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Minute-by-minute updates on the early kick-off in Turkey
The players are on the pitch! And while the tournament anthem rings out, the Fenerbahce midfielder Yuksek gives his mascot a fairly intense cheek massage.
The players are gathering in the tunnel, while outside rain continues to fall, and Gala’s Freed from Desire rings out.
Continue reading...McIlroy: ‘LIV turned pro golf into an arms race’
DP chief executive: ‘We pay everyone on time’
Rory McIlroy voiced his support on Wednesday for the DP World Tour chief executive’s claim that LIV Golf’s goal was to “destroy” the European golf circuit.
The six-time major winner and former world No 1 spoke with the media on Wednesday before the Abu Dhabi Championship and was asked about Guy Kinnings’ recent interview with the Scotsman.
Continue reading...In just a few more weeks, teams around the NHL will open for trade business as they find out who and what their rosters really are, and the Philadelphia Flyers, who will have to make an important decision in that regard themselves, have been busy scouting around the league.
Typically, around Thanksgiving, NHL teams tend to assess if they are playoff-caliber or not, and plan their future business accordingly.
The Flyers, who have won just four of their first 17 games this season, are obvious candidates to become sellers up to and through the NHL trade deadline in March. All signs indicate that general manager Danny Briere and Co. will remain patient with the current Flyers roster until the end of the month before making any big decisions.
In preparation of having to make a tough call on some players, the Flyers have been out and about around the NHL, taking in all kinds of different games.
Previously, we noted that Flyers president Keith Jones had traveled to watch recent games, including Devils-Senators, Rangers-Kings, and Blackhawks-Canadiens.
The latter is especially interesting, given that, on Tuesday night, the Flyers had a heavy contingent in attendance for another Montreal Canadiens game.
NHL Trade Rumors: Flyers Interested in Top Blackhawks ForwardAccording to a report, the Philadelphia Flyers are admiring Chicago Blackhawks center Frank Nazar from afar.According to The Hockey News's own Karine Hains in Montreal, Flyers assistant general manager Alyn McCauley, as well as Lehigh Valley Phantoms coaches John Snowden, Nick Schultz, Terrence Wallin, and Patrick McDonough, were all on-site to watch the Canadiens take on the Winnipeg Jets.
Now, the Phantoms crew isn't terribly unusual, given that the Phantoms will be playing against the Canadiens' AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, on Wednesday night.
In McCauley's case, though, this is the second time in recent weeks the Flyers have had an executive - McCauley and Jones - at a Canadiens game.
Despite the Canadiens' epic choke in an eventual 5-4 overtime loss to the Jets, they're still sixth in the NHL with a 9-3-3 record, and second in the Atlantic Division behind the 11-4-1 Boston Bruins.
So, if anything, that loss to the Jets reinforces the fact that the Canadiens are in prime position to be buyers on the trade market throughout the year, something the Flyers could help them with.
Flyers Strong Fit for Former 1st-Round Pick on NHL Waiver WireThe Philadelphia Flyers desperately need to take a chance on talented center Brad Lambert on the NHL waiver wire.Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj has long been linked to the Flyers in trade rumors; that seems to be the most obvious connection between the two teams.
The Flyers, in need of centers themselves, aren't in a position to offer the Canadiens an important piece behind Nick Suzuki, though Montreal would surely appreciate Philadelphia's breadth of wingers for depth purposes.
Again, we're still at least 2-3 weeks away from trade season officially getting underway around the NHL, but it's notable that, as they continue to flounder, the Flyers are obviously taking notes around the NHL, doing their due dilligence.
And the longer these struggles continue, the more likely the Flyers are to aim for a big change somewhere along the food chain.
Another night, another winnable game flushed down the toilet for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
They played a strong 5-on-5 game against one of the best teams in the league, but went 0-for-6 on the power play, failed to record a shot on goal on an extended 5-on-3 with three minutes to play in regulation, immediately took a penalty after, and then allowed Vegas to score its second power play goal of the game in the closing seconds to turn a 2-1 third period lead into a 3-2 regulation loss.
Honestly, a brutal night, and continues a start that has seen the Penguins win just two of their first 15 games in regulation (and only five games overall) and sit in 15th place (by points percentage) in the Eastern Conference and in 28th place across the NHL.
A few thoughts on all of that.
1. I said this a couple of weeks ago in a similar random thoughts post, but if you were on the train of the Penguins having a down year for draft pick positioning to get the potential future star they need, this might be your year.
We are more than a month into the season.
American Thanksgiving is just a couple of weeks away.
Teams that start off like the Penguins have do not typically make the playoffs. It is getting very late, very early in that regard.
When the season began there were a lot of variables that were going to make or break the Penguins outlook for the 2026-27 season. There was a reasonably high ceiling if a lot of things went right. There was a reasonably low floor if a lot of those things went in the opposite direction. Right now a lot of them are not going right.
2. High on that list is the play of defenseman Declan Carlile. It seems like every time something bad happens, he is at the center of it. That is especially true late in games, in high-leverage situations. The Penguins coaching staff seems to have complete trust in him, and there is not much at this point to validate that trust. I could see what the Penguins were doing with him when they signed him, and what the hope was. I had some hopes for it and thought he had a chance to be a good player. So far, it’s going poorly and I’m not sure how you keep running him out there.
3. Next on the list is Andrei Kuzmenko, and this one is becoming an especially big problem because you do have other people that can easily step in and replace him.
Look, I want the guy to do well. For a lot of reasons. But right now, no matter what spot they put him in, it’s an empty spot. They are not getting anything out of it. He has one assist and nine shots on goal in 11 games. Avery Hayes can bring some energy. Rutger McGroarty could use another look. Hell, even when Elmer Soderblom is healthy enough to play again he should be an option for something in the lineup.
