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<\/p>\nWait. The All-Star break is coming up next week? How\u2019d that happen? Didn\u2019t Shohei Ohtani make that home run trot in Tokyo like 20 minutes ago?<\/p>\n
Well, if we\u2019re halfway through another stupendous baseball season, it\u2019s again time to let you know exactly What We\u2019ve Learned in the First Half, with perspective from four MLB executives, who were granted anonymity so they could speak candidly.<\/p>\n
1. A word for the 2025 trade deadline: Complicated<\/p>\n
\u201cJosh Naylor,\u201d one AL exec said, \u201ccould be the best bat traded this month.\u201d (Vaughn Ridley \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
You know this season is roaring right along if the 2025 deadline<\/a> is now only 24 days away. But the only thing that seems clear about this deadline is that it\u2019s not going to be one of those tradefests in which the floodgates open early.<\/p>\n (What about that Rafael Devers blockbuster<\/a>, you ask? That one was \u201cpersonal,\u201d said one exec. So it\u2019s in its own separate category, as we\u2019ll get to shortly.)<\/p>\n Over at Baseball Reference<\/a>, they\u2019re still listing (gulp) 25 teams as being within striking distance of some kind of playoff spot. That\u2019s everybody but the Rockies, Nationals, Pirates, Athletics and White Sox. Even if the more realistic number is 23 or 24, that\u2019s still a seller-buyer ratio that\u2019s officially not helpful.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a scramble,\u201d said a National League exec, \u201cbecause so many teams are still in it that I don\u2019t know if you\u2019re going to see a lot of activity until the last couple of days.\u201d<\/p>\n So who are the pivotal buy\/sell tightrope walkers to watch? There are so many teams in that Maybe Zone, we could name a dozen options. But our panel pointed toward these four teams:<\/p>\n Diamondbacks \u2014 <\/b>They\u2019re built to win and still trying to win. But if the next three weeks don\u2019t go well, they could shake up this deadline \u2014 by dangling the likes of impending free agents Josh Naylor, Eugenio Su\u00e1rez, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly (among others).<\/p>\n \u201cJosh Naylor,\u201d one American League exec said, \u201ccould be the best bat traded this month.\u201d<\/p>\n Twins \u2014 <\/b>The Twins went 9-17 in June. That doesn\u2019t feel real contender-like. But they\u2019re still only five games out of a wild-card spot. So who knows? If they sell, or even go into simultaneous buy\/sell mode, they could do brisk business.<\/p>\n \u201cMinnesota has a glut of corner-outfield players who could, in theory, all be in play: (Trevor) Larnach, (Matt) Wallner, Willi Castro, maybe even Royce Lewis,\u201d another AL exec said. \u201cThey also have an unbelievably top-heavy, good bullpen (where Jhoan Duran and Griffin Jax would be very buzzy commodities who each have two-plus years of team control remaining).\u201d<\/p>\n Guardians \u2014 <\/b>See previous two paragraphs! The Guardians have gone 9-22 since the start of June \u2014 yet still haven\u2019t quite tumbled out of that wild-card race (seven games back). But even if the next few weeks are just as rough, the league is dubious that a full sell-off is coming from one of the youngest teams in the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Cleveland always just plays the Tampa Bay-type long game,\u201d an NL exec said. \u201cSo they could flip some pieces. Steven Kwan would be a potential piece<\/a>, even though there\u2019s a couple years of control there. But I don\u2019t see a big sell coming.\u201d<\/p>\n Red Sox \u2014 <\/b>They\u2019ve already unloaded Devers, but they\u2019re one more team still in a race that\u2019s seemingly impossible to fall out of. So \u201cthey\u2019re going to be fascinating,\u201d an NL exec said. Who could they sell? Aroldis Chapman is the most logical name. But when other clubs look at the Red Sox, they see a team that just needs to reconfigure the roster more than it needs to dump money or big names.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019re going to continue to do things that solve their long-term issues,\u201d an AL exec said. \u201cSo I think (Jarren) Duran is probably in play for a lot of teams. \u2026 I think he\u2019s the most likely of those players in their outfield to change teams.