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Austin Reaves described it as “fun.” Luka Doncic called the Lakers’ effortless-looking offense as “flowing.” And this is still the early stages of development for a team that brought in nine new players.
Through eight games, the Lakers have the most dynamic offense in the NBA. Led by Doncic, the Lakers are second in scoring with 122.5 points per game and first in offensive rating with 121.9 points per 100 possessions. The starting lineup of Doncic, Reaves, Walker Kessler, Ziaire Williams and Matisse Thybulle has a league-best 135.5 offensive rating among five-man groups that have played at least 40 minutes together entering Wednesday’s game at Sacramento.
“Everything’s as expected,” guard Quentin Grimes said Monday after the Lakers hung 138 points in a 21-point win over the Miami Heat. “Winning, everybody’s getting involved, everybody’s making the right play, getting a lot of assists.”
The Lakers (6-2) had 39 assists against the Heat, the most during JJ Redick’s head-coaching tenure. Doncic is on a historic scoring binge; he is the first Laker since Kobe Bryant in 2007 to have five consecutive games of 35 or more points. While putting up a seemingly ho-hum 42 points against Miami, he also had a season-high 13 assists.
“It’s a really good offense that we’re playing right now,” Redick said. “And a lot of that, of course, is Doncic and what he’s able to do and bend the defense.”
Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer at 38.3 points per game, does his damage early. He typically plays all 12 minutes of the opening quarter and leads the league with 15 points a game in the first quarter. Once he gets his shot going, teams send double teams to force the ball out of his hands. That’s when Doncic can be particularly dangerous.
Read more:Luka Doncic's 42-point effort carries Lakers past Giannis Antetokounmpo and Heat
Doncic has always been lauded for his superior court vision. But the Lakers are still learning to see the same picture. The Lakers had 14 turnovers, including 11 from Doncic and Reaves, during a preseason game against the Denver Nuggets, who were aggressively trapping the Lakers’ ballhandlers. The Lakers threw away a 25-point second-quarter lead on Oct. 30 when the Golden State Warriors ratcheted up the ball pressure.
Doncic’s five turnovers a game are the second most in the league, and Reaves is third with 4.6 turnovers per game.
Some players are new to being on a team with guards who get blitzed nearly every play, Reaves said. It requires players to not only be comfortable making decisions to pass, drive or shoot, but they have to choose quickly. A moment’s hesitation gives away the four-on-three advantage created by the double-team.
Redick praised Grimes’ ability to keep advantages by driving decisively. Forward Sandro Mamukelashvili is also great at it, Redick said, as is guard Collin Sexton, who knows no speed other than full. The Lakers have also finished their advantages with Thybulle and Williams making27 of 58 (46.6%) three-point attempts combined.
“That’s the beauty of our team,” Williams said. “You could put different guys at different spots and everyone’s able to make a play. All our guys are just dynamic and versatile. And everyone just wants to make the right play. No one wants to only shoot, there’s no egos. And that’s the fun part about it, you know? We all love to see each other succeed.”
Williams missed three games because of a sore left foot but returned Monday with nine points, two rebounds and two assists off the bench. When Jake LaRavia jumped into the starting lineup, the Lakers were just as effective offensively as their first-choice lineup. When Doncic, Reaves, Kessler, Thybulle and LaRavia are together, the Lakers’ 144.3 points per 100 possessions ranks first among lineups that have played at least 30 minutes.
But numbers don’t normalize until about 250 minutes, Redick believes.
“I think there’s always room for improvement,” he said Monday.
The Lakers have the most room for improvement on the defensive side. Their defensive rating of 114 points allowed per 100 possessions is tied with the Clippers for 20th in the NBA. They still rank 28th in rebounding, despite three consecutive double-doubles from Kessler, who responded after Redick challenged the center to be a larger rebounding presence.
“This team can become a great team,” Redick said before Monday’s win over the Heat. “That requires patience, that requires a lot of coaching and teaching and buy-in, and so that whole process takes time.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Missing in the first round of an NBA Draft is a setback in team building, but for seven teams this year it was better to accept the pain now rather than keep the player around for the final year of their rookie deal.