4. If there is a positive development through all of this, and including Tuesday’s game, it is that the first line seems to have found some life. The past two games from them have been, by far, their two best games of the season, and Sidney Crosby has looked more like Sidney Crosby. And now that they seem to be back, everything else has fallen off. Not ideal.
5. Going back to the first point here, I have been workshopping a theory that the best path forward for a rebuild (and I will still argue with anyone in a steel cage match that this IS a rebuild, even if it is not what you thought it would look like in terms of gutting everything down to the ground) is having a random bad year with a roster that isn’t completely gutted. I still need to look into this more. I still need to research it more. But the theory is mostly based around the idea that a lot of this is just luck and good timing.
It’s not enough to just intentionally get really bad for a year or two and get a No. 1 overall pick and a few more high picks around that and wait for Stanley Cups to roll in.
You have to get the RIGHT No. 1 overall pick, and it has to be in the right situation.
This is especially true with the new lottery format and the new lottery rules where the worst record could result in you picking as low as third overall.
Or not being quite bad enough to finish with the worst record to even guarantee that. Maybe you’re only the second-or third-worst team in the league and end up picking fifth or sixth.
If you get your team down to the studs in the hopes landing that next franchise player, it has to be a true generational talent like a Crosby, an Ovechkin, or a McDavid.
Even a really good, or potentially “great” player (Connor Bedard? Rasmus Dahlin?) isn’t going to be enough to make up for how far your organization has to come back. I think that’s why you’re seeing so many of these teams that have gone into these full-scale tanking rebuilds over the past 10-15 years that have never been able to claim out of it. Or are still so far away from climbing out of it. Chicago. San Jose. Detroit. These teams still mostly stink. Look at how long it took Buffalo. It’s taken Ottawa eight years just to become a fringe wild-card team. Anaheim has great young forwards, but it’s not close to a contender.
The closest player any of those teams have to a Crosby/Ovechkin/McDavid level player is Macklin Celebrini, and while he is GREAT, he is still a tier below those guys.
The key, I think, is having one of those bad years that isn’t necessarily an “intentional” tank, getting yourself a top pick, and having that pick come into an environment where there are still NHL-caliber players around and there isn’t as much building to be done.
That’s kind of what happened with Colorado and when it landed Nathan MacKinnon.
That’s kind of what happened with Carolina when it ended up with Andrei Svechnikov.
That’s kind of what happened with Tampa Bay and Steven Stamkos.
Even though those teams ended up with really high picks and franchise players, they were not situations where it was a full-scale tear down. They were not coming into situations where it was going to take a decade to build it back up around them. Those teams still had really good NHL players on them, and were reasonably competitive teams within the previous two or three years.
That’s kind of why I am intrigued by the Islanders with Matthew Schaefer and Toronto with Gavin McKenna. They got their superstars, but they didn’t intentionally light their entire organization on fire to do it. It just kind of happened naturally, and there are still good players around them. They might not be contenders right now, but I want to see how the next few years go for them as opposed to, say, Chicago.
I know Penguins fans like to point to how the Penguins landed Mario Lemieux and Crosby, but those are NHL environments that no longer exist, and circumstances that can never be duplicated. The Crosby situation was an insane sequence of events that had a different lottery format than now, and required a completely lost season from the league to give them the lottery odds they needed … and it all happened around the best prospect since Lemieux entering the league. It was a perfect storm you will never, ever duplicate. You can not. You will not.
Lemieux happened before the draft lottery (and even then it took six years to pay off on a team level).
You are never repeating that again.
Teams that try to repeat aren’t succeeding.
Maybe this Penguins team is bad. Maybe it gets a lottery puck. If it does, they are still going to have competent NHL players on the roster around it and a nearly clean salary cap slate in the coming seasons.
Maybe this team being organically bad is the best thing that could possibly happen.
In what was the longest teaser campaign in NHL history including multiple leaks and even an unfortunate one suggesting the Altitude TV logo was getting repurposed, the official Hometown Remix sweater for the Colorado Avalanche is now revealed!
The “fully frosted” concept has been realized with icy blue hue throughout the sweater including a color gradient on the numbers. Aside from those details, this is pretty much the last reverse retro in a new color scheme or a remake of Colorado’s first stadium series look.
After all this hype, the club is only scheduled to wear the threads on six occasions beginning with the upcoming game against Detroit on Saturday, November 7th. Perhaps the Red Wings will bring their Hometown Remix sweater with them on the road, too?
As we turn the calendar into November, here’s one last glimpse at the Halloween festivities including newcomers Fedor Svechkov and Zach L’Heureux enjoying a haunted house on Peak Access along with the usual highlights of games in October.
The good news for the Detroit Red Wings is that they displayed resolve and resilience against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday evening.
The bad news is that their first half of the contest was extremely sluggish, which ultimately cost them a chance at points in the standings.
The Lightning badly outshot the Red Wings in the opening 20 minutes of play, getting a pair of goals from forward Brayden Point en route to what was a 4-2 win at Benchmark International Arena.
Making matters even more complicated for the Red Wings is that goaltender John Gibson departed after the first period with an injury and did not return; Daniil Tarasov took over.
Against a team like the Lightning, essentially taking an entire period off isn't going to cut it.
"Today, I think probably only about 30 minutes of hockey that was good enough to get points, and that’s too good of a team to spot them a first period like we did tonight," said forward J.T. Compher, who scored early in the third period. "We didn’t execute well enough. We weren’t quick enough. We weren’t battling hard enough. And you’re going to have stretches of that, but it can’t be periods - maybe a couple of shifts in a row and then snap back into it.
