Category: MLB

When it comes to constructing their 2026 bullpen, retaining Edwin Díaz should be Job 1 for the Mets. He’s the best available closer, has some of the game’s nastiest stuff, and has proven he can weather high-pressure moments and rough times in the roil of New York’s baseball cauldron.

OK, so we’ve already given away the top spot of our list of free agent relievers the Mets should target this winter. But this one is that obvious, isn’t it? 

The rest is a little more tricky, because if Díaz re-signs, the Mets must hunt skilled setup men for a bullpen with multiple vacancies. If he goes elsewhere, the Mets need a big-time closer. Our list will reflect both categories.

The Mets were 15th in bullpen ERA (3.93) last season and their relievers allowed 35 percent of inherited runners to score, tied for the fourth-highest percentage in the majors. The Mets also threw the third-most relief innings in baseball last year. 

So they have significant bullpen work to do. Here’s a list of five potential targets to get them started:

5. Flushing is Mr. Rogers' neighborhood

You may feel some lingering dissatisfaction with the Mets’ relief moves at last summer’s trade deadline. It wasn’t Tyler Rogers’ fault. He had a 2.30 ERA in 28 games for the Mets, got a ton of ground balls, per usual, and walked three and gave up one homer in 27.1 innings. He does not throw hard – his fastball averaged 83.5 miles-per-hour last season – but his sinker-slider combo is hard to pick up. His pitches come at hitters from grass level because of his submarine arm angle, giving him a unique look that would diversify any bullpen. The righty, who turns 35 in December, has proven durable with five straight seasons of at least 68 appearances, including an MLB-best 81 last season. Hello, again?  

4. We like Kyle’s style

Since Kyle Finnegan has three seasons of 20-plus saves on his Baseball Reference page, he’ll probably get market attention as a closer, especially after a sparkling second-half with Detroit following a midseason trade. But perhaps the 34-year-old righty would set up in the right circumstance and maybe that’s the Mets. Finnegan tweaked his pitch mix with the Tigers, moving his splitter up in his arsenal, and had a 1.50 ERA in 18 innings. He gave up just nine hits in that span and did not give up a run in his first 12 appearances with the Kitties. Overall, in 56 appearances between Washington and Detroit in 2025, Finnegan had a 3.47 ERA and 24 saves. 

3. Rapid Robert

If Díaz departs, Robert Suarez profiles as an easy answer to the Mets’ closer spot. With San Diego last season, he led the NL with 40 saves and has one of the game’s best fastballs, a 98.6-mph monster that held hitters to a feeble .169 average. It’s nicely complemented by a sinker with around the same heat and a changeup in the 90s. He raised his strikeout rate and lowered his walk rate last season, an enticing combo, and was an All-Star for the second straight year. He did not get a qualifying offer, so there’s no draft compensation for the Mets to fret over. If Díaz does return, it’d be fun to think about the Mets adding Suarez as a smothering setup man, but that seems unlikely given that Suarez is easily the second-best closing option on the market, even though he’ll be 35 in March. 

2. New York, New York?

Devin Williams spent last season with the Yankees and notched a career-worst, by far, 4.79 ERA. Losing the closer’s job is no way to build a strong platform for free agency. But Williams still has stuff – his “Airbender” changeup remains difficult for hitters to cope with, and he struck out 90 batters and allowed only 45 hits in 62 innings for the Yankees. ESPN reported that the Mets are in on Williams as part of their bullpen remake. He could close or possibly set up if Díaz is back.

David Stearns, the Mets’ front office boss, was with Williams in Milwaukee when the righty was becoming one of the best relievers in baseball. Whatever happens, the Mets must evaluate whether the bright lights and big city contributed to Williams’ struggles in pinstripes. After last season’s disappointment in Queens, there figures to be plenty of pressure and scrutiny for the 2026 Mets, especially back-end relievers whose bad nights tend to be loud.

1. Sweet reunion

Bring “Sugar” back. Yes, Díaz will be 32 in March and his hellacious stuff won’t last forever. Giving him a contract of four years or so might feel uncomfortable, but he also gives a club that has won exactly two World Series in its history a significant asset in its Fall Classic quest. 

Díaz had a 1.63 ERA last season and allowed 37 hits in 66.1 innings while striking out 98, plenty of evidence that he’s back to his old self after his WBC injury. Batters hit .133 against his 97.2-mph fastball and .179 against his 89-mph slider. Obviously, he’s a very uncomfortable at-bat and, in what was a combustible year for Mets relievers, Díaz provided so much security.

There figures to be big competition for Díaz from big-time contenders, which could add some urgency to the Mets’ Díaz pursuit. The Blue Jays lost Game 7 of the World Series, in part because their closer gave up a key home run. That closer, Jeff Hoffman, allowed two homers per nine innings last season. Díaz, who once had his own longball woes, allowed 0.5 HR/9. Toronto is rich, stacked, and eager to make another run. Do the Mets want to be the ones facing Díaz in big October games?

When spring training rolls around, it will be one dozen years since the Angels last appeared in a postseason game and two dozen years since they won their first and only World Series championship. If baseball were scripted, two of the Angels’ World Series heroes would take charge of the team and make it a winner again.

As it turns out, two of those champions are taking charge of a team next year. Not the Angels, though.

Troy Percival has been hired to manage the new Long Beach team in the independent Pioneer League. Percival, the closer who recorded the final out in the 2002 World Series, said his hitting coach would be Troy Glaus, the 2002 World Series most valuable player.

“I made sure that he could hit fungoes,” Percival said, “because I can’t.”

Read more:Angels send Taylor Ward to Baltimore for pitcher Grayson Rodriguez

When we talked the other day, Percival wore a T-shirt with a cartoon image of a bull, with the word “PEN’’ stenciled on it. Once a reliever, always a reliever.

The Pioneer League extends into Idaho, Montana and Utah, and Percival managed the Idaho Falls team for the past two summers. He decided that was too many years too far from his Riverside home, and from his family.

