“The Warriors, I have already been told it’s a guy they will look into at some point in the coming days, especially if they do not get LeBron James,” Slater said on SportsCenter.
🤔 Where will DeMar DeRozan sign? 🏀 Yaxel Lendeborg and Darius Acuff Jr.'s debut in Summer League@anthonyVslater joins SportsCenter to discuss the trending topics in the NBA pic.twitter.com/WPEJ3TSG7F
Slater also mentioned teams like the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Clippers and Toronto Raptors as other potential DeRozan suitors – the latter two being more due to their “heartwarming” nature.
The 17-year veteran is from Compton, Calif., just 20 minutes away from Inglewood, where the Clippers play and played his first nine seasons with the Raptors after being drafted No. 9 overall by Toronto in 2009.
DeRozan will turn 37 next month, but has proven the last two seasons with Sacramento that he’s still a bucket-getter.
“The reality is he should be coming at such a bargain that really any team in the league that just needs some bench scoring should be looking at him,” Slater said.
The six-time All-Star averaged 18.4 points per game with the Kings last season and proved to enjoy his mentorship role for the young players as the team’s mentality shifted from contending to rebuilding during his tenure.
In 2025-26, DeRozan’s points per game were the lowest for his career since the 2012-13 season, but that was largely because of the team’s shift and his minutes per game (31.2) and usage percentage (22.8) being reduced to the lowest since his rookie season in the NBA.
While James remains the Warriors’ top target, adding an efficient scoring wing doesn’t seem to be too bad of a fallback.
CHICAGO, IL – JANUARY 26: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts to a call during the second half against the Chicago Bulls on January 26, 2026 at...
Teams reportedly interested in the four-time NBA champion aren’t optimistic about their chances of landing James, according to ESPN insider Brian Windhorst.
LeBron James has yet to make a decision in free agency this summer. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
“I’ve talked to people in Philly, and I’m like what do you think? Everybody I talk to is like, ‘we’re afraid it’s Cleveland,'” Windhorst said on the Pardon My Take podcast.
“Nobody seems like they have optimism.”
Brian Windhorst on conversations he's had regarding LeBron James:
"Everybody I talk to is like, 'We're afraid it's Cleveland.' Nobody seems like they have optimism to be honest."pic.twitter.com/KUxpzfJcBP
Returning to Cleveland was always the storybook ending for James since he began his career with the Cavaliers.
At 41 years old, James is still a productive player as he is coming off a season where he averaged 20.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 7.2 assists. He shot 51.5% from the field and 31.7% from beyond the arc in 60 games with the Lakers.
The 2025–26 campaign marked the first time James had missed opening night for the first time in his 23-year NBA career because of a sciatica injury. Despite missing the start of the season, James played a crucial role for the Lakers down the stretch after Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves sustained injuries in the final weeks of the regular season.
James spearheaded the Lakers’ postseason run, which ended in the second round of the NBA playoffs after the Oklahoma City Thunder swept LA in four games.
The Game 4 loss to OKC marked James’ final game in a Lakers uniform.
Now, it appears the next chapter for James may be a poetic one as Cleveland appears to be the winner of his free agency sweepstakes.
Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters
Los Angeles, CA - June 15, 2026: Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Eric Lauer (33) delivers during the first inning of an MLB game against the Tampa Bay Rays at UNIQLO Field at Dodger Stadium on Monday, June 15, 2026 in Los Angeles, CA. (Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Kyle Freeland against Eric Lauer as the first-place Dodgers host the last-place Rockies is the matchup for the start of a series that represents the last Colorado visit to Los Angeles this season. Anyone’s feelings of déjà vu will be validated with this specific matchup because it has taken place once already this season; in fact, it was the duel for Lauer’s Dodgers debut.
A little over a month ago, the veteran left-hander was making his first start as a Dodger, and to be frank, his performance that game was nearly irrelevant to the result, with the Dodgers’ offense scoring 15 runs and cruising towards a blowout win. A similar type of game could very well happen again, even without the effects of Coors Field; after all, one cannot stress just how poorly this season has gone for Freeland, the pitcher with the worst ERA in baseball for anyone who has thrown at least 60 innings, at 7.25.
On a broader note, while it is easy to overlook Lauer’s contribution, one should not trivialize what he’s been able to accomplish since coming over to the Dodgers—making adjustments, including throwing his cutter far more than he was doing in his time as a Blue Jay. Between Lauer’s own terrible numbers early in the year with Toronto, Freeland’s performance, and that of several other veterans, it’s easy to illustrate the difficulty in putting together a run of starts as productive as Lauer’s after moving to a new club. The veteran southpaw is leading the Dodgers to a 6-0 record with a sub-3.00 ERA in 34.1 innings.
The New Jersey Devils traded Simon Nemec to the Calgary Flames earlier in the offseason. He was an RFA looking for a major pay raise, and New Jersey saw it best to unload him to make more room on their cap sheet and blue line.
Trading Nemec to Calgary was the first big player move that Sunny Mehta made since becoming a first-time NHL GM. Since then, he has had a solid off-season, and more may be on the horizon.
On Monday, the Flames announced a contract extension for Nemec, who locked in a five-year deal with a cap hit of $7.25 million. This is a deal where the Flames are paying for the player that they hope he becomes, rather than the player that he is right now.
Nemec is a former 2nd overall pick from the 2022 NHL Draft, so the pedigree is there. He can create offense if he’s in the right situation, but he must work on his defensive game if he’s ever going to truly drive a pair in any of the three zones.
In 155 games played, Nemec has 16 goals and 33 assists for 49 points. He had somewhat of a breakout last year, as he had 11 of those goals to go with 15 assists for 26 points in 68 games played.