Seven players did not have their rookie-scale team options for the 2027-28 season picked up, the deadline was Monday. Those players are (via Keith Smith of Spotrac), in order of most to least expensive deals declined:
• Tidjane Salaun, Charlotte Hornets ($10.4 million)
• Cody Williams, Minnesota Timberwolves ($7.6 million)
• Nikola Topic, Oklahoma City Thunder ($7.5 million)
• A.J. Johnson, New Orleans Pelicans ($5.5 million)
• DaRon Holmes II, Denver Nuggets ($5.5 million)
• Pacome Dadiet, New York Knicks ($5.4 million)
• Isaiah Collier, Utah Jazz($4.8 million)
Some of these were simply financial decisions in the apron era, such as Pacome Dadiet with the Knicks. Three players were outright waived by their teams before this season:
• Rob Dillingham (waived by the Hornets after being traded for Buddy Hield, has yet to re-sign)
• Dalton Knecht (waived by the Lakers, signed as a two-way player with the Knicks)
• Devin Carter (waived by Hawks, signed as a two-way player by Celtics)
There were 19 players who had their extensions picked up, they are extension-eligible next summer or could be headed to 2028 restricted free agency. Among those are Stephon Castle (Spurs), Matas Buzelis (Bulls), Alex Sarr (Wizards), Reed Sheppard (Rockets), Donovan Clingan (Trail Blazers), Zach Edey (Grizzlies) and Zaccharie Risacher (Mavericks).
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The Houston Rockets are off to a red-hot start, leading the NBA with a 7-1 record, as well as holding wins over the Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, and San Antonio Spurs. The team has looked like the same hard-nosed defensive team we have grown used to, but this time with some idea of an offensive plan. In addition, the team is playing within the flow of the offense, not forcing things to Alperen Sengun or Kevin Durant, with the “Stand Around and Watch KD” offense of last year showing less and less of itself. Marcus Smart has been a solid addition so far, and Jabari Smith Jr. seems poised for a career year.
Granted, it’s early in the season, but the Rockets look good right now, and it seems some others might agree. The Athletic released it’s new series of NBA power rankings, and low and behold, who sits atop at the moment but your Houston Rockets. Here’s what they had to say about our boys:
Last ranking: Fourth
In the last week: W vs ATL, W at MIL, L at DAL, W vs OKC
Offensive rating: 121.2 (first place)Defensive rating: 108.9 (ninth place)Starters: Fred VanVleet, Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr., Alperen Şengün
Key reserves: Marcus Smart, Tari Eason, Reed Sheppard, Clint Capela, Bogdan BogdanovićHouston’s improved depth hasn’t quite made the defense special, which makes sense. The Rockets don’t have great rim protection, they have a small guard in the starting lineup and their best player is 38. The Rockets tried to get away with lineups without centers in Dallas with Şengün nursing a back injury, and it’s one reason they aren’t undefeated anymore. But this offense has taken off, and Houston is deeper than it has been at any point under coach Ime Udoka.
So with the Rockets cruising, the Thunder hurt and the Spurs off to an up-and-down start, it’s your Rockets who are currently playing the best ball in the NBA. Right behind Houston are the 5-1 Detroit Pistons and the 6-1 Philadelphia LeBrons. I think the Rockets are better than either of those teams, but time will tell. For now, enjoy the the early-season success.
Dalen Terry is on an NBA roster after starting the season on the sidelines.
The former Arizona Wildcats wing has signed a two-year deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
The contract comes at a good time for both sides: Terry was without an NBA team after getting by the Golden State Warriors in the preseason, and the Thunder are in need for an athletic swingman after suffering multiple injuries.
Terry is on his third NBA team after playing the first four-plus years of his career with the Chicago Bulls before getting traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.
In 218 career games, Terry is averaging 3.5 points, 1.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists and o.5 steals per game.
The 6-foot-6 Terry arrives in Oklahoma City following injuries to the Thunder’s Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace. The Thunder are also without big man Chet Holmgren for at least two months.
Terry was drafted 18th overall by Chicago in the 2022 NBA Draft. He comes the 17th former Arizona basketball player to be on an NBA team this season, the third-most of any school behind Kentucky and Duke.
It’s giving midseason.
Somewhere in the second quarter, with the Spurs up one and about to be up more, I realized I wasn’t watching the game. I was, instead, watching myself not watch the game, which is a worse hobby and the one I’m apparently best at. The game was fine. The game was exactly what it said on the label: a nondescript tilt between two teams already headed down different tracks. The shine of October basketball had worn off completely and, like summer turning to fall, the Grind had arrived.
Shocking how quickly that happens.
As a first quarter blowout turned into a 2nd quarter snoozer, my brain began to wander a bit. I could be anywhere in the world right now. A plastic stool in Hanoi, a bowl of pho, a little light rain. A mountain pass in the Andes, thin air, nobody asking me for a take. Man, I should be reading books. Seeing films. I should be the kind of person whose passport has all those cool stamps in it. This one precious life the universe handed me was unraveling in real time as Ace Bailey stepped into a 25-foot pull-up three to cut the Jazz’s deficit to one.
Then Stephon Castle missed a layup and I almost decided to call it a night. It was as annoying as it was unremarkable and I just didn’t need it anymore. I reached for the remote and, as I did, Victor Wembanyama, who a minute earlier had similarly flubbed an alley-oop, grabbed the rebound and tipped it back in. Twenty seconds after Bailey’s three. No celebration. Barely a facial expression.
