Durbin an All Star, Lester Shines Again

As is often the case in minor league baseball, the EL All Star roster has been shuffled because of player promotions. In this case, Portland's Jon Papelbon and Trenton's Kevin Thompson were both moved up to AAA, leaving All Star slots open. Papelbon was replaced by Trenton's Justin Pope, while Thompson was replaced by Portland's Chris Durbin. Durbin has been on the DL three times this year (he is currently on the shelf), but is a worthy choice regardless. He is among the team leaders in several categories, with a 292/358/504-10-41 line in 58 games played. Durbin's stock has risen quite a bit this year. He came into the season as the "other" outfielder, along with top prospects Brandon Moss and David Murphy. Murphy has come around with the bat lately and is a much better defender than Durbin is, but Durbin has probably passed him as a prospect at this point.

Speaking of promotions, it looks like Jon Lester is trying to follow in Papelbon's footsteps. I noted recently how similar their numbers are this year, and last night Lester had an outing that was nearly as impressive as Pap's final Portland start: 5 H, 0 BB, 12 K in seven shutout innings vs. Trenton. Lester now has made 16 starts, throwing 91.1 innings with a 2.56 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 10.0 K/9 and 3.1 K/BB. He's as deserving as Papelbon was, and I believe there's a good chance that he'll go up, especially if somebody like Abe Alvarez or Papelbon finds himself in Boston.