\u201d<\/p>\n 2. One takeaway from the Devers deal: Buster Posey is fearless<\/p>\n We\u2019re going to tackle this stunning blockbuster in two parts. First, let\u2019s talk about the Giants. The Devers press conference might turn out to be their highlight of the year!<\/p>\n The weekend before Devers showed up, they were tied with the Dodgers for first place. In the three weeks since they made arguably their gutsiest trade of the 21st century, they\u2019ve lost 11 of 19, skidded to seven games out of first \u2026 and scored the second-fewest runs in the National League. Because \u2026 baseball!<\/p>\n But here\u2019s our Giants takeaway, and we\u2019re sticking to it: Ignore that record (for now) \u2014 because the most important thing we\u2019ve learned is that Buster Posey is just as fearless, as a president of baseball operations, as he was when he was winning MVP trophies and World Series rings.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you make moves like that, you always get lauded for doing them in the moment,\u201d an AL exec said. \u201cI know they haven\u2019t played well since that trade. But when you make those decisions, it can never be about how it\u2019s going to make you feel in the moment. And when it\u2019s eight and a half years of contract that you\u2019re taking on, it can\u2019t be about what it does for you in the next two months.<\/p>\n \u201cThey clearly have had trouble attracting marquee, middle-of-the-order, name-brand bats. And they were able to acquire a 28-year-old guy whose track record is as long and as good as anybody\u2019s. So I hope it works for them. I didn\u2019t have any problem with anything they did. And I don\u2019t think they\u2019ll really miss anything they gave up if Rafael Devers is a good player for them.\u201d<\/p>\n 3. Devers deal takeaway No. 2: The Red Sox need to figure out what they\u2019re all about<\/p>\n Boy, is it hard to find anyone in baseball who likes the Boston side of this trade \u2026 from any angle.<\/p>\n The first big Red Sox issue: When you trade a star, the conventional wisdom is that you at least have to get somebody back with a chance to be a star \u2026 and that didn\u2019t happen here, just as the Red Sox didn\u2019t make it happen in the Mookie Betts deal.<\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019s (their) headliner?\u201d one AL exec said of this package. \u201cThat\u2019s my big thought. Even if you just accept the decision to trade him in the first place and say we\u2019re not going to debate that, I still think they could have and should have done better than they did.\u201d<\/p>\n But beyond the Who Won the Trade conversation, the Red Sox should know how shocked the industry is by the painful organizational dysfunction that led to this trade.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat stands out the most is just how brutal the communication (with Devers) was on their side,\u201d an NL exec said. \u201cIt\u2019s made me think about how we treat players (in his team\u2019s organization) \u2014 how players are treated and respected, and the value of good communication, and how that affects and creates culture.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know, it\u2019s easy to throw stones at other teams. I get that. I just know that in our organization, we function on communication and culture and support, on positivity and curiosity. And these things are just what\u2019s built into our organization, from top to bottom. So I can\u2019t even fathom that happening.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. The only great team in baseball is \u2026 <\/strong><\/p>\n I asked that question of all four execs surveyed. The consensus answer?<\/p>\n \u201cThe healthy Dodgers.\u201d<\/p>\n Good answer \u2014 except for one thing. In real life, that team doesn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n Did you know that this not-so-healthy version of the Dodgers has already used 34 pitchers, 16 starters and five openers? Or that Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez has pitched more times (five) than Blake Snell (two)?<\/p>\n Or that they have 13 pitchers on the injured list? Or that they\u2019re spending more payroll dollars on players who aren\u2019t playing for them ($132 million) than the Brewers or Rays are paying their active players to make up teams that would be in the playoffs if the postseason started today?