Category: Sports News

Maybe the San Francisco Giants aren’t contenders this season, but according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, a few members of this year’s roster could end up on playoff teams after the trade deadline.

Luis Arraez, Robbie Ray, and Jung Hoo Lee were all listed as the “Best Match” for various MLB contenders and aspiring contenders, though none of them reached the vaunted level of “Dream Match.” Look, the 2026 Giants will take what that can get.

This is not trade scuttlebutt or a prediction, but an exercise in matching teams with something to play for this fall with teams who might or should be available. The most obvious player is Arraez, who is on a one-year, $12M contract and is hitting .330, second in baseball, with surprisingly good defense at second base.

Passan thinks he’s a fit for the Tampa Bay Rays, a not-infrequent trade partner of the Giants who have Richie Palacios (.237/.333/.338, 0.4 WAR) and an unimpressive group of options at second base.

[Arraez] rarely strikes out, right in line with the Rays’ MLB-best 18.9% K rate. He’s got a .327 batting average, second in baseball. He gets on 36% of the time, perfect to slot in atop the lineup and offer Díaz, Aranda and Caminero more RBI opportunities. Best of all, Arráez has gone from liability at second base to above average, capable of filling a true spot of need for the Rays.

Arraez may be one of the team’s most (few?) watchable players, but they’d be only trading 66 games of Arraez. If they want him back, he’s a free agent after the season. The Giants tend to panic in these situations and work out an extension, like the expensive six-year, $150M deal Matt Chapman signed near the end of the 2024 season. As usual, the Rays have a very good farm system to make a deal.

Passan believes that the Philadelphia Phillies need outfield help and endorses Lee to fill that need, though he repeatedly qualifies that Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins would be preferable.

Lee’s low-strikeout, high-average approach is perhaps the best Philadelphia can do so long as Buxton isn’t going anywhere.

The argument for Lee is that the Phillies’ struggling outfield, even with the resurgent Brandon Marsh, isn’t good enough, especially with Adolis Garcia out for the season. Lee may have three years and $63M left on his deal after this season, but there aren’t a lot of free agent outfielders providing alternative options. Is that also an argument for the Giants to hold onto Lee? Yes.

Passan’s final “Best Match” is Robbie Ray with the St. Louis Cardinals, who are 50-45 and one game back of the final wild-card spot in the National League. It’s far from a full-throated endorsement of a Ray deal for the Cards.

As good as Ray has been lately, the Cardinals might instead opt for a less costly option who can gobble innings and help save the pen.

That’s it. The only place Ray is even mentioned is in the context of how there’s probably better options for the Cardinals. The veteran lefty has been quite good since May, going 5-0 with a 1.84 ERA, but he’s making $25M this season, which might scare teams away. Though if they trade him at the deadline, the new team will owe him only around $8M as the pro-rated portion of his salary.

That’s the Giants approaching the deadline. No Dream Matches, but two tempting veterans on the last year of their contracts who could be Best Matches. Plus Jung Hoo Lee, who is not Byron Buxton.

MLB All-Star Weekend is a mess. You know it, and I know it. The only people who seem to be unaware are those employed by MLB itself. It’s a mish-mash of activities all happening at the same time, just so we can have nothing happening on Wednesday and almost nothing happening on Thursday. MLB clearly wants All-Star Week to be something of a showstopping event where we make everyone stop and appreciate this great sport simultaneously. But the way they’ve structured it makes it feel like a crowded convention hall where you inexplicably can’t do everything you want to, no matter how hard you try. That simply doesn’t have to be the case.

And I’m here to tell you how.

Get the draft out of here

The MLB Rule 4 Amateur Draft occurred over the weekend. This was happening at the same time as various regular-season games, some home run derby announcements, and The Futures Game. MLB has stated in the past that they want their amateur draft to have a similar weight to other professional North American sports such as the NFL, NBA, and NHL. But none of those leagues have their drafts during the regular season for a very good reason: it splits focus.

