The MLB All-Star Week is upon us and for the majority of big league players, it means four well-deserved days of rest; however, for a chosen few, it is an opportunity to spend time with the best players in the game.

Cliff Floyd suited up for seven teams over his 17-year career and also participated in the 2001 All-Star Game. From a player’s mind-set, he knows first-hand how important it is to play in the Mid-Summer Classic.

“It is everybody’s dream to play in that game. Everybody. I don’t care who you are,” Floyd recalls. “When you are getting your name called to go play with the best of the best, you are in awe. It is one of those moments where you just cherish it.”

Toronto Blue Jays’ slugger Jose Bautista was voted in to his sixth consecutive All-Star Game but will be side-lined with a lingering shoulder injury. Toronto will be represented by catcher Russell Martin along with third baseman Josh Donaldson, who set an MLB record by collecting over 14-million votes. Donaldson will become the eighth Blue Jay in franchise history to start an All-Star Game.

“He has been awesome. The main difference is what he has been able to do in that ballpark in Toronto. It has turned into the new Coors Field. The ball goes out all of the time,” Floyd laughs. “He is more aggressive because he knows that if he squares the ball up middle way, it is going out of the park; whereas in Oakland last year if he squared a ball up middle way, it might go to the warning track. The difference in his mind-set is ‘I can be more aggressive in this park’ and it has made him that much better.”

Donaldson is currently third in the American League in runs scored, hits and runs batted in. “The fans will love him at the All-Star Game in Cincinnati,” Floyd promises. “He will be in the Home Run Derby too and that park is a band-box. He might just win that thing.”

Expectations for Donaldson might be tempered somewhat as he missed the final game prior to the break with the flu; however he is still expected to compete Monday night.  He will be joined by elite company in both the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game but similar to every year; there just are not enough spots for all of the first half standouts and Floyd was surprised at some of the snubs.

“Where would the Yankees be without Alex Rodriguez?” Floyd asks. “When Jacoby Ellsbury went down, [Rodriguez] took over for a team that was lacking everywhere.”

“I don’t vote for A-Rod though – just because of what he has been through. I’m a hater in that sense.”

Along with Rodriguez’s comeback, there have been plenty more pleasant surprises in Floyd’s mind, especially when it comes to pitching.

“A.J. Burnett has been great with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Leaving Philadelphia last year was the best thing for him,” Floyd said. “He made some quality starts with that team. The Phillies just stunk. He goes back to where he came from in Pittsburgh and he actually has just flat out turned the whole rotation over. He is going to his first All-Star Game in 18 years. That is pretty impressive.”

Floyd has also taken note of the upstart the Houston Astros who have bounced back from a disastrous 2014 campaign where they finished a miserable 28 games off of the division lead. Coming into the All-Star break, the Astros are just a half-game behind the Angels for the American League West lead.

“I’m really shocked at Dallas Keuchel. I thought he was going to be a good pitcher but to be at 11 wins, that’s phenomenal,” Floyd said. “Every time I talk about the Astros, they seem to just win more. I look at their statistics, their strikeouts or what they do with runners in scoring position – it all stinks. They are 26th in all of baseball average-wise. I’m just a little suspect of them. But every time I say that, they win ten in a row. So we’ll see.”

Along with the surprises, there have been several disappointments for Floyd who appears regularly on the MLB Network. The Seattle Mariners are having their patience severely tested with slugger Robison Cano. The 32-year old has a Wins-Above-Replacement of just 0.7 and has struggled through several extended slumps this season. The Mariners, who had 13/2 odds to win the AL Pennant in April, are seven-and-a-half games off of the division lead.

“I don’t want to make excuses but look, at the end of the day, Seattle is paying him $25 million to get out there and help that team win. It isn’t happening,” Floyd points out. “Unfortunately, these things happen. I understand that. He understands that. It is just when you think about Robinson Cano, you think about him putting up great numbers and they just aren’t there.”

The unofficial second half of the season gets underway Friday and Floyd has one piece of advice for all Blue Jays’ fans: beware of the Boston Red Sox.

“They scare me. I never wrote them off when they stunk. They are moving away from that and more towards a team that could actually win a Wild Card spot or even win the division,” he warns. “They are a pitcher … or even a bullpen pitcher away from being a team that could actually make a real solid move in the AL East.”

“They are too good to be where they were earlier. If they make a move from a pitching standpoint, I think the Red Sox could win the division.”