<\/p>\n But that\u2019s just another year in the life of the ridiculously deep \u2014 and deep-pocketed \u2014 Dodgers. They barely have enough healthy elbow ligaments to scrape together a pitching staff \u2014 and they\u2019re still seven games ahead of the rest of their respectable division. But does that make them \u201cgreat\u201d as currently constituted? Nobody I surveyed would go there.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I look at teams and try to break down \u2018a great team\u2019 in the simplest form,\u201d an NL exec said, \u201cI say: Who has a great offensive club, with great starting pitching and a great bullpen? I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any team in baseball that says, right now: We\u2019re great at all three of those things \u2014 or even: We\u2019re really good at all three of those things.<\/p>\n \u201cI obviously have a lot of respect for the healthy Dodgers. I just think it\u2019s probably more irresponsible than responsible to assume that they\u2019re going to be healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n The Dodgers are favored to win it all, but are they \u201ca great team\u201d? (Nicole Vasquez \/ MLB Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n Whatever they are, FanGraphs<\/a> \u201conly\u201d projects the Dodgers at 23 percent odds to win the World Series \u2014 but no other team in either league is even above 12 percent. So is that further proof that this is a season with no great teams \u2014 unless the Dodgers spring back to health by October?<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d another NL exec said. \u201cI just know that when you look at that (Dodgers) roster, the ceiling of those players, I think, is completely unmatched in baseball right now.\u201d<\/p>\n 5. The Orioles are the most disappointing team of modern times <\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m just going to say it: The Orioles are the most disappointing team I can remember since I\u2019ve been following baseball. I\u2019m not alone.<\/p>\n When this season began, FanGraphs gave this Orioles team 45 percent odds of making the playoffs. That was higher than the Rays, Brewers or Padres \u2014 and basically in the same neighborhood as the Tigers (46 percent), Cubs (48 percent) and Astros (52 percent).<\/p>\n And why not? We\u2019re talking about a team that was coming off two straight trips to the postseason. It seemed to be leading the league in young superstars, future superstars and top-100 prospects. And even with the loss of Corbin Burnes in free agency, this group had the vibe of a team following the Astros\u2019 2015-23 playbook \u2014 built both to be good and stay good.<\/p>\n Oops.<\/p>\n Instead, injuries, regression and shaky pitching have, shockingly, led the Orioles to nearly a worse run differential (minus-82) than the White Sox (minus-84) \u2014 and the fifth-worst in the sport, ahead of only the Rockies, Nationals, A\u2019s and those White Sox. So the playoff odds in Baltimore are down to just 3.9 percent. And it\u2019s hard to say that\u2019s a fluke, given this team\u2019s bottom-10 offense and bottom-five pitching staff in the first half.<\/p>\n Still, I know what you\u2019re thinking: What about the Braves, Rangers and Diamondbacks, three other teams that have played way below expectations this year? Or what about all the other teams from the last 10 \u2026 20 \u2026 30 \u2026 40 years that underperformed, got managers fired and belong in this argument for biggest disappointment?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the difference: Those teams weren\u2019t built like this team was built.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the difference with them,\u201d an NL exec said of the Orioles, \u201cis that most of the teams that we would qualify as disappointing were teams that added big-time free agents and spent a bunch of money and then it just didn\u2019t work. Where this one probably is even more disappointing is, I think we all just felt like it\u2019s a lot of young positional players that are just going to continue to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n So talk about teams that could fire up this trade deadline. Suppose the Orioles were bold enough to dangle a young, centerpiece bat for a young, controllable top-of-the-rotation arm? That doesn\u2019t seem likely. But check those trade rumors this month!