With the Midsummer Classic right around the corner, we give you the Anti-All-Star team

This excludes players sidelined by injuries. Salaries are based on average annual value and only everyday players were considered. All statistics were going into this weekend.

▪ First base: Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals ($26 million) — In a shocking drop from his usual standards, Goldschmidt is hitting .230 with a .663 OPS only two years removed from being Most Valuable Player.

Goldschmidt has managed 0.6 bWAR thanks to his defense. But his .173 batting average with runners in scoring position is tough to ignore.

The Cardinals have managed to get back in contention after a poor start, but Goldschmidt hasn’t had much to do with that.

▪ Second base: Gleyber Torres, Yankees ($14.2 million) — We could have stayed in New York and gone with Jeff McNeil of the Mets, but Torres has been a wreck, hitting .221 with a .638 OPS and playing below-average defense.

Torres batted first, second, or third for most of last season. He’s dropped into the lower third this year. The Yankees will be looking for a replacement at the trade deadline.

▪ Shortstop: Bo Bichette, Blue Jays ($11.2 million) — Detroit’s Javier Baez somehow has a .456 OPS and isn’t even an average defender these days, but Bichette has driven the Jays into last place with a .229 batting average and .613 OPS. Bichette said this past week he would not be “surprised at all” if he were traded. After three consecutive seasons receiving MVP votes, his time in Toronto could be up.

The Jays should want a haul for Bichette, who is only 26 and averaged 4.8 bWAR from 2021-23.

▪ Third base: Eugenio Suárez, Diamondbacks ($9.4 million) — Arizona made what seemed like a smart trade, sending two prospects to Seattle for an established third baseman in Suárez. But Suárez has a .607 OPS and hasn’t hit for power. The Diamondbacks are sticking with him for now, but he’s been a huge disappointment. Suárez had a career .788 OPS before the trade.

▪ Outfield: Nick Castellanos, Phillies ($20 million) — At 32, Castellanos has taken a tumble with a .293 on-base percentage and sporadic power. His defense has been an issue, too. Metrics have him as the worst right fielder in the game. Castellanos has been a big personality with the Phillies, but a contract that extends through 2026 is looking like a problem.

▪ Outfield: Randy Arozarena, Rays ($8.1 million) — Arozarena is a big-game player. He mashes in the postseason and was a star for Mexico in the 2023 World Baseball Classic. With the Rays in fourth place, he seems bored. A .197 batting average and .665 OPS is shocking for a player with his ability. He has hit .183 with runners in scoring position, too. So much for rising to the occasion.

▪ Outfield: Andrew Benintendi, White Sox ($15 million) — Benintendi has been shockingly bad since signing a five-year, $75 million deal with the White Sox. A .279 hitter with a .782 OPS over the first seven seasons of his career, Benintendi has hit .241 for Chicago with a .640 OPS and only 11 home runs in 796 at-bats. This year has been a disaster with a .194 batting average and .543 OPS.

The White Sox are Benintendi’s fourth team in five seasons. It’s hard to believe he’s become an overpaid journeyman after looking like a star on the rise with the Red Sox.

▪ Catcher: Martín Maldonado, White Sox ($4.25 million) — He’s not a good hitter and hasn’t been for years. The Astros accepted that in return for his defense and leadership but finally moved on after last season.

Maldonado signed with the White Sox and is 12 for 125 (.096) with two doubles and 47 strikeouts. Korey Lee, a former first-round pick acquired from the Astros in the Kendall Graveman deal last season, has been doing more of the catching in recent weeks.

▪ Designated hitter: Mitch Garver, Mariners ($12 million) — He has caught 57 innings over eight games, so there’s some added value there. But Garver has hit .183 with a .692 OPS in 213 at-bats as a DH. The Mariners are averaging 3.82 runs. Only the Athletics (3.63) and White Sox (3.20) are worse in the American League. But Seattle is in first place thanks to its pitching. If Garver and fellow underachievers Mitch Haniger, Cal Raleigh, and Julio Rodriguez get going, watch out.

▪ Starting pitcher: Patrick Corbin, Nationals ($23.3 million) — Corbin is 26-58, 5.71 over the last four seasons and has been one of the worst values in the game. The Nationals are 5-12 in his starts, 36-34 otherwise. The only good news is that his six-year contract expires after next season. That’s close enough to consider releasing him.