MLB has a problem, though: its draft is unlike the ones used by the NBA and NFL in that players who are drafted by MLB teams are not precluded from refusing to sign a deal and returning to college. This is not something that is controlled by MLB, but rather by the NCAA. And in this case, it increases the bargaining power of young baseball players, and so I am disinclined to see it change. Given that, MLB is best served by holding its draft as close to the end of the College baseball season as reasonable. College baseball ends with the College World Series in late June.

So, my proposal here is to give MLB teams the first Saturday after the College World Series the day off and hold the draft that day. You don’t have to have teams take the time off for the draft if you don’t want to. It’s so unappealing as a television prospect that NBC covered only the first ten picks and then moved to a celebrity golf tournament. MLB itself kicked out media members well before the draft was over, and you could hear them disassembling the set while the final rounds were still occurring. It’s obvious that the MLB draft is never going to have real mass appeal outside of the hardcore fans, but if you really want to try, a special day immediately following the hype of the College World Series and not interfering with the trade deadline is the way to do it.

If fitting the entire draft into one day seems unrealistic, then perhaps it could hold the first few rounds on Friday morning or Thursday night, while requiring all teams to play Thursday day games that day. The additional time in between draft periods would give people even more time to work themselves into a lather before seeing how the draft unfolds.

MLB used to have its draft around this time, but moved it later to try to strengthen the lineup of All-Star Week festivities. Weirdly, they didn’t make room for it – they just dropped it on things that were already happening. And it’s had the knock-on effect of making the trade deadline more difficult to navigate as teams focus all of their resources on evaluating the draft instead of potential trades. Moving it up a few weeks would give that period more room to breathe as well.

This, by the way, is the same logic that led to Thanksgiving being scheduled the way that it is. President Lincoln had declared it the last Thursday of the month, but Franklin Roosevelt moved it to the fourth Thursday of the month to increase the distance between Thanksgiving and Christmas so as to expand the shopping season. (There was some other political wrangling in there, which you can read here, but that’s the gist).

Give the Futures Game space to breathe

This year, the Futures Game was played on Sunday afternoon at the same time as regular-season MLB games and the second half of the Draft. While, for many, the draft is uninteresting because the players being selected are often years away from contributing to MLB rosters, the players who show up in the Futures Game are almost always far closer to being ready to join their big league clubs. Fans could be interested in it. I know I would be if it wasn’t happening at the same time as everything else. To that end, they have two options. Require all MLB games to be played on Sunday afternoon before the All-Star Break, followed by holding the Futures Game that night, or move the Futures Game to Wednesday evening – the only day during the entire summer without a single baseball event taking place.

I can see arguments for either of them, I think I’d lean more toward Wednesday. At least in the short term I think it would draw better ratings from the baseball lifers who always spend all day Wednesday complaining that there aren’t any games. Plus, you go from the hype of the current stars to the future ones. You could even have highly drafted prospects give interviews during the game to make fans who don’t pay attention to the draft more aware of them.

If it were me, I think I’d make it a free broadcast on MLB.TV and do profiles of players (even, or maybe especially, ones who didn’t quite make the cut of the game itself) instead of commercials between innings. MLB might be giving up some ad money that way, but they would be doing wonders for building fan sentiment. I think it would be more profitable in the long term.

Organize the Home Run Derby

I’m not going to use this space to criticize the Netflix broadcast, even though it had a lot to criticize. MLB doesn’t have full control over the broadcast. I don’t remember how bad it has been in previous years, but the announcements of participants leading up to the Derby itself were incredibly weird and disjointed. Junior Caminero was the only known participant for a week. There was no discernible rhyme or reason to either the order or the method of the announcements. Some guys literally just dropped the news on their personal Instagram stories.

That’s no way to build hype for an event! MLB needs to figure out its entire field, and they need to do it earlier. Then they need to work with the players on a strategy for announcing it. Which would ideally include a sizzle reel on MLB social media accounts in addition to whatever other outlets they or the players want to use. MLB should also ensure that each team’s next broadcast includes mention of the upcoming Derby and the announced participants so everyone can keep track, even if no one from their team is participating. You shouldn’t have to use social media to know who is going to participate.

The rules also need to stop shifting all the time. In a lot of ways, I really liked the format this year. Not having a timer allows viewers to better enjoy each home run (though it would help if the broadcast showed them all…). But whatever format they pick, they need to stick with it for more than a year or two at a time. You can’t build legacy, history, or hype when there’s no real way to compare events between years.