A lot of his ice time in the NHL has been in the shadow of guys like Dougie Hamilton and Luke Hughes. In Calgary, he’ll get a chance to show what he can do with more opportunity. If he reaches his true potential, his contract will then look like a bargain.
For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting on the article below on THN.com or by creating your own post in our community forum.
This is one of the strangest and also weakest drafts in recent memory. Just as the impacts of the COVID draft and season have finally worked their way out of the system, the draft is now confronted by a staggeringly mediocre pool of prospects and the new reality that this is likely the last draft of its kind, as the new CBA is likely to significantly alter the way the draft functions, in many meaningful, impactful ways.
Introduction
It’s that time of year again. It’s that time when all teams turn their eyes momentarily from the various storylines surrounding division standings, all-star antics, and likely trade deadline scenarios and instead affix their attention on the newest crop of potential all-stars and epic busts. This year, the MLB draft will be held over a two-day window. The draft will begin on Saturday, 11 July at 10:00 MST, with rounds 1-4. The second day goes by much faster and will encompass rounds 5-20. The viewing schedule for the draft this year is as convoluted as MLB’s many various broadcasting deals for regular season games. It’s mind-boggling that MLB hasn’t figured out yet that this does not help their draft ratings. Nor is MLB’s draft ever going to rival the NFL draft. So maybe, just maybe, they could stop trying to pretend it can. Anyway…
Here is the broadcast schedule for this year’s draft: Day 1: Saturday, July 11 (Rounds 1-4)
4:30-7:45 p.m. ET – Picks 41-135 (MLB.com, MLB TV, MLB+)
Day 2: Sunday, July 12 (Rounds 5-20)
11:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. ET (MLB.com, MLB TV, MLB+)
For at least one final season, the draft is largely defined by the draft pool, as determined and allotted by draft position. Arizona picks at #15 in the first round. The Diamondbacks were originally positioned to pick at No. 10 but slipped five spots during the Draft Lottery. Leading up to the draft, notable prospects linked to Arizona in expert mock drafts include Virginia outfielder A.J. Garcia and highly-touted high school infielder Tyler Bell.
Here is the final draft pool and selection order, along with the bonuses allowed for each of the first round picks. Bonus pool overages only apply to the first 10 rounds. If the team has any money remaining from that pool, the team is free to spend it on rounds 11-20.
Additionally, the Diamondbacks have the 31st pick in the draft, thanks to their inclusion in Competitive Balance Round A.
31. $3,118,300
The Diamondbacks then join the standard order of selections for the second round.
53. $1,848,200
Finally, after Competitive Balance Round B and the Free Agent Compensation picks are made, Arizona will select in rounds 3-20.
88. $915,100 116. $670,900 There are three more Free Agent Compensation picks between rounds four and five. 148. $491,700 177. $377,000 206. $297,100 236. $237,800 266. $209,500 296. $196,500
Conclusion
The Diamondbacks are on the cusp of adding 11 new names to the farm system. There are a number of outside considerations for this draft that will impact the team’s ability to find some true impact talent. We’ll be taking a look at some of that over the next few days. Stay tuned for the next segment where we discuss the pitching side of things.
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 05: Luis García Jr. #2 of the Washington Nationals rounds the bases after hitting a two run home run in the third inning during the game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park on Sunday, July 5, 2026 in Washington, District of Columbia. (Photo by Alyssa McDaniel/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Pirates’ lineup has given opposing pitchers nightmares all season, but that still doesn’t excuse the Washington staff after allowing 23 runs in just 3 games, resulting in a series loss. The Phillies and Marlins remain red-hot, and the National League Wild Card race isn’t getting any weaker, making this upcoming series against the Astros, and the rest of the month of July for that matter, all the more important.
Houston is sitting on the bubble of a playoff spot and has been playing some much better baseball after a few dreadful stretches during the first half of the season. They still find themself 2 games under .500 and 3rd in an inconsistent American League West, but one series could change the landscape of the entire division.
Game 1 – Monday 6:45 PM EST
WSH: RHP Miles Mikolas (2-7, 5.44 ERA)
HOU: RHP Mike Burrows (4-8, 5.58 ERA)
This is where the conversation surrounding Mikolas continues to get controversial. A dazzling month of May and portion of June had him looking like a potentially impactful piece in the patchwork Washington rotation, but 2 of his last 3 starts have seen him allow 5 or more runs. He enters this next appearance with a full week of rest, and the Nats will hope that the veteran can get himself back on track.
On the flip side, Burrows had just 2 outings in June where he allowed less than 4 runs, with one of those coming in a 1-inning relief spot. The righty has yet to put together a stretch of starts that has looked anything close to adequate, making him the perfect starter for the Nationals to jump on early and set the tone in this weekday series.
Game 2 – Tuesday 6:45 PM EST
WSH: LHP Andrew Alvarez (2-1, 3.05 ERA)
HOU: RHP Tatsuya Imai (5-4, 6.14 ERA)
It’s odd for a starter who has yet to work into the 6th inning to be labeled as a “rotation savior”, but that’s essentially what Alvarez has been for the Nats. He rarely gives up any substantial amount of runs, and while it won’t always look the prettiest, the results speak for themselves. The southpaw has also seen an uptick in his whiff rates as of late, making him one of the more important arms on the roster as it stands.
The transition to MLB has been rocky at best for Imai, who signed a large contract with Houston over the offseason as one of the premier Japanese pitching talents to come overseas in recent years. He’s forcing whiffs, but hitters are rarely chasing his pitches and squaring up anything and everything that’s in the zone. The Washington power bats could have a field day on Tuesday night, and elevating the baseball is once again an ideal way to succeed.