We spotted them a period, and we weren't able to battle all the way back."
The Red Wings began flipping the script at the midway point of the second period when Lucas Raymond tallied his sixth goal of the season. They had multiple chances in the third period to knot the score after Compher cut the lead to one goal at the 5:29 mark, but couldn't come up with the equalizer.
"I think early in the game, we weren't skating hard enough to draw penalties, and in the third, our details and work ethic were much better and gave us some chances," Compher said. "But we weren't able to capitalize."
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Meanwhile, head coach Todd McLellan pulled no punches about how his team played during the game's first half.
Red Wings Goaltender John Gibson Exits Lightning Tilt With Lower-Body Injury Detroit Red Wings goaltender John Gibson departed Tuesday's contest against the Tampa Bay Lightning with a lower-body injury. “Obviously, we were the second-best team. We would’ve been the third-best team if there was three playing, but not a lot of jump or pop right off the bat, we took some penalties, so their best players began to feel really good about the game.
We defended with basically one player at a time, the other four were basically standing still, and they're (Lightning players) in constant motion," he said. "Real tough start for us, but on the bright side, it didn’t look good, but we found a way to claw back in there.”
The Red Wings return home to face the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday evening.
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As the Detroit Red Wings and interim general manager Shawn Horcoff continue to work through the Dylan Larkin trade situation, more reports have shown a lack of motivation among some teams on Larkin's ten-team trade list to go out and acquire the two-way center.
On Monday, TSN's Chris Johnston said on his podcast, The Chris Johnston Show, that some of the teams on the list are "not desperate to get something done." He singled out the Washington Capitals, Tampa Bay Lightning, New Jersey Devils and Utah Mammoth as teams sharing that feeling, saying they are cautiously waiting to see what Larkin would cost.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman said this past Saturday on Rogers Saturday Night Hockey, during his Saturday Headlines segment, that teams showing little interest may be removed from the list in favor of other interested parties.
According to Friedman and a collection of other reports, those teams include the Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers and Vegas Golden Knights. That could open the door for reportedly interested teams like the Buffalo Sabres, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens and St. Louis Blues to get their offers in front of Larkin.
Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features.
As of Wednesday, however, reports haven't indicated that any change has been made to his list. Other reports from Friedman suggest the new price tag for Larkin is young centers, whether in the NHL or on the verge.
More reports have backed up the lack of action among the teams already on Larkin's list. Insider Pierre LeBrun, appearing on TSN's Insider Trading on Tuesday, said the Red Wings have "exhausted every option" with the teams on the list, and that a change to the list would be welcomed by Detroit, since it would let the team explore better options and better return packages.
Two offers are currently reported to be on the table. According to LeBrun, the Capitals have offered young winger Ilya Protas, a former 2024 third-round pick who is not a center.
The Minnesota Wild's offer has long been rumored to center on young forward and former first-round pick Danila Yurov, along with multiple first-round picks, according to Friedman.
With a change to Larkin's list potentially coming soon, those two clubs may be motivated to improve their offers before another team comes along and lands the 30-year-old Michigan native.
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Alright, now I get to write the fun version of Monday’s article. Let’s reflect on some of the best games of a magical season.
#5: August 18, 2026 — Brewers 22, Mariners 0
The other four entries on this list are all playoff games, which is to be expected in a season that ended with the first World Series championship in franchise history. Still, this blowout earns its spot because it matched the modern-era MLB record (since 1901) for the largest margin of victory in a shutout. The only other 22-0 wins were by Pittsburgh (against the Cubs on Sept. 16, 1975) and Cleveland (against the Yankees on Aug. 31, 2004).
A three-run homer from Christian Yelich made it 6-0 in the fifth, but the Brewers were far from done. In the sixth, David Hamilton hit a three-run shot of his own to make it 9-0, and Jake Bauers followed with a homer to make it 11-0. Milwaukee added two runs in the seventh, then nine more in the eighth off Mariners’ infielder Leo Rivas, for a final score of 22-0. The highlight of the game was probably Luis Lara hitting the first home run of his career off Rivas, then looking mildly disappointed as he rounded the bases.
#4: October 26, 2026 (WS Game 3) — Brewers 10, Rays 1
After two straight one-run victories, this game was expected to be a dogfight. Up 2-0, Milwaukee was in good shape, but the series was far from over.
Ultimately, the Brewers wouldn’t let Tampa Bay claw its way back into the series. With Milwaukee up 2-0 and two outs in the fifth, William Contreras grounded a ball to Rays third baseman Junior Caminero, who threw to second for the force out on Yelich. It initially looked like starter Freddy Peralta and the Rays had escaped the inning, but Brewers manager Pat Murphy successfully challenged the call, loading the bases and forcing Peralta out of the game.
Milwaukee then hung eight straight runs on relievers Cam Booser and Cole Sulser, all with two outs, and never looked back en route to a 10-1 win and a commanding 3-0 series lead.
#3: October 14, 2026 (NLCS Game 3) — Brewers 6, Dodgers 2
After being swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS the year before, the Brewers expected a tough series. In many ways, it was, but Milwaukee eked out come-from-behind wins in the first two games and took a 2-0 lead to Dodger Stadium.
Milwaukee once again fell behind early, entering the seventh inning down 2-1. Aside from a leadoff home run by Jackson Chourio, the offense couldn’t get much going against Dodgers starter Blake Snell, who came back out for the seventh. Andrew Vaughn started the inning with a walk, Yelich pinch-ran for him, then Bauers battled through an incredible 11-pitch at-bat that ended with a deep drive over the right-field fence for a go-ahead home run. The next batter, Garrett Mitchell, homered too, and Milwaukee was on its way to a 6-2 win and a 3-0 series lead.
