At All-Star Game, Red Sox feel ‘there’s one missing’ after veteran starter snubbed

By admin — In News — July 15, 2026

   ​PHILADELPHIA — The Red Sox have three players (Willson Contreras, Ceddanne Rafaela and Aroldis Chapman) representing them on the American League All-Star team Tuesday and another player, Ranger Suarez, missing the game due to a groin injury despite being selected. For a team that remains under .500 and underperformed for most of the season, having four All-Stars is impressive. Still, there’s a feeling among many in the organization that there should have been a fifth.“There’s one missing,” interim manager Chad Tracy said Sunday in New York.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementStarter Sonny Gray, despite having the second-best ERA in the American League among qualified starters, was left off the original AL team and then never added as a replacement when others — including Suarez — bowed out due to injury or personal reasons. Gray, who is 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 17 games (95 ⅔ innings) with Boston this season, is watching Tuesday’s festivities from home.BETTING: Sonny Gray is +4500 on BetMGM to win the AL Cy Young Award this year. Our in-depth BetMGM Sportsbook review provides a useful guide on how to use their app. Gray has been Boston’s best rotation arm all season and has put together one of the best first halves of his career at age 36. The Red Sox are 13-4 in his starts so far. Yet when Suarez bowed out of the game due to injury, the league named Tampa Bay’s Nick Martinez as his replacement. New York’s Cam Schlittler decided he would not pitch in the game and announced that Sunday — but the league never replaced him on the AL roster. As of Sunday morning, Gray had not been asked by the league to participate and unlike Zack Wheeler, had not declined an invitation. He was simply snubbed, a fact one veteran Red Sox player described as “crazy” Sunday at Citi Field. Another person in uniform? “(Expletive) stunning.”In the AL clubhouse Tuesday, Gray’s Red Sox teammates made it clear they felt Gray was deserving of joining them.“Very surprised from the beginning,” said Chapman (through interpreter Carlos Villoria Benítez). “We had the hope that he would be added later on and that wasn’t the case. I think he should be here. With the season he has had, he should be here with us.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAnd Contreras: “I was surprised, to be honest. I think he deserved to be here. We control what we can control but it’s really surprising not seeing him here. He deserves to be here.”The Red Sox made an aggressive, early move for Gray when they traded pitchers Richard Fitts and Brandon Clarke to the Cardinals for him shortly before Thanksgiving. Weeks after chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said he wanted to add a clear No. 2 starter to pair with ace Garrett Crochet, he struck for Gray, who had a 4.07 ERA in two seasons with the Cardinals.At the time, questions surfaced over whether Gray represented a true No. 2 in the rotation. Months later, when the Red Sox signe  

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