He thought he would take a year off from coaching. Then Justin Johnson, who succeeded Percival as the UC Riverside head coach, called to ask whether he might be interested in returning to his old college team to work with the pitchers. So, when the Idaho Falls season ended on a Sunday night in Oakland two months ago, Percival walked into the UCR baseball building — where he and his father built the clubhouse — at 8 a.m. the next day. Then Long Beach called about managing and, well, so much for that year off.

The UCR and Long Beach schedules would conflict only if UCR makes the playoffs — and that, as baseball people like to say, would be a good problem to have. In any case, Percival said, the Long Beach job comes first.

It’s a good job. In independent leagues, teams find their own players, rather than major league teams acquiring and assigning them. When he arrived in Idaho Falls, Percival said, he searched for talent by watching videos on YouTube.

Over the last two years, the Pioneer League has expanded into California. The Long Beach team plans to play at Blair Field and launch next spring, joined by a new Modesto team managed by another former Angel, J.T. Snow.

Percival said a core of his Idaho Falls players plan to follow him to Long Beach, and he said pitching coach Jerome Williams (another former Angel) expects to bring some players with him from the Yuba City team.

Read more:Shaikin: Torii Hunter sees Angels turning into 'a force to be reckoned with' soon

If you’re playing for very little money and the hope of performing well enough that a major league team signs you into its minor league system, why not do it in Southern California, where you just might have friends or family members to provide you with free housing?

“You’re going to see kids that are hungry, that make barely enough money to live on, and they play baseball the right way,” Percival said. “I think you’re going to get a lot of people that want to come watch kids play their butts off, knowing they’re not making millions and millions of dollars. But they all have the dream.”

Nice as this all sounds, it is curious that a four-time All-Star with college and professional coaching experience is not working for the Angels.

He said he likes the ability to run an independent league team however he wants. He said the Angels never have offered him a job. And, he said, he has declined offers from other teams — he wouldn’t say which ones — to become a major league bullpen coach.

“Running the minor league pitching sounds more intriguing to me than being a bullpen coach in the big leagues,” he said.

In 2023, the Angels invited select former players to shadow the major league team and provide feedback to management. Percival was not part of that group, but he did spend time at the fall instructional league, checking in with pitching prospects and pitching coaches — in part, he said, because he had been charged with assessing whether those coaches might be “willing to reduce the footprint of analytics.”

Percival said he appreciates technology but has heard from minor league coaches — he didn’t say which organizations employed them — that claimed they were restricted in proposing mechanical adjustments to pitchers. He acknowledges he has “kind of fought” analytics-based approaches and still raves about the veteran Angels pitching instructors — including the late, great Howie Gershberg — that turned him from a catcher into a closer.

He said he shared his opinions with the Angels, did not call for any firings, and returned home. He was stung by a subsequent story in the Athletic that noted the Angels’ dismissal of two pitching instructors and reported that Percival’s influence “played at least a factor in the Angels’ decision to oust them.”

Said Percival: “I’m the henchman? OK, I’ll wear it. But I said, that’s it, no more instructional league, none of that stuff.”

Not that he has turned in his halo. Far from it.

“I bleed Angels,” Percival said.

The Angels have baseball’s longest playoff drought and have finished in last place in back-to-back seasons. He said he thought the Angels should have traded Shohei Ohtani and maybe even Mike Trout to stockpile prospects and rebuild in earnest.

Read more:Shaikin: What might have been if the Angels had signed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. a decade ago

“It’s a faster process than this,” Percival said, “than just to keep putting Band-Aids, hoping to get to the 90[-win] mark and slip into the playoffs.”

Percival and Glaus — and Garret Anderson and Darin Erstad and Tim Salmon and John Lackey and Jarrod Washburn — represented a homegrown core that lifted the Angels from persistent mediocrity into champions. It must break Percival’s heart to see his team descend back into persistent mediocrity.

“There’s been times, yeah,” he said. “You want it to get back to where it was at.”

He’s rooting for that. In the meantime, he’s got a winner to put together, just up the road.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Wheeler's outlook as he returns from TOS — and what to expect in 2026 originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

When people look back on the 2025 Phillies, the loss of Zack Wheeler will always stand out.

On Aug. 15, the club revealed that the 35-year-old had a right upper-extremity blood clot. He was placed on the injured list two days later and underwent a successful thrombolysis removal procedure a day later. On Aug. 23, his season was declared over.

It was a gut punch. Wheeler was in the midst of one of his best years in Philadelphia — 10–5 with a 2.71 ERA, an elite 195/33 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a 0.94 WHIP across 24 starts.

The injury buildup

The first hint of trouble came on Aug. 2, when right shoulder soreness after a start versus Detroit pushed his next outing back two days.

Wheeler beat Texas on Aug. 10, but the radar gun told the story. MLB.com’s Paul Casella noted that every pitch type dipped more than one mile per hour, including a 2.5 mph drop on his sinker and a 2 mph dip on his four-seamer.

So when the IL move became official, it wasn’t shocking — but it was certainly damaging. The Phillies were 17 games over .500. They were past the trade deadline. Their plan to deploy a true six-man rotation to ease Aaron Nola was in the rearview mirror.

More updates would come too. On Sept. 23, Wheeler underwent vascular thoracic outlet syndrome surgery.

The Phillies adjusted — Cristopher Sánchez led MLB in WAR (8.0) and carried the staff down the stretch — however, Wheeler’s absence was felt throughout the club’s unsuccessful trip to the postseason.

Now, with Spring Training roughly three months away, the Phillies have several rotation questions. Can Sánchez handle ace responsibilities across a full season? Can Jesús Luzardo match the production of Ranger Suárez, who is expected to leave in free agency? Who becomes the fifth starter?

But one question sits above the rest: what version of Zack Wheeler will the Phillies get?

Recent history of ‘TOS’

TOS has become a buzzword for pitchers — and a scary one. Notable starters Matt Harvey, Josh Beckett and Stephen Strasburg all had the surgery. None returned to pre-injury form, and Strasburg never pitched again.