I’d love to tell you that’s the moment I’d been looking for, but that would be too tidy. What I’d been searching for was a hook. A story, a cause, a catalyst. Anything to hold off the particular ennui of being a fan of a good team. And Wemby wasn’t even good last night, not by any stretch. Five of fifteen. Zero for five from three. Five turnovers. He was in that mode he gets in from time to time where he decides the Key to Victory is to simply chuck it.
The Spurs won by 22 anyway, not because of a miracle but because this roster has more than one way to be competent. The Spurs are, mercifully, more than the sum of their parts.
Not that the parts are bad. Quite the contrary. Dylan Harper scored all 17 of his points before the third quarter was half over. Stephon Castle is an animal. De’Aaron Fox looks like the guy we paid for. Tarris Reed continues to grab rebounds in a way that feels like it’s going to be important (seven in about seven minutes last night). Every wing combination we’ve thrown on the court is its own kind of fun.
I mean, look at Harrison Barnes. A man as old as time itself (he’s four years younger than me) had an insanely active night. He knocked down threes from 29, 25 and 24 feet, he ran around, he caused trouble. Early in the fourth he got tangled up with Brice Sensabaugh, slid across the floor, got back up, and just stared at him while the refs reviewed it in slow motion. I’m told that clip racked up 140,000 views on the world wide web within about an hour.
The thing about the Grind is that it doesn’t have to mean anything, which means that everything within the Grind gets to be exactly what it is. A tip dunk. A well executed outlet pass. An old man staring down Brice Sensabaugh. Like, I didn’t come out of the womb craving the Larry O’Brien trophy. I just was at my breakfast table in 1996 watching Michael Jordan dunk on Rik Smits during a SportsCenter rerun, and some part of me said, with zero strategic vision, “Yes. More of that.” More of that was the entire ask and, frankly, it still is.
Look at us. You and me. Like I said, we could be anywhere in the world right now, but we’re right here with the Spurs and the Jazz on a Monday night in November. The stools in Hanoi will still be there someday, but a precocious superstar, having the worst night of his season, is putting a ball back through the hoop like a child tucking in his stuffed animals for the night.
You don’t have to impress some greater importance on a moment like that to make it mean something. You were there. It’s a part of you now and you got to live it.
If that isn’t special, I don’t know what is.
So, you’re a Waterloo Man, eh?
I’m a man of all seasons, to be clear, but right now, yes, I am currently in a Waterloo phase of my Sparkling Water career.
Any particular reason?
There is a particular Black Cherry flavor I’ve grown fond of and I just can’t stay away at this point. It scratches this weird nostalgic part of my brain that yearns for a Blue Sky soda I had in my youth. Do you remember Blue Sky soda?
Vaguely. That had kind of cool cans?
Yeah, the cans were cool. I don’t know. I think I had just never experienced the concept of a soda that existed outside the mainstream world of the Coca-Cola and Pepsi family trees, so when I went on vacation and saw this crazy looking can with a cherry sitting on a cloud it just… broke my brain a little bit and I had to have it.
Did it taste good?
Who could say? I was six years old. I’d left the summer heat in Texas and woken up the next day in a Colorado mountain town sipping an alien soda from heaven. Maybe it was good, maybe it wasn’t, but it stirred something deep in my soul that I think I’ve been searching for ever since.
And Black Cherry Waterloos scratch that itch for you?
They do. Publix also pretty regularly throws them in Buy One Get Ones for me and who am I to turn down a deal like that.
Welcome to the 2026 edition of Ranking the Rockies, where we take a look back at every player to log playing time for the Rockies in 2026. The purpose of this list is to provide a snapshot of the player in context. The “Ranking” is an organizing principle that’s drawn from Baseball Reference’s WAR (rWAR). It’s not something the staff debated. We’ll begin with the player with the lowest rWAR and end up with the player with the highest.
When the Colorado Rockies selected Gabriel Hughes 10th overall out of Gonzaga in the 2022 MLB Draft, they knew they were taking on a power arm with at least a middle-of-the-rotation ceiling. However, after Tommy John surgery cut his 2023 season short and kept him out of the 2024 season, he had to start building his stock in 2025.
Hughes had a solid season last year, despite dealing with several injuries throughout the year. Heading into 2026, it seemed like it was inevitable that he would finally reach the big leagues. He finally earned his call-up to the big leagues in early July 2026, making his Major League debut on July 3 against the San Francisco Giants.
His inaugural taste of the majors was predictably turbulent. Across 14 games (13 starts) for Colorado, Hughes posted a 6.33 ERA and an 0-8 record. On paper, those surface-level traditional figures look grim. However, a closer look under the hood reveals a far more nuanced picture of a young arm navigating his initial trial by fire.