#2: October 4, 2026 (NLDS Game 2) — Brewers 4, Padres 3
Milwaukee won the first game of the series, but San Diego carried a one-run lead into the ninth inning of Game 2. With flamethrowing closer Mason Miller in for a six-out save, things looked dire for Milwaukee, but with one out in the ninth, Miller lost the zone. Christian Yelich and Sal Frelick both walked to put runners on first and second. Murphy went to his bench for Andrew Vaughn, who flew out to center, then Gary Sánchez, who worked a third walk to load the bases for Jackson Chourio. Chourio capped an incredible at-bat with a two-run single up the middle for a walk-off win, sending the series to San Diego with the Brewers up 2-0.
#1: October 28, 2026 (WS Game 5) — Brewers 4, Rays 1
I can’t pick any other game. On its own, this game wasn’t quite as exciting as a couple of the others on this list, but it ended with Milwaukee winning the first World Series championship in franchise history.
Despite not racking up the strikeouts like he usually does, ace Jacob Misiorowski put together his best outing of the playoffs, throwing 5 2/3 scoreless innings before calf cramps cut his night short. Meanwhile, the Brewers scored a run in the second (a Cooper Pratt RBI single), a run in the fifth (a David Hamilton RBI single), and two in the sixth on a William Contreras double and a Pratt sacrifice fly. That was all the run support Misiorowski and the bullpen would need.
Although the Rays managed a run in the ninth, Trevor Megill recorded the final out, setting off a celebration 57 years in the making, and Contreras was named World Series MVP.
Honorable Mentions:
September 11, 2026: Milwaukee clinched a postseason berth with a 20-0 rout of the Reds.
October 7, 2026 (NLDS Game 4): Garrett Mitchell robbed Manny Machado of a potential game-tying home run in the eighth as the Brewers moved on to face the Dodgers in the NLCS.
October 15, 2026 (NLCS Game 4): The Brewers came back from a 4-0 deficit to win 6-4, becoming the first team ever to sweep an opponent that had swept them the previous postseason, and the first to sweep a best-of-seven postseason series while trailing in every game. Jake Bauers was named NLCS MVP.
So, what do you think? Were there any games I missed? Let me know in the comments.
Happy Wednesday A’s fans!
It’s been six days since the end of the World Series. You know what that means. Free agency is officially open!
Players and their agents can begin negotiating with teams, deciding whether to stay with their current clubs or embark on a new adventure with a different franchise.
Next week’s MLB General Manager Meetings in Las Vegas will set the stage for what’s to come. All 30 teams will conduct preliminary trade talks and initiate discussions with free agent representatives as they look to improve their roster for next season. This meetings will provide the first opportunity for the Athletics’ new president of baseball operations, Taylor Smith, to network with his counterparts as he looks to mold the Green and Gold into a perennial American League contender.
While Smith will aim to improve the A’s league-worst pitching staff through offseason additions, the team’s owner, John Fisher, will have other responsibilities this winter. He is among a group of owners pushing for a salary cap and floor system, something the MLB Players Association adamantly opposes.
If no deal is reached before the current labor agreement expires Dec. 1, the owners will lockout the players until both parties reach a compromise on a new collective bargaining agreement. Given how divided the two sides currently are over the league’s economic structure, a worst case scenario would involve the lockout delaying the start of the 2027 season or cancelling it entirely.
Knowing how brutal the 1994-1995 strike was for the players and the sport’s popularity, another extended work stoppage could be the nail in the coffin, potentially ruining all the good vibes generated by the Milwaukee Brewers proving that small-market teams can win championships. Additionally, it would be a shame if a lockout deprived A’s fans of the opportunity to watch the historic franchise play its final season in California before moving to Las Vegas in 2028.
The rebuilding Athletics need to be smart in navigating this offseason’s free-agent and trade markets. Which players are the best fits for the team? Also, how long do you think a potential lockout will last?
This is a cool simulator tool. Check it out and post your final roster in the comments.
What do you think about MLB’s new labor proposals to the MLBPA? If approved, they could be beneficial for the Athletics, as they would require owner John Fisher to invest more resources into the team, potentially increasing the likelihood that the Green and Gold will be annual contenders in the American League.
Not so fast!
Of all the available free-agent pitchers, whom should the Athletics pursue most aggressively to strengthen their rotation?
Bobby Witt Jr. is the best defensive shortstop in baseball. Last year’s Platinum Glove Award winner, Witt has the speed, arm strength, and refined technique to make the unthinkable plays and send everyone’s jaws dropping to the floor. Everyone expected Witt to pick up another Gold Glove this year, and maybe a second consecutive Platinum Glove. He’s that good.
But Witt did not win. This year, the winner of the American League Gold Glove Award at shortstop was Tampa Bay Rays defensive whiz Taylor Walls. Now, Walls is a good defender; otherwise, he probably wouldn’t have a big league job because he doesn’t hit at all. Fortunately for Walls, you shouldn’t have to be able to hit to win a Gold Glove. It’s not the 90s anymore.
Unfortunately for Witt, Walls winning wasn’t a case of the better player winning. Witt was robbed.
Defense is famously one of the more difficult things to measure in baseball. Still, the industry has gotten better at it, and there are two widely-respected publicly available metrics that attempt to measure overall defensive contributions. One is Defensive Runs Saved, which is calculated by Sports Info Solutions. The other is Fielding Run Value, which is a Statcast-based statistic calculated by league itself. Both stats are presented as runs saved above or below average.