There are always complaints about guys getting snubbed and the derby itself taking too long, but I have a solution for both. Let’s have a qualifying round early in the afternoon. MLB can maybe have 10 guys trying to get into the actual derby, but only 6 make it through. Then the derby itself would only have to feature those 6, which would cut at least 30 minutes off the run time. I think the Qualifiers would give guys a chance to acclimate themselves to the event so perhaps we’d be able to go without the one or two absolute duds we seem to get every year.

They should also ensure that the team hosting the All-Star Game had at least one participant in the qualifiers because, honestly, the Phillies faithful having a rooting interest gave the event a bit more energy, and I’d like to see that continue. If MLB wanted to give that player a bye through the qualifiers, that would probably be OK. I think I’d be fine either way.

Finally, MLB should figure out how to incentivize the biggest stars to participate again. It’s kind of wild that we hold this event dedicated to the smashing of dingers, and most, if not all, of the best dinger smashers decide they’d rather not participate every year. It’s not the end of the world; it’s entirely possible we don’t get a cool story like Jordan Walker’s come-from-behind walk-off victory if Yordan Alvarez is participating, but it does seem like it would be in the best interest of the sport.

Anyway, I think if MLB made most or all of those changes, the All-Star Break would be vastly improved. I’d also probably go back to having a special All-Star Announcement show held when no games were being played, but it also wouldn’t be the end of the world if guys were just announced on their team broadcasts as long as we had a ticker running underneath with all the other selectees. Again, the key here is not forcing people to find out via social media.

Do you think these changes would enhance your experience? Would you make these, or would you do something different?

Phillies' bullpen needs to become more acute with Keller's season-ending injury originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

In recent weeks, the bullpen has become the Phillies’ biggest concern, a question mark that needs to be addressed if the team is going to get where it wants to go over the final 2½ months of the regular season and beyond.

The issue became more acute Thursday when the team returned from the All-Star break and placed reliever Brad Keller on the injured list with a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

Keller will seek further evaluation but manager Don Mattingly said, “We expect him to be out for the year.”

If Keller needs surgery — which is usually the case with UCL tears — his recovery could extend deep into next season.

Keller, who turns 31 later this month, signed a two-year, $22 million contract with the Phils in the offseason. The team envisioned him as the right-handed bridge to All-Star closer Jhoan Duran with Jose Alvarado serving as the left-handed bridge. Alvarado (6.82 ERA) has struggled this season and now Keller, who pitched to a 4.02 ERA in 32 games, is out.

All this could make it imperative that Phillies baseball boss Dave Dombrowski add a quality late-game reliever before the August 3 trade deadline. Shopping for bullpen help has been an annual mid-summer errand for Dombrowski. Last year, he acquired Duran at the deadline.

While Duran has been stellar as the closer, the rest of the bullpen has been iffy — especially recently.

Since June 1, the Phillies’ bullpen ranks 25th in the majors with a 5.21 ERA. In July, it ranks 29th with an 8.05 ERA and it has walked 5.45 batters per nine, second-most in the majors over that span.

Keller first went on the IL with an elbow/forearm soreness in mid-June. He returned to pitch once last week in Cincinnati before feeling more soreness. An MRI Monday revealed the tear.

“It sucks,” the pitcher said. “It felt good in the rehab process. It felt good in Cincinnati, but the next day, I woke up and it was really sore and didn’t progress from there.

“With the position we’re in, I want to be there for the second half and fight with the boys. It’s tough to swallow.”

The Phillies entered play Thursday trailing first-place Atlanta by two games in the NL East. They were in control of the second NL wild-card spot.

When Keller first went down, Mattingly used right-hander Orion Kerkering more in late-game leverage situations. Over the last couple of weeks, Jonathan Bowlan has gotten more looks in late-game pressure situations. He has responded well.