After a solid, albeit limited, spring training audition, Hughes was sent to Triple-A Albuquerque to start the 2026 campaign. He got off to a rough start, posting an 8.64 ERA in 25 innings across six starts. The strikeouts weren’t an issue as he had 32 against just six walks, but he was giving up a lot of contact and getting hit hard. At the end of April, he was placed on the injured list and missed most of May.
After a pair of strong rehab starts with High-A Spokane, Hughes was sent back to the Isotopes where he looked like a man possessed. Over his next three starts in June, Hughes allowed just four hits across 15.2 innings with 16 strikeouts and five walks, limiting opponents to a .080/.179/.100 slash. His best outing of the year at any level came on June 25 when he fired six shutout innings at home against the Salt Lake Bees, giving up just two hits while striking out six.
It was hard to ignore that Hughes had tapped into something while recovering from injury, and he had suddenly tamed the Pacific Coast League. As the Rockies looked for pitching reinforcements, it was hard to ignore one of their top prospects banging on the door.
So, that’s when he got an 11:30 pm call while in his hotel in Round Rock, Texas, from Isotopes manager Pedro Lopez telling him he was headed to the big leagues.
The initial plan for Hughes when he was called up was to wet his feet working out of the bullpen. If the opportunity were to arise he could work his way into the rotation, but the Rockies wanted to see what he could do in a multi-inning role first before taking that next step.
In that July 3 game against the Giants, Hughes entered with an 11-run lead in the seventh inning after Ryan Feltner had cruised through six. He breezed through three innings on 53 pitches to secure his first big-league save while giving up two hits with one strikeout.
Hughes’s ability to hammer the strike zone was immediately evident, but his poise on the mound would shine in his next appearance, which came in his starting-pitching debut against the defending World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, on July 8.
The Dodgers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning as Hughes struggled to find the zone and threw 39 pitches. However, he seemed to flip a switch in the second inning, retiring 15 Dodgers in a row before allowing a two-out double to Max Muncy in the sixth inning. Hughes threw just 55 pitches over those five innings after the first and had a first-pitch strike rate around 80% while becoming the first rookie since Peter Lambert in 2019 to record a quality start in their first big-league start.
He continued to look solid through his next three starts, allowing six runs on 16 hits over 15.1 innings, going at least five innings each time. However, Hughes hit a rough patch of inconsistency that would hinder him through the rest of the season.
Over his final nine starts, Hughes posted an 8.17 ERA over 39.2 innings of work. While he continued to grit his way through at least five innings in four of those starts, Hughes saw elevated pitch counts that knocked him out of games earlier than expected, including one start in Detroit where he threw 70 pitches and lasted just two innings.
Despite knowing that Hughes was going to grind as much as he could and throw strikes, teams became more selective in the box and were fouling off pitches. Hughes had a decent first-pitch strike rate of 59.7%, but nibbling became an issue.
Despite preventing hard-hit balls and limiting opponents to a .271 AVG, Hughes still struggled to limit baserunners as opponents had a .772 OPS and a .319 BAbip. He had a league-average 8.5% walk rate alongside a 19.8% strikeout rate, but the efficiency of at-bats didn’t afford him chances to work deeper into games.
Through 13 starts, Hughes went 0-8 with a 6.33 ERA. The only other Rockies pitcher in franchise history to begin their career with zero wins through their first 13 starts was Jon Gray in 2015-16. Despite games where he pitched well enough to earn a win, the offense was often too lacking to give him any support.
Despite what the stat box says, there was a lot to like about Hughes during his first big league stint.
Immediately, his maturity and composure on the mound exhibited a player wise beyond his years. A studious individual, Hughes is meticulous about finding the right way to win a ballgame. He wasn’t easily rattled most of the time, living up to his alma mater’s Bulldog nickname.
What was most impressive was the potential of Hughes arsenal. Utilizing a four-seam fastball that is more akin to a cutter (fashioned after his childhood hero Mariano Rivera), Hughes complemented it with a deep mix that includes a changeup, a slider, a sweeper, a curveball, and a sinker.
He was able to command his pitches and utilize them as needed, sometimes having to rely on one more than the others because it was working. In that start against the Dodgers, catcher Brett Sullivan noticed that Los Angeles was not catching up to the fastball, so they just rode that pitch for as long as they could. Hughes was a poster child for the advantage of a deep arsenal, but you still need to have a bread-and-butter pitch, which was that cutter. Opponents hit .285/.245/.394 against it with an 18.4% whiff rate and a 15.7% putaway rate.
Out of all his starts, that one in Los Angeles and his start in New York against the Yankees are the beacons of what Hughes brings to the table at his best. Against the Yankees, he threw five innings, allowing two runs (one earned) and striking out six. He also induced 13 swings-and-misses and four groundball outs.
Hughes made a name for himself in the minors as a strike-throwing machine, and we saw that quite a bit this season. His ability to get strikeouts is also encouraging, as he had six starts with six or more strikeouts. The next step is to work on efficiency and refine both his control and command with his pitches.