Game 3 – Wednesday 6:45 PM EST
WSH: LHP Foster Griffin (9-2, 2.87 ERA)
HOU: RHP Spencer Arrighetti (7-4, 3.81 ERA)
Griffin has remained steady into the month of July, and I don’t think it’s crazy to say that the lefty is making a case for being one of the most productive arms in the entire National League. He’s lowered his ERA to a sub-2.90 mark, and his WHIP is teetering on dipping below 1.00. One of the biggest breakout arms in MLB, Griffin’s next start could be a crucial one, depending on how the first two games of the series go.
The Nats will hope to see the June Arrighetti rather than his initial July form on Wednesday evening. The righty was tagged for 25 runs in 25.0 innings across 5 June appearances, but settled down and allowed just 1 run and 2 hits over 6.0 innings against Tampa Bay to open his month of July. The matchup heavily favors Washington, but it will be a battle of finesse pitchers in the series finale.
Phoenix Suns General Manager Brian Gregory is keeping his right-hand man around for the foreseeable future, as Suns and Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein is finalizing a new extension to keep him working with the team on the business and basketball side, according to ESPN NBA Insider Shams Charania.
Phoenix Suns and Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein is finalizing a new extension, further cementing the partnership with owner Mat Ishbia to shape business and basketball operations of both franchises, sources tell ESPN.
With the extension being announced, Suns Governor Mat Ishbia gave Bartelstein high praise in a statement he gave to ESPN.
“From day one, I knew Josh was the right person to help build the culture and organization that I envisioned in Phoenix – on and off the court. He is my trusted partner in every aspect of our basketball (Suns and Mercury) operations and business side as well. His knowledge of basketball, care for our players, and the strong relationships he has across the NBA and WNBA have been invaluable in building our success and will continue to shape our future. His leadership has elevated our entire organization.
“He is one of the best CEO’s in all of sports, and happens to be one of the youngest too, and I’m excited to keep working next to Josh as we continue to build on our success.”
A former college basketball player at the University of Michigan, Bartelstein, who’s been with the Suns since 2023, played a major part in the team trading for Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic in his first year working with the team. With his father Mark being Beal’s agent, much was made about the relationship Josh had with his father to negotiate the trade, along with his buyout last offseason.
However, after a season in which the team surprised many by increasing its win total by 9 games and making the playoffs after missing them the season before, Ishbia and company rewarded Bartelstein with an extension. The Phoenix Suns have already had a busy offseason by resigning many of their free agents, trading for Miles Bridges, signing Luke Kennard and Pat Spencer, making a deal to draft Koa Peat with the 30th pick, and now extending Bartelstein.
The Jaylen Brown trade between the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers became official Monday afternoon, and it has caused quite a reaction around the basketball world since it was first reported last week.
The C’s traded Brown, who they drafted No. 3 overall in 2016 and won a championship with in 2024, to the Sixers in exchange for Paul George, two first-round picks and two second-round picks.
A few hours after the deal was made official, Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and team owner Bill Chisholm held a press conference. The theme was “optionality.” This was a word Stevens used many times when responding to questions about this trade.
“I think when you use the term ‘optionality’, you’re talking about just length of contract and assets,” Stevens said. “So that’s where the increased optionality comes from.”
George’s contract is shorter than Brown’s, and the C’s got four picks in this trade that they can use to make other roster additions.
You can watch the entire press conference in the video below. And under the video player, we highlighted the best moments from the event.
Two stars taking up 70 percent of the salary cap
The current CBA makes it very challenging to build out a roster with enough depth if you have two superstars on max contracts that take up 70 percent of the salary cap. Stevens noted that when the C’s won the NBA Finals in 2024, Tatum and Brown made up 47 percent of the cap combined.
“When I looked at our team, and I looked at where the league was heading, looked at the way that we’ve finished the last couple of years and also looked at the unbelievable way we’ve played in the regular season in the last couple of years, the path looked a little bit more challenging to me,” Stevens said.
“I might be wrong. I’m not going to stand up here and be defensive about that. But the path looked a little bit more challenging with 70 percent of our cap and such a high percent of our usage tied into two players.
“And the reality in this era, and in this day and age of the NBA, and you could see it, obviously, with the last couple of champions and some of the teams that were at the very top of the league, when it was all said and done at the end of this year is that, you have to do a great job and you have to have the optionality to do a great job of building out depth that can hopefully replace the irreplaceable individual. And that’s not an easy thing to do, right?
“And we get that. And that’s absolutely nothing against Jaylen, right? If you have Jaylen Brown on your team, you should feature him. You should use all those possessions, and you should approach things that way. But I think the importance of depth, and then obviously, we have to continue to work on ways to diversify our attack overall. All that being said, still would not have made a move unless we thought the right opportunity presented itself.”
Paul George is not as good as Jaylen Brown. George also is 36 years old and, mostly due to injuries, has played more than 60 games in a season only once since 2019. But he is still a good player. George, when healthy, remains a quality scorer and a reliable defender. He played fantastic in the Sixers’ first-round upset over the Celtics this past season.
“We like Paul,” Stevens said. “Paul’s a really good player. We’re not very far removed from all sitting in our series against Philadelphia and watching Paul be a guy that could carry you, for portions of a quarter or a half, but also play a complementary role on both ends of the floor at the highest of levels. He’s excited to come to Boston. He actually already came in this weekend, and we’re excited to get a chance to work with him.”
The two first-round picks the Celtics got from the Sixers in this trade could end up being the most useful assets for Boston. It can be hard sometimes for fans to get really excited about draft picks years down the road, but the more first-rounders you own, the more options you have in the trade market.
