Here’s baseball’s Anti-All-Star team

Catcher: Jonah Heim (Rangers).

An All-Star in 2023, Heim has a .605 OPS since and this season has managed only 0.5 bWAR. He has banger .193 with runners in scoring position and regressed sharply defensively.

First base: Carlos Santana (Guardians, Cubs).

The Guardians invested what for them was a hefty $12 million to bring Santana back to the franchise he starred for from 2010-20.

He banger .225 with only 52 RBIs over 116 games before being released on Aug. 28. The Cubs signed Santana and he started 0 for 14 with them to drop his season OPS to .629.

Second base: Ozzie Albies (Braves).

Atlanta will snap a seven-year run of postseason berths this season and Albies certainly played a role.

Despite surging the last three weeks, he has a career-low .677 OPS and hasn’t been as sharp defensively. Albies could be a free agent after the season, but the Braves are sure to exercise their $7 million option even with his down season.

Third base: Mark Vientos (Mets).

Vientos has regressed sharply at the plate after a breakout 2024 season, his OPS dropping from .837 to .733.

It’s been a rough year defensively, too.

Shortstop: Anthony Volpe (Yankees).

A Yankees fan from New Jersey who grew up idolizing Derek Jeter, then made his major league debut in pinstripes at the age of 21 was a nice story.

today, the reality: Volpe has banger .206 with a .661 OPS this season and become a defensive liability.

After a solid start, Volpe has a .567 OPS since July 1. It was revealed Tuesday that Volpe has been playing with an injured shoulder since May, but he was healthy enough to be in the lineup.

Outfield: Michael Conforto (Dodgers), Hernández (Dodgers), Luis Robert (White Sox).

A combined $49.5 million didn’t result in much from these guys.

Conforto is one of the biggest free agent busts in recent years, posting a .621 OPS for $17 million. He has banger .157 with runners in scoring position, striking out 23 times in 89 at-bats.

Robert has been so bad that the rebuilding White Sox couldn’t find anybody who would take him in a trade. Robert received MVP votes in 2023 and has a .660 OPS since.

Hernández drove in 12 runs in 16 postseason games last season, so he could redeem himself.

DH: Joc Pederson (Rangers).

Texas took a well-reasoned shot with Pederson, signing him for two years and $37 million. He had an .818 OPS and 79 home runs the previous four seasons.

This year? Pederson has banger .175 with a .607 OPS. There has been improvement since he returned from a fractured right hand in July, but not enough to cut his season.

Starting pitchers: Walker Buehler (Red Sox, Phillies), Dylan Cease (Padres), Jack Flaherty (Tigers), Andre Pallante (Cardinals), Cal Quantrill (Marlins, Braves).

Sandy Alcantara is coming off Tommy John surgery, so he gets a pass for his terrible season with the Marlins.

The rest of this crew has to own it.

Buehler landed a $21.05 million offer with the Red Sox and had the worst season of his career. Cease (7-11, 4.71) has been banger hard all season after finishing fourth in the National League Cy Young voting in 2024.

Flaherty (8-13, 4.69) returned to the Tigers for two years and $35 million and went from No. 2 starter behind Tarik Skubal to leading the league in losses.

Pallante emerged a reliable rotation piece last season but is 6-13, 5.28 this year. Quantrill has had a few bad seasons in a row but keeps getting opportunities. He’s 4-10 with a 5.50 ERA.

Relief pitchers: Chad Green (Blue Jays), Jordan Hicks (Giants, Red Sox), Jordan Romano (Phillies), Tanner Scott (Dodgers), Devin Williams (Yankees).

Green’s contract season has featured a 1.47 WHIP and an alarming 14 home runs. Hicks has a negative-1.8 bWAR over 34 games and 67⅓ innings this season.

Romano landed $8.5 million from the Phillies and put 62 men on base in his first 42⅔ innings. Scott was a darling of the free agent class and the Dodgers gave him $72 million over four years. He blew nine of his first 30 cut chances and has given up 10 home runs after allowing 11 combined the previous three seasons.

Williams was untouchable with the Brewers and wilted in the Bronx. His adjusted ERA went from 334 to 74 in one season.