Most encouraging was Hughes ability to tame Coors Field in his rookie campaign. Through seven appearances, he posted a 4.09 ERA compared to an 8.71 ERA in seven road starts. He limited opponents to a .234/.294/.363 slash at home, which is almost miraculous considering the state of the Rockies’ rotation over the last few years.
Ever a thinker, Hughes was sure to take 2026 as a great opportunity to learn. From everything that he experienced this season, he was able to take something into the offseason to help him improve for next year.
“I think one of the things I’ve really learned is that I have to have different starting points for a lot of my pitches when I’m here versus on the road,” Hughes said to Purple Row’s Samantha Bradfield. “It’s not something I’ve thought about too much in the past when I was in Albuquerque. But here, where the margin for error is so low, I think it’s extremely important. So that’s something I’ve continued to work on. But that’s probably the biggest thing I’ve noticed because the margin for error is so low, so you have to be sharp here and on the road.”
Having just turned 25 years old in August, Hughes has the opportunity to be a staple of the Rockies rotation for the next few years. The Rockies need Hughes to take that next step forward while they also need to prove they can continue to develop and improve players.
The future is bright for Gabriel Hughes; he just needs to continue to refine his methods.
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The Red Sox roster is now down to 40 players, but it took some work getting there. The first player to be designated for assignment was reliever Zack Kelly. That was something of a surprising choice. Kelly has been far from outstanding as he’s bounced between AAA and the Red Sox over the last few years — he’d thrown 131.1 innings for the Sox with an ERA+ of 104 and he battled frequent injuries. But he was also one of the hardest throwers in the organization and looked good in his limited innings this season. Choosing Raymond Burgos over Kelly is surprising, but the fact that Kelly is out of options may have been the deciding factor. (Anthony Franco, MLB Trade Rumors)
The other player who was DFA’d, Eduardo Rivera, has already been dealt, as the Chaim Bloom-led Cardinals picked him up in exchange for minor league pitcher Juan Carlos García. Rivera had trouble translating his AAA success to the big league level this year, while Garcia, an 18-year-old out of Mexico, is little more than a lottery ticket. (MLB.com)
In a less debatable bullpen move (a move that could be called a no-brainer, really), the Sox picked up a one-year option on Garrett Whitlock, who has been one of the league’s best relievers with the Sox. This guarantees he stays with the team for at least one more season, and the club holds an additional option for 2028. (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)
It’s hard not to feel good about the top of the 2027 bullpen with Whitlock and Aroldis Chapman already in the fold. But the bullpen was never going to be the main focus of this offseason. “I think we need some more offense,” Willson Contreras recently said. “That’s for [Craig]Breslow to figure out.” (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)
But before we fully move onto 2027, there’s still some things about 2026 to wrap-up. This includes handing out awards, and the league announced that two Red Sox are finalists for a couple of the big ones. Payton Tolle is one of three finalists for AL Rookie of the Year alongside Parker Messick of the Guardians and Kevin McGonigle of the Tigers. Chad Tracy has been named a finalist for the Manager of the Year alongside Kevin Cash of the Rays and Will Veneble of the White Sox. (Ian Browne, MLB.com)
Yes, you can actually believe that statement. The Phillies have finalists for three major awards.
The likelihood of any of the trio actually winning the award is pretty slim. Each of them have a player in their category that dominated that category in the season, although how a manager can dominate is still befuddling to me.
Duran was one of the outstanding relievers this season. 33 saves, an ERA under two, a strikeout per nine rate over 12, the man just took down the competition during the regular season with stunning regularity. Luckily this voting was done before the postseason began.
Sanchez would maybe be the winner this year for the Cy Young award had he not been in the same season as The Miz. Sanchez’s scoreless inning streak is one of those things a pitcher can hang his hat on when contemplating the season as a whole, but he was excellent yet again. What a trade that has turned out to be.
Even with Mattingly, it’s hard to deny that the team was in the toilet when he took over following a 9-19 start. He led them to the playoffs where they put up a decent fight in the first two games before the team rolled over and showed their belly. He was rewarded with a contract extension.
Smith’s calf injury to be tested in training on Wednesday
Alex Mitchell ruled out of Nations Championship finals
Fin Smith faces a make-or-break training session on Wednesday to prove his fitness for the No 10 jersey in England’s autumn opener against Australia on Sunday, amid cautious optimism the Northampton playmaker will come through unscathed.
Smith sustained a calf injury in Northampton’s derby defeat by Leicester last month and the England head coach, Steve Borthwick, has been sweating on his fitness ever since. Smith’s Northampton half-back partner, Alex Mitchell, meanwhile, has been ruled out of England’s entire autumn campaign owing to his latest hamstring injury.