On the last trip before the All-Star break, Bowlan pitched five times and had three holds over 4 1/3 scoreless innings. He struck out six in those five appearances and stranded four of the five runners he inherited. Bowlan features a fastball that can reach 100 mph, a slider and a changeup. The Phillies acquired the 29-year-old right-hander from Kansas City for Matt Strahm last winter. If he’s ready to put it together after bouncing between the majors and the minors the last three seasons, the Phillies will take it.

“His stuff works,” Mattingly said. “It’s a matter of making pitches and if you’re making pitches you’ll get outs.”

Predictably, Mattingly showed faith in his current group of relievers when asked if he believed the team needed outside bullpen help.

“I’m pretty comfortable the way this club is,” he said. “We’re always going to try to get better. Everybody is going to try to get better at the deadline if they can. But if you said this is our club the rest of the way and whoever is in the minor leagues is going to help us as we go forward, then we’re good enough to win.”

As far as potential help in the minors, Gage Wood and Alex McFarlane, both right-handers, are at Double A. Both throw hard and have breaking stuff, but strikes have been an issue. The Phillies will certainly monitor the progress of both while they rely on Kerkering, Bowlan and Alvarado to get the ball to Duran and Seth Johnson, Chase Shugart, Max Lazar and Tim Mayza to bridge the middle innings.

“We’ve seen Kerk be good,” Mattingly said. “During Keller’s absence, Bowlan stepped up. We need Alvy to be Alvy. And we’ll need the guys below to get big outs in the middle of the game. That’s kind of where we’ve struggled. Not so much at the end, but trying to get to those guys.”

Shohei Ohtani is a global superstar.

The 2026 ESPY Awards provided the latest evidence of that, with the Dodgers two-way player winning two trophies, as determined by fan votes, at Wednesday night’s ceremony in New York.

But as surprising at it may be — especially to those of us in the Los Angeles area who have witnessed the Japanese baseball phenomenon during his nine years with our local MLB teams — not everyone on the planet is familiar with the four-time MVP and two-time World Series champion.

The ESPYs provided evidence of that as well. Boxers Mike Tyson and Jake Paul joined musician DJ Khaled to present the award for best single-game performance. Ohtani — nominated for his historic Game 4 of the 2025 National League championship series against the Milwaukee Brewers — was the winner, as announced by Tyson.

Read more:Most pressing question for Dodgers in the second half: Can Shohei Ohtani stay healthy?

Paul told the crowd that Ohtani was unable to attend the event, but “he sends his gratitude and appreciation to ESPN and everyone who voted for him.”

Afterward, a hot mic picked up Tyson seeming to ask Paul a rather unexpected question:

“Shohei’s a guy?”

The question seemed to be genuine, and Paul gave a casual response to his friend and former boxing opponent. “Yeah, he’s a guy,” Paul appeared to say as the trio started leaving the stage.

The Times reached out to a Tyson representative for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Read more:Shaikin: Inside the Shohei Ohtani Economy driving a wild auction for his worn cleats

No shade toward Iron Mike for apparently not knowing much about Ohtani. Tyson is a legend in his sport and has a number of other ventures and interests that occupy his time. While he did throw out a ceremonial first pitch before a Brewers-Pittsburgh Pirates game in 2014, Tyson just might not be all that into baseball.

Also, the name Shohei isn’t at all common in the U.S., even amid Ohtani’s massive popularity. According to Parenting Patch, only nine American babies were given that name in each of the last two years. All of them were boys, but the odds are good that Tyson doesn’t know any of them.

If Tyson hasn’t been following Ohtani’s career, though, he’s missing out. Take the aforementioned Game 4 of last year’s NLCS as an example. Ohtani hit three home runs and pitched six-plus scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in a 5-1 victory over the Brewers that completed an NLCS sweep and sent the Dodgers to the World Series for the second straight year.

“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time,” manager Dave Roberts said after the game.

Read more:Shohei Ohtani scratched from pitching start, won't play in MLB All-Star Game

Ohtani was much more low-key in his postgame assessment.

“This time around, it was my turn to be able to perform,” he said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I think just looking back over the course of the entire postseason, I haven’t performed to the expectation.”

With his performance that night, Ohtani beat out fellow nominees Tyce Armstrong of Baylor baseball (three grand slams in a game), Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat (83 points in a game) and Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame basketball (16 steals in a game) for the award.

