The Cubs Convention is over, and it’s back to the real world for us. The quartet above have had the most mentions in the trade/FA marketplace and that’s where most of the attention is being paid right now. I don’t think the Cubs are dealing either infielder and I don’t see them picking up Zac Gallen and his salary demands. Could be wrong, but probably not.
That isn’t going to stop people from speculating, nor should it.
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Today’s playlist — tons of interviews from Marquee and a few other speculative fictions.
Tom Domol (Cubs Insider*): 2026 Cubs have look, feel of true contender. “… the Cubs are just about as complete a team as they have been since that fabled squad from 10 years ago.”
Matthew Lenz (North Side Baseball*): Chicago Cubs interested in Zac Gallen, Miguel Andujar. “Bruce Levine and Jon Heyman are reporting that the Chicago Cubs are interested in Zach, Gallen (still) and Miguel Andujar, respectively.”
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Cody Bellinger is back in pinstripes, inking a five-year, $162.5 million contract to shore up the lineup behind Aaron Judge, and hedge some of the very real downside risk the club holds while rostering Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, and Jasson Domínguez. It’s the resolution to a very long standoff, with the Yankees holding firm on their offer for a couple months and the Mets seeming to drop out of the bidding on Tuesday night with their acquisition of Luis Robert Jr. from the White Sox.
It’s funny, then, that the Yankees seem to have re-upped with the player type that the popular media covering the team has said they’ve always needed. Bellinger’s 13.7-percent strikeout rate was the lowest of any Yankee last year — no qualifiers attached. If you stepped into the box in a Yankee uniform, you struck out more than Cody did last year. He also can capably play all three outfield positions, including arguably being a better center fielder than the incumbent Trent Grisham.
Without a single home run to left field, Bellinger is also the perfect fit for Yankee Stadium III. His underlying Statcast metrics indicate his ability to pull fly balls should have netted in a couple more long balls than he hit in 2025. One thing that I’m starting to look closer at in evaluating players is how they manage fastballs — pitchers today can do so many evil things with breaking pitchers, almost everyone seems to have multiple offerings on the cutter-slider-sweeper spectrum. Once you lose the ability to catch up with heat, you become exploitable across multiple fronts.
To his credit, Bellinger is still in the 75th percentile of run values against both four-seam fastballs and sinkers. This gives him a pretty reliable floor over the next half-decade. Being competent against hard stuff allows a hitter to be more aggressive early in counts, when you are still more likely to see fastballs and pitches in the zone, while Bellinger’s strike zone awareness and ability to make contact out of the zone, key to his low strikeout rate, hedge some of the weaknesses hitters display against the nonsense breaking stuff modern pitchers offer.
So he’s the ideal player, at least when we consider the charges levied at Yankee teams in the Aaron Judge era. They strike out too much, they can’t reliably hit once the opponent gets past the captain, they give away runs on defense that leave them behind the 8-ball over and over. Bellinger is a solution for all three critiques, and yet this signing isn’t really considered some landmark deal.
How much of this is Bellinger’s fault compared to the club overall? I’m tempted to say it has more to do with the way the roster is currently constructed:
The #Yankees' projected Opening Day lineup looks something like this now with Cody Bellinger back:
1. CF Trent Grisham* 2. RF Aaron Judge 3. LF Cody Bellinger* 4. DH Giancarlo Stanton 5. 1B Ben Rice* 6. 2B Jazz Chisholm Jr.* 7. C Austin Wells* 8. SS José Caballero 9. 3B Ryan… https://t.co/9JuFNCjkDH
There’s nothing wrong with this lineup per se, it’s just returning the same group we would have seen in like, mid-September last year, with everyone a year older to boot. It’s hard to imagine the Yankees being a better team in 2026 than they were in 2025 just because Cody Bellinger is back — but with less than three weeks before pitchers and catchers report, the time to continue improving seems to be running out.
The Royals offered Beltran a chance to develop at the highest level. Beltran lauded Brett and others for his ability to grow as a major league player.
“It was an incredible experience just to be able to be around George Brett,” Beltran said. “The influence that he was to me, just being able to learn from him and go to the (batting) cages with George and listening to him. Just listening to the way he approached the game, how hard he played the game of baseball and how much he enjoyed the game of baseball. So for me, it was a great experience.”
The Beltrán game I will always remember is Opening Day 2004. As I wrote above, the Royals had high hopes for that season. Against the White Sox that afternoon, they fell behind, trailing 7-3 going into the ninth. The Royals rallied, though and on a Mendy López pinch-hit, three-run home run (yes, a Mendy López home run), they tied the game. An Ángel Berroa single brought Beltrán to the plate.
Beltrán bashed a walkoff two-run home run. In the baseball wilderness from 1986 to 2013, I believe that was the most euphoric Kauffman Stadium ever was. It was a moment I’ll never forget.
