harrington, Matt Wheatland, Mark Phillips, Joe Torres, Dave Krynzel, Joe Borchard, Shaun Boyd, Beau Hale and Chase Utley (OK, finally one that panned out). Keep that list in mind when you get excited about your team's first-round pick this year. The only other first-round of note that year was Adam Wainwright (by the Braves). He would eventually get traded to St. Louis, where he would team with a young catcher from Puerto Rico also drafted in 2000.

2009: Nationals draft Stephen Strasburg
The story here is how the Mariners kicked away the No. 1 overall selection. The Nationals headed into the final weekend with a record of 59-99, having gone 3-11 over their previous 14 games. The Mariners were 58-101 and had lost 14 of 15. This was tanking at its best. All the Mariners had to do was lose one game to lock up the first pick. One loss. Easy, right? Instead the Mariners sweep the A's. The Nationals lose all three. Josh Outman's throwing error sets up Yuniesky Betancourt's two-run go-ahead in triple in the fifth inning of the season finale. In other words, if Outman doesn't throw the ball away, Strasburg might be in a Mariners uniform instead of a Nationals one. (With the second pick, the Mariners selected Dustin Ackley.)

The evening began with the OTL report that MLB seeks to suspend Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, Nelson Cruz, Bartolo Colon and others named in the Biogenesis scandal. But the night turned into a reminder of what makes the sport so great.

• When the Dodgers signed Cuban defector Yasiel Puig last June to a 7-year, $42 million contract, many in the industry scoffed at the money given him, calling it an overreaction to the soon-to-be-changing rules that would cap spending on international signings. But Puig is in the majors less than a year later, much quicker than most expected, and in his second major league game had a day to remember with two home runs, a double and five RBIs. Here's Vin Scully calling Puig's first home run, a long blast to left field. And here's Scully calling his second, which Puig hit the opposite way. Scully began calling Dodgers games in 1950, the year before Willie Mays debuted with the Giants. Now he gets to call home runs by Yasiel Puig. Loved how Don Mattingly hit Puig leadoff, and the energy Puig brought to Dodger Stadium -- the Dodgers beat the Padres 9-7 -- was exciting. As bad as everything has gone for the Dodgers, they're not buried just yet. Maybe this will be the start of more than just a great career.
• In Philadelphia, John Mayberry Jr. became the first player in major league history to hit two home runs in extra innings, with the second one being a walk-off grand slam. Here are his two home runs.
• I watched the Arizona-St. Louis game, featuring 21-year-old starters Tyler Skaggs and Michael Wacha, each making their second starts of the season (Skaggs debuted last year) after dominant first outings. Neither was effective this time around, with Skaggs giving up five runs, including two home runs, in 5.2 innings, and Wacha allowing 10 hits and six runs in 4.2. Wacha only walked one batter, but after showing great fastball command in his first start -- 45 strikes in 58 pitches -- the fastball wasn't as effective and the D-backs were 7-for-19 off it. He was falling behind and forced to his fastball more instead of going to his changeup to put batters away. Still, hard to believe there were 18 players drafted ahead of him last June. Anyway, it was a good game as the both bullpens produced lockdown performances, the D-backs finally winning in 14 innings. One thing to question with Mike Matheny: Twice in extra innings he had a pitcher pinch-hit leading off an inning instead of using his last bench player, backup catcher Tony Cruz. I think you have to use Cruz there, otherwise you're playing with a four-man bench.
• Big win for the Rockies against the Reds, with Troy Tulowitzki hitting a go-ahead, two-run homer in the eighth. The Reds have now lost five games they were leading heading into the eighth inning. More proof that the eighth-inning guys are often more important than the closer.
• The Braves, Brewers and Nationals joined the Phillies as walk-off winners.
• Tim Lincecum had more of a vintage Lincecum performance as the Giants beat the Blue Jays 2-1. "It definitely feels good, but we've still got a lot to do, a lot of work to do," he said after the game. "I've said it before, I'm not jumping up and down right now, I'm just happy with what we did today. Tomorrow's another day for work."
• The Royals have now lost 11 consecutive home games, scoring just 23 runs in those games, after the Twins shut them out 3-0. You have to think Ned Yost will be out of a job soon.

It's a fantasy that would certainly appeal to Marlins and Astros fans, or Mariners and Cubs fans, and probably fans of several other franchises: If every player in baseball became a free agent and salaries didn't matter and there was gigantic expansion draft -- in other words, if we just gave this whole thing called Major League Baseball a reboot -- what would happen? Which player is drafted first? Who goes second, eighth or 19th?

Welcome to the third annual Franchise Player Draft. On Tuesday, ESPN's team of baseball writers and broadcasters will draft 30 players as if they were building a team from scratch. We ignore contracts; talent is all that matters.

The two primary questions to consider: Would you build for "now" and simply go for the best player regardless of age? Do you go for a position player or a pitcher?