But not all TOS is the same. Vascular TOS — the type Wheeler had — has produced stronger outcomes than the neuronic version that derailed Strasburg’s career.

The clearest example is Merrill Kelly.

As detailed in Charlotte Varnes’ reporting for The Athletic, Kelly underwent vascular TOS after the 2020 season and returned without delays, making 27 starts in 2021 and posting a 3.66 ERA across 135 starts over the next five seasons.

Expectations and timeline

That story matters as the Phillies try to evaluate Wheeler’s outlook.

Since joining Philadelphia in 2020, Wheeler owns a 2.91 ERA. If he returns with an ERA in the 3.30–3.50 range, history says that would already qualify as a successful comeback. There’s optimism internally because the Phillies don’t need Wheeler to single-handedly carry the rotation anymore — Sánchez’s emergence has changed that dynamic.

“It helps, but I would rather have Zack Wheeler back and Cristopher Sánchez,” Dombrowski said in his end-of-season presser. “I’ve dealt with thoracic outlet [syndrome] in the past — there are differences in TOS — and I feel much more optimistic.”

As for the timeline, there have been no updates since mid-October. Per Dombrowski, “The timeline remains six to eight months to be back pitching in a major-league game — so that takes you to end of May. I don’t think it’ll affect us a great deal because we’re looking for him to come back on that timeline.”

That makes an Opening Day return unlikely. But Wheeler will be deep into his throwing progression throughout Spring Training.

It’s difficult to attach firm expectations to a pitcher turning 36 on May 30, especially coming off major surgery. But if there has been one constant during his tenure in Philadelphia, it’s that Zack Wheeler has earned the benefit of the doubt.

The Phillies don’t need Wheeler to recreate his 2021 or 2024 Cy Young runner-up seasons to get back to October. And with recent reporting indicating they won’t pursue a starter this winter, the plan is clear.

If he returns healthy — and somewhere close to his pre-injury form — they’ll have the stabilizer they were missing in their 2025 postseason run.

MLB will comply with Senate's request for gambling investigation documents, commissioner says originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Major League Baseball says it will comply with a Senate committee’s request for documents detailing gambling investigations.

Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5. The request followed indictments of Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz accusing them of taking bribes to rig pitches for bettors. Both have pleaded not guilty.

“We’re going to respond fully and cooperatively and on time to the Senate inquiry,” Manfred said Wednesday during a news conference at an owners meeting.

Two days after the indictments were unsealed on Nov. 9, MLB said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays.

“We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and prohibiting parlays off them is a really, really significant change that should reduce the incentive for anyone to be involved in an inappropriate way,” Manfred said.

He said it was too early to say whether MLB will take a stance on prediction markets, in which contracts are traded based on actual events such as game scores.

“We’re well aware of the issues, the different regulatory framework, but not in a position where I want to articulate publicly a position on it,” he said.

Manfred said MLB’s internal investigation into the Cleveland pitchers didn’t have a timetable. Ortiz was placed on paid leave on July 3 and Clase on July 28. They are not on track to accrue additional salary until opening day on March 25.

“We think that we should take advantage of the offseason to make sure that we conduct the most thorough and complete investigation possible,” Manfred said.

MLB is aiding players who have received threats related to gambling following the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized sports betting in most states.

“We have had in place for some time services that are available to players that receive threats of this kind in terms of providing support through law enforcement,” he said. “We do take it as a very serious issue and do provide support on an ongoing basis.”

Collective bargaining

Manfred avoided discussing management’s positions in collective bargaining for a labor contract to replace the deal that expires in December 2026 and whether MLB intends to push for a salary cap system.

“We have a significant segment of our fans that have been vocal about the issue of competitive balance and in general we try to pay attention to our fans, so it is a topic of conversation,” was the most he would say.

MLB is expected to lock out players on Dec. 2, 2026, in order to try to get an agreement without shortening the 2027 season.

“There has never been a lost game since I became involved as an employee of baseball and it is my goal to get this next one done keeping that record intact,” said Manfred, who joined the MLB staff in 1998. “It’s a lot of work to be done between now and then, but that’s my goal.”

All-Star break changes

The amateur draft is moving up a day to the Saturday before the All-Star Game and the Futures Game is being pushed back to Sunday and will be followed by a new event with former players and celebrities. NBC will televise the first hour of the draft and the rest of the round on Peacock and the MLB Network. NBC also will televise the Futures Game.

Return to Iowa

The Field of Dreams Game will resume on Aug. 13 with Minnesota playing Philadelphia at Dyersville, Iowa, which Netflix will stream. The Field of Dreams, site of the 1989 movie, hosted the Yankees and White Sox in 2021, and the Cubs and Reds the following year before closing for renovations. The Triple-A St. Paul Saints face the Iowa Cubs at the same site on Aug. 11.

Manfred said MLB plans to play in Iowa regularly but perhaps not annually.

Milwaukee will play Atlanta in the Little League Classic at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 23.

PitchCom

MLB signed a six-year agreement through 2031 with PitchCom, the electronic device for catchers to signal pitches the sport has used since 2022.

“It’s been important both in terms of moving the game along and deterrence of sign stealing,” Manfred said.

Rays and Tropicana Field

Tampa Bay remains on track to return to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, for its home opener against the Chicago Cubs on April 6 after a year of home games at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring training home of the New York Yankees. The Rays were forced from their ballpark by damage from Hurricane Milton.

“I think they only have two panels left, I believe, and they expect the roof to be dried out the first week in December, which is a really important milestone for us,” he said. “There’s going to be new turf and padding, new flooring throughout, renovations of the suites, the seating areas. All the air quality tests have come back fine.”

Peace prize?

MLB does not intend to follow the lead of FIFA and issue its own peace prize.

“No plans in that regard,” Manfred said.

MLB will comply with Senate's request for gambling investigation documents, commissioner says originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Major League Baseball says it will comply with a Senate committee’s request for documents detailing gambling investigations.

Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5. The request followed indictments of Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz accusing them of taking bribes to rig pitches for bettors. Both have pleaded not guilty.