Sometimes, the two metrics grade players very differently because, again, measuring defense is hard. That’s true for Walls, who is a DRS darling but not seen particularly well by FRV. Which should you value, though? I think players should get credit if a stat thinks they are doing well. And so if you’ve read some of my writing about defensive stats, you know that I like to use a little house stat of mine; I call it AVGDEF. This simply averages DRS and FRV. I also like to prorate it over 1,000 innings—not unlike ERA—which I call AVGDEF/1000.
Overall, there were a dozen players with at least 600 innings. And lo and behold, Witt ranks the highest at AVGDEF and AVGDEF/1000. He was also the only player who had at least +8 DRS and FRV.
| Name | Team | Inn | DRS | FRV | AVGDEF | AVGDEF/1000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bobby Witt Jr. | KCR | 1209 | 8 | 17 | 12.5 | 10.3 |
| Taylor Walls | TBR | 1036.2 | 21 | -2 | 9.5 | 9.2 |
| Andrés Giménez | TOR | 1179 | 2 | 16 | 9 | 7.6 |
| Corey Seager | TEX | 827.2 | 6 | -1 | 2.5 | 3.0 |
| Colson Montgomery | CHW | 979 | -4 | 9 | 2.5 | 2.6 |
| Brayan Rocchio | CLE | 1253.2 | -4 | 10 | 3 | 2.4 |
| Zach Neto | LAA | 1340.1 | 9 | -4 | 2.5 | 1.9 |
| Jacob Wilson | ATH | 637.1 | -6 | 8 | 1 | 1.6 |
| Kevin McGonigle | DET | 675.2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1.5 |
| Gunnar Henderson | BAL | 1311.1 | -2 | 0 | -1 | -0.8 |
| Jeremy Peña | HOU | 904.1 | -5 | -5 | -5 | -5.5 |
| J.P. Crawford | SEA | 720 | -12 | -10 | -11 | -15.3 |
Walls had a great year. But Walls didn’t play as much as Witt did at short, and it’s at least a yellow flag that FRV thought that Walls was a below average fielder. Witt is consistently great by any metric, and by these metrics he was the best, because of course he is.
But Witt’s defensive stats only go so far. Per Rawlings themselves, defensive stats only account for a quarter of the overall vote. The other 75% of the vote comes from 210 total voters—the manager and six coaches from every team. You can’t win the Gold Glove if those voters don’t think that you’re better.
So how on earth did Walls draw so much of that vote? I think part of it is simply that the Rays were great and the Royals stunk. I know that team success isn’t supposed to be a part of votes like this, but I just can’t help that it was a contributing factor in a situation like this when you have two good candidates. Royals pitching gave up so many runs and the team itself lost so many games, and when you compare that to a Rays team that won their division (and then the pennant) while allowing fewer runs than Kansas City, well, maybe some biases creep in.
In any case, a Witt win would not have changed anything about the Royals’ 2026 fortunes or 2027 fortunes. But it would have helped Royals fans to feel a little better.
Welcome to the offseason!
Tuesday marked the day that free agency is officially open after teams became 40-man roster compliant. Now, teams begin the process of wheeling and dealing because the collective bargaining agreement expires in less than a month, and a lockout is looming, freezing the market.
The hope is that the Colorado Rockies are going to be busy shaping the roster and trying to plug holes through trades and free agency. The obvious area of need is starting pitching. After a league-worst 5.59 ERA as a team last season and a 6.28 ERA in the rotation, the Rockies are clearly in need of some pitching help. Due to injuries, shifting of roles, and free agency, the Rockies really only have two presumed locks in the rotation to start the year: Mason Adams and Gabriel Hughes. Even then, those aren’t necessarily the headliners of a rotation at this point in their careers.
The job of the front office and new pitching coach Ethan Katz is to fortify the starting rotation with experience and talent, as they tried to do last offseason. While a superstar like Tarik Skubal is well out of the question, there could still be some intriguing free agents that could be helpful for the coming season.
Today, let’s take a look at a couple of arms that I find could be helpful.
With the departures of José Quintana and Kyle Freeland in free agency, the Rockies are lacking left-handed starting pitching options. So, why not take a shot at a southpaw who had a fantastic 2026 season?
After a lack of opportunity and success at the big-league level, Foster Griffin headed to Japan, where he spent three seasons with the Yomiuri Giants. While in the NPB, Griffin posted a 2.57 ERA with 318 strikeouts against 70 walks in 315.2 innings of work. That success finally landed him another MLB opportunity, and he signed with the Washington Nationals on a one-year $5.5 million contract.
Over 22 starts with the Nationals, the 31-year-old logged a 3.06 ERA with 116 strikeouts and 30 walks over 129.1 innings and was named an All-Star. The Nationals then traded him to the Cleveland Guardians for a four-player package, where he struggled a little bit more down the stretch, posting a 5.19 ERA in 43.1 innings across nine starts with 42 strikeouts against 15 walks. His ERA was a little skewed, however, because of one bad start in which he allowed eight runs in only 2.1 innings. He was effective in the postseason, where he pitched 10.1 innings and gave up four runs on 11 hits with no walks and 15 punchouts.
By the end of the season, Griffin pitched 183 innings (playoffs included) with a 3.59 ERA, a 22.6% strikeout rate, a 5.9% walk rate, a 44% ground-ball rate and 1.13 HR/9.
Those numbers are enough to make the Rockies interested, but it’s also the fact that Griffin has a deep arsenal of pitches. Statcast recorded seven different pitches used in 2026, with heavy emphasis on the use of his cutter (32.5%).