As discussed in an article earlier this week, Collins is not particularly skilled against left-handed pitchers with a near-league-average wRC+ of 106. If he can keep this up, he will still improve the Royals’ outfield offensive production.
A deeper look into Collins’s pitch-tracking data shows that he does his most damage against breaking balls, with 6 of his 9 home runs last year coming off them. Despite his increase in power against breaking balls, he is particularly more likely to swing and miss against breaking balls from left-handed pitchers, with his whiff rate at 38% compared to his season average (and better than league average) whiff rate of 22.5%. If Collins can increase his batted ball rates against breaking balls from lefties, that could go a long way in improving his overall production.
The righthander blends now stuff with uncommon poise into a skill set that has helped him ascend to the top of the Royals’ system. If he does it again, he could have a case as the sport’s best pitching prospect.
Shields lasted just one start in the Arizona Complex League before earning a bump to Low-A Columbia. He thrived in the Carolina League, where he used stuff and savvy to carve hitters all summer. By season’s end, he’d earned the league’s pitcher of the year honors. He doesn’t have the kind of blow-away stuff as some of the other pitchers in the minors, but his pitchability and command should help him become a midrotation starter in a few years.
A bad trend has been cropping up among Rockies All-Stars in recent seasons. Since perennial All-Star Nolan Arenado, who earned selections 2015-19, was traded, every Rockie All-Star has performed worse in the season following their All-Star selection.
There wasn’t an All-Star Game in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and Arenado was traded to St. Louis in February of 2021.
That’s when it went downhill for Colorado All-Stars.
While the star-studded seasons were great at the time, things got worse shortly thereafter for RHP Germán Márquez, first baseman C.J. Cron, catcher Elias Díaz, and third baseman Ryan McMahon. This is a worrisome direction for Colorado, especially for breakout 2025 All-Star Hunter Goodman.
So what makes Goodman different, and how can he snap this skid?
The good news is that there are some positive indicators that show he’s better positioned to break the downward trend than his predecessors.
But first, I have to acknowledge that the Rockies have been a struggling team that has been worse each season since 2021, culminating in a 43-119 record in 2025. It’s hard to produce at the same All-Star level on a bad team that gets even worse every year.
2021: Germán Márquez
In 2021, Germán Márquez was named an All-Star and had a remarkable season. The then 26-year-old, who was playing his fifth full MLB season, posted a 4.40 ERA, went 12-11 in 32 games with three complete games and one shutout. He registered 176 strikeouts compared to 64 walks and 21 homers, finishing the season witha 2.4 rWAR.
In 2022, he was still decent, but dropped off. In 31 starts, he posted a 4.95 ERA and went 9-13 with zero complete games or shutouts for a 1.4 rWAR. He still struck out 150 batters and only walked 63, but he also gave up 30 homers.
Things got even worse for Márquez with significant injuries (Tommy John surgery, more elbow and biceps issues) and struggles in the following seasons that limited him to five starts in 2023-24. In 2025, Márquez went 3-16 in 26 starts with a 6.70 ERA and a -1.1 rWAR. Less than a month out from spring training, the 30-year-old still remains a free agent.
But it’s hard to compare pitchers and position players, so let’s focus on the last three All-Stars: Cron, Díaz and Ryan McMahon. It’s important to look at their All-Star campaigns and follow-up seasons before we get into Goodman’s numbers.
2022: C.J. Cron
In his ninth MLB season and at age 32, Cron built off of a strong 28-homer, 92-RBI season in 2021 when he got his first invite to the Midsummer Classic in 2022. He started with a bang, posting 21 homers, 69 RBI and a slashline of .298/.350/.552 in 346 at-bats before the All-Star break to earn the team’s lone selection.
In the final series before the All-Star break, Cron was hit in the hand by a fastball. It hindered his ability to hold the bat and it showed up in his stats. In the shorter second half of the season, he plummeted, hitting only .197/.263/.341 with eight homers in 251 at-bats.
The next season, Cron got worse in almost every major offensive category, though he did drop his strikeout rate a bit. Cron battled back spasms, even landing on the IL for nearly a month and a half. He was traded to the Angels midseason in 2023 during his 10th season in the league, which ended up being his final one. Like Márquez, Cron’s post-All-Star career was derailed by injuries.
2023: Elias Díaz
In 2023, Diaz, in his seventh full MLB season and at age 32, was the solo Rockie in the All-Star Game and the first Rockies catcher to get the nod. Díaz arguably had a better season in 2021 when he hit 18 homers, drove in 44 runs and posted a 2.2 rWAR in 106. He played more (141 games) in 2023 and was named the All-Star Game MVP, hitting the go-ahead, two-run homer in the National League’s 3-2 victory.
Díaz wasn’t quite as strong in 2024, but still was putting up good numbers as the Rockies No. 1 catcher. As the season continued and with Goodman tearing it up in Triple-A Albuquerque, the Rockies released Díaz in August after five years in Colorado. Díaz was picked up by the Padres, where he played the last two seasons.