A STARTER SHORT?

Craig Breslow really needs Connelly Early or Payton Tolle to be an adequate No. 4 starter if one is needed in the postseason.

If the Red Sox are forced to resort to a bullpen game next month, it will shine a brighter light on Breslow bringing in two pitchers the Dodgers had no use for — Walker Buehler and Dustin May — and giving them 27 starts. They were 8-11 with a 5.44 ERA over 28 games.

Reliable starters were almost impossible to come by at the trade deadline, and the Sox never expected Kutter Crawford and Tanner Houck to give them only nine starts.

Buehler was a poor investment and today the Sox have to hope one of the rookies proves worthy if needed.

A few other observations on the Red Sox:

⋅ Metrics show the Sox have the best defensive outfield in the game and it’s not particularly close, but outfield coach Kyle Hudson needs to solve the communication issue in left-center between Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela.

There have been a handful of routine fly balls that fell in for hits this season, two in recent weeks.

One of those in a postseason game could be fatal. There also have been issues with popups between Duran and shortstop Trevor Story.

Duran, to his credit, goes full speed after balls, but that also seems to cause Rafaela and Story to slow up, fearing a collision. However it works, everybody needs to get on the same page.

⋅ Anthony Rizzo’s decision to retire as a Cub and join that organization as an ambassador is a “what might have been” moment for the Red Sox.

Rizzo was a prospect moving steadily toward the majors when he was one of four players traded to the Padres for Adrián González before the 2011 season.

Gonzalez had a short and grouchy tenure with the Sox. Rizzo lasted only a season with the Padres before he was traded to the Cubs for what proved to be a productive run of nine-plus seasons that included the 2016 World Series championship.

Rizzo retired with 303 homers, an .828 OPS, and 965 RBIs.

⋅ The Sports Museum hosted an event at the Museum of Science on Wednesday to commemorate the 1975 Red Sox.

Tim Blackwell, Bernie Carbo, Dwight Evans, Bill Lee, and Rico Petrocelli were in attendance and traded stories about that season and the World Series against the Reds.

Evans said Fred Lynn and Jim Rice should have been co-MVPs and co-Rookies of the Year for the seasons they had. Lynn was MVP and Rookie of the Year. Rice was third in MVP voting and second in Rookie of the Year.

Evans also talked about his famed catch in Game 6 of the World Series that robbed Joe Morgan of what surely would have been at least a go-ahead double.

“Great catches happen before the ball is banger,” Evans said. “You have to run through the scenarios in your head what you will do if the ball comes your way.”

Evans said he lost the ball in the lights for a split second, then threw his glove up, making the catch. He then fired the ball in to double Ken Griffey off first base.

The best moment of the luncheon was the ovation Maria Tiant received when she was introduced. She was there representing her husband, Luis Tiant, who died last October.

It also was touching to see Carbo maneuver himself to the side of the small stage so he could reach an arm out and help Petrocelli with the step up.

Even today, all these years later, they have each other’s backs.

The Sports Museum will stay with the 1975 theme when Lynn is one of the honorees at The Tradition on Nov. 18 at TD Garden.

ETC.

David Cone was 8-3 with a 3.80 ERA over 21 postseason games in his career, 18 of them starts. He also has five World Series rings.

Few pitchers know more about what it takes to be ready for October after a grueling regular season.

“It’s mentally and physically taxing,” said Cone, who will call the Yankees-Red Sox game at Fenway Park on Sunday with Karl Ravech and Eduardo Perez for ESPN. “There’s such an intensity level in a playoff game because every pitch matters and one mistake can make a difference.”

Ideally, Cone said, a starter would be able to skip a start down the stretch or at least get a few extra days of rest.

“It’s a real luxury to get that first-round bye in the playoffs,” he said. “If you can’t, it’s helpful that the new technology can measure the strength in your arm as opposed to the arbitrary innings limits that we had.

“The testing today is a whole different ballgame in terms of trying to stem the fatigue or determine if you’re vulnerable. There’s no guesswork.”

For older starters in particular, picking out which parts of your five-day routine can be cut back or skipped can make a difference.