<\/p>\n 6. The Tigers are real \u2014 and they\u2019re spectacular <\/strong><\/p>\n In October 2024, we were asking: How\u2019d this team make the playoffs? But nine months later, in July 2025, we\u2019re asking a whole different question about the Tigers: How many teams in this sport are better than they are?<\/p>\n Did you see this magical Tigers season coming? Not many people did. Before the season, FanGraphs gave them only a 27 percent shot of winning their division \u2014 worse than the Twins and Mariners, and barely higher than the Royals. So the Tigers have been baseball\u2019s most pleasant surprise. But are we over the surprise yet?<\/p>\n Their 11 1\/2-game lead entering July wasn\u2019t just the biggest in MLB. It was the largest in the 125-season history of their franchise. They\u2019re in a tight race with the Yankees for the most runs scored in their league. They\u2019re the best base-running team in their league. They\u2019re tied for second in the sport in starting pitching ERA. And they\u2019re a top-10 defensive team in the sport.<\/p>\n So \u2026 what about this feels like just another midseason illusion? That would be nothing, said a rival AL executive.<\/p>\n \u201cBest pitcher in baseball (in Tarik Skubal),\u201d the exec said. \u201cImpact manager (in A.J. Hinch). Lots of guys exceeding expectations, like Gleyber (Torres) and (Casey) Mize.\u201d<\/p>\n So are the Tigers \u2014 yes, the Tigers \u2014 good enough to win the World Series?<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are good enough to get to the playoffs and skip the wild-card round,\u201d the same exec said, \u201cyou are good enough to win anything.\u201d<\/p>\n 7. The Rays are pulling off their greatest magic trick yet The Rays are cooking once again. (Julio Aguilar \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n They\u2019re baseball\u2019s pluckiest homeless team \u2014 booted out of their home sweet dome<\/a> by a hurricane, spending their summer playing in somebody else\u2019s stadium. So for those always-underestimated Tampa Bay Rays, this looked like a year for survival, not reprisal.<\/p>\n Nope. It\u2019s turning into another year of the Rays doing Rays things, just when (and where) you least expected it.<\/p>\n Halfway through this amazing season, they\u2019ve won the same number of games as the Yankees. They could wind up hosting all three games of the wild-card round (just don\u2019t ask where<\/a>). And they have the second-best record in baseball (24-17) against teams that are .500 or better.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019d call this a magic trick,\u201d said a rival AL exec. \u201cThey have a really good team. Their pitching is really good. I just think that the unique part of this one is that they have all these (typical) Rays things happening, and they\u2019re doing it while playing in somebody else\u2019s spring training park. And they seemingly don\u2019t miss a beat.\u201d<\/p>\n Based on Retrosheet data, no team has ever made the postseason while playing more than three \u201chome\u201d games someplace other than its normal home ballpark. Now the Rays could demolish that record \u2014 if they can just weather playing 47 of their last 75 games on the road.<\/p>\n 8. Which free agents have helped themselves? Bregman, Gleyber and Ranger<\/strong><\/p>\n That walk-year slog toward the free-agent auction stand can be an adventure. But that sound you hear, off in the distance, is the cash register ringing for three guys who are definitely going to be able to afford that new coffee table after they sign their next free-agent deals this winter.<\/p>\n Alex Bregman \u2014 <\/b>He\u2019s already making $40 million a year in the first year of his free-agent deal with the Red Sox \u2026 so nobody has to worry about Bregman\u2019s earning power. But he can (and almost certainly will) opt out. And when you combine his 158 OPS+, his in-it-to-win-it intensity and the ripple effects of the Devers trade, he\u2019s in prime position to cash in.