That epic game certainly contributed to Ohtani’s other ESPY of the night. He was named best MLB player over fellow nominees Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees, Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners and Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

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.

Turns out mid-market teams do have money to spend ahead of upcoming Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.

Emerging ace Chase Burns and the Reds agreed to a seven-year, $105 million extension that is tied for the largest in team history, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed.

It’s the largest guarantee to a pitcher with less than four years of service time, per The Athletic, and does not contain any options or deferrals.

Burns, 23, has blossomed into the front-end starter the Reds envisioned he would be when Cincinnati drafted him with the No. 2 pick in 2024 MLB Draft.

The righty is 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA across 18 starts, striking out 118 batters in 102 ⅔ innings to earn his first All-Star berth this season.

He is tied for the fifth-lowest ERA in the sport and is on track to receive Cy Young votes.

For Cincinnati, this deal now ensures they have an ace under contract through 2033 and buys out his initial years when he would be a free agent in exchange for paying him more now.

These types of deals have become more popular in recent years, with the players taking the higher pay earlier in their career and banking on the ability to cash in again as a free agent even with the delay.

The Red Sox recently extended budding superstar Roman Anthony, while the Tigers awarded stud shortstop Kevin McGonigle $150 million.

Pitching deals can be trickier due to the injury risk that comes with the position, but the Reds are in a position where they have to take such relative gambles.

Great American Ball Park is hitter friendly and the Reds rarely win bidding wars for free agents, making it hard to secure top-level pitchers.

It’s interesting that this notable deal comes from a team that is not a heavy spender ahead of what is expected to be a contentious CBA negotiation that could result in a lockout.

Those calling for a salary cap can point to deals like this to show that the owners do indeed have the money to spend, they just often chose not to allocate it to the players.

Despite Burns’ brilliance, the Reds (43-52) enter the second half in last place in the NL Central and eight games out of a playoff spot.

As the second half of the 2026 MLB season begins, the Mets are in sell mode as they look to retool before attempting to bolster their roster this offseason in an attempt to quickly return to contention in 2027.

Who are the players most likely to move between now and the Aug. 3 deadline? And who should the Mets be careful about parting with?

We already went through the keepers.

Here are the players likely to be available, broken down one-by-one...

Freddy Peralta

Should Mets trade him? Yes
Will Mets trade him? Yes

A pending free agent, Peralta could be the most established and highest-upside starting pitcher available at the deadline if the Tigers don't deal Tarik Skubal. Peralta's poor season to this point shouldn't be a hindrance when it comes to the Mets getting something of serious value back. 

Brooks Raley

Should Mets trade him? Yes
Will Mets trade him? Yes

A free agent at the end of the season, Raley has a 2.04 ERA and 1.13 WHIP this year and has been one of the most reliable relievers in baseball since 2022 -- with a 2.45 ERA (2.99 FIP) and 1.05 WHIP in 176.1 innings. He should net the Mets a nice package, especially in what is expected to be a sellers market. 

A.J. Minter

Should Mets trade him? Yes
Will Mets trade him? Yes

Like Peralta and Raley, Minter is set for free agency after the season. Unlike Raley, though, there is a big question about Minter due to the reduced velocity on his four-seam fastball since he returned from last season's lat surgery. But Minter has been excellent in limited action this season, posting a 1.42 ERA and 0.84 WHIP while walking just one batter in 19.0 innings.

Luke Weaver

Should Mets trade him? Only for a haul
Will Mets trade him? 50/50

Weaver is under contract for the 2027 season, when he'll count for $11 million toward the luxury tax payroll. So the Mets should set a high price and only budge if it's met. Though Weaver has been phenomenal this season, relievers are volatile. It would be tough to part with Weaver, but if the price is right, the Mets should sell high.

Clay Holmes

Should Mets trade him? No
Will Mets trade him? It's complicated

There is mutual interest in an extension that would keep Holmes with the Mets beyond this season. And when you consider Holmes' leadership, his ability to thrive in New York, and the Mets' need in the rotation, it makes all the sense in the world for them to get an extension with Holmes done. If they can't for some reason, it will be a no-brainer to trade him, with Holmes all but certain to decline the $12 million player option he holds for 2027.