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Now that we are past the day on which all team and player options have been exercised (or not), qualifying offers have been made and all players on the 60-day injured list have been returned to 40-man rosters, I thought it would be useful to have a look at where the Cubs’ 40-man roster stands.
This is especially timely right now, I think, because of the upcoming expiration of the MLB/MLBPA labor agreement on Dec. 1. While nothing major has happened so far, conventional wisdom says that there could be quite a few trades and/or free agent signings before that expiration date, while teams and players still know the rules under which the sport is currently governed.
That means a lot of things could happen in the next four weeks.
The Cubs’ 40-man roster currently stands at 34 players. Here are those 34 players.
Julian Aguiar
Javier Assad
Ben Brown
Edward Cabrera
Tyler Ferguson
Braxton Garrett
Porter Hodge
Gavin Hollowell
Cade Horton
Riley Martin
Phil Maton
Shelby Miller
Jayden Murray
Eric Orze
Daniel Palencia
Ethan Roberts
Ryan Rolison
Justin Steele
Jacob Webb
Jordan Wicks
Ryan Zeferjahn
A couple of those names are likely unfamiliar to you. Aguiar was acquired on waivers from the Reds Sept. 26, and Orze was claimed on waivers from the Twins … yesterday.
It would not surprise me if either or both of those pitchers were exposed to waivers again before Nov. 1. The non-tender deadline (Nov. 20) is also a date to watch. I would not be surprised if the Cubs decided to non-tender Roberts, who is arb-eligible for the first time, and perhaps re-sign him to a minor-league deal.
Miguel Amaya
Obviously, the Cubs will need more than one catcher. Perhaps they can re-sign Carson Kelly, or someone like Ryan Jeffers. Owen Ayers, who might make his MLB debut in 2027, won’t be added to the 40-man roster until the labor issues are settled.
Gabriel Arias
Alex Bregman
Michael Busch
Nico Hoerner
BJ Murray Jr.
Pedro Ramirez
Dansby Swanson
James Triantos
Arias is a non-tender candidate. Murray could be exposed to waivers. I think Murray’s promotion to the MLB team in September was a reward for his long service in the organization and I wouldn’t expect to see him back.
Incidentally, you don’t see Tyler Austin on this list. That’s because the Cubs outrighted him to Triple-A Iowa on Monday. He’ll have the option to accept that or free agency. The Cubs could sign him back to a minor-league deal at that point, but I suspect he’ll just move on.
Kevin Alcántara
Pete Crow-Armstrong
Justin Dean
Matt Shaw
The Cubs list Alcántara as a DH, which I find interesting. 2027 will be a make-or-break year for him, I believe. Either he’ll be given a real shot as a starting outfielder, or perhaps the Cubs will move on.
Dean is a useful spare part for defense and baserunning, but he does turn 30 next month. He has options remaining, which helps.
Major league relief pitchers are a lot like running backs in football. They tend to have shorter careers than players at other positions, with success arcs that resemble mountains. You never know when they will fall off the cliff and see their effectiveness disappear, fading into the abyss. That is what makes any reliever with a decade-plus of service time stand out. Paul Quantrill played 14 seasons in the show, with a little over a season of that time spent in pinstripes.
Paul John Quantrill
Born: November 3, 1968 (London, Ontario)
Yankees Tenure: 2004-05
Born in Ontario, Canada, Quantrill bounced around quite a bit during his childhood as his father was frequently relocated due to his job with General Motors. The family eventually settled in Okemos, Michigan, where Quantrill attended high school. The Dodgers drafted him in the 26th round in 1986, but he opted to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison instead.
Following three productive seasons with the Badgers, Quantrill was drafted again in 1989, this time in the sixth round by the Boston Red Sox. He agreed to sign and began his professional journey. Quantrill was not a flamethrower, instead he used a heavy sinker and excellent control to induce ground ball after ground ball. After working his way through their system, Quantrill made his major league debut with Boston on July 20, 1992. In 27 appearances, he went 2-3 with a 2.19 ERA across 49.1 innings.
Quantrill spent the 1993 season with Boston before returning to the Red Sox to begin 1994. In May, he and Billy Hatcher were traded to the Philadelphia Phillies for Mike Sullivan and Wes Chamberlain. Quantrill spent the rest of 1994 and the entire 1995 season in the City of Brotherly Love. The Phillies moved him into the rotation in 1995, and he threw a career-high 179.1 innings while making 29 starts.
Before the 1996 season, Quantrill was traded again, this time to the Toronto Blue Jays for Howard Battle and Ricardo Jordan. This kicked off the longest and most successful run of his career, as Quantrill spent six straight seasons with Toronto.
The Jays used Quantrill as a starter in 1996 but moved him to the bullpen ahead of the 1997 season. He responded with a 1.94 ERA over 88 innings, establishing himself as a reliable option out of the bullpen. Over the next several seasons, the right-hander became a staple of Toronto’s relief corps. In 2001, Quantrill made his only All-Star team and finished the season as the league leader in appearances, with his number being called 80 times.