▪ Relief pitcher: Edwin Díaz, Mets ($21.3 million) — Steve Cohen would have been better off tossing $64 million out of the sunroof of his limo than giving it to Díaz.

The righthander missed last season with a knee injury sustained while celebrating a victory in the World Baseball Classic. He has a 4.70 ERA this year with four blown saves in 11 chances. Díaz also was caught with sticky stuff on his right hand and suspended for 10 games.

Red Sox outfielders have 16 errors, five more than any other team. But they also have 24 defensive runs saved. Only the Blue Jays (26) have more, and no other team has more than 13.

What gives? We asked outfield coach Kyle Hudson.

“We have a really good group,” he said. “They take pride in helping the pitchers out. That’s the mentality. We have too many errors, a ton of errors. But that comes from being too aggressive in some instances.”

Six of the errors came in the first 14 games of the season.

“Guys were trying to make throws they shouldn’t make, there were some bobbles because they were making the transfer too quickly,” Hudson said. “They’ve slowed down a little bit since and we’ve been better.”

Jarren Duran is arguably the most improved outfielder in baseball going back to the second half of last season. Tyler O’Neill is an above-average defender and Ceddanne Rafaela is the best center fielder the Sox have had since Jackie Bradley Jr.

The decision to make Masataka Yoshida a full-time DH — he has been in the field for one batter this season — also has improved the defense.

“We talk about the situational aspects all the time,” Hudson said. “If something pops up during the game, we address it right away. We don’t wait. We get it ironed out.

“I think you’ll see us be a lot cleaner in the second half of the season. It’s trending in a good direction.”

A few other observations on the Red Sox:

▪ It seems unlikely the Red Sox will become sellers at the trade deadline barring a collapse this month. But if Craig Breslow decides to build for the future, he would have a lot of inventory.

Kenley Jansen, Chris Martin, O’Neill, Nick Pivetta, and Rob Refsnyder will be free agents after the season and there’s no certainty any of them will return.

Two experienced late-inning relievers with playoff experience, an outfielder with power, a back-end starter, and a platoon hitter who mashes lefties would have a lot of value on the market.

You also could make the case that the Sox could still compete. Liam Hendriks could replace Jansen as closer. There are relievers who could cover the eighth inning. The Sox also have outfield depth.

It might be smart to retain Refsnyder. Partially for baseball purposes but also because he has been a steadying influence in the clubhouse with players such as Duran, Connor Wong, and others.

The Sox would likely get more value from Refsnyder’s guidance of their young players then they would from whatever prospect they could get for him.

▪ Somewhere along the way, the Red Sox decided it was good public relations to remind people how much they’ve invested in baseball operations to take the focus off how the major league payroll has dropped.

“The best way to make a statement is to do the right things across the entire baseball operation. Invest in every area of the operation — scouting, player development, analytics, the big league level,” team president Sam Kennedy told The Athletic this past week.

That’s a theme Kennedy and others have come back to several times since the offseason.

Yes, such investments are important. But isn’t it a given the Red Sox would be among the industry leaders in those fields?

The Sox are a team that should be able to have first-class infrastructure and one of the highest payrolls in the game. The Yankees, Dodgers, Astros, and Phillies all play at that level.

▪ Trading Chris Sale and $17 million for Vaughn Grissom is looking like a historic mistake. With the Red Sox paying a big chunk of his salary, Sale is 11-3 with a 2.71 ERA and averaging 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings.

He also has pitched 99⅔ innings after giving the Red Sox 151 from 2020-23.

Sale could well be the All-Star Game starter for the National League. Meanwhile, Grissom has hit .148 in 23 games and spent most of the season on the injured list with hamstring problems in both legs. The strength of his legs is a concern, something you don’t usually hear about with young players.

Grissom is 23 and Sale is 35. The trade could look a lot better for the Sox in five or 10 years. But for now? Yikes.

▪ Did you know the Sox are 13-1 on Sundays with an .843 OPS and 51 extra-base hits? Their pitchers also have a 2.67 ERA and 1.05 WHIP.

There aren’t many Division 3 coaches who can pick up the phone and ask a major league manager for advice.

