Opinion

Sixty-one. It's a huge number in most cases, but Miami Marlins outfielder Giancarlo Stanton didn't seem to have many issues reaching it Monday night in San Diego when he blew away the competition in the 2016 MLB Home Run Derby.

The 2016 MLB Home Run Derby was a raging success in the second year of a new format, which featured timed rounds and a refreshing change of pace to an event that critics could argue tended to drag in the past.

Miami Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton wowed fans at Petco Park in San Diego, taking down defending champion Todd Frazier in the final to claim victory.

SAN DIEGO — The Master looked out at The Pupil. It was autumn, 2006, the first days of fall practice, and the incoming freshman class was finding its way, as ever, maturity not always matching exuberance. So there was work to be done. A lot of work.

What The Master saw as he scanned the horizon and focused on one freshman in particular was not future riches and stardom. Instead, what he noted was baby fat to be melted. Toughness to be instilled. What he saw was a lost ball in tall weeds.

While most of the baseball world is still trying to comprehend Giancarlo Stanton's superhuman performance in the 2016 Home Run Derby, general managers have been busy working the phones and laying the groundwork for deals that will take place over the next two-and-a-half weeks.

It's officially trade season, the most wonderful time of the year. With the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline quickly approaching, we've already begun to see things pick up in the rumor mill.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz is going out with a big bang in his 20th and final major league season.

Maybe you forgot how good Giancarlo Stanton is at obliterating baseballs. The Miami Marlins masher played just 74 games in 2015 because of injury, after all, and hit a paltry .233 during the first half of this season.

Consider Monday's All-Star Home Run Derby your reminder.

First, the bad news: The 2016 MLB Home Run Derby—which airs Monday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN—will not feature big-raking San Francisco Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner, an affront to the baseball gods if ever there was one. 

The rich get richer. If there's one hot takeaway from the 2016 MLB All-Star Futures Game, that's it.

We're talking, of course, about the Boston Red Sox, a club already loaded with young position-player talent.

Boston fans got a preview of another blockbuster coming attraction on Sunday in San Diego, and they had to be elated with what they saw.

"The fans did a good job" isn't a phrase most would expect to hear in regard to the Midsummer Classic, but a glance at the MLB All-Star rosters makes it hard to disagree.

There will always be snubs, but for the most part, the best of the best will make the trip to San Diego this week for the epic event. It promises to entertain not only because of the names involved and the action on the field, but because of the chess-like moves and decisions that managers must make.

A dash of innovation breathed new life into MLB's Home Run Derby one year ago, with the best sluggers in the world smashing balls over the fence and giving the event its traditional flavor.