In other words: Do you take Troy Tulowitzki's present or Jurickson Profar's future? Do you like Miguel Cabrera or Clayton Kershaw? Personally, as good as Profar may be for the next 10 to 15 years, I'd be looking at a five-year window. So even though a guy like Cabrera is 30, he's so good now that I'd be optimistic about owning him for the next five years. Of course, we said the same thing about Albert Pujols two years ago.

Pujols went eighth overall in the 2011 Franchise Player Draft, a seemingly logical pick at the time. Kudos to Eric Karabell for drafting Bryce Harper ninth in that draft, Jason Grey for taking Mike Trout at No. 12 and Tim Kurkjian for taking Kershaw with the 25th pick (how did he fall so far?). But looking at that list is a reminder of how quickly players can fall, whether through decline (Pujols, Tim Lincecum went fifth) or injury (Neftali Feliz, Michael Pineda).

In the 2012 Franchise Player Draft, Matt Kemp went No. 1 -- remember, he had gotten off to that red-hot start, following up on his awesome 2011. I wonder if he'll even go in the first round this time around. Oddly, Harper and Trout went lower in 2012 than in 2011. And, no, I'm not going to mention who I took with the 18th pick last year. OK, it was Eric Hosmer. And that's the risk with projecting a young player -- sometimes the projections are wrong.

Aside from wondering how high Harper and Trout go this year, it will be interesting to see where all these terrific young pitchers go. And what about Chris Davis? Will anybody buy his hot start and make him a franchise player?

One thing I was curious about: How many of baseball's best players at a given time remain among the very best for the next five years? I looked at the periods 2002-2003, 1992-1993 and 1982-1983 to see the 20 best position players and 10 best pitchers using Baseball-Reference's Wins Above Replacement stat and then checked to see how many ranked in the top 20 and top 10 over the ensuing five years.

The answer may surprise you, but it also points out that making the "right" choice -- even in a mock draft -- can be difficult.

2002-2003
Top 20 players also in the top 20 from 2004-2008 (eight players, 2002-03 ranking followed by 2004-08): Albert Pujols (3/1), Alex Rodriguez (2/2), Carlos Beltran (20/4), Miguel Tejada (16/15), Vladimir Guerrero (19/16), Scott Rolen (12/17), Todd Helton (6/18).

Highest-ranked player not to make top 20: Barry Bonds (1).

Some of the young guys who made the 20 would have been on the radar in 2003 such as Cabrera, a rookie that year with the Marlins. But would Chase Utley, Adrian Beltre, David Wright, Grady Sizemore, Jimmy Rollins, David Ortiz and Brian Roberts have been drafted in the first round? Probably not. Wright didn't debut until 2004 and Utley didn't have his big breakout year until 2005, for example.

Top 10 pitchers also in the top 10 from 2004-2008 (two pitchers): Roy Halladay (1/5), Randy Johnson (6/10).

Highest-ranked pitcher not to make top 10: Curt Schilling (2).

Schilling was still good enough to make the top 20 from 2004-2008, but top-10 guys Pedro Martinez, Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Bartolo Colon, Mark Mulder and Kerry Wood all suffered decline (Zito) or injury (the others).

1992-1993
Top 20 players also in the top 20 from 1994-1998 (five): Barry Bonds (1/1), Ken Griffey Jr. (2/2), Frank Thomas (4/8), Kenny Lofton (3/9), Rafael Palmeiro (12/18).

Highest-ranked player not to make 20: Roberto Alomar (5).

Alomar ranked 37th in WAR from 1994-98, and then had his best seasons (according to WAR) in 1999 and 2001. The top four players all fared well over the next half-decade but some others just got old (Ryne Sandberg, Rickey Henderson) or fell off a cliff (Carlos Baerga). Most of the young players to emerge as top-20 guys were pretty good bets to do so -- Jeff Bagwell had ranked 21st in 1992-1993, for example, Mike Piazza had a big rookie season in 1993 and Bernie Williams was a top prospect. John Valentin or Jim Thome, on the other hand, would not have been top-30 picks.

Top 10 pitchers also in the top 10 from 1994-1998 (four): Greg Maddux (2/1), Roger Clemens (6/2), David Cone (4/5), Mike Mussina (9/7).

Highest-ranked pitcher not to make top 10: Kevin Appier (1).

Appier ranked 14th over the next five years. Jose Rijo and Jack McDowell broke down, while Mark Langston, Frank Viola and Jimmy Key were already in their 30s.

1982-1983
Top 20 players also in the top 20 from 1984-1988 (nine): Wade Boggs (12/1), Rickey Henderson (5/2), Cal Ripken (8/3), Alan Trammell (16/6), Mike Schmidt (4/9), Dale Murphy (7/14), Eddie Murray (11/15), George Brett (14/18), Keith Hernandez (17/19).

Highest-ranked player not to make top 20: Robin Yount (1).