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been laughing about this for two weeks,\u201d one AL exec said, \u201cjust thinking about (his agent) Scott Boras\u2019 reaction to the Devers trade with Bregman, because you know he\u2019s sitting there thinking: \u2018Just give me a blank check, because whatever I want, you guys are going to have to pay me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Gleyber Torres \u2014 <\/b>Sometimes, the smartest thing a player can do is market himself outside of the New York glare. For living proof, check out Torres.<\/p>\n Took a one-year, $15-million deal with Detroit after his trip through free agency last winter failed to lead him to Ca-Ching Land. Now he\u2019s starting in the All-Star Game<\/a> for baseball\u2019s most pleasant surprise, the Tigers. He\u2019s rocking a 130 OPS+. And free agency 2.0 looks like it might be his kind of place.<\/p>\n \u201cGleyber has made himself the most money, right?\u201d said another AL exec. \u201cGleyber bet on himself with the one-year deal. And if he does this again in the second half, he\u2019s going to get paid.\u201d<\/p>\n Ranger Su\u00e1rez \u2014 <\/b>There were obviously other names I could have dropped into the third spot in this lineup: Kyle Tucker, Kyle Schwarber, Pete Alonso, Framber Valdez. But the seasons they\u2019re having are in line with their track records.<\/p>\n With Su\u00e1rez, the often-brilliant but often-injured 29-year-old left-hander for the Phillies, the rest of the sport looked at his incredible first half in 2024 and said: Let\u2019s see him do that again. OK then. He\u2019s sitting on a 1.99 ERA with one start left before the All-Star break. So they\u2019ve seen it! The question is how attractive is a 30-year-old left-hander with a history of streaks of brilliance but iffy volume.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s perfect,\u201d said one rival exec, with a laugh. \u201cHe\u2019ll sign with the Dodgers.\u201d<\/p>\n 9. Get ready for the most shutouts in baseball history The Phillies have two shutouts this season when Zack Wheeler was the starting pitcher. (Eric Hartline \/ Imagn Images)<\/p>\n I\u2019m a big fan of bagels. Just not when we\u2019re hanging nine of them on the scoreboard every night.<\/p>\n Well, it\u2019s the Year of the Shutout. So we\u2019d better get used to it.<\/p>\n As recently as 2019, there were 268 team (not individual) shutouts thrown across baseball over a full season. And it wasn\u2019t just some random season, either. It was a season that featured the highest strikeout total in history.<\/p>\n But this year, this sport is on pace for about 100 more shutouts than we saw in that season. At this pace, we\u2019ll see 365 shutouts, the most in a full season in the history of baseball.<\/p>\n The current record of 359 was set in the dead-ball era, in 1915, when there were only 16 teams. But in the live-ball era (1920-present), the full-season record is 357, in 1972. And even if we adjust for expansion by looking at the rate of shutouts per game, the only two seasons in the live-ball era with a higher shutout percentage were 1972 and 1968, two of the most famous Year of the Pitcher seasons in modern history.<\/p>\n The question is why zero is turning into baseball\u2019s magic number. The strikeout rate has actually declined two seasons in a row. And the league-wide batting average, walk rate and OPS are all up compared to last year. But shutouts are still heading for historic territory.<\/p>\n And they\u2019ve actually become a daily staple, with at least one shutout on each of the last 15 days in a row, 25 of the last 27, 33 of the last 36, 45 of the last 49, 57 of the last 62 and 74 of the last 80. According to STATS Perform, it\u2019s the first time we\u2019ve seen shutouts in (at least) 74 out of 80 days since 1914. What a fascinating trend.<\/p>\n \u201cI know we talk about this all the time, but I can\u2019t say this enough: It\u2019s just really hard to hit now,\u201d said one of our AL execs. \u201cPitchers can just do things now with a baseball that people couldn\u2019t do 20 years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cSo while we\u2019re not missing as many bats, the stuff coming out of people\u2019s hands is better than it\u2019s ever been. It\u2019s not like the stuff got worse, and that\u2019s why strikeouts are going down. The stuff is outrageous right now across the board, and it\u2019s harder to be on the barrel than it\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n 10. If the NL Cy Young wins eight games, is that ok? <\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s never safe to ask, \u201cWho\u2019s going to win the Cy Young Award?