Luis Robert Jr.

Should Mets trade him? Yes
Will Mets trade him? It's complicated

Robert is on a rehab assignment as he works toward a return from a back injury that has kept him out since April 26. And he's owed roughly $10 million for the remainder of the year. But with the Mets set to decline his player option for next season and nowhere to play him upon his return, they should make every effort to deal him.

Francisco Alvarez

Should Mets trade him? No
Will Mets trade him? Unlikely

Alvarez is under contract through 2029, makes relatively little, is just 24 years old, possesses huge power, and has been an above average hitting catcher during his five-year career. If a team blows the Mets away with an offer, they should accept it. If not, there's no reason to seriously consider trading Alvarez.

Luis Torrens

Should Mets trade him? No
Will Mets trade him? Unlikely

The Mets just extended Torrens through 2028, and he's one of the best defensive catchers in baseball. So dangling him right now makes little sense.

Francisco Lindor

Should Mets trade him? No
Will Mets trade him? No

A relatively rough first 40 games for Lindor, whose season was interrupted for two months because of a calf injury, has apparently led to people forgetting that he was an MVP-level player for the Mets from 2022 to 2025. Beyond that, the Mets would be selling incredibly low if they dealt Lindor now. Depending on the return, they could also be creating a massive hole in their lineup ahead of an offseason where the free agent crop isn't very enticing. It is not impossible to see the Mets eventually dealing Lindor, but now is not the time to do it.

Paul Blackburn had posted a 5.28 ERA in 15.1 innings with the Yankees in 2025. The team, however, saw something in him, something that persuaded them to keep him around despite that ugly number. Then, 2026 came around. The right-hander alternated good and bad outings, but even at his worst, the Yankees were patient. And their patience is paying off big time now.

Blackburn is sporting an amazing 2.22 ERA in 48.2 frames with the Yanks this year, one of the most improved Yankees of the season. If we zoom in closer, we see that his run since the start of June has been unbelievable, with a 1.11 ERA and a 60.3 percent groundball rate. Basically, Blackburn went from being on the roster bubble at one point to one of the most indispensable relievers in the organization. He is now an excellent multi-inning weapon for manager Aaron Boone, and even though the bullpen remains an area of focus ahead of the deadline, having Blackburn pitching like this allows the club to focus on other, more pressing needs.

Blackburn can throw seven pitches, but four of them are key to his success: the sinker, the cutter, the changeup, and the curveball. It just seems that every one of those four serves a specific purpose: the sinker helps him get that GB% up (it is, after all, 56.4 percent for the year as a whole, up from 43.8 percent in 2025), the cutter throws hitters off balance and forces them into weak contact (87th percentile 32.1 hard-hit rate), and the curveball and the changeup help him miss bats.

The curveball has a beautiful 45 percent whiff rate, an increase on the 38.5 percent he had last year with the offering. The changeup misses bats at a 28.6 percent rate, up from 26.2 percent in 2025.

Of course, the increase in velocity from year to year is of immense help. Blackburn’s sinker is averaging 94.2 mph this season, better than the 92.6 mph of 2025. Throw harder, and everything else will play up. Becoming a full-time reliever helps, that’s for sure. The Yankees have helped Blackburn reinvent himself and resurrect his career, and the pitcher is giving them a nice multi-inning option in their bullpen.

Sure, Blackburn’s 37/15 K/BB ratio isn’t really anything to write home about, but he limits the long ball (0.74 HR/9 in 2026) and doesn’t hurt himself with walks too often. He goes out there, throws strikes, and gets the job done almost every time he takes the mound. As you can see in the chart, Blackburn has actually improved his xwOBA against every year since 2024, until reaching a very solid .291 in 2026.

I can’t say I’m not surprised to watch him enjoy this kind of success. We all knew there was some talent in his right arm, but probably not to this extent. Sit back and enjoy the ride while it lasts, but even though he probably won’t finish the season with an ERA in the low 2.00s, the foundation is there to make this the new norm: Blackburn is probably here to stay as a reliable MLB reliever.