This period had a little better "success" rate. Yount had been a superstar shortstop but hurt his shoulder and moved to center field (he ranked 27th in WAR from 1984-1988). Among the unexpected best players in this period: Tony Gwynn (first full season came in '84), Ozzie Smith (would he have been drafted based on his glove alone?), Ryne Sandberg (broke out in '84) and Kirby Puckett (rookie in 1984).

Top 10 pitchers also in the top 10 from 1984-1988 (one): Dave Stieb (1/10).

Highest-ranked pitcher not to make top 10: Mario Soto (2).

This two-year period was a pretty undistinguished one for pitchers -- heck, Pete Vuckovich won the AL Cy Young Award in 1982 while walking 102 batters and striking out 105 -- so it's not a big surprise that only one of the 10 remained one of the baseball's preeminent pitchers. Young guns Roger Clemens, Dwight Gooden, Orel Hershiser and Bret Saberhagen were all rookies in 1984 and ranked in the top 10 from '84 to '88.

* * * *

If there is one main lesson to be gleaned from this quick study, it's that at least a few of the best players from 2014 to 2018 will not have appeared in the majors yet. This is complicated by the fact that we have so many talented young players already putting up big numbers, like Harper, Trout, Manny Machado and Jose Fernandez. But it could mean a guy like Oscar Taveras or Wil Myers is worthy of a top-30 pick. Or maybe a pitcher like Gerrit Cole.

Also, at least when using WAR, it's important to consider a player's all-around abilities. Cabrera is great with the bat, but offers little value on defense. If his bat declines a bit, what will his overall value be in 2017 or 2018? Andrelton Simmons, on the other hand, may not have the offensive upside of some other infielders, but if he plays defense like Ozzie Smith maybe that makes him a top-30 player over the next five years.

Bottom line: The best 30 players from 2012-2013 won't be the same best 30 players from 2014 to 2018. The fun part is trying to figuring which ones will remain at that level.

Some thoughts on Sunday's MLB games and other stuff ...

• It's getting more and more difficult to paint a positive outlook for the Nationals, other than it's still early June. Nate Karns started Sunday, exposing the team's lack of rotation depth, as the Braves won 6-3 to take the series. The lineup on Sunday included three guys batting under .160 and two others with an OBP below .300. Jonah Keri has more in this week's The 30 on what has ailed the Nats so far.
• Meanwhile, the Dodgers -- and their highest-in-baseball $216 million payroll -- rolled out a lineup on Sunday that included Nick Punto hitting cleanup, Juan Uribe batting second, Scott Van Slyke in the cleanup spot, Tim Federowicz hitting fifth, Luis Cruz seventh and Skip Schumaker eighth. My lord, $216 million just doesn't buy what it used. Yes, injuries (catcher A.J. Ellis went on the DL prior to the game.) Still embarrassing. If that wasn't bad enough, starter Matt Magill walked nine batters. Yes, the Dodgers lost to the Rockies 7-2. And it could have been worse. According to ESPN Stats & Info, Magill was the first pitcher in MLB history to walk nine guys and allow four home runs. Your 2013 Dodgers, everyone!
• Good win for the Pirates over the Reds after getting shut out in the first two games of the series. Garrett Jones became just the second hitter to reach the Allegheny River on the fly (Houston's Daryle Ward did in 2002) with this game-tying home run in the eighth (I like how the announcer seemed to hesitate on whether it was going to be a home run) and then the Pirates won it in the bottom of the 11th. Dusty Baker was critical of Reds starter Mat Latos after the game. "He threw the ball well, but he hit that wall again," Baker said. "He's got to get over that wall and get past the 90-100 pitch mark. He's bigger and stronger than that. That's quite a few victories that got away from him." Latos left after 94 pitches. Baker pulled Latos after the Pirates scored a run in the sixth, the rally consisting of an infield hit, a walk and an Andrew McCutchen base hit. Latos' average allowed by pitch count: 1-25 (.176), 26-50 (.156), 51-75 (.254), 76-100 (.343), 101+ (.714). Generally speaking, all pitchers see a rise, but Latos' numbers are pretty extreme. It should be noted that this was not the case last year, as Latos allowed a .235 average on pitches 76-100 and .128 on 101+. So the question: Is Baker right or is this merely small sample size results?
• After getting hit his first two starts, Orioles rookie Kevin Gausman had much better results in Sunday's 4-2 win over the Tigers, allowing one run in six innings. The Orioles rallied in the seventh and eighth -- Chris Davis hit his MLB-leading 20th home run -- so Gausman didn't get the win but he was happy to pitch well in his home debut. "I felt comfortable today," he said. "I thought today was the most polished and most calm since I've been up here. Obviously, it was fun and I made my debut here today so that was something I'll never forget." I'd still like to see the Orioles make a deal for another starting pitcher.
• Matt Harvey wasn't so good again and Mark Simon explains what's been going on.
• Domonic Brown was good again with a homer, triple and four RBIs in a 7-5 win over the Brewers and now has eight home runs in his past nine games and leads the with 16. ESPN Stats & Info points out that Brown is hitting .350 with six home runs off pitches "up" in the zone, compared to .200 with his one home run in his career prior to 2013. What's interesting about Brown's production is that he's done it while being more aggressive -- his walk is down (he's hitting .282 versus .235 last year, but his OBP remains level) but that obviously helped him attack pitches with better results. At 25, maybe he just figured out what works for him; he's looking like a good example of why you don't give up on a kid with talent.

