Red Sox Thwarted Again By Mariners In Ridiculous All-Star Snub

The powers-that-be at Major League Baseball really wanted a Seattle Mariners outfielder in the 2025 All-Star Game.

Boston Red Sox fans were plenty miffed on Sunday, when the All-Star rosters were named and Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez was named an American League reserve over Ceddanne Rafaela.

On Friday, Rodríguez opted out of the game, citing his desire to focus on preparing for the second half of the season (frankly, his offense has been a huge disappointment). But Boston's faithful simply got their hopes up only to be let down a second time.

MLB announced that Mariners left fielder Randy Arozarena had been named as Rodríguez's replacement later on Friday afternoon.

On one hand, Arozarena is definitely more deserving than Rodríguez. Entering play Friday, his OPS sits at exactly .800; Rodríguez's at .687. T-Mobile Park is also as tough a place to hit as any park in baseball, so give Arozarena even more props. But he's still not as deserving as Rafaela.

We can compare wins above replacement: Rafaela has Arozarena beat in fWAR (3.1 to 2.4) and bWAR (3.8 to 3.3). We can weigh the merits of batting run value, where Arozarena is better (12 to 5) versus fielding and baserunning run values, where Rafaela blows Arozarena away (3 to 0 and 15 to -3, respectively).

But the especially annoying bit of this is that the center field position isn't being given enough consideration. It's a much larger defensive responsibility than the other two outfield positons, and the whole reason Rodríguez was named an All-Star in the first place despite his lackluster hitting (okay, and also because his name is Julio Rodríguez).

Now, the AL has only one true, full-time center fielder on the team, and it's Minnesota Twins star Byron Buxton, who isn't even in the starting lineup. Javier Báez of the Detroit Tigers will start the game in center, despite only making 33 of his 70 starts this season at the position.

Anyone who's watched Rafaela patrol center field all year knows how special his defense has become now that he's there every night. And the All-Star Game, which is supposed to be a showcase of everything that's great about the sport, will be a lesser product if a ball lands in the alley that he could have caught.

Sure, complaining about All-Star snubs is a bit lame, because so many people make the team every year. But Rafaela should be there, and it looks as though MLB denied him his last, best chance.