View from the catwalk: Blake Snell, from optioned to All-Star

Rays Links

• The Ray Tank blog did a very good profile on Blake Snell (written by Ryan Sheets and Erik Ruiz). More like this please.
• Jason Hanselman profiled all the Rays hitting performances through the All-Star break.
• Wilson Ramos is expected to be out past the non-waiver trading deadline, according to Marc Topkin.
• You should go ahead and get excited about Wander Franco.
• The Rays are reinstating the Papa Johns pizza promotion, and explain why (local franchises).
• The top photos of the first half of the season.

Manny Machado

• Brian Grosnik and Wilson Karaman gave an excellent breakdown of the Machado trade.
• Jeff Sullivan did too.
• Baseball America scouted all the prospects involved.
• So did Eric Longenhagen.

Other Links

• Eno Sarris talked to players at the All-Star game about the adjustments that got them there.
• Rachel McDaniel’s short relief was awful powerful today.
• Wes Jenkins wrote about Joey Mellows, a man trying to bring baseball to Britain.
• David Lauirla talked to Alex Cora about Puerto Rican baseball.