 
When it comes to this year's rookies, as fans I think we sort of came into this season like the kid at Christmas the year after you got the bike and the pony, or the new car and the Red Ryder BB gun. Because, let’s face it, the year after Mike Trout and Bryce Harper arrived on the scene had to be something of a letdown, right?

Turns out, not so much, at least not in the National League. The difference is that this year the kids are all right on the mound. Hyun-Jin Ryu has been one of the few bright spots on a Dodgers team desperate for something worth bragging about beyond its price tag. But the Cardinals’ Shelby Miller just got his ERA down to 1.82, almost a full run lower than Ryu’s, while catching the Korean southpaw in the win column for at least a day, what with Ryu set to take the mound Sunday.

It’s a showdown between a pair of outstanding candidates who press many of the hot-button issues about Rookie of the Year voting every season. Some fans -- and perhaps more than a few voters -- might favor the future value they anticipate when they see Miller. Some might have qualms about voting for a foreign leagues veteran, MLB-rookie status or no. But as long as Miller keeps pitching like a man who belongs with teammate Adam Wainwright in the conversation on who the best pitcher in the league might be, two months into the season it’s Miller’s race to win -- if he pitches all year.

That said, it is a long season, and as the Nationals' decision to shut down Stephen Strasburg in 2012 reflected, pitchers might be excused for factors that have nothing to do with performance.

Happily, the NL field for first-year talent is wider than that tandem, even as Miller and Ryu contend for headlines. Just from among the hurlers, Jose Fernandez might have to labor in relative obscurity with the Marlins, marooned in the depths of a new-park hangover that has many Miami fans and voters asking themselves the coyote-ugly question about their franchise a year or two too late. But that has nothing to do with Fernandez’s talent, on full display as he mowed down Mets on Saturday. Like Miller, he’s striking out more than a man per inning, good enough to put him in the top 10 among NL starters in K/9. If it weren’t for Ryu and Miller, even in the spring of Matt Harvey, we’d be talking about Fernandez a lot more. So you can imagine how Julio Teheran, doing well as a rotation regular on a first-place Braves team, feels.

This year, you can really only say one NL rookie position player is generating anything like the same buzz. Atlanta's Evan Gattis deserves the love he’s getting, not for the backstory but for the production. This is not Chris Coste 2.0 -- not that a guy like Coste wasn’t as easy to root for as Gattis, but when you’re slugging north of .600 two months into the season, you’re not a passing fancy, you’re somebody hitting so well that demoting an eight-figure salary becomes something more than merely speculative.

Gattis is doing for position players what Miller and Ryu have done for the pitchers in terms of sucking all the oxygen out of the room. As a result, Jedd Gyorko of the Padres might not merit more than a courtesy mention now, but I wouldn’t count him out over the next four months. Gyorko has the power to slug .450 or better despite having to call Petco Park home as a rookie; if he cranks 60 extra-base hits while helping the Padres finish around .500, that’s an amazing season.

You could say much the same for the pair of rookies starting up the middle for the Diamondbacks. However overmuch attention has been given to Kirk Gibson’s clubhouse makeover or the likely big-picture penalties for trading away Justin Upton, the work Arizona is getting from Didi Gregorius at shortstop (and A.J. Pollock in center field) has helped propel the Snakes to first place in the NL West. As easy as it might be to say Gregorius has been helped by the D-backs’ bandbox ballpark, three of his four homers have come on the road. If he starts slugging at home, too, how do you count out a slick-fielding shortstop with power on a first-place team?

Even with their delayed call-ups, by this time last year Trout and Harper had already been strutting their stuff. Trout was putting up an .887 OPS for an Angels lineup that needed all the help it could get overcoming Albert Pujols’ slow start. Harper was hitting .274/.357/.504 in a little more than a month. They might not have been brought up until the end of April, but you already knew we were in for something special. But this year’s class? Its players might not compare directly, but they’re doing more than enough to pay attention to, now and down the stretch.

The American League, on the other hand ... well, you have to give the Rangers some unexpected due. I don’t know if anyone really expects Justin Grimm or Nick Tepesch to still be in this conversation at the end of June, let alone September, but their contributions have clearly helped keep the Rangers' riding to the league’s best record. But Conor Gillaspie? Yan Gomes? That they're among the top WAR-generating rookies in the AL so far just means that nobody has shown enough, for long enough, with the expectation that he’ll still have a job at the All-Star break. I wouldn’t rule out Nick Franklin or Jurickson Profar in partial seasons. I also wouldn’t rule out that the eventual AL Rookie of the Year hasn’t been called up yet. Or possibly even drafted yet -- who said Christmas comes just once per year?