“We’re going to respond fully and cooperatively and on time to the Senate inquiry,” Manfred said Wednesday during a news conference at an owners meeting.

Two days after the indictments were unsealed on Nov. 9, MLB said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays.

“We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and prohibiting parlays off them is a really, really significant change that should reduce the incentive for anyone to be involved in an inappropriate way,” Manfred said.

He said it was too early to say whether MLB will take a stance on prediction markets, in which contracts are traded based on actual events such as game scores.

“We’re well aware of the issues, the different regulatory framework, but not in a position where I want to articulate publicly a position on it,” he said.

Manfred said MLB’s internal investigation into the Cleveland pitchers didn’t have a timetable. Ortiz was placed on paid leave on July 3 and Clase on July 28. They are not on track to accrue additional salary until opening day on March 25.

“We think that we should take advantage of the offseason to make sure that we conduct the most thorough and complete investigation possible,” Manfred said.

MLB is aiding players who have received threats related to gambling following the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized sports betting in most states.

“We have had in place for some time services that are available to players that receive threats of this kind in terms of providing support through law enforcement,” he said. “We do take it as a very serious issue and do provide support on an ongoing basis.”

Collective bargaining

Manfred avoided discussing management’s positions in collective bargaining for a labor contract to replace the deal that expires in December 2026 and whether MLB intends to push for a salary cap system.

“We have a significant segment of our fans that have been vocal about the issue of competitive balance and in general we try to pay attention to our fans, so it is a topic of conversation,” was the most he would say.

MLB is expected to lock out players on Dec. 2, 2026, in order to try to get an agreement without shortening the 2027 season.

“There has never been a lost game since I became involved as an employee of baseball and it is my goal to get this next one done keeping that record intact,” said Manfred, who joined the MLB staff in 1998. “It’s a lot of work to be done between now and then, but that’s my goal.”

All-Star break changes

The amateur draft is moving up a day to the Saturday before the All-Star Game and the Futures Game is being pushed back to Sunday and will be followed by a new event with former players and celebrities. NBC will televise the first hour of the draft and the rest of the round on Peacock and the MLB Network. NBC also will televise the Futures Game.

Return to Iowa

The Field of Dreams Game will resume on Aug. 13 with Minnesota playing Philadelphia at Dyersville, Iowa, which Netflix will stream. The Field of Dreams, site of the 1989 movie, hosted the Yankees and White Sox in 2021, and the Cubs and Reds the following year before closing for renovations. The Triple-A St. Paul Saints face the Iowa Cubs at the same site on Aug. 11.

Manfred said MLB plans to play in Iowa regularly but perhaps not annually.

Milwaukee will play Atlanta in the Little League Classic at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 23.

PitchCom

MLB signed a six-year agreement through 2031 with PitchCom, the electronic device for catchers to signal pitches the sport has used since 2022.

“It’s been important both in terms of moving the game along and deterrence of sign stealing,” Manfred said.

Rays and Tropicana Field

Tampa Bay remains on track to return to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, for its home opener against the Chicago Cubs on April 6 after a year of home games at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring training home of the New York Yankees. The Rays were forced from their ballpark by damage from Hurricane Milton.

“I think they only have two panels left, I believe, and they expect the roof to be dried out the first week in December, which is a really important milestone for us,” he said. “There’s going to be new turf and padding, new flooring throughout, renovations of the suites, the seating areas. All the air quality tests have come back fine.”

Peace prize?

MLB does not intend to follow the lead of FIFA and issue its own peace prize.

“No plans in that regard,” Manfred said.

The Mets are looking to overhaul their starting rotation, and Kodai Senga could be on the trade block.

Senga's name, along with Brandon Nimmo's, was thrown out there as a potential trade piece for the Mets earlier this week, but the interest in the right-hander was brought up on Wednesday's episode of Mets Hot Stove, where SNY's Andy Martino spoke on the subject.

"It's definitely true that he's being discussed in trade talks," Martino said. "There's interest in Kodai Senga around the league right now because of his upside and because of what we've seen when he's at his best...there's certainly a rational line of thinking that would point to a change of scenery after the last two years being the best for player and team. It is not a definite he's going to be traded, but there's going to be so many moving parts coming into the Mets' rotation, they hope and they plan, that Kodai Senga leaving could be a part of the overall overhaul, and I don't think there's going to be a problem finding a trade."

"It's definitely true he's being discussed in trade talks. There's interest in Kodai Senga around the league right now because of his upside"

On Mets Hot Stove, @martinonyc reports that Kodai Senga could be a trade candidate as the Mets look to re-work their starting rotation pic.twitter.com/9loGkef6oW

— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) November 20, 2025

Senga signed with the Mets in 2023 and pitched to a 2.98 ERA and a 12-7 record, en route to being the NL Rookie of the Year and seventh in Cy Young voting. However, the last two seasons were marred by injuries and poor performance.

In 2024, Senga made just one start due to various injuries but bounced back in the first half of 2025, pitching great through June, but injuries set him back and when he rejoined the team, his performance suffered. Despite that, he still posted a 3.02 ERA in 22 starts this past season, but with an influx of young arms and potential adds this offseason, Senga could be the odd man out.

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns spoke about Senga's role on the 2026 team at the GM Meetings earlier this month and said at the moment the right-hander is a part of the rotation, and that he still believed Senga has the talent to bounce back.

"I think right now we view Senga as part of our rotation," Stearns said. "He's proven at the major league level that he can have really good years. Clearly, the last two years, at times, have been struggles for him. "The talent is there, the desire is certainly there to have a bounce-back year. We're going to give him every opportunity to do that."

Currently, Senga is a part of a Mets rotation that includes David Peterson, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and Nolan McLean. Brandon Sproat and Jonah Tong are two young pitchers who made their MLB debuts at the end of the season and are highly regarded. But if Stearns is going to bring in a starter from outside the organization, whether via free agency or trade, other moves will need to be made to make room.

