The Marlins lost their lone All-Star when Giancarlo Stanton’s knee injury caused him to be replaced Saturday, and they’re steamed that another Marlin wasn’t picked to replace him.
“I just think that all teams are supposed to be represented and if our guy had to have surgery, he had to have surgery,” team president David Samson said.
Samson made it clear he didn’t think Bryce Harper was the right choice to replace Stanton.
“If you look at the fact that this game counts and you need people to win games. Having (Greg) Dobbs as an All-Star as a pinch-hitter off the bench, having (Steve) Cishek come in and get some righties out. Having (Justin) Ruggiano coming who is completely clubbing the ball right now. I think he may have as much service time as the guy they named to replace Stanton this year, although I don’t know actually.”
Yeah, we’re sure more Marlins fans would have tuned in Tuesday night to see Ruggiano in the game.
Samson does have a point, though: all teams are supposed to be represented in the game and now the Marlins aren’t. It would have made a lot of sense to put Jose Reyes on the squad. He’s a legitimate star, at least, and the NL team had already replaced an injured shortstop (Ian Desmond) with an outfielder (Michael Bourn).