Christina Kahrl covers baseball for ESPN.com. You can follow her on Twitter.

Haven't done one of these all week, so some quick thoughts on Thursday's games ...

• I was watching the Detroit Tigers-Pittsburgh Pirates last night but on my laptop I had on the Kansas City Royals-St. Louis Cardinals game to check out Michael Wacha's debut for St. Louis. If you're not familiar with Wacha, he was the 19th pick in last year's draft out of Texas A&M and I'm left asking: There were 18 guys better than him? (The pick, by the way, came via the Los Angeles Angels in the Albert Pujols signing.) After a terrific spring training he posted a 2.05 ERA in nine Triple-A starts and became the seventh rookie pitcher to appear for the Cardinals this year. He thoroughly dominated the Royals, pitching four no-hit innings and finishing with this line: 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 SO. He failed to get the win when the Royals rallied for three runs in the ninth (after a long rain delay that had the Cardinals asking for an eight-inning victory).
  
  After pitching four days in a row, Cardinals closer Edward Mujica had a day off, as did rookie setup guy Trevor Rosenthal, leaving Mitchell Boggs to get burned yet again.As for Wacha, he threw 58 fastballs out of his 93 pitches, averaging 93.3 mph and touching 96-97. He throws up in the zone, especially to left-handers, and on this night did a good job of painting the outside corner against right-handers. He also gets some late movement, almost like a cutter, so while he didn't have a high K rate in the minors, he apparently induced a lot of weak contact, which was the case on Thursday. His out pitch is a changeup on which he recorded four of his six strikeouts. The pitch dives away from lefties and down and in to righties. He also has a curveball but only threw three against the Royals. OK, the Royals have been in a huge offensive slump so we should factor that in, but this kid looked terrific. Very poised and confident (it helps when you retire the first 13 hitters). I get a feeling he may not be heading back to the minors.
• You know, Freddy Garcia has had a hell of a career. He threw eight shutout innings for the Baltimore Orioles in a 2-0 win over the Washington Nationals and I love that Buck Showalter left him in to throw 113 pitches and save the bullpen. I'm skeptical Garcia can succeed all season -- he has just 15 strikeouts in 35.1 innings -- but he does throw strikes (six walks in starts) and won't beat himself. Garcia is now 158-103 in his career and not many pitchers win 158 games. He was the ace of two Seattle Mariners teams that reached the postseason and was a member of that stellar 2005 Chicago White Sox rotation that won a World Series. He battled back from injuries to turn into a junkballer supreme; who knows, maybe he learned a few lessons from Jamie Moyer back in the day. Good story and I hope he continues to pitch well.
• The Cleveland Indians are in the midst of a tough portion of their schedule and had dropped six of seven to the Tigers, the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds before rallying to beat the Reds the past two nights in Cleveland. They scored all seven runs in the fourth inning to beat Cincy 7-1 on Thursday behind Scott Kazmir. Yan Gomes went 3-for-4 and is hitting .319/.333/.638 as he continues to push himself into the lineup. Don't be surprised to see Carlos Santana getting more days off from catching and more time at first base and DH. It doesn't get any easier for the Indians as their next five series are against the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Yankees, Tigers, Texas Rangers and Nationals.
• The Colorado Rockies just lost two to the Houston Astros at home (and three of four in this four-game matchup), which has to hurt. Todd Helton is down to .219/.287/.344 and you wonder how much longer Walt Weiss can afford to keep him in the lineup.
• Carl Crawford did this but the Angels beat the Dodgers 3-2 behind the red-hot Jason Vargas. More bad news for the Dodgers: Matt Kemp hit the DL. Or maybe it's good news. He needs to get healthy.
• Travis Wood hit a grand slam for the Chicago Cubs. That's 19 RBIs for Cubs pitchers in May -- the most by a pitching staff since the 1940 Tigers had 20 in August. In fact, Cubs pitchers are tied for 19th in the majors in RBIs in May. Gotta love baseball.
• This was pretty cool.

Yesterday, we looked at the last time each American League club drafted a player who became an All-Star -- whether for the franchise or another. The Cleveland Indians had the longest drought: CC Sabathia was the last All-Star they drafted and he was selected way back in 1998. Can any National League team match that stretch of futility?

Arizona Diamondbacks: Ryan Cook and Wade Miley (2008)
To show the unpredictability of baseball drafts, the D-backs' first-round pick that year was Daniel Schlereth. Miley was a supplemental first-round pick, going 43rd overall, but Cook was selected in the 27th round from USC after struggling with his control during his college years. He went to the A's in the Trevor Cahill trade.

Atlanta Braves: Craig Kimbrel (2008)
A third-round pick out an Alabama junior college, Kimbrel was the fourth pitcher the Braves drafted in 2008. So is it good fortune or skilled scouting that landed him? A little of both, I suspect.

Miami Marlins: Giancarlo Stanton (2007)
With the pick right before the Marlins selected Stanton in the second round, the Mariners selected another high school outfielder named Denny Almonte. Who is not to be confused with Little League hero/pariah Danny Almonte.