MLB will comply with Senate's request for gambling investigation documents, commissioner says originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Major League Baseball says it will comply with a Senate committee’s request for documents detailing gambling investigations.

Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee sent a letter Monday to baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred asking for information by Dec. 5. The request followed indictments of Cleveland pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz accusing them of taking bribes to rig pitches for bettors. Both have pleaded not guilty.

“We’re going to respond fully and cooperatively and on time to the Senate inquiry,” Manfred said Wednesday during a news conference at an owners meeting.

Two days after the indictments were unsealed on Nov. 9, MLB said its authorized gaming operators will cap bets on individual pitches at $200 and exclude them from parlays.

“We think the steps we’ve taken in terms of limiting the size of these prop bets and prohibiting parlays off them is a really, really significant change that should reduce the incentive for anyone to be involved in an inappropriate way,” Manfred said.

He said it was too early to say whether MLB will take a stance on prediction markets, in which contracts are traded based on actual events such as game scores.

“We’re well aware of the issues, the different regulatory framework, but not in a position where I want to articulate publicly a position on it,” he said.

Manfred said MLB’s internal investigation into the Cleveland pitchers didn’t have a timetable. Ortiz was placed on paid leave on July 3 and Clase on July 28. They are not on track to accrue additional salary until opening day on March 25.

“We think that we should take advantage of the offseason to make sure that we conduct the most thorough and complete investigation possible,” Manfred said.

MLB is aiding players who have received threats related to gambling following the 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized sports betting in most states.

“We have had in place for some time services that are available to players that receive threats of this kind in terms of providing support through law enforcement,” he said. “We do take it as a very serious issue and do provide support on an ongoing basis.”

Collective bargaining

Manfred avoided discussing management’s positions in collective bargaining for a labor contract to replace the deal that expires in December 2026 and whether MLB intends to push for a salary cap system.

“We have a significant segment of our fans that have been vocal about the issue of competitive balance and in general we try to pay attention to our fans, so it is a topic of conversation,” was the most he would say.

MLB is expected to lock out players on Dec. 2, 2026, in order to try to get an agreement without shortening the 2027 season.

“There has never been a lost game since I became involved as an employee of baseball and it is my goal to get this next one done keeping that record intact,” said Manfred, who joined the MLB staff in 1998. “It’s a lot of work to be done between now and then, but that’s my goal.”

All-Star break changes

The amateur draft is moving up a day to the Saturday before the All-Star Game and the Futures Game is being pushed back to Sunday and will be followed by a new event with former players and celebrities. NBC will televise the first hour of the draft and the rest of the round on Peacock and the MLB Network. NBC also will televise the Futures Game.

Return to Iowa

The Field of Dreams Game will resume on Aug. 13 with Minnesota playing Philadelphia at Dyersville, Iowa, which Netflix will stream. The Field of Dreams, site of the 1989 movie, hosted the Yankees and White Sox in 2021, and the Cubs and Reds the following year before closing for renovations. The Triple-A St. Paul Saints face the Iowa Cubs at the same site on Aug. 11.

Manfred said MLB plans to play in Iowa regularly but perhaps not annually.

Milwaukee will play Atlanta in the Little League Classic at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 23.

PitchCom

MLB signed a six-year agreement through 2031 with PitchCom, the electronic device for catchers to signal pitches the sport has used since 2022.

“It’s been important both in terms of moving the game along and deterrence of sign stealing,” Manfred said.

Rays and Tropicana Field

Tampa Bay remains on track to return to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, for its home opener against the Chicago Cubs on April 6 after a year of home games at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring training home of the New York Yankees. The Rays were forced from their ballpark by damage from Hurricane Milton.

“I think they only have two panels left, I believe, and they expect the roof to be dried out the first week in December, which is a really important milestone for us,” he said. “There’s going to be new turf and padding, new flooring throughout, renovations of the suites, the seating areas. All the air quality tests have come back fine.”

Peace prize?

MLB does not intend to follow the lead of FIFA and issue its own peace prize.

“No plans in that regard,” Manfred said.

As MLB free agency begins in earnest with the qualifying offer deadline behind us, right-hander Dylan Cease hits the open market with one of the more vexing résumés of any front-end arm in recent memory. With a track record featuring tantalizing highs and confounding lows over a sizable sample size of innings that has grown uninterrupted over the past half-decade, Cease inspires a wide range of opinions across the industry, setting the stage for an especially fascinating trip to free agency. 

Cease, who turns 30 just before the new year, is a Rorschach test of sorts for clubs seeking high-end starting pitching. Some will see a nearly unrivaled strikeout artist with impressive durability, one who comfortably warrants a nine-figure contract commensurate with those awarded to some of the other best starting pitchers in baseball. Others will see Cease as volatile and unworthy of a significant long-term commitment, a pitcher who has too often struggled to perform his most basic duty of preventing runs.

There is merit to both sides of the Cease outlook. Let’s start with the positives. And who better to sell the skills of the right-hander than his agent, Scott Boras, who spoke on Cease at the GM Meetings earlier this month during his latest round of puns and wordplay:

“You go and look at pitchers that can give you 30+ starts five years in a row, and other than Dylan they cease to exist,” Boras said. Pun aside, Boras immediately hit on one of Cease’s standout traits, one that makes him quite unique in an era when so many prominent starters have missed significant time due to arm injuries, lessening the frequency with which they are amassing a full season’s workload. Cease too has an elbow surgery on his ledger, but it came during his senior year of high school in 2014, an untimely development that impacted his draft stock, though not enough to sway the Cubs from drafting him in the sixth round and giving him a $1.5 million bonus to sign. 

[Get more Padres news: San Diego team feed]

Since Cease returned from that injury as a teenager and began his pro career, he has been remarkably durable. Dealt to the White Sox at the 2017 trade deadline in the package for Jose Quintana, Cease ascended the minor-league ranks without much trouble and hasn’t been on the injured list once for an arm injury as a major leaguer since debuting in 2019. And while Boras’ pun-based compliment may have been a minor exaggeration, he wasn’t off by much: Cease is one of just four pitchers who have made at least 30 starts in each of the past five seasons, alongside José Berríos, Kevin Gausman and Patrick Corbin.