Griffin lacks a power arsenal, averaging 91-92 mph on his fastball, but he has a deep arsenal, can throw strikes and pitch to contact for groundballs, and has a league-average strikeout rate. Those traits are worth exploring if the Rockies want to help stabilize the rotation. The hard part is figuring out a contract, as sites like MLB Trade Rumors predict a three-year, $39 million deal for Griffin. If the Rockies want better pitching, they are going to have to pay for it, but is one great year worth that kind of commitment to pitch in one of the hardest venues in baseball?
The Rockies are going to likely add some experienced starters to the roster, much like they did last offseason. One name that immediately stuck out to me was 36-year-old right-hander Colin Rea.
A former 12th-round pick by the San Diego Padres in 2011, Rea was an okay backend starter across two MLB seasons in 2015-16. He then had to get Tommy John Surgery and missed the entire 2017 season and wouldn’t make a return to the big leagues until a nine-game stint with the Chicago Cubs during the 2020 season. He spent most of the 2021 season in Japan before returning to the big leagues, where he made one appearance with the Milwaukee Brewers.
He then returned to Japan for the 2022 season, where he fared much better this time around and secured a deal with the Brewers again for the 2023 season. He proved to be a decent depth piece over two seasons with the Brewers in the rotation, which led him to sign with the Chicago Cubs in 2025 and again in 2026.
Rea was originally slated to serve as a long reliever for the Cubs this season, but the role was short-lived as injuries ravaged the Cubs’ rotation. He returned to the bullpen after the Cubs made reinforcement trades later in the season, and he ended up compiling a 4.34 ERA across 137 innings, making 19 starts and 15 relief appearances.
In those 19 starts, Rea posted a 4.47 ERA in 100.2 innings with 75 strikeouts against 37 walks. He generally falls in line with other starting pitchers the Rockies have had over the years. He doesn’t strike out many batters (17.2% in 2026) but also doesn’t walk a ton (7.3% in his career) and had a 42.8% groundball rate in 2026.
Much like Griffin, he has a deep arsenal that includes seven pitches. He primarily workes off a 94 mph fastball, but compliments that with a heavy mix of sliders, sweepers, and changeups. Overall, he has shown both command and control of his arsenal. Plus, the added advantage of his swing role capabilities would give the Rockies some flexibility in game planning and how they want to attack Coors Field with the pitching staff.
Rea could be had on a deal close to Tomoyuki Sugano. A one-year deal in the $5-6 million range is well within the realm of possibility for his services, something the Rockies could easily afford. The main area of concern would be limiting how much damage is done from the abundance of contact he can tend to give up.
We’ll have plenty of time to revisit this topic with other arms, but it’s quite clear that the free agent market is quite as robust as in year’s past. There are definitely pieces worth the Rockies time, but won’t exactly tip the scales towards contention. Once again, it’s a lot of filling holes until a better path forward is established for success.
I like the idea of Griffin and Rea, but there are a lot of unknown risks with both when it comes to Coors Field like any other pitcher. Are the Rockies willing to take those risks or will they look in other, cheaper directions?
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Kaima Taira was born on November 15, 1999 in Ishigaki, a city in Okinawa. In high school, he attended Okinawa Prefectural Yaeyama Commercial and Technical High School, a public vocational high school located in Ishigaki. A catcher in elementary school and a pitcher in junior high school, Taira joined his school’s baseball team but almost quit, balking at how hard the team’s manager was pushing players during practice, but he remained, first as an outfielder and then as a pitcher. The school failed to make summer Koshien in any of the three years he attended, but scouts and evaluators began making the trip to Okinawa anyway because word was slowly getting out about a third-year senior who was setting school velocity records, hitting the mid-90s with his fastball.
When Taira entered high school, the hardest he had ever been recorded throwing was roughly 80 MPH, which is why his coach had him play in the outfield. He added a new weight training regimen to his normal workout routine that strengthened his hips and lower body during his second year of high school, and the results became noticeable as his fastball velocity began creeping up higher and higher and higher.
The right-hander graduated in 2017, and a few months later, when the 2017 NPB Draft took place, he was selected by the Saitama Seibu Lions with their 4th draft selection. He made his professional debut in 2018, appearing in 10 games for the Lions’ ni-gun minor league squad in the Eastern League and posting a 5.40 ERA in 16.2 innings, allowing 11 hits, walking 17, and striking out 21. He remained in the Eastern League when the 2019 season began, posting a 1.13 ERA in 16.0 innings over 7 appearances with 9 hits allowed, 7 walks, and 22 strikeouts, and in late July, the 19-year-old was promoted to the main club. He ended up pitching in 26 games for the Lions and posted a 3.38 ERA in 24.0 innings at Japan’s highest level, allowing 29 hits, walking 9, and striking out 23.
Coming into the 2020 season, Taira wanted to transition from pitching in relief to starting, and altered his workout regimen to focus on increasing muscle mass, giving the 5’8” right-hander the strength and endurance to compete as a starter. He was let down during spring training and was told that he would continue to be used as a reliever, so after the start of the season was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, he switched his focus from endurance to pure strength, looking to hit 99 MPH and beyond with his fastball. On July 19, he achieved that goal and became one of six Japanese players in NPB history to throw an official pitch that was recorded at 99 MPH or higher. All in all, Taira ended up appearing in 54 games and posting a 1.87 ERA in 53.0 innings, allowing 22 hits, walking 29, striking out 62, and recording 33 holds. Despite pitching 40.0 innings in 2019, the right-hander retained rookie eligibility, and at the end of the season, was voted Pacific League Rookie of the Year, receiving 144 votes to the Rakuten Golden Eagles’ Hiroto Kobukata, who received 125.