New York Mets: Scott Kazmir (2002)
They really shouldn't have let Mr. Met run their drafts all those years. OK, Matt Harvey is a good bet to end this drought this year, which would make him the first All-Star the Mets drafted to make an All-Star team with the Mets since David Wright in 2001. Before Wright, however, you go all the back to Bobby Jones, an All-Star in 1997 and drafted in 1991.

Philadelphia Phillies: Michael Bourn (2003)
Part of the Brad Lidge trade, the Phillies haven't produced a homegrown draft choice All-Star since Cole Hamels in 2002.

Washington Nationals: Bryce Harper (2010)
The 2009 Nationals finished three wins worse than the Pirates to get the top pick. The Pirates went 6-4 over their final 10 games; don't worry, Pirates fans I'm not setting you up -- the Nationals actually won their final seven.

Chicago Cubs: Geovany Soto (2001)
An 11th-round pick out of Puerto Rico, the Cubs are now the Cubs with good reason. In 2002, they had four of the first 38 picks, selected four pitchers, and none reached the majors. Their first-round picks from 2003 to 2010 were Ryan Harvey, Mark Pawelek, Tyler Colvin, Josh Donaldson (traded to Oakland in the Rich Harden trade), Josh Vitters (ahead of Matt Wieters), Ryan Flaherty, Andrew Cashner (who at least turned into Anthony Rizzo), Brett Jackson and Hayden Simpson.

Cincinnati Reds: Jay Bruce (2005)
Here's a fun one: The last starting pitcher the Reds drafted who made an All-Star Game with the Reds: Jack Armstrong, drafted in 1987, an All-Star starter in 1990 ... and out of the rotation by the end of the season.

Milwaukee Brewers: Ryan Braun (2005)
You're going to see this 2005 draft pop up a couple more times. Bruce was the 12th pick, Braun the fifth pick and the next guy was the 11th pick.

Pittsburgh Pirates: Andrew McCutchen (2005)
McCutchen is already fourth highest for most career Wins Above Replacement by a Pirates' first-round pick, behind some guy named Bonds, Jason Kendall and Richie Hebner. And just ahead of Bryan Bullington.

St. Louis Cardinals: Lance Lynn (2008)
Lynn is pitching even better than last season, when he made the All-Star team with an 11-win first half. A good selection for 39th overall, but the 2009 draft is shaping up even better for the Cards: Shelby Miller, Matt Carpenter, Trevor Rosenthal and Matt Adams. Miller was a first-rounder, but the other three went in rounds 13, 21 and 23. Jeff Luhnow, now the Astros' GM, was the scouting director those years.

Colorado Rockies: Troy Tulowitzki (2005)
If you had to re-do that 2005 draft, who goes first overall? Justin Upton again? Braun? McCutchen? Or Tulo?

Los Angeles Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw (2006)
The seventh pick in the draft, the five pitchers selected ahead of Kershaw have combined for 4.9 WAR. Did we mention that the draft is an inexact science?

San Diego Padres: David Freese (2006)
This is how you build a consistent winner: The Cards acquired Freese for an aging Jim Edmonds. The last player to make an All-Star team with the Padres after getting drafted by them was Jake Peavy -- selected back in 1999. The last position player ... Tony Gwynn! Drafted in 1981. In fact, the Padres have drafted just four position players who made an All-Star team as Padres: Gwynn, Ozzie Smith, Dave Winfield and, of course, Johnny Grubb.

San Francisco Giants: Buster Posey (2008)
Giants' first-round picks, 2006-2008: Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey. That'll work.

We're just about at the one-third mark of the season (already!), so it seems like a good time for a quick look at the five most important story lines so far. ESPN Fantasy writer Tristan Cockcroft joined SweetSpot TV to weigh in with his thoughts.

My top five stories:

1. The disappointing starts of the Angels and Dodgers. Although the Angels may be turning things around after their eight-game win streak.

2. Miguel Cabrera again chasing the Triple Crown.

3. The emergence of more great young starters -- Matt Harvey, Shelby Miller, Patrick Corbin and Jose Fernandez, to name a few.

4. The Yankees are 30-20 despite a slew of injuries.

5. Umpires and instant replay. Unfortunately.

We talked some baseball. We talked Paul Goldschmidt versus Joey Votto. The record paces of Miguel Cabrera and Manny Machado. What's wrong with the B.J. Upton and Matt Kemp and what the Braves and Dodgers should do. We talked about the defense of Mike Trout and Shin-Soo Choo, disappointing prospects, Pete Kozma, Joe Mauer's RBI production, Oscar Taveras and Jurickson Profar, and much more! Click here for the complete chat wrap.