This degree of durability is staggering in this era. While the industry is still in constant search for more clarity regarding how to prevent and/or forecast pitcher injuries, one common saying in baseball is that the best predictor of future injury is past injury. And though Cease’s Tommy John surgery in high school could still be held against him in this case, his decade-plus of taking the mound without any issues since his amateur days carries more weight, and is why his workload is largely viewed as a positive aspect of his free-agent profile. 

That said, no pitcher is fully immune to the physical perils of their profession. And while it’s much easier and perhaps logical to point at oft-injured arms as more risky investments than those who haven’t spent much or any time on the IL, it’s not hard to identify recent examples of pitchers with similarly lengthy track records of health as Cease ultimately needing to go under the knife anyway: take Gerrit Cole last year, or Corbin Burnes earlier this season — unfortunately shortly after signing a mega-deal in free agency with Arizona. 

With all that in mind, predicting whether Cease’s durability will sustain over the duration of his next contract is likely a fool’s errand. Of course, even more important to Cease’s free-agent case than how much he’s pitched is how he’s pitched. Taking the ball roughly every fifth day for the past five years is valuable, but we wouldn’t be talking about Cease at the top of the market if his proclivity to munch innings was his headlining skill.

So, let’s get back to Boras:

“And also his strikeouts — he’s a 200-strikeout guy, a very rare guy on the market. And unlike the other famous Dylan, this one is exclusively electric.”

We’ll move past the musical reference and stay focused on the point that Boras is trying to make, which is to highlight Cease’s other most obvious strength alongside his durability: his knack for racking up whiffs with a high-velocity, high-spin arsenal that is viscerally present every time he takes the mound. Cease’s 29.8% strikeout rate in 2025 ranked third among qualified starters behind only Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet. He is the only pitcher in baseball to strike out at least 200 batters in each of the past five seasons. In fact, only six other pitchers have struck out 200+ batters three out of the past five seasons — Cole, Burnes, Gausman, Freddy Peralta, Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler — stellar company that helps highlight why Cease is discussed in such high regard.

Incredibly, Cease’s punchouts have largely been the product of just two pitches: a four-seam fastball averaging 97 mph and a slider ranging from 87-89 mph. These two offerings have accounted for roughly three-quarters of Cease’s total pitches over the past five seasons, with an 82 mph knuckle-curve appearing about 10% of the time and a new sinker making some cameos in 2025 and a rare change-up surfacing here and there. There has long been speculation about what Cease could become if he diversifies his pitch mix, though it’s also difficult to argue with the effectiveness of his two go-to weapons. That said, how he evolves as he ages — especially if his current velocity begins to decline — is something interested teams are sure to be contemplating when weighing a pursuit of Cease in free agency. 

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect / REUTERS

Dylan Cease’s top weakness: Giving up runs 

So, Cease has provided a steady supply of innings with an abundance of strikeouts to boot. What’s not to love? While swing-and-miss may be sexy and is very much in vogue in the modern game, it is not the primary objective for starting pitchers. Teams win by scoring more runs than their opponent, and Cease’s track record of consistently stopping opponents from scoring is shockingly shoddy for a pitcher with his peripheral skills. This is where Cease’s case as an elite rotation option becomes cloudy — and how if he secures a major payday, he will stand out as a historical outlier.

The general consensus among those projecting free-agent contracts this winter is that Cease should easily land a lucrative long-term deal. A sampling of such forecasts:

MLB Trade Rumors: 7 years, $189M ($27M AAV)
Tim Britton, The Athletic: 6 years, $174M ($29M AAV)
Ben Clemens, FanGraphs: 5 years, $155M ($31M AAV)
Kiley McDaniel, ESPN: 5 years, $145M ($29M AAV)

From Kevin Brown’s historic $105 million pact with the Dodgers in December of 1998 to Burnes’ $210 million deal with the D-backs 26 years later, 29 starting pitchers have signed free-agent contracts with a total value in excess of $100 million. If Cease joins this select cohort in the coming months as expected, he will do so with the highest ERA in his platform season (4.55) before becoming a free agent. The previous high watermark before securing a nine-figure free-agent contract belonged to Aaron Nola, who posted a 4.46 ERA in 2023 before re-upping with the Phillies on a seven-year, $172 million contract. Otherwise, no other free-agent pitcher in the $100 million sample had posted an ERA even above 4.00 before hitting the open market. Only lefties Mike Hampton (1.346) and Barry Zito (1.403) posted higher WHIPs in their platform year than what Cease (1.327) just did. 

Cease’s 4.55 ERA in 2025 ranked 43rd out of 52 qualified pitchers, marking the second time in the past three years that he ranked in the bottom-10 on the ERA leaderboard, having ranked 38th of 44 qualified arms in 2023 with a 4.58 ERA in 177 innings in his final season with the White Sox. Still, with Cease’s stupendous 2022 campaign in which his 2.20 ERA ranked third and he finished second in AL Cy Young voting hardly a distant memory, his disappointing 2023 performance wasn’t nearly enough to dissuade San Diego from spending considerable prospect capital to acquire him from Chicago. The Padres were promptly rewarded with a much-improved showing in 2024, as Cease returned to Cy Young ballots, lowering his ERA to 3.47 and ranking third in the NL in fWAR. 

But Cease regressed again in 2025, turning in a quality start in just eight of his 32 outings, and allowing at least four runs more times (10) than he allowed one or fewer (9). The strikeouts were still there, of course, providing some strong peripherals that he (and Boras) could certainly still lean on positive indicators moving forward. At the same time, selling a pitcher who just posted an ERA closer to 5.00 than 3.00 is a much different assignment for Boras than extolling the ace-like talents of other recent clients like Burnes, Blake Snell, Carlos Rodón, Cole or Stephen Strasburg.