“From the draft assets, I get it. I’m a fan first and foremost,” Stevens said. “When I was a kid, I could care less about what picks came back, right? Especially second-round picks. I get it. But the draft assets in this whole deal, the way we looked at it was there are two potential premium assets.
“And so, the quality of the assets, both the 2031 Philly (pick) and the super complicated 2028 pick, which we don’t really need to go into here, both offer potential, who knows, big swings at the apple. And then the second-round picks are sweeteners that you can use in deals to do things to put your team over the top, or maybe draft Jordan Walsh or Dillon Mitchell or somebody you’re really excited about.
“At the end of the day, those guys aren’t Jaylen, but I understand that ultimately, there’s a lot of small steps that it’ll take to build out the depth in the team that we ultimately want to.”
Trading Brown to a rival such as Philadelphia
It’s not easy to trade a great player to a longtime rival that also happened to beat you in the most recent NBA playoffs. But at the end of the day, the job of the front office is to make the best possible trade.
“The Philly part, that is a hard thing, to trade a guy that you, first of all, care so much about, but secondly, have so much respect and admiration for, to a team that just beat you in the playoffs, and that you’re gonna literally play six times before the playoffs next year with our two preseason games,” Stevens said.
“But I do think that ultimately, when you do a deal, you have to be thinking about you first and the optionality it creates for you. If I was being honest, if that exact deal came from a team out west and you were comparing the two, then you’d probably take the team out west, but that’s not the way it was working.”
Stevens made it clear he did not ask for Tatum’s, or any other player’s input, about the trade.
“I have a real hard, fast rule: I don’t ask other guys about other guys because it’s not — I don’t want to put them in that position, and so he had none,” Stevens said.
“The mandate here is to win”
Celtics owner Bill Chisholm made it clear that the goal for the Celtics is to win, and that the team is not afraid to spend money to make that happen.
“This was all about trying to win and really trusting in our process,” Chisholm said. “We have, I think, the best front office in the NBA, and they put in their work and they came to the conclusion this was the best way for us to win. The mandate is to win. And I just have to keep saying that. We’ll spend whatever it takes to do that. The mandate is to win.”
Analytics has been a popular talking point in regards to this trade, especially on social media and the comments from a Bobby Marks interview on SiriusXM NBA Radio last week.
Stevens considered analytics a “small” part of the process here.
“You take in every angle and every ounce of information that you have, and you put it all together, right? For me, and Mike and his staff might get mad at me — they do every day — I would say that was a small piece of information for me,” Stevens said.
Next moves
There’s been some debate over whether the Celtics have another move lined up. Stevens didn’t suggest there’s anything coming soon.
“We’re open, and we’ll be open. I don’t anticipate anything in the very near term,” Stevens said. “We do like the team we have. We might be able to add to it, but at the end of the day, we like the group we have.
“We like the people that we think will be able to officially sign. We’re cognizant that we have a lot of work to do.”
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - JULY 5: Jarren Duran #16 of the Boston Red Sox rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the Los Angeles Angels in the second inning at Angel Stadium of Anaheim on July 5, 2026 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Yesterday, Bob Nightengale of USA Today included in his Sunday Notebook four potential Astros trade targets:
Today, former MLB GM Jim Bowden of The Athletic gave us four targets of his own, 3 new ones and one that was also included by Nightengale in Mickey Moniak:
From former MLB GM Jim Bowden:
The Astros are searching for a left-handed hitting outfielder with pop to better balance their lineup. There are not a lot of players available who fit that profile, but a few significant ones they should target include Jarren Duran, Kerry Carpenter, Ryan O’Hearn and maybe even Mickey Moniak.
Best fit: Jarren Duran, OF, Boston Red Sox
Duran needs a change of scenery and would thrive in the Astros’ strong clubhouse environment.
Jarren Duran
Duran, 29, is having the worst season of his career, clearly impacted by the mass of trade rumors that surrounded him all offseason and the tumult around the Red Sox to this point in the year. Duran this season is batting just .197 with a .259 OBP and .620 OPS.
It should be noted that his previous 2 season, he combined to post a 14.9 WAR, has led the AL in triples both seasons, led the AL in doubles in 2024 (in which he finished 8th in AL MVP).
Duran, between 2023 and 2025, batted .273 with a .339 OBP, .812 OPS and 122 OPS+. He also stole 82 bases during that time, with a season high of 34. It stands to reason he is a terrific ‘buy low’ candidate, but clearly there is risk involved, if his production doesn’t return this season.
He has played all 3 outfield positions, but has primarily played LF and CF, at near equal rates. He grades much better defensively in LF than he does in CF.
Duran is on a 1 year, $7.7M contract, and has 2 years of arbitration eligibility remaining.
Kerry Carpenter
Carpenter, 28, is traditionally a low average, low on-base, higher OPS guy because of his power. He is batting .234 this season with a .306 OBP and .790 OPS. Carpenter has 13 HR and 36 RBI in 67 games (192 AB).
For his career he is a .263 batter with a .319 career OBP and .823 OPS. He will provide power, but his other numbers seem to go against what the Astros have shown a desire to add to the lineup, which is the ability to get on base and control the strike zone.
Carpenter is primarily a RF, but has experience in LF as well.
Carpenter is on a 1 year, $3.275M contract, and has 2 years of arbitration eligibility remaining.
Ryan O’Hearn
O’Hearn, 32, is having a solid offensive season in his first year in Pittsburgh, batting .284 with a .344 OBP and .807 OPS. He has 13 HR and 51 RBI in 285 AB to date this season.
O’Hearn has primarily been a 1B, but has experience in both corner OF spots. He is a below average defender at all 3 positions.
Over his most recent 3.5 seasons (going back to 2023), O’Hearn has batted .278 with a .343 OBP, .795 OPS and 119 OPS+. He has been the most consistent offensive player of the bunch, but the worst defender.
