Well, the major league all-star break has come to a close but Class AAA righty Michael Bowden is still on a vacation - but not by his choosing necessarily.

The Boston Red Sox put the Aurora native on the disabled list for no real reason other than to give his arm a break. No worries though folks - the Red Sox do it all the time with their young pitchers.

While it's too early to tell if Bowden will be traded - the Red Sox are one of the few teams in baseball that have both cash and talent in the minors - what we do know is Boston is high on him.

According to this story, Jim Callis of Baseball America thinks Bowden would be a big leaguer right now if he were any place other than Boston.

"I don't think there's many farm systems that have the kind of pitching depth the Red Sox have in the minors. I think with just about any other organization, Clay Buchholz would be in the big league rotation right now. Michael Bowden would probably be in the big league rotation right now."

Then this from Boston director of player development Mike Hazen:
"I've said this plenty of times before: Guys like Clay Buchholz and Bowden and (Junichi)Tazawa and those types of players, I mean you're not going to make them major league players. They were drafted as major league players."

Good stuff.

Also - what could that mean for Marmion alumnus Matt Milroy? I think we'll be able to assume they feel he could reach the majors in 3-4 years if they give him enough of a reason to skip the U of I.