The first-place Cleveland Indians strode into Fenway Park on Thursday night to face the Boston Red Sox, which normally wouldn't be significant but the return of Tribe skipper Francona to the place he managed to two World Series titles in his eight-year stint made it so. The Fenway faithful gave Francona a nice welcome, then watched in vain as the Sox got blasted 12-3 in the first game of this four-game set. The rest of the weekend should be a bit more competitive, and watch lefties Scott Kazmir and Jon Lester meet up Saturday afternoon. Kazmir lifetime at Fenway: 6-5 with a 3.90 ERA, but a 1.56 WHIP. Here's what else to keep an eye on this final May weekend.

1. Lying in wait: The Tampa Bay Rays enter the weekend in fourth place in the tough AL East, but still on the positive side of the .500 mark. Manager Joe Maddon adjusted his rotation a bit to face the rival New York Yankees, as right-hander Alex Cobb was moved up to pitch Sunday. The Rays took two of three from the Yankees at home in April, with Matt Moore and Cobb winning. Moore, leading the bigs with an 8-0 record, faces CC Sabathia on Saturday in the signature matchup. As colleague Dave Schoenfield pointed out recently, the Rays remain the team to beat in the division, and I certainly concur, having predicted a World Series title. It can still happen.

2. It's our stadium! For years Philadelphia Phillies fans populated the stands in Washington when their team came to town, but Nationals management had enough. They wanted to take back their home stadium in what used to be a one-sided rivalry, and it certainly worked last season. This will be the first meeting of the season between these NL East teams, with surprisingly just one game separating them in the standings. Does it say more about the Phils or the Nats? Has to be the Nats, right? The Phillies avoid Stephen Strasburg, the Nats miss Cliff Lee, and we'll see if a frustrated Cole Hamels can avoid his eighth loss Sunday.

3. Meanwhile, out West: Two of the three teams tied atop the NL West with 26-21 records meet this weekend. Last weekend the confident, contending San Francisco Giants lost three of four at Coors Field to the confident, contending Colorado Rockies, and the defending champs get a quick shot at revenge. Who would have guessed the Rockies would have a better team ERA than the Giants? Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito are scheduled for action this weekend, and should fare better than Cain, Zito and Madison Bumgarner did in Denver. Ultimately the Rockies will have trouble keeping up as the summer goes on, but they can make yet another May statement.

4. Taking sides: The Milwaukee Brewers have owned the Pittsburgh Pirates in recent seasons, tallying a 36-12 head-to-head mark from 2010-12, and winning nine consecutive games in one stretch until the Pirates stopped it a few weeks ago. The NL Central rivals meet this weekend with one of them contenders, the other disappointing. The Pirates were contenders for half of last season as well before falling apart. Are they better equipped to make September relevant in 2013? Perhaps not, but they sure look to be in better condition than the Brewers, dead last in the NL in ERA. The Buccos are second-best.

5. L.A. story: And we finish with the franchise spending more money on its players than any other this season, the last-place Los Angeles Dodgers. And guess what! The manager is on the hot seat. Well, of course it's Don Mattingly's fault that Zack Greinke, Chad Billingsley and Hanley Ramirez got hurt, Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Dee Gordon can't hit and the team lacks proper depth at third base and in the rotation. Can Yasiel Puig save the day? Puh-leeze. The Dodgers and their embattled leader host the St. Louis Cardinals this weekend, with Sunday's Shelby Miller-Clayton Kershaw matchup potentially memorable, and hopefully Mattingly is still around next week.
Enjoy your weekend!

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly benched veteran right fielder Andre Ethier for this afternoon's game in Milwaukee and did so publicly, suggesting Ethier lacks toughness or grit or fight or hustle or some combination of those:

"It's not just all, 'Let’s go put an All-Star team out there and play games and the team with the All-Star team wins.' It's trying to find that balance of a team that's got a little grit and a little fight. They'll fight you, and has enough talent to get there also, with that. All grit and no talent is not going to get you there and all talent and no grit is not going to get you there. There's got to be a mixture of both."

It's the third time Ethier hasn't started in six games, and Wednesday's benching was particularly noteworthy because it came against a right-hander. Ethier is one of those players who plays with a sort of effortless ability, but obviously Mattingly sees something going on. With the benching, he's sort of putting what I'll call the J.D. Drew label on him: It doesn't look like Ethier is trying. Difference is, Drew was a much better player than Ethier.

Here, each player's WAR (wins above replacement) from ages 25 to 30 (Ethier is in his age-31 season):

Ethier: 1.1, 2.2, 2.9, 1.9, 2.4, 3.8
Drew: 5.5, 2.8, 2.5, 8.3, 3.2, 4.0

I was going to write how this means Ethier could be on the trading block, since spring training sensation Yasiel Puig is playing well in Double-A (.314 AVG/.385 OBP/.579 SLG, six home runs, 10 steals) and could be in line for a promotion, but Dave Cameron at FanGraphs has an excellent piece on the topic. From Dave's piece:

As challenging as moving Ethier's contract might seem -- he's hit just .270/.346/.415 over the last calendar year, spanning 619 plate appearances, so this is no longer just a slump -- the Dodgers have the financial capability to eat a significant chunk of his contract in order to move him and create a spot in the lineup for Puig. And while Ethier is certainly not worth his full salary, it's not so far removed from the realm of reason that he couldn't possibly be traded.