O’Hearn is in the first year of a 2 year, $29M deal, and will make $15M next season.
Mickey Moniak
Moniak, 28, is a former 1st round pick in 2016 drafted out of high school by the Philadelphia Phillies. He was brought up at age 22 the first time, and again at age 23 for a brief time as well, and struggled badly. He was traded to the Los Angeles Angels at the deadline in 2022 for Noah Syndergaard.
2023 finally led to a breakthrough season for Moniak, who hit .280 with 14 HR and 45 RBI after being called up May 12. He posted an .802 OPS, but only a .307 OBP because he walked just 9 times in 323 PA.
In 2024 he would regress, batting just .214 with a .266 OBP and .686 OPS. The Angels released him March 25, 2025.
The next day, he signed a 1 year, $1.25M deal with the Colorado Rockies. His first year in Denver, Moniak hit .270 with a career-best 24 HR and 68 RBI. He again posted a strong OPS (.824) despite a weak OBP (.306).
So far this season, Moniak is batting .282 with a .333 OBP and .945 OPS with 15 HR and 37 RBI in 55 games.
Moniak is not known as a strong defender, with limited range and a weaker arm. He would likely be a left fielder on the Astros.
Moniak is signed to a 1 year, $4M contract and still has one more season of arbitration eligibility.
While a decision on his playing future is anxiously anticipated, a reunion between the Philadelphia Flyers and former captain Claude Giroux still remains a distinct possibility, five days on from the start of NHL free agency.
Giroux, 38, remains one of the best remaining free agents around the NHL, even in his advanced age, still without a new contract from his Ottawa Senators.
According to a new report from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Citizen, that will remain the case for some time, as the former Flyers captain weighs his options ahead of what is widely assumed to be his last NHL season.
"Sources close to Giroux told the Ottawa Citizen late Friday that 'he hasn’t made his decision yet' on where he’s headed," Garrioch reported. "The Toronto Maple Leafs have also spoken with Giroux’s camp and remain keenly interested, while the Edmonton Oilers made a pitch, but well-respected Sportsnet columnist Mark Spector says they’re no longer involved."
That leaves two horses left in the race for Giroux: the Flyers, and the Senators, who have undergone a considerable roster shake-up this offseason already.
Added Garrioch: "After spending the last four seasons with the Senators, it feels like Giroux has a foot out the door, and the sense in league circles is a return to the Flyers is inevitable. The belief is Giroux wants to take some time to make his decision because this will likely be his final season in the NHL."
A potential Giroux reunion with the Flyers could hinge on the outcome of the Leo Carlsson offer sheet, which would tie up a whopping $18 million of cap space and leave the Flyers needing to move out some money to make any further additions and comfortably re-sign free agents Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale, and Nikita Grebenkin.
The Flyers remain interested in Giroux with or without Carlsson, but ultimately, the decision lies with the player, a veteran of 1,345 regular season games who has earned the right to choose the way he goes out.
At the time of this writing, PuckPedia shows the Flyers having $29.5 million in cap space, not including Carlsson's pending $18 million cap charge, leaving $11.5 million for Giroux, Zegras, Grebenkin, and Drysdale
The Pittsburgh Penguins have had a pretty active this off-season, as they have brought in new some players and lost others.
When looking at the Penguins' current roster, it is clear that they should not be done making moves yet. One specific area that they should be looking to improve this summer is the left side of their defense.
The Penguins traded Parker Wotherspoon to the Vegas Golden Knights and lost Ryan Shea to the Edmonton Oilers in free agency this summer. With this, it is clear that they could use another left-shot defenseman before the new season is here.
A few left-shot defensemen who are still on the free agent market include Logan Stanley, Carson Soucy, Mike Reilly, and former Penguin Matt Grzelcyk. While none of these players would necessarily be major additions, signing one of them would help Pittsburgh's depth.
There are also some left-shot defensemen who have come up in the rumor mill this summer as trade candidate. Morgan Rielly, Alexander Nikishin, and Mason Lohrei are a few examples.
It will be interesting to see if the Penguins bring in another left-shot defenseman this summer, but it is something that they should consider after losing two solid blueliners in Shea and Wotherspoon.
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — The Calgary Flames signed defenseman Simon Nemec to a five-year contract worth $36.25 million on Monday.
Nemec will count $7.25 million against the salary cap through the 2030-31 NHL season. Calgary acquired his rights and winger Maxim Tsyplakov from New Jersey last month for a second-round pick this year, two conditional first-rounders and prospect Etienne Morin.
“I just felt like the return that we got from Calgary was just kind of too good to pass up," Devils general manager Sunny Mehta said on a video call with reporters last week. "They kind of stepped up with their offer to get him, and I just thought it was ultimately the right thing for the organization to move on.”
Nemec skated in 159 combined games in the league since the Devils took him with the second pick in the 2022 draft, averaging roughly 19 minutes of ice time. Mehta denied that Nemec asked for a trade and said after a candid conversation that he felt it best for the 22-year-old Slovak to get a fresh start elsewhere.
“He just wants a path," Mehta said. “He wants a path to develop and a path to grow into the role that he foresees for himself.”
CINCINNATI, OHIO - JUNE 23: Nick Lodolo #40 of the Cincinnati Reds pitches in the third inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Great American Ball Park on June 23, 2026 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) | Getty Images
After dropping the series to the Baltimore Orioles at home over the weekend, the last place Cincinnati Reds fell to just 41-48 on the season. To wrap the first half of their schedule prior to the All Star break, all they get to do is host the red hot Philadelphia Phillies (who are 20 games over .500 since their dismal 8-18 start) and the mighty Chicago Cubs who, like the Phils, are 10 games over .500 on the season.