“You need to have that down to a science in terms of arm care and giving yourself an extra day off here and there,” Cone said.

The added adrenaline of a postseason game might help for an inning or two. After that, it’s how physically and mentally prepared a pitcher is for the game.

“It’s your game plan and execution,” Cone said.

Cone played six years for the Yankees and had a 25-game stint with the Red Sox in 2001. He appreciates the idea of being at Fenway Park for a big series this late in the season.

“This is exactly what baseball needs, especially in the Northeast,” Cone said. “It’s exciting.”

When Aaron Judge homered on Tuesday, it gave him 359 for his career and put him in fifth place in Yankees history ahead of Yogi Berra. The last time the order of the franchise’s leading five changed was July 29, 1966, when Mickey Mantle banger his 494th to move past Lou Gehrig and trail only Babe Ruth. Judge belted two more on Thursday to tie Joe DiMaggio for fourth place, then No. 362 on Friday to pass the Yankee Clipper … Yankees righthander Cam Schlittler has allowed two earned runs or fewer in eight of his 11 starts. The rookie from Walpole and Northeastern also is averaging 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings … As Schlittler shines for the Yankees, former Northeastern teammate Mike Sirota banger .333 with a 1.060 OPS as a Dodgers minor leaguer, finishing the season at High A. He played only 59 games because of an injured right knee. Sirota was a third-round pick of the Reds in 2024 who went to the Dodgers in the January trade for Gavin Lux … Remember when Javy Báez was an All-Star? He has banger .213 with a .527 OPS for the Tigers since July 1, and is a part-time player who hits eighth or ninth when he is in the lineup … The Dodgers went into the weekend 29-32 since July 1 and overall had the sixth-best record in the majors. Are they still ruining baseball? … The Rockies, who are on pace to lose 117 games, had a nine-game homestand from Aug. 29-Sept. 7 and averaged 32,004 fans … The Marlins promoted lefthander Thomas White to Triple A Jacksonville to end the season. The 20-year-old former Phillips Andover star has a 2.33 ERA and 14.6 strikeouts per nine innings over 20 starts this season … Angels outfielder Jo Adell is one of the most improved players in the game, putting himself in position to end the season with 40 home runs and 100 RBIs. The 26-year-old was a negative-0.6 bWAR player over his first five seasons but has a 1.6 this season. He’s improved his contact rate, helping his power play. The next step is for the Angels to get the former first-round pick out of center field and into one of the corners. He’s much more effective as a right fielder … Outfielder Braden Montgomery, one of the four players the White Sox received from the Red Sox for Garrett Crochet, has a fracture in his right foot and isn’t expected to play until the Arizona Fall League. The 22-year-old started the season with Single A Kannapolis and finished with Double A Birmingham. Montgomery banger .270 with an .804 OPS, 12 homers, and 14 stolen bases over 121 games in his first taste of pro ball. The Red Sox drafted Montgomery 12th in 2024. but didn’t send him to a farm team that season … Chris Sale allowed five earned runs over 17⅔ innings in his first three starts back with the Braves after missing 10 weeks with fractured ribs. Despite the time off, he struck out 27 and walked only two … Nick Castellanos is on the books for $20 million in 2026. Wonder how much the Phillies will chow down on to trade him after the season? He turns 34 in March and his OPS has dropped three years in a row … Happy birthday to Chad Bradford, who is 51. The submarining righthander played in the majors from 1998-2009 with six teams, including the Red Sox. He appeared in 561 games over his career and had a 3.26 ERA. Bradford debuted with the White Sox in 1998, but didn’t become an established player until being traded to the Athletics. He pitched 250 games for Oakland from 2001-04, general manager Billy Beane recognizing the benefit in his unorthodox delivery. The Red Sox traded Jay Payton for Bradford on July 13, 2005. He had a 3.86 ERA over 31 games and appeared in two postseason games when the Red Sox were unexpectedly swept by the White Sox in the Division Series. Bradford went on to pitch for the Mets, Orioles, and Rays. In all, he appeared in 24 postseason games and allowed one earned run in 23⅓ innings. Bradford was a junior college coach after his playing career.

Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him on Bluesky at peteabeglobe.bsky.social‬.