Overall, Cease’s ability to cash in despite an outlier poor performance relative to his historical parallels as a top-tier free-agent starting pitcher will be an intriguing litmus test for how teams value past performance vs. future projection. Cease has provided his potential suitors with an ample amount of evidence in both directions, bearish and bullish, with underlying skills still worth dreaming on but a sizable sample of innings that convey an arm that is far less reliable than most top-dollar starting pitchers. 

And if anything, the real lesson in reviewing the most lucrative free-agent starting pitcher contracts ever is the vast range of outcomes for these arms once signed. Some of these deals have fundamentally changed franchises for the better, while others have devolved into embarrassing and arduous long-term commitments, either due to performance or to injury. Where Cease’s tenure with his new team will fall on this spectrum of starting pitcher — considering how up-and-down his career has been — is anybody’s guess. 

After walking away from its TV rights deal with Major League Baseball earlier this year, ESPN has a new package that will provide additional games for its streaming customers.

The deal announced Wednesday by the league will also return baseball to NBC and bring three MLB events — an opening night game, the Home Run Derby and the Field of Dreams game — to Netflix for the first time.

As part of the deal, ESPN will integrate the league's streaming platform MLB.TV into its recently launched direct-to-consumer service that provides the sports channels to consumers with or without a cable subscription.

MLB.TV provides local telecasts of out-of-market games to consumers. In the 2026 season, new customers will now be able to purchase the service as part of an ESPN subscription. Pricing has not yet been set for the combined services.

ESPN Unlimited subscribers will get an additional 150 out-of-market games over the course of the season at no additional cost. ESPN will offer local games in the six MLB markets that no longer have regional sports networks — San Diego, Cleveland, Seattle, Minnesota, Arizona and Colorado. The games, which are produced by MLB, will be available to purchase for streaming in those markets through ESPN.

ESPN will no longer carry "Sunday Night Baseball," a staple of the network for decades, but will have a package of 30 weeknight games. It will also retain its coverage of the MLB Little League Classic and carry a game on Memorial Day.

ESPN is paying $550 million for the new three-year package, the same as the last contract, according to people familiar with talks who were not authorized to comment publicly.

While ESPN and MLB exchanged harsh words when their longtime arrangement broke up earlier this year, both sides praised the eventual outcome, which puts a greater emphasis on streaming.

"Bringing MLB.TV to ESPN’s new app while maintaining a presence on linear television reflects a balanced approach to the shifts taking place in the way that fans watch baseball and gives MLB a meaningful presence on an important destination for fans of all sports,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro called the deal "a fan-friendly agreement" that prioritizes the Walt Disney Co. unit's "streaming future."

Read more:Why sports are returning to free over-the-air TV

"Sunday Night Baseball" will move to NBC, with 25 prime-time games on the broadcast network or NBCUniversal's streaming platform Peacock. Already the home of "Sunday Night Football," and "Sunday Night Basketball," the addition of the MLB — at $200 million a season — means NBC will have live sports in prime time on every Sunday throughout the year.

The network is also picking up the wild card round of the MLB postseason that had been carried on ESPN.

In 2027 and 2028, NBC will carry the most consequential game played on the final Sunday of the season.

NBC Sports also gains the rights to the late Sunday morning game, which will be carried on Peacock and followed by a "whip-around" show presenting action from contests around the league that day. Peacock carried the morning game in 2023 and 2024 before it went to Roku this past season.

MLB games exclusive to Peacock will also be shown on the newly launched NBC Sports Network, which is being offered to cable and satellite TV providers.

Netflix is paying around $50 million per year to carry the 2026 opening night game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees on March 25. The annual Home Run Derby, previously on ESPN, also moves to the streamer, as does the Field of Dreams game, which will be played in Dyersville, Iowa, where the set for "Field of Dreams" is located.

The deal continues Netflix's approach of offering appointment sporting events to its subscribers rather than investing in a full season package.

The new MLB deals only run for three years. The league wants them to align with its major TV rights package that includes the playoffs, the World Series and the All-Star Game. Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery’s TBS carry those packages until 2028.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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The first big deal of this MLB winter has been swung. Late Tuesday evening, the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Angels conducted a rare big leaguer for big leaguer deal, with right-handed starter Grayson Rodriguez headed to the Halos and outfielder Taylor Ward headed to the O’s.

It’s far from a blockbuster — neither player has ever made an All-Star team — but the swap is compelling nonetheless, in part for what it portends as these clubs move forward with their offseasons.

What kind of player is Taylor Ward?

The soon-to-be 32-year-old is coming off a career year in which he clocked 36 homers across 157 games, drove in 103 runs and finished with a .792 OPS. By most offensive metrics, he was easily a top-20 outfielder in the sport. Defensively, the former first-round draft pick is more solid than spectacular.

Ward will hit free agency after the 2026 season and is set to command around $13.5 million in arbitration salary this upcoming season. In a free-agent market relatively devoid of right-handed outfielders with power, Ward stood out as a potential trade chip. Now he’s an Oriole before Thanksgiving.

What kind of player is Grayson Rodriguez?

Taken 11th overall in the 2018 MLB Draft, “G-Rod” gradually blossomed into one of the most hyped pitching prospects in the sport. He debuted in 2023 with a heater that averaged an impressive 97.4 mph. Yet the offering’s suboptimal shape and Rodriguez’s middling command of the pitch meant that his fastball was absolutely clobbered.

He seemed to be taking a small step forward in 2024, but a lat issue in August shut him down for the remainder of the season. Things got worse in 2025 as Rodriguez, shelved with a cavalcade of ailments that included elbow inflammation, shoulder soreness and more lat pain, didn’t once climb a big league mound. He just turned 26 years old and is under contract for four more seasons, but the sheen has most certainly worn off as a result of his injury avalanche.

Why did the Orioles do this?

Mike Elias, Baltimore’s president of baseball operations, during last week’s general managers meetings told reporters that Rodriguez was not a lock for the club’s rotation, describing him as a “wild card.” That framing and the subsequent trade means the Orioles held significant doubts about whether Rodriguez will ever stay healthy enough for long enough to be an impact arm at the big league level. It’s another example of Elias, considered one of the league’s most calculating execs, taking emotion out of the equation in building a roster.