Toronto tried to capitalize on that success and flipped Quantrill and César Izturis to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Chad Ricketts and Luke Prokopec in December 2001. Quantrill spent the 2002 and 2003 seasons in Dodger blue. The Dodgers used him 86 and 89 times, respectively, over those two seasons, leading the National League in appearances both years. After the 2003 season, Quantrill reached free agency and signed a two-year deal with the Yankees.
The Yankees extended Quantrill’s run as the appearance king to four consecutive seasons in 2004, with skipper Joe Torre calling him out of the bullpen 86 times in his first season in the Bronx. Quantrill served alongside Tom Gordon in the Quan-Go-Mo edition of the bullpen and was mostly effective, going 7-3. His ERA sat at 3.26 at the end of July—including a 2.72 ERA across a 49-game stretch from early April through mid-July—but all those appearances finally caught up with him.
The wheels started to come off over the final two months of the season. His ERA ballooned to 4.72 by the end of September, a casualty of his ghastly 11.07 ERA across the last 22 games.
Then, in his only postseason as a player, Quantrill played a role in the infamous 2004 ALCS. In Game 4, he surrendered the walk-off home run to David Ortiz and, well, let’s not relive any more of that trauma. It was clear by the time the season ended that the 35-year-old had been overworked and was running out of gas.
Coming into 2005, the Yankees didn’t know what they would be able to get from Quantrill. The veteran struggled to a 6.75 ERA in 32 innings, and in July, he was traded to San Diego for Darrell May, Tim Redding, and cash. Like Gordon and Steve Karsay before him and Scott Proctor after, Torre ran his arm ragged.
Quantrill lasted only two months with the Padres before they released him. The Marlins signed him in September to finish out the 2005 season. Quantrill pitched for Team Canada at the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006 before officially retiring. His 14-year playing career came to an end with 841 appearances, 1,255.2 innings, and a 3.83 ERA. Quantrill appeared in 80 or more games in five different Major League seasons.
Since his retirement, Quantrill has continued to coach for Team Canada. At the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classics, he got to coach his son Cal Quantrill, whom the Yankees drafted but failed to sign in 2013. Cal later became the eighth overall pick by the Padres in 2016 and has posted a perfect solid nine-year career, bouncing back from recent (relative) oblivion with a very nice 2.86 ERA in 110 innings between the Rangers’ bullpen and rotation.
In 2010, Paul Quantrill was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame — a deserving honor for the Ontario native. Happy birthday, Paul!
See more of the “Yankees Birthday of the Day” series here.
There are plenty of things in life that give people anxiety. For me, it’s being late. Or even the threat of being late. Perhaps it’s the military man in me, somebody who made the mistake of showing up late to formation during basic training and paid for it in the front-leaning rest position, beads of sweat dripping off my nose and forming a puddle beneath me on the warm pavement at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, one June morning. If you’re not early, you’re late. That’s been my mantra ever since.
Unfortunately, that familiar anxiety is beginning to build regarding the Phoenix Suns. This team is 12th in the Western Conference standings after starting 1-4, something we’ve seen before. At this point last season, the Suns were also 1-4 and were 13th. The difference then is they were only 3.0 games out of first, and due to an odd scheduling start for the Suns and the fact that they have played the fewest games in the NBA, they are 4.5 games back of the top team in the league. That team? The Rockets…
These slow starts create a significant barrier between the Suns and a proverbial train that’s already leaving the station, headed toward the postseason. That’s right, the Suns are in danger of being late for that train. Anxiety! Because with every passing day and every loss that accumulates, they find themselves falling further and further behind, making it increasingly difficult to hop on board and reach their desired postseason destination.
A season ago, we found ourselves in the same predicament, but the feeling surrounding the team was much different. A big part of that came down to expectations. Nobody really expected the Suns to be a team that could compete at a high level. The prevailing thought was to let the season play out, sell off assets around the trade deadline, and begin building toward the summer of 2026.
Following that 1-4 start, the Suns began putting things together. The sloppy basketball we’d witnessed early in the season became more organized, and the effort that was evident through those first five games finally started translating into wins. I had this to say after they lost 114-113 to the Grizzlies a season ago:
Losing still stings, but this team isn’t miles away. The execution needs tightening, and these are the aches that come with learning how to win again.
It’s tough to find moral victories in Game 5 when you’re sitting at 1–4, but I’ll say it anyway. I was entertained. Disappointed, sure. The ending wasn’t what anyone wanted. But maybe this year isn’t about wins and losses. Maybe it’s about how they respond to nights like this.