But that’s the kind of relationship Tufts coach Paul Svagdis has with Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, his former player at Azusa Pacific University outside of Los Angeles.

“He’s been such an assistance to me and I’ve been of assistance to him. He’s one of my great friends,” said Svagdis, whose son was the ring bearer in Vogt’s wedding. “We talk all the time about team dynamics and getting the most out of players.”

Vogt was a three-time NAIA All-American at Azusa Pacific from 2004-07, hitting .451 with 31 homers over 187 games. He wasn’t drafted after his junior season but worked with Svagdis to remake his swing and generate more power.

“He had to come up with a pro swing,” Svagdis said. “He put in a lot of hard work. We spent a lot of time working to make him more appealing to the scouts. He was dedicated.”

Vogt hit .476 with 41 extra-base hits as a senior, was a 12th-round pick of the Rays, and went on to a 10-year career with six teams. That led to his becoming Cleveland’s manager only a year after he retired as a player.

“He helped put our program on the map,” said Svagdis, who also sent outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis and righthander Josh Staumont to the majors. “We became a program that developed big leaguers thanks to Vogty.”

Svagdis, who played at Tufts, returned to his alma mater as head coach in 2022 after coaching 19 years at Azusa Pacific. He replaced John Casey, who coached the Jumbos for 38 years.

Vogt has Cleveland atop the AL Central after replacing Terry Francona as manager, no small task. Svagdis is 55-23 in two seasons at Tufts and led the team to the NESCAC championship and the NCAA Division 3 tournament in 2023.

There are good baseball coaches at every level and they all speak the same language. The ballparks get bigger the higher up you go, but the principles are the same.

“I knew he would crush it as manager once his playing days were over,” Svagdis said. “He’s intelligent; he loves the game, and he’s an empathetic leader. He’s genuine.”

J.D. Martinez missed Tuesday’s game for the Mets with a sore left ankle. Martinez, who is maniacally committed to his routine, changes out his cleats every few days. When a new shipment didn’t arrive on time, he purchased some on Amazon that proved different than his usual model. He wore them on Monday and woke up with pain in his foot. Quirky injuries aside, Martinez has 43 homers, 140 RBIs, and an .879 OPS in 170 games since the Red Sox let him go. Sox DHs have 30 homers, 116 RBIs, and a .737 OPS in that time . . . Northeastern’s Aaron Civale was 29-23 with a 3.77 ERA in 76 starts for Cleveland, then 4-9, 5.17 in 27 starts for the Rays after being traded last season. Civale cut back on the use of his curveball in Tampa Bay and incorporated a sweeper. The first-place Brewers need rotation help and Civale has landed in a good spot . . . Aaron Judge’s 37 RBIs in June were the most for a Yankee in a month since Don Mattingly had 37 in September 1985 . . . The Dodgers are considering putting Mookie Betts at second base once his fractured hand heals. They’ve developed confidence that Miguel Rojas can play shortstop. In other Red Sox alumni news, Xander Bogaerts has started his minor league rehab assignment and should rejoin the Padres soon . . . The Players Association made a smart move hiring Andrew Miller as a special assistant for strategic initiatives. Miller, 39, retired after the 2021 season and has since obtained a business degree. His 16-year career included stints with seven teams, including the Red Sox from 2011-14. Everyone around him as a player understood Miller would have a bright career off the field whether it was with the union, the league, or a team . . . Happy birthday to Glenn Hoffman, who is 66. The infielder played for the Red Sox from 1980-87, appearing in 678 games and hitting .245. Hoffman was a second-round draft pick in 1976 out of Savanna High in Anaheim, Calif. The school also produced his younger brother Trevor Hoffman, a Hall of Fame closer. Glenn Hoffman was an everyday player for the Sox from 1982-83, then became more of a backup before being traded to the Dodgers in 1987. He returned to the Sox as a free agent in 1988 but spent the entire season in Pawtucket. He then returned to the Dodgers for 24 minor league games in 1990. That led to his coaching and managing for the Dodgers in the minor leagues and becoming their interim manager in 1998, going 47-41. Hoffman was considered a candidate to manage the Sox before Francona was hired. He instead coached 15 seasons for the Padres and is now a senior adviser in baseball operations.

Peter Abraham can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @PeteAbe.