It’s looking obvious that the Reds should be sellers ahead on the August 3rd trade deadline even if they haven’t figured that out themselves.
As we opined over a month ago (when the Reds were in last place and looked like sellers), selling wasn’t even going to be easy for them this year. The short term pieces they brought in had underperformed or were already not valued, and longer-term pieces simply had been too hurt or playing poorly to be doing anything other than selling low on.
Has any of that really changed? Let’s take a look at who might be Cincinnati’s biggest, best trade chip for this particular trade deadline.
Off-limits
RHP Chase Burns, IF Sal Stewart
Unless the Castellinis and their consortium are literally selling everything – every player, the entire franchise, all of it – you don’t even listen if someone calls about these two young All Stars. They are the new cornerstones around whom you build.
Only if you are bowled completely over
SS Elly De La Cruz, LHP Andrew Abbott
Notice how I didn’t include Elly above?
You certainly don’t shop him, as news of that would leak and there’d be an insant maelstrom out of which you would not emerge. But if someone comes in with the Bartolo Colon offer, or the Juan Soto Washington Edition offer, or the Mark Teixeira deal on Atlanta’s end, maybe it’s time to consider it.
The insane talent is still obviously there, yes, but you can make a pretty decent argument that he has plateaud just slightly below superstar status. The ability to run has also been taken away from him, either by caution due to the quad and hamstring injuries or by design from the Reds powers that be. He’ll be arbitration-eligible for 2027 and no longer cheap, but just about every team out there probably already has a ‘what would it take to get Elly from the Reds’ in their trade deadline playbook.
Also, do you really think the Reds will be good between now and when Elly walks in 3.5 years? Or, rather, between now and when they’re forced to sell him before he walks?
It’s a somewhat similar story to former All Star Andrew Abbott, who shrugged off a bad April to look exactly like the All Star he was last year again. He’s got 3.5 years of team control, too, and is the classic case of ‘Baseball Refernce bWAR loves him, and FanGraphs fWAR thinks he’s pedestrian.‘
If there’s a BBRef-worshipping franchise out there who comes calling for a starting pitcher, maybe it’s not a bad time to consider cashing in on Abbott for the same reasons.
It’s not the right time
RHP Hunter Greene, IF/OF Matt McLain, OF Noelvi Marte, RHP Rhett Lowder
Greene is precisely the kind of pitcher the Reds should want to be pitching for them the rest of the year. He just missed half a season due to surgery on a right elbow that already had Tommy John under their watch, and he’s controlled long-term. Moving him now would be selling incredibly low, and on top of that he needs to build up innings over the last half of 2026 to be fully ready to return to form in 2027.
Once he does that, then you maybe consider moving him as a cornerstone type arm, not as a dice-roll after surgery that nobody will overpay to acquire.
McLain likely has minimal, if any value right now since he’s been bad or hurt since midway through 2023. Still, he’s a former 1st round pick of two different franchises whose managers have constantly adored him, so someone would probably take a flier on him with multiple years of team control still remaining. However, I think his defense and versatility mean you hold on and give him him another shot in 2027 – ideally under the tutelage of a whole different hitting coach all winter long.
In Noelvi Marte, you still have something of a wild card. Injuries, suspensions, massive positional moves, and he’s still just 24 and oozing talent. You continue to roll the dice on him (especially if you begin a rebuild that doesn’t immediately prioritize winning) and hope he figures it out.
Lowder is something of the Marte version of the pitching staff. You simply wait to see more with him, as there were legitimate reasons (and still are) why he was valued so highly by so many so recently.
Can you even give them away?
IF Eugenio Suarez, RHP Emilio Pagan, OF TJ Friedl, C Jose Trevino
There is a lot (by Reds standards) of money tied to these four this year. Almost $35 million, in fact, and that’s given the Reds a combined -1.5 bWAR. Injuries certainly haven’t helped, but this foursome has been an epic failure so far in 2026.
Someone would probably take Suarez off the Reds hands on a bet he does have a hot streak in him somewhere, but they certainly wouldn’t a) give up anything of value to do that or b) do so without the Reds eating money. TJ Friedl might have a taker somewhere who thinks they can fix him – he does have an option left and has team control for two years – but it’d be such a sell-low that the return would be near nil.
The other two? Well, Pagan’s contract literally has a kicker that pays him more if he’s traded, and Trevino’s got almost zero trade value with that money tied to him despite being a pretty OK backup catcher (when not hurt all the time).
You can’t even give him away
3B Ke’Bryan Hayes
Hayes, whose back was a problem when the Reds acquired him from Pittsburgh last year and has been partially behind him being the worst hitter on the planet in 2026, has no trade value. Not with more than $30 million guaranteed to him going forward.
The Reds are stuck with him until they release him.
Do you actually want to give him away?
RHP Brady Singer
Singer has been better lately than he was during a brutal two-month start to the year, but he’s still not been great. What he has been, though, is perpetually reliable, and that’s something the Reds might actually need for the last half of the year.
If they dealt Abbott, or Nick Lodolo, who actually soaks up innings on this roster? Is it worth keeping Singer around at the prorated portion of his salary so that someone can actually go 5 IP every fifth day, especially once Chase Burns gets inevitably shut down?
Do you really trust Chase Petty, or Julian Aguiar to step right in and get through 6 IP every week?
You can make the case that Singer will have a small market, and that’s probably true. What I’m saying here, though, is that if the Reds move him and make a larger move to deal another established starter, Nick Krall is going to need a Zack Littell-esque move to literally have a body out there who can get enough outs to get through the end of the year. It’ll be hard to find one more apt at that for cheaper than what they’ve already got in Singer.