Even over the past 365 days, when Ethier has demonstrated marginal power, he's still put up a 111 wRC+, and both ZiPS and Steamer forecast him to hit at about that level the rest of the season. The disappointing Andre Ethier is still roughly an average player, maybe even a tick above for this year, though he's on the wrong side of 30 and will probably be below average before too long.

As those graphs suggest, trading him has three obstacles:

1. He does make a lot of money (signed a five-year, $85 million extension last year).
2. He can't hit lefties (never has) and maybe not righties as well as in the past.
3. He's getting older.

Is there another team out there willing to take a chance on Ethier? That believes he's still a 3-win player and not a platoon guy on the decline? The Dodgers would likely have to eat some of his remaining contract. Dave suggests the Royals (for Jeff Francoeur), the Mariners (for Franklin Gutierrez) and the Rangers as possible partners. Those make sense and I'd also toss in the Orioles, for whom Ethier could DH.

Major league baseball is so deep in quality starting pitching that you could probably make the case for nine or 10 different combinations as the best pair going right now. Here are my top five:

1. Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners
This may surprise you, but Hernandez and Iwakuma have the highest WAR (wins above replacement) of any pair of pitchers in the majors. And before we write off Iwakuma's outstanding start to the season as a fluke, here are the American League ERA leaders going back to last July 1, when Iwakuma joined the Mariners' rotation:

Iwakuma: 2.54
Hernandez: 2.69
Justin Verlander: 2.77
James Shields: 2.86
Hiroki Kuroda: 2.97

So the M's have Hernandez, one of the best pitchers in baseball, a guy who has pitched 230-plus innings the past four seasons and who has been as effective as any starter in the game for nearly a year. And they have Iwakuma, who will give up some home runs, but he's walked only 11 batters in 10 starts and his splitter has turned into a wipeout pitch -- batters are hitting .184 off it with one home run, 35 strikeouts and two walks in 79 plate appearances ending with the pitch. If the Mariners fall out of the wild-card race, maybe they'll look to trade Iwakuma while his stock is high, but I fear that would be a mistake and they would be making a Doug Fister-like trade that backfires. Iwakuma is for real.

2. Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez, Tigers
The Tigers' rotation is so good that you could also slot Fister or Max Scherzer here and have an equally terrific duo. I still like Scherzer as the club's No. 2 as the season progresses, but Sanchez has been terrific so far and has ramped up his strikeout rate to new highs, up more than 9 percent from last season (68 in 55.1 innings). His ERA is 2.77, and while his home run rate is probably unsustainable (just two allowed), his BABIP is too high on the other end at .356. Moving forward, those two results should cancel each other out as they normalize and Sanchez should remain outstanding.

3. Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke, Dodgers
Kershaw is the best pitcher in the game right now -- he's gone 22 consecutive starts allowing three earned runs or fewer, the longest such streak since Pedro Martinez had 23 in 1999-2000 -- and Greinke would be the ace of many teams. Now that Greinke is back from his broken collarbone, we'll see if everyone has written off the Dodgers too quickly.

4. CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda, Yankees
Somehow, Kuroda still flies under the radar despite playing in New York. He's not flashy, but batters are hitting .201 AVG/.254 OBP/.292 SLG against him. There's some luck going on here since his .229 BABIP will probably rise, but his slider has been untouchable: opponents are 8-for-61 (.131) against it without an extra-base hit. Meanwhile, Sabathia has lost some velocity off his fastball, but he pitches down in the zone more, throws strikes and keeps the Yankees in games. Since his pitch counts have run high at times he's averaging only 6.5 innings per start, so maybe his days as a 230-inning workhorse are over (he missed a few starts last year, remember, and pitched just 200 innings). Remember as well that these guys have to pitch half their games at Yankee Stadium, where routine fly balls can land in the right-field stands.

5. Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg, Nationals
Yes, young guns Shelby Miller and Matt Harvey have seemingly pushed Strasburg out of the limelight, but he's still pretty good and still throws hard (best average fastball velocity among starting pitchers). Nonetheless, he's been surpassed by Zimmermann as the club's ace. Zimmerman doesn't rack up the huge strikeout totals so the advanced metrics like FIP and xFIP suggest his ERA will rise (well, it will, since it's at 1.62 right now). But he throws strikes with Maddux-like precision (nine walks in nine starts) and while there were concerns heading into the season about his ability to go deep into games, his efficiency has allowed him to toss three complete games without throwing more than 107 pitches. He's 7-2 and could be 9-0 -- in the two games he lost, he allowed two runs.

That's my top five, and I couldn't find room for Adam Wainwright and Miller, Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels, Chris Sale and Jake Peavy, Matt Moore and David Price, Matt Harvey and anybody. It's a pitcher's game right now, that's for sure.