In 2021, the reigning Rookie of the Year was given a more prominent role in the Seibu bullpen, serving as set-up man for closer Tatsushi Masuda. When Masuda was in effective early in the season and eventually placed on the disabled list because of lower back problems, Taira stepped up in a big way. Game after game after game, save opportunity or not, the right-hander put up zero after zero after zero. By the end of June, he logged 38 consecutive appearances without allowing a run, tying the NPB record held by Kyuji Fujikawa. A day later, Taira surpassed Fujikawa with a 39th consecutive scoreless inning, setting a new NPB record. The right-hander would go on to be named to his first NPB All-Star Game and posted a 0.90 ERA in 60.0 innings, allowing 36 hits, walking 28, striking out 70, recording 21 holds and saving 20 games.
Taira began the 2022 season on the disabled list, infected by coronavirus, and his absence, combined with Tatsushi Masuda being fully healthy and effective, led to the veteran regaining his role as closer. Masuda would end up contracting COVID-19 over the summer, and Taira took over closing duties. Overall, the right-hander was elected to his second All-Star team and posted a 1.56 ERA in 57.2 innings, allowing 36 hits, walking 18, striking out 75, logging 34 holds, and saving 9 games. That off-season, the 22-year-old argued with Seibu management during salary negotiations that he would be best used by the team as a starting pitcher. The right-hander made his case and was used as a starting pitcher in 2023. Making 23 games, he posted a 2.40 ERA in 150.0 innings, allowing 115 hits, walking 55, and striking out 153, getting nominated to his third consecutive All-Star Game, this time as a starting pitcher.
Taira’s season began similarly in 2024, but in early May, he was placed on the disabled list with right forearm tightness. He missed roughly two months, and shortly after he returned, was used as a reliever to limit the stress put on his forearm for the remainder of the season. In 22 games, he posted a 1.66 ERA in 48.2 innings, allowing 44 hits, walking 21, striking out 43, and logging 9 holds. Over the off-season, Seibu manager Fumiya Nishiguchi informed Taira that he intended to use him as the team’s closer following the impending departure of incumbent closer, Albert Abreu, who was in contract negotiations with the Cincinnati Reds. The 25-year-old returned to the bullpen without argument, and when the season began, was almost immediately involved in history, combining with Tatsuya Imai to throw a combined no-hitter on April 18 against the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. Taira would go on to make his fourth All-Star Game and posted a 1.71 ERA in 52.2 innings in 2025, allowing 43 hits, walking 21, striking out 53, logging 8 holds, and saving a league-leading 31 games.
In 2026, the right-hander was set to participate in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, but a left calf injury forced him to give up his spot on the team. The Lions had him return to their starting rotation due to the departure of Tatsuya Imai, and the 26-year-old appeared in 23 games, posting a 1.36 ERA in 146.0 innings, allowing 95 hits, walking 45, and striking out 141. His ERA led the league, and the right-hander made history by becoming the first player in NPB history to have won Relief Pitcher of the Year (2022), led the league in saves (2025), and led the league in ERA.
The right-hander stands 5’8” and weighs 210-pounds, which would tie him with fellow countryman Yuki Matsui for being the shortest pitcher playing for a Major League Baseball club. Despite his short stature, Taira has a squat, solid frame and eclipsed 150 innings in both years that he was healthy and used exclusively as a starting pitcher.
The right-hander throws from a three-quarter arm slot with a long arm action through the back. He drops and drives off the mound with a slide step, getting an extreme amount of extension, which is partially what allows him to hit the upper-90s with his fastball. With the almost 7-feet of extension that he averages, Taira throws from a much lower release point and flatter vertical approach angle. There is a definite amount of controlled violence and effort in his mechanics, which forgo some common NPB pitching traits, such as a hitch or a wrist wrap.
Taira throws a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, cutter, slider, curveball, changeup, and splitter. In 2026, he threw his four-seam fastball 32% of the time, his slider 19.9% of the time, his cutter 17.8% of the time, his changeup 11% of the time, his splitter 9% of the time, his two-seam fastball 8.4% of the time, and his curveball 1.9% of the time. These trends more or less match his 2023 trends, when he was last a full-time starter. In 2024 and 2025, when he was a reliever, he used his four-seam fastball about 10% more and his cutter and splitter less. He has good command of all of his pitches.
The right-hander has one of the best fastballs in Japan, sitting 95-97 MPH as a starter, one of the highest average fastball velocities since 2014, when the NPB began tracking velocity data. When pitching out of the bullpen, he was able to eek out a few extra MPH and hit 99 MPH, and as a starter, he has been able to hold his velocity deep into games. The pitch does not have a particularly high spin rate, with fringe average induced vertical break, but Taira makes up for it with pure velocity, his long extension, and his flat vertical approach angle. His two-seam fastball similarly sits in the mid-90s, possessing a bit more arm-side movement at the expense of a little velocity.
Taira’s cutter is his best pitch. It averaged 91 MPH in 2026, sitting in the high-80s-to-low-90s. Working it away to right-handers and to both sides of the plate against left-handers, he pounds the zone with the pitch, challenging batters to hit it, which they generally have been unable to do with authority. The pitch has averaged an almost 50% groundball rate, and while its swinging strike rate was just pedestrian against right-handed hitters, it produced an above-average swinging strike rate against left-handed hitters.
The right-hander throws a gyro slider and a sweeping slider. The two pitches averaged 82 MPH last season, his sweeping slider sitting in the high-70s-to-low-80s and his gyro slider sitting in the mid-80s. His sweeping slider was thrown in the zone more often than his gyro slider, with the former resulting in a higher called strike percentage inside of the zone and the latter resulting in the higher swinging strike percentage outside of the zone. The two pitches combined resulted in a lot of poor contact, with a combined groundball rate around 50% and combined slugging percentage around .250.