\u201d in July. But when has that ever stopped anyone?<\/p>\n So who\u2019s going to win the National League Cy Young? It\u2019s possible the correct answer is Zack Wheeler<\/a> \u2013 or Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Logan Webb<\/a> or (fill in the name of your favorite ace here). But it\u2019s also extremely possible the answer is \u2026<\/p>\n Paul Skenes.<\/p>\n Not that there\u2019s anything shocking about that \u2014 except that, thanks to the Pirates\u2019 dead-ball offense, he\u2019s rolling into mid-July with a won-lost record of \u2026 4-7.<\/p>\n OK, think about that. Should we care that it\u2019s possible we\u2019re about to live in a world where a starting pitcher could win a Cy Young with a record in the neighborhood of 8-13?<\/p>\n Before you answer, you should know that even in these newfangled times, we\u2019ve never lived in that world.<\/p>\n For the first 40 full seasons that the Cy Young existed, the starting pitchers who collected that trophy had an average won-lost record of 21-8.<\/p>\n And no starter won the award, in a full season, without winning at least 18 games until 1997, when Pedro Martinez took home his first Cy Young by going 17-8 with the Expos.<\/p>\n But we didn\u2019t really know that the universe had changed until 2010, when F\u00e9lix Hern\u00e1ndez (deservedly) won the AL award in a season in which he went 13-12.<\/p>\n Still, imagine a Cy Young with a losing record \u2014 and fewer than 10 wins \u2014 in a full season. We\u2019ve never seen that, until \u2026 well, it might not be long. So let\u2019s ask again: Should anyone still care \u2014 if Skenes hangs onto his lead in more relevant 2025-ish metrics such as WAR, ERA+ and opponent OPS?<\/p>\n You should know I got some measured, deep-thought responses to that question from our panel. But I also got this one from a longtime Kill The Win exec:<\/p>\n \u201cCome on, it\u2019s such a dumb, antiquated statistic,\u201d he said of The Win. \u201cLook, I think Paul Skenes cares immensely about wins, and I\u2019m glad he does. He should. But he\u2019s not voting for the Cy Young. \u2026 I want Paul Skenes to care because it makes him a better pitcher. But if you\u2019re filling out a ballot and you care, you are an idiot.\u201d<\/p>\n So what have we learned about baseball in 2025? The deadline might be a bust. The Tigers are for real. The cash register is ringing for Alex Bregman. And us lowly sportswriters? We still have to prove we\u2019re not idiots.<\/p>\n (Top photo of Tarik Skubal: Grace Hoppel \/ MLB Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wait. The All-Star break is coming up next week? How\u2019d that happen? Didn\u2019t Shohei Ohtani make that home…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":46462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[1279,1280,1276,1281,1271,1274,5048,1282,1283,1885,2382,1284,1285,2502,1286,4247,1287,1266,1305,2228,5055,2083,1886,1306,1275,1288,62,3692,1289,1278,1290,67,132,68,1291],"class_list":{"0":"post-46461","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","9":"tag-atlanta-braves","10":"tag-baltimore-orioles","11":"tag-boston-red-sox","12":"tag-chicago-cubs","13":"tag-chicago-white-sox","14":"tag-cincinnati-reds","15":"tag-cleveland-guardians","16":"tag-colorado-rockies","17":"tag-detroit-tigers","18":"tag-houston-astros","19":"tag-kansas-city-royals","20":"tag-los-angeles-angels","21":"tag-los-angeles-dodgers","22":"tag-miami-marlins","23":"tag-milwaukee-brewers","24":"tag-minnesota-twins","25":"tag-mlb","26":"tag-new-york-mets","27":"tag-new-york-yankees","28":"tag-oakland-athletics","29":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","30":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","31":"tag-san-diego-padres","32":"tag-san-francisco-giants","33":"tag-seattle-mariners","34":"tag-sports","35":"tag-st-louis-cardinals","36":"tag-tampa-bay-rays","37":"tag-texas-rangers","38":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","39":"tag-united-states","40":"tag-unitedstates","41":"tag-us","42":"tag-washington-nationals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2223107714-scaled.jpg\")
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