Baseball Prospectus | On the Beat: Buyers Rush Nearly Empty Shelves?
John Perrotto (subscription required) calls the trade market a good one for sellers. Here's hoping the Pirates, who might be the most aggressive sellers on the market, can take advantage.

PBC Blog: Milledge, Walker to Indianapolis
Lastings Milledge and Neil Walker have rejoined Indianapolis for the Indians' game tonight in Pawtucket. Milledge is 2-for-3 as I write this, and Walker is 1-for-2 with a walk. Walker hadn't played with Indianapolis since June 2.

Minor League Baseball: GCL Pirates 4, GCL Yankees 2
Second-round pick Brooks Pounders was terrific for the Bradenton Pirates today, with two hits, no runs, no walks and four strikeouts in four innings. Pounders, who doesn't have plus velocity and is supposed to be much more polished than most high school draftees, might be the sort of pitcher who breezes through the low minors before hitting a wall in Class AA or so, but still, breezing through the low minors is a lot better than not doing so. Damaso Marte pitched the first inning for the GCL Yanks and allowed a run.

Erik Kratz, the All-Star | FanGraphs Baseball
FanGraphs thinks Indianapolis catcher Erik Kratz might deserve a shot in the big leagues. He's not likely to get one with the Pirates, and I'm not as big a believer--Kratz's hitting has been acceptable this year, but only because his batting average has been considerably higher than it's been most of the last several years, but this is still a kind article. Thanks to dtoddwin.

Minor League Baseball: Harrisburg vs. Altoona
Pedro Alvarez has a homer and a single tonight against Harrisburg. Since a terrible start at Altoona, he's been better recently.

Full Count " Two days I’ll never forget
Via Aaron Gleeman, Jason Bay's All-Star diary is pretty entertaining.