Currently, he is a free agent.
2024: Ryan McMahon
Tasked with the weight of replacing Arenado, McMahon was an outstanding defender at third base, but wasn’t nearly as impactful at the plate. Like Díaz, McMahon might have had his best season in 2021 when he hit 23 homers and posted career-highs in rWAR (4.0) and batting average .254.
In 2024, at age 29 and in his seventh full season in the Big Leagues, McMahon had a great first half, slashing .272/.350/.447 with 14 home runs and 45 RBI in 360 at-bats.
Like Cron two years before him, McMahon cooled down after the All-Star break, hitting .188/.283/.309 with six homers and 20 RBI in 207 at-bats. Last season, McMahon struck out more and dropped his batting average by 0.28 points. On July 25, McMahon was dealt to the Yankees, where his numbers continued on a slight downward trend.
Overall, the trajectories aren’t good. McMahon could still right his ship in New York, but there weren’t happy endings for Cron and Díaz.
2025: Hunter Goodman
So, let’s dive into the three reasons that make Goodman more likely to repeat his “really, really, really good season,” as manager Warren Schaeffer put it in a press conference on Dec. 8.
The first advantage is Goodman’s age. He earned his first All-Star nod at age 25, which happened to be his second full season (third overall). He hit a higher level of play sooner than the other Rockies All-Stars, which hopefully means his career is still on an upward trajectory, as opposed to hitting a short-lived peak.
Second, Cron, Diaz and McMahon all fell into horrible slumps in the second half of their All-Star seasons. McMahon finished 2024 as the third-best Rockie (2.5 rWAR), Díaz’s rough second half of 2023 landed him as the sixth-best Rockie at 1.4 rWAR, and Cron’s struggles dropped him to No. 5 at 2.1 rWAR in 2022. While they got off to great starts, they weren’t consistent enough to finish as the top Rockies. Even without the last-season downfalls, it’s likely that none would have merited Midsummer Classic invites if they played on better teams.
Goodman had ups and downs, like every player does, but no significant drop-off after the All-Star break. He was the Rockies’ best player when All-Stars were named in July and at the end of September when he finished with a team-high 3.7 rWAR. Goodman was the best catcher in the National League in homers (31), RBI (91), average (.278), slugging percentage (.520) and OPS (.843). Goodman’s steady 2025 campaign was much more impressive from start to end than Cron’s, Diaz’s or McMahon’s, and he would have been an All-Star playing on any NL team.
Finally, McMahon, Díaz and Cron didn’t finish their post-All-Star seasons with the Rockies. All three went to other teams where they didn’t even start, as opposed to being the best Colorado player — even if for a short time. All three finished with significantly fewer games and plate appearances in the season following their All-Star selection.
While anything is possible under Colorado’s new front office, the Rockies seem to be building their new core around Goodman. In his December press conference, Schaeffer talked about wanting to see the young catcher develop as a leader moving forward. He also said he believes Goodman could even increase his game appearances and plate appearances from 144 and 579 plate appearances in 2025 to be more like Seattle’s Cal Raleigh. Raleigh, who consistently plays DH when he’s not behind the plate, played in 159 games and recorded 705 at-bats in 2025.
All signs point to Goodman having another star-studded season in 2026, and being the Rockie who breaks the post-All-Star slump trend.
Reporter Mike Mazzio caught up with Colorado’s new president of baseball operations and heard about why he wanted to join the Rockies, how he kept an eye on baseball during his time in the NFL and what changes he sees in analytics.
The local news outlet covered which Rockies will be there, including Hall of Famers Todd Helton and Larry Walker, what RockiesFest is like and what will be available during the 13th annual event on Saturday.
Yesterday, it was announced that the San Francisco Giants will have yet another former player inducted into the Hall of Fame this season. This time, it will be Carlos Beltrán getting the honors.
Congratulations to Beltrán first and foremost. But my goodness, the hypocrisy is strong with this one.
This is the same Hall of Fame that continues to keep Barry Bonds out at all costs, ostensibly because of his ties to the steroid era. Meanwhile, we’ve seen players like David Ortiz get voted in, despite testing positive for performance enhancing drugs.
And now Beltrán has been voted in as well, despite having a central role in the trash-can banging, sign-stealing legacy of the Houston Astros’ 2017 World Series Championship.
While many would argue that Beltrán’s on-field performance outweighs the controversy, where is that same case for Bonds?
Why is it that voters can ignore the steroid usage by Ortiz and the cheating by Beltrán because of their playing legacy, but Bonds (one of the all time greatest to ever play the game) doesn’t deserve that same consideration?
Ultimately, it’s not even necessarily about Bonds (or Ortiz, or Beltrán). It’s about the hypocrisy and the inconsistency of the enforcement of their arbitrary, unwritten rules.
Either players embroiled in scandals like