The feeling this year is different, however. Locally, expectations were higher, even if the national perception remained relatively unchanged. The roster construction was clunky, but you could at least see the vision of what this team wanted to become. Regardless, those expectations change the reality of your situation. While the effort has certainly been present, its consistency has begun to wane, and the execution remains frustratingly inconsistent.
Last season, we could talk ourselves into believing thatDillon Brooks and Jalen Green’s absence due to injury was a significant reason for the team’s struggles. And perhaps this year, we’re doing the same thing with Mark Williams. But the feeling isn’t the same. The reality of the situation is slowly sinking in, and it’s one in which hope is becoming increasingly difficult to find. This is a team that doesn’t control its own draft picks, so finding itself stuck in the middle of the standings is essentially a death sentence.
When you consider the anti-tanking rules that will be in place this year, there’s a very real possibility that the Suns could find themselves among the teams with an 8.1% chance of landing the number one overall pick. And how “Suns” would it be for Phoenix to benefit from not being completely horrendous under the league’s new draft lottery structure, only to have to hand that pick over to Houston?
Are we there yet? Are we seriously thinking about this already? (I am) When you start 1-4 and look around the standings at the other teams with only one win, seeing the Kings, Nets, Jazz, Bulls, and Bucks alongside you, it’s difficult not to get a little frazzled. Because those are the teams that were projected to be bad. It’s why we’re running to the trade machine trying to find fixes, because you have no room for a down season when there is no benefit to being bad.
I think back to a season ago and the turnaround we witnessed. What the Suns accomplished was impressive, climbing out of 13th place in the Western Conference and playing some incredibly good basketball along the way. For one fleeting night on January 22, 2026, the Suns had fought their way all the way back to the fifth seed in the Western Conference. After starting 1-4, they went 26-13 to reach that point. That is going to be incredibly hard to replicate.
Can this team reproduce any aspect of what we witnessed last year? Can they put together another impressive run that allows them to hop aboard that train headed toward the postseason?
There is hope if you look hard enough. Through their first 5 games a season ago, the Suns had a 120.5 defensive rating (28th) and -9.8 net rating (27th). This season, they are at 124.0 (30th) and -9.8 (25th). After their 1-4 start a season ago, the Suns posted a 112.3 defensive rating (8th) and a +2.1 net rating (13th). It is possible. We’ve seen it before.
Psst…I’m saying the quiet part out loud…that team can rebound the damn ball…the worst team in rebound percentage last season was the Washington Wizards at 47.1%. The Suns are currently at 45.7%…
We’ve got a long trip ahead of us, my fellow Suns fans, and we’ll spend much of that journey wondering whether this team can recapture any semblance of what it was a season ago. We’ll look for solutions in every corner, talking ourselves into the viability of overpaid players like Domantas Sabonis or Dejounte Murray as mediocre saviors. But with so many red flags surrounding the roster construction, it’s difficult to shake that familiar feeling of anxiety from being late building in the pit of your stomach.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are back home for two games this week after losing in Montreal to the Canadiens 5-4 on Saturday.
They'll play a Vegas Golden Knights team that lost 3-2 in a shootout to the Boston Bruins on Monday. This will be the second half of a back-to-back with travel for the Golden Knights, so the Penguins will have the schedule advantage.
Still, this is one heck of a Golden Knights team coming into this game with a 9-5-2 record, good for second in the Pacific Division. They punked the Penguins 6-2 earlier in the season when the Penguins lost all four games on their western road trip.
Jack Eichel has been fantastic to start the season, compiling seven goals and 20 points in 16 games. He can do it all and is outstanding at shutting down the league's best players.
Mark Stone leads the team in goals with 10 and also has 18 points in 16 games. Don't forget about Mitch Marner, too. He's one of the league's best distributors, as shown by 15 of his 17 points being assists.
They also have Tomas Hertl, Trevor Connelly, Ivan Barbashev, William Karlsson, and Brett Howden, all of whom can fill the net at any time.
Defensively, Shea Theodore carries much of the load, but Noah Hanifin and Rasmus Andersson also help when they can. Adin Hill is slated to start in goal after Carter Hart played on Monday.
The Penguins will be without star forward Evgeni Malkin on Tuesday, but his injury doesn't sound serious. He was a participant during the morning skate and could return against Boston on Thursday.
Defenseman Kaedan Korczak should be good to go after also participating in the morning skate. Like Malkin, he missed Monday's practice with an injury.
Here's a look at the expected lines and pairings:
Forwards
Novak-Crosby-Rakell
Kuzmenko-Kindel-Chinakhov
Koivunen-Lapierre-Brazeau
Dewar-Lizotte-Robertson
Defense
Stastney-Karlsson
Girard-Korczak
Carlile-Letang
Arturs Silovs will start in goal after having the night off on Saturday.
Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. ET on SportsNet Pittsburgh. You can also listen to the game on 105.9 'The X.'
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