If he doesn't break out of his slump, the Philadelphia Phillies could send Maikel Franco to Triple-A.

"We've talked about it," Pete Mackanin said. "That's about all I'll say. It's been discussed."

Franco has a hit in just three of his last 25 at-bats and was benched two days last week.

"Befuddled is a good word," Mackanin said last week. "As much as he works in the cage and on the field in batting practice and does it right, when he gets in the game his head is still flying [out] and his bat is coming out of the zone.

"You've heard me say this many times: Hitting is like riding a bike. I can't teach you to keep your head in there. I can tell you to do it, but you have to do it on your own and he's got to figure it out. Guys have to figure it out. They have to figure out how to get the job done. Whether it's cut down on your swing, choke up, use a different bat, use a different stance, do something different. If you make outs the same way over and over, it's not going to change.

"At this level you've got to produce. You want to play, you've got to hit and they have to understand that. Nobody is here on scholarship."

Major League Baseball has reduced Bryce Harper's suspension to three games, a source has confirmed.

Harper originally received a four-game ban for his role in a fight with San Francisco Giants reliever Hunter Strickland.

He will begin serving the suspension when the Washington Nationals face the Giants on Wednesday night.

Harper is tied for the National League lead with 15 home runs. He will be eligible to return Sunday as the Nationals finish off a series at the Oakland Athletics.

Major League Baseball released the first National League All-Star balloting results on Tuesday and Bryce Harper leads the league in voting.

Harper, who has totaled 900,079 votes, has a 230,436 lead on Washington Nationals teammate Daniel Murphy for the top spot.

Below are the voting leaders at each position:

Catcher: Buster Posey, Giants

First Basemen: Anthony Rizzo, Cubs

Second Baseman: Murphy, Nationals

Third Baseman: Kris Bryant, Cubs

Shortstop: Corey Seager, Dodgers

Outfielders: Harper, Nationals, Charlie Blackmon, Rockies, Jason Heyward, Cubs

Jeb Bush is no longer interested in buying the Miami Marlins and has ended his pursuit of the team, according to two people close to the negotiations.

Derek Jeter, who had been part of Bush's group, is still exploring a bid with other investors.

Jeter becomes the frontman for an investment group competing with a group led by businessman Tagg Romney. The Romney group includes Tom Glavine and former Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Dave Stewart.

Theo Epstein visited the Chicago Cubs in San Diego on Tuesday, saying he is providing "moral support" for the reigning champions amid their ongoing struggles and insisting no drastic changes are imminent.

Epstein was on the West Coast scouting and decided to watch the final two games of the Padres series.

"It's more important to be around when the team is struggling than when they're doing well," Epstein said. "Showing moral support can be good from time to time. Take the heat off of others when the team is scuffling."

The Cubs are 25-26 after losing to the Padres on Tuesday night.

During Monday's brawl between Hunter Strickland and Bryce Harper, Buster Posey was noticeable by his absence. 

After Strickland hit Harper on the hip with a fastball, Posey didn't move in an attempt to intervene and diffuse the situation. As Harper yelled and motioned at Strickland, Posey continued to stand behind home plate and chose to not enter the fray as the benches cleared.

“Given his injury that took him out for a whole year, that has everything to do with it… Imagine what this team would be like without him. You have to know what he’s been told – ‘stay out of the pile.’ And you have to know the corner infielders have been told he’s not gonna be there, you need to protect. And you saw Michael Morse come in and that was his main job. Basically, Buster’s responding the way he’s been told. Buster has no choice,” Giants' color announcer Mike Krukow said.

“It is extremely hard for Buster not to get in that pile. So know that. But, I’m just saying, and I’m not gonna tell you who told him, I’m just saying that he’s been told, ’stay out of the pile,’” Krukow said.

Posey also was likely upset with Strickland for hitting Harper, which will make him a target for the Nationals during the remainder of the series.

Discipline has been issued to both Hunter Strickland and Bryce Harper as a result of the bench-clearing incident that occurred in the top of the eighth inning of Monday's game at AT&T Park in San Francisco. 

Strickland has received a six-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for intentionally hitting Harper with a pitch, inciting the bench-clearing incident and fighting. Harper has received a four-game suspension and an undisclosed fine for charging the mound, throwing his helmet and fighting.

The suspensions had been scheduled to be effective on Tuesday, when the Clubs are to continue their series in San Francisco. However, both players have elected to appeal. Thus, the respective discipline issued to each player will be held in abeyance until the process is complete.

The Atlanta Braves, who have the No. 5 overall pick in next month's draft, are reportedly looking at North Carolina high school outfielder Austin Beck.

John Coppolella and scouting director Brian Bridges have held several private workouts and discussions with Beck.

Beck is a right-handed hitting outfielder at North Davidson High School.

The Tampa Bay Rays called up Jose De Leon to pitch out of the bullpen on Monday after they played a 15 inning game the day prior.

The Rays acquired De Leon from the Los Angeles Dodgers for Logan Forsythe this past winter. He had been scheduled to start for Triple-A Durham on Monday.

He tossed 69 pitches over 2.2 innings for the Rays, earning the win in a victory over the Texas Rangers despite allowing three runs.

Dustin Pedroia left Monday's game with a sprained left wrist.

He tumbled over Chicago White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu while running out a groundout in the first inning and landed awkwardly on his wrists.

"I think anytime you're dealing with a position player’s wrist, a hitter’s wrist, that’s always cause for concern," John Farrell said.

X-rays immediately taken in Chicago were negative, according to the Boston Red Sox, but he is being sent back to Boston to get an MRI.

"He feels he knows those guys, they know him well, so we felt it would be more comfortable for him to do that," Dave Dombrowski said. "He wanted to do that too because he knows those guys so well. We could have gotten an MRI here and had people read it but he just knows the people there so well. We figured he wanted to do that, so we said, 'Sure, we’ll fly you there and get the MRI done there.'"