Taira’s changeup sits in the mid-to-high-80s, averaging 87 MPH last season, and was used almost exclusively against left-handers to negate their platoon advantage. A circle changeup, the pitch the pitch induces more bad contact than it does whiffs because of its high velocity, relying more on his ability to fool batters by maintaining his arm speed and disguising the pitch as his fastball than its actual horizontal and vertical movement.
His splitter sits in the mid-80s, averaging 86 MPH last season. As a starter, he has used the splitter less in lieu of his changeup, and like his changeup, mainly uses the pitch against left-handed hitters. The pitch rarely stays in the zone, but results in a high number of swings-and-misses. When batters do make contact, it is extremely poor contact, evidenced by an 82% groundball rate and a .057 slugging percentage.
His curveball sits in the low-70s, averaging 73 MPH last season, and regularly exceeds 3,000 RPM. It features 30-35 inches of vertical break, which is on the lower end of the spectrum for a curveball, but because of its tight break and Taira’s ability to command it, it has become a very effective strike stealer. He landed it in the zone roughly 50% of the time last season, and the pitch had a 48% CSW%. Problematically, because of the lack of velocity and the fact that it was in the strike zone half the time, batters slugged .800 against it when they were able to make solid contact.
He is nicknamed “Sea Demon” due to his Okinawan heritage, his love of fishing, and the fact that the historical Taira clan is highly associated with seafaring culture and fantastically associated with onryō and funayūrei sea demons. Taira describes himself as a data-driven player, often critical of members of the Japanese media who are more likely to push narratives than actually conduct scientific and statistical analysis. He ascribes to modern-day pitch optimization philosophy, going as far as to purchase a Rapsodo baseball monitoring device in 2020 and utilize the data that he gleaned from it to help him in his quest to achieve a 99 MPH fastball. He understands how to pitch, sequencing his arsenal and pitching strategically with a plan, as opposed to just throwing pitches.
The most dangerous hitter for the Desert Dogs in the Arizona Fall League, it is no surprise that Chase Harlan was right in the middle of the action, making the most of his one hit in a 10-5 win. As the Desert Dogs led 4-1 in the seventh inning, Harlan helped put the game out of reach with a three-run bomb, his fifth home run. Harlan leads the team in several key offensive categories, including but not limited to runs (15) and RBI (17).
Besides Harlan, the only other Dodger to feature in the Desert Dogs starting lineup was Eduardo Quintero, who managed to record an RBI despite going hitless in three at-bats. Struggling heavily with the bat in the AFL, Quintero at least still leads his team in stolen bases, successful in all six tries.
Lastly, Brooks Auger was the first reliever out of the bullpen as the Desert Dogs needed five innings to complete this one after starter Briggs McKenie tossed four scoreless. Auger allowed four baserunners in just two frames, but a key out with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth prevented the Solar Sox from doing major damage against the left-hander.
After putting up 10 runs to beat the Mesa Solar Sox, the Glendale Desert Dogs return to the field against the Surprise Saguaros at 5:30 p.m. (PT).
Morning, all!
Former Ranger Mark Teixeira has been elected to the US House of Representatives in Texas’ 21st Congressional District.
I’m not seeing anything else Rangers-related out there. So let’s talk about Star Trek.
If you were a Star Trek fan in the ’90s, you probably remember the Ferengi, an alien species whose defining cultural characteristic was an overwhelming obsession with commerce and accumulating wealth. Their appearance and characterization have drawn criticism for echoing antisemitic caricatures, which probably wasn’t helped by the fact that the most notable Ferengi were all played by Jewish actors. Deep Space Nine, the series that did the most with the Ferengi, gave them considerably more depth.
The Ferengi were originally introduced in The Next Generation as recurring antagonists for the Federation. The way they were written didn’t really lend itself to that, though, so the apocalyptic cyborg zombies ended up being the bigger threat. That worked out fine, because the Ferengi eventually got an extended look in the best series, Deep Space Nine, where they reflected both humanity’s inherent greed and our ability to overcome it and accomplish great things.
Some of the series’ best episodes put a Ferengi at the center of the story. In particular, “The Siege of AR-558” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon” follow Nog, a young Ferengi serving in Starfleet, through a devastating combat injury and its aftermath. In the latter, he retreats into a holographic fantasy world to escape his PTSD.
There’s a baseball tie-in here, I promise.
Captain Sisko, being an anachronistic nerd, is a huge baseball fan. In “Take Me Out to the Holosuite,” a considerably more lighthearted episode, a Vulcan captain challenges Sisko and his crew to a game. This is wildly unfair: Vulcans are much stronger than humans, Bajorans, Trill, and Ferengi, and Sisko’s crew has almost no baseball experience. Their preferred recreational activities tend toward racquetball and banging holographic hookers in the holosuites at Quark’s bar.
Rom, a lovable Ferengi doofus, is particularly terrible at baseball, and Sisko boots him from the squad. Eventually, Sisko remembers that playing a game with your friends is supposed to be fun after Rom’s nookie-girl wife convinces Sisko he’s being a tool and gets Rom back on the team. We get a little Sandlot in space, except the Vulcans still win in a blowout because they are perfectly logical superhumans. Rom does, however, accidentally lay down a bunt that brings home the crew’s only run.
The actor who played Rom, Max Grodénchik, was actually an accomplished baseball player—and reportedly the best player in the cast. Which created a problem: he had trouble making himself look as hopeless as Rom was supposed to be.
Apparently, there are limits to acting. To achieve the necessary level of baseball incompetence, Grodénchik ended up throwing and batting left-handed.
So that’s all I’ve got today: Mark Teixeira and a possibly offensive Jewish caricature who’s laughably bad at baseball but comes up big in the clutch anyway.