The bullpen
There are some pieces here that good teams will want. Good teams needing only fringe additions in the middle of their bullpen won’t be sending over future superstar talent to acquire them, but they’ll send enough to make the moves.
This is the Brock Burke, Caleb Ferguson, Pierce Johnson category. If the Reds eat a million here or there with this trio, they’ll be able to get legitimate wild card pieces who are years away. You do this as soon as you can if you are Krall, and you look immediately at where the current Reds bullpen ranks and realize it won’t fall any further down the rankings if you just bring back Connor Phillips, Zach Maxwell, Luis Mey, etc.
(That’s a long-term problem to fix. Get what you can from what few pillars there are there right now.)
Sam Moll is controllable again in 2027, so perhaps you keep him around. Someone will need to be a reliever on the Reds in 2027. Still, if someone comes calling for him, might as well move him, too.
The obvious movers
1B Nathaniel Lowe, C Tyler Stephenson
Lowe was released by the Washington Nationals mid-August last year and Boston brought him in for a successful month and a half that mimicked his work for years in Texas. Still, nobody wanted Lowe this offseason and he came to the Reds on a minor league deal and has, ever since, looked more or less like the typical Lowe. There’s just a very light market for that right now, though someone will likely send at least some cash to move him on.
Stephenson might have suitors, especially if any of the typical catching injuries pop up to a key player at an opportune time. He’s a free agent at season’s end, so the Reds may as well move him for what they can. If they want him back on a 1-year deal this winter, he’ll be a free agent and they’ve got his phone number after 11 years in the organization, after all.
The legitimately OK pieces
OF JJ Bleday, IF/OF Spencer Steer, LHP Nick Lodolo
Here’s why we wrote the article. It took us over 1600 words to talk about how little the Reds should legitimately shop this trade deadline, but we made it to this trio – JJ Bleday, Spencer Steer, and Nick Lodolo.
They’re a trio that each come with team control beyond 2026 – 2027 for Lodolo, 2027 and 2028 for Bleday and Steer. Each has their own solid pedigree, too.
Lodolo was twice drafted in the 1st round and was a consensus Top 100 prospect, and his 2025 season established an ability to be a front-line starter.
Bleday was a Top 5 pick, posted a 20 homer season back with the A’s, and was the NL Player of the Month in May when he was the best hitter on the planet.
Steer finished 6th in Rookie of the Year voting, played in the Futures Game the year before, and has a streak of 20+ homer seasons sitting at three right now with 14 already this year, has a 20/25 season under his belt, and he plays all over defensively (even if it’s mediocre)
Nobody is trading for Bleday or Steer to come in and be the best position player on their team, but each would likely be given a significant complementary role for just about any team (especially with Steer’s defense and Bleday’s bat vs RHP). That paired with team control has a good bit of value, even if Bleday’s is dented by his uncermonious exit from the A’s organization.
It’s Lodolo, though, who has the chance to be the buy-low steal of this trade deadline, and that’s my pick for the most apt combination of biggest and best trade chip right now. He just poured in his best start of the year over the weekend, and the blister issues that dogged him early finally look like they’re in the past. He also has a reptuation as being ‘injury prone’ because yes, he has missed a lot of time over the years, but none of those has been a structural injury to a key part of his prized left arm.
There are a lot of miles left on Nick Lodolo, and while he might not get a fraction of the haul that Tarik Skubal will net the Tigers this deadline, you can make the claim (especially while pointing at 2025) that he’s got every bit the next-best upside of any arm on the block. So, there could be some decent bidding on him despite the totality of his 2026 stats looking pedestrian by his standards.
The Reds could certainly wait on him, hope he pitches like we know he can during the season’s second half, and shop him this winter. But that wouldn’t be during a playoff chase for teams, and demand – while broader – might not be as intensely focused.
If Lodolo continues to round back into form over the next four weeks, he’s the single best chip the Reds should move as sellers this trade deadline.
College basketball journeyman Kerr Kriisa, who played for four teams in six years, has been indicted by the FBI on multiple counts of wire fraud that occurred during his time in West Virginia.
The charges, which were unrelated to sports gambling or actions on the court, are laid out in court documents obtained by USA TODAY Sports. They include five counts of wire fraud that saw Kriisa texting people, often under the alias "Irene" asking for money for multiple "emergencies."
Kriisa, who played for Arizona, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Cincinnati in his college career, "allegedly carried out a scheme to obtain nearly $2.2 million from multiple victims using false representations, fabricated identities, and deceptive communications," per the DOJ's release on his arrest. Among the alleged attempted scams, Kriisa — who was most recently playing basketball in his home country of Estonia — allegedly tried to ask for money to help his mother who was sick with cancer and asked for money to save his family's farm.
Kriisa averaged 8.8 points per game, including 11 points per game at West Virginia in the 2023-24 season.
KANSAS CITY, MO - MAY 27: New York Yankees centerfielder Trent Grisham (12) is congratulated by teammates after scoring during a MLB game between the New York Yankees and the Kansas City Royals on May 27, 2026, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, MO. (Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The last two weeks have been downright depressing in Yankeeland; that much is obvious. Pretty much every facet of the game has been agonizing to watch, and even though several of these games have been winnable towards the end, only one of them have ended in the win column over the last 10 games. While injuries are a big factor, it’s also just maddening regression from the 26 guys on the roster. If you removed the contributions of Aaron Judge and Max Fried from the team’s first two months, they’d still probably have the best record in the AL through mid-June. Their struggles are much more predicated on the guys on the roster stumbling over themselves.