How Ward fits into the team’s outfield mix remains an open question, but he’s still a nice boost, particularly for a lineup that was quite bad against lefties last year. Before the deal, Baltimore’s Opening Day outfield would have likely featured Colton Cowser in center field, with last season’s free agent add Tyler O’Neill and rookie Dylan Beavers in the corners. Jeremiah Jackson, a post-hype prospect who showed very well in a small sample down the stretch in ‘25, also figures to be in the mix. Ward and O’Neill will play every day against southpaws if they’re healthy.

It’s quite obvious the O’s didn’t believe in Rodriguez anymore and were willing to pull the plug too soon as opposed to too late. The Angels were an eager dance partner and Ward was their most interesting trade chip.

Why did the Angels do this?

Because they need all the pitching help they can get.

For as bad as the O’s were on the mound last year, Los Angeles’ starters were even worse. The Angels finished 28th in ERA and strikeout rate, 29th in opposing OPS and dead last in walk rate. At this point, given his injuries, Rodriguez is far from a sure thing, but for the Angels his upside makes him a chance worth taking. That’s particularly true considering G-Rod still has four more years of control left. Players with his level of talent are difficult to acquire. The Halos saw an opening and acted.

Ward’s departure also helps to simplify the team’s outfield alignment. Mike Trout was almost exclusively a DH last year, which forced Jorge Soler into the grass and pushed Jo Adell, who enjoyed a splendid breakout in 2025, into center. Expect Adell to move back to a corner, where he fits better. Bryce Teodosio, a light-hitting speedster, is borderline transcendent in center and he could make an impact there if he hits just enough.

What does it mean for the Orioles moving forward?

Baltimore was going to refurbish its starting rotation via free agency or trade before this deal. Shipping G-Rod out only increases that chance. For the first time in his tenure, Elias has expressed a willingness to sign a free agent with a qualifying offer attached, which would necessitate the forfeiting of a high draft pick. That puts Ranger Suárez, Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez and Zac Gallen on the board. With a projected Opening Day rotation of Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells and Cade Povich the O’s probably need to add at least two more starters.

Adding Ward doesn’t completely forbid the addition of another bat, it just means said bat won’t be an outfielder. A first base/DH type like Pete Alonso, Kyle Schwarber or Ryan O’Hearn would make sense if the team is open to moving on from Ryan Mountcastle.

What does it mean for the Angels moving forward?

Offloading Ward’s $13.5 million contract gives GM Perry Minasian more flexibility in the free-agent market this winter. It’s unlikely the Halos go swimming in the deep end, even though Cody Bellinger would be a really nice fit in center field. The rotation could use a few more arms and the lineup has something of a black hole at third base, courtesy of Anthony Rendon’s descent into irrelevance.

MLB announces updated media rights deal for 2026-28: NBC, Netflix join as partners originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

Major League Baseball has finalized its national broadcasting details for 2026, 2027 and 2028.

On Wednesday, MLB announced a new partnership with NBC, Netflix and ESPN — in addition to its existing deals with FOX and Turner Sports.

“Our new media rights agreements with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix provide us with a great opportunity to expand our reach to fans through three powerful destinations for live sports, entertainment, and marquee events,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

Here’s when and where you can watch national MLB games under the new deal:

NBC

NBC is back in the mix for 2026 and beyond, taking over games from ESPN and Roku and putting them on NBC, the relaunched NBC Sports Network and Peacock.

• Sunday Leadoff
• Sunday Night Baseball
• Every Wild Card Series
• Labor Day primetime games
• MLB Draft
• All-Star Futures Game

Netflix

After getting into live sports with the NFL, WWE and more, Netflix is now adding baseball for the next three years.

• Opening Day in primetime (taking over from ESPN)
  • Next season: March 25, 2026, New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants
• Home Run Derby (taking over from ESPN)
  • Next season: July 13, 2026, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia
• “Field of Dreams” game (taking over from FOX)
  • Next season: Aug. 13, 2026, in Dyersville, Iowa, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Minnesota Twins

ESPN

Fans will now purchase MLB.TV through ESPN to watch their favorite teams outside their home market. ESPN is incorporating a service to its streaming platform, with in-market games for the select MLB teams.

ESPN will also have a national midweek game package throughout the season.

MLB announces updated media rights deal for 2026-28: NBC, Netflix join as partners originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

Major League Baseball has finalized its national broadcasting details for 2026, 2027 and 2028.

On Wednesday, MLB announced a new partnership with NBC, Netflix and ESPN — in addition to its existing deals with FOX and Turner Sports.

“Our new media rights agreements with ESPN, NBCUniversal and Netflix provide us with a great opportunity to expand our reach to fans through three powerful destinations for live sports, entertainment, and marquee events,” commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

Here’s when and where you can watch national MLB games under the new deal:

NBC

NBC is back in the mix for 2026 and beyond, taking over games from ESPN and Roku and putting them on NBC, the relaunched NBC Sports Network and Peacock.

• Sunday Leadoff
• Sunday Night Baseball
• Every Wild Card Series
• Labor Day primetime games
• MLB Draft
• All-Star Futures Game

Netflix

After getting into live sports with the NFL, WWE and more, Netflix is now adding baseball for the next three years.

• Opening Day in primetime (taking over from ESPN)
  • Next season: March 25, 2026, New York Yankees vs. San Francisco Giants
• Home Run Derby (taking over from ESPN)
  • Next season: July 13, 2026, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia
• “Field of Dreams” game (taking over from FOX)
  • Next season: Aug. 13, 2026, in Dyersville, Iowa, Philadelphia Phillies vs. Minnesota Twins

ESPN

Fans will now purchase MLB.TV through ESPN to watch their favorite teams outside their home market. ESPN is incorporating a service to its streaming platform, with in-market games for the select MLB teams.

ESPN will also have a national midweek game package throughout the season.