The team is doing a lot less of a lot of things right now. They aren’t slugging. They aren’t making basic defensive plays. The rotation has only put up a zero twice to start the game in the last nine games. Some of this can be explained, though. The slugging drop-off makes sense with Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton sidelined, along with a slump by Ben Rice. The defensive miscues make more sense with how players are being played out of position out of necessity. The rotation is experiencing natural regression from a strong start and is without Max Fried or Carlos Rodón.
Something that can’t be as easily explained is the other big part of a formidable Yankees offense vanishing, their ability to draw walks. That and hitting the long ball carry a whole lot of weight for an offense that’s usually among the game’s elite. Since mid-June, the team has gone from one of the best at taking the free pass to one of the worst:
Walk Rate: Through June 16th: 11.3 percent (first in MLB) Since June 17th: 7.1 percent (26th)
Sure, Judge and Trent Grisham are big reasons why the team has the league’s best walk rate, but even with their absence, the team should still be pretty good at it. Even if you remove their plate appearances from the sample, something that would not be a clear representative of the data, they drop to sixth in walk rate through mid-June at 10.3 percent.
The raw numbers tell the story of a team that, overall, is walking less across the board, but maybe not as much as you’d think given the drop off.
BB% since June 17, change from pre-June 17th: Ryan McMahon: 7.8 percent to 11.8 percent (+4.0) José Caballero: 5.6 percent to 7.3 percent (+1.7) Amed Rosario: 6.2 percent to 7.3 percent (+1.1) Cody Bellinger: 13.5 percent to 13.4 percent (-0.1) Anthony Volpe: 12.6 percent to 12.3 percent (-0.3) Jasson Domínguez: 4.9 percent to 2.9 percent (-2.0) Ben Rice: 13.3 percent to 8.5 percent (-4.8) Paul Goldschmidt: 8.3 percent to 3.4 percent (-4.9) Jazz Chisholm Jr.: 11.5 percent to 5.5 percent (-6.0) Spencer Jones*: 13.2 percent to 6.8 percent (-6.4) Austin Wells*: 13.6 percent to 0.0 percent (-13.6)
The asterisks for Jones and Wells are for their inconsistent playing time, but I want to key in on Wells, whose descent offensively has been both bewildering and incredibly tragic for both his psyche and the organization. Even when he was objectively bad the first few months of the season, he showed improved plate discipline. He was striking out less and walking more. Through May 30th, Wells had a 13.5 BB%, but has since not drawn a single walk in 45 plate appearances. You really have to wonder at this point if those headaches he had is something closer to an Anthony Rizzo situation with how far he’s even dropped off from his pre-IL stint’s plate discipline.
The three players who’ve improved their walk rates are McMahon, Caballero, and Rosario, but the latter two are still decently below average in that regard (MLB average is 9.0 percent). Bellinger and Volpe are still well above average themselves, but the problems start after them.
Rice’s decline is pretty stunning. You would expect a guy like him to actually walk more with Judge out as the premier threat, but teams are just not scared of him right now. Maybe how mortal he’s looked lately is contributing to it? It could also be that his chase rate has ballooned from 23.3 percent to nearly 30 percent. Goldschmidt and Chisholm don’t necessarily come to mind when you think about walks, but both were drawing them at a decent rate before a recent fall-off. Goldy’s faced a ton of lefties of late, likely prompting more aggressive swing decisions, while Chisholm’s is harder to quantify.
Looking deeper, the decrease in walk rate is inversely correlated with a spike in strikeout rate. They were striking out more than league average before this recent stretch, but it’s been even more so:
Strikeout Rate: Through June 16th: 22.8 percent (20th in MLB) Since June 17th: 26.6 percent (27th)
K-BB% is more of a pitcher’s stat, but to give you some context, we’ll use it on the offense. Through mid-June, pitchers against the Yankees had an 11.5 K-BB%, which is like Jeffrey Springs. Since then? It’s 19.5 percent, which is similar to Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That’s self-explanatory.
The more contact-oriented hitters on the team are making less contact, especially Bellinger, who’s up to a 22.4 K% over the last three weeks. He’s never been someone afraid to chase to spoil a two-strike offering or serve a single to left field, but this isn’t helping. His chase and whiff rates are both up five percent in the last three weeks.
You’d think with Judge and Grisham out, the Yankees would be seeing a lot more pitches in the strike zone. After all, there’s a lot less firepower to be worried about, right? I guess not.
Batting Zone%: Through June 16th: 41.5 percent Since June 17th: 41.7 percent
Negligible. This isn’t, though:
Chase%: Through June 16th: 30.3 percent (sixth lowest in MLB) Since June 17th: 35.5 percent (fifth highest)
That’s probably what it drills down to. They’re pressing. They feel the pressure of the situation and are flailing at more pitches, being more aggressive. The team’s overall swing percentage has increased from 44.6 percent to 48.4 percent, going from one of the most passive teams to one of the most aggressive. Aggressiveness on hittable pitches is good. That’s a major reason why the offense shook off a slump in the first two weeks, as they started swinging at hittable pitches more. This time, they’re eating out of the pitcher’s hands. It’s not a winning formula.
It also doesn’t help that the pitching staff has them trailing before they can even pick up the bat. Here’s some stats from the last nine games:
The Yankees have not scored first once
The rotation allowed a run in the first seven times
They trailed before coming to bat five times
They’ve allowed 4+ runs in the first three innings five times
The only two times the game was scoreless after one inning were on June 28th against Boston and July 1st against Detroit. In those games, the offense was dead silent for eight innings, trailed 2-0 after eight, forced extra innings, and lost in extras despite both being very winnable.
All told, nobody is contributing and that blows, but what the team could really use right now as they head into a do-or-die four-game set at Tropicana Field is to breathe, be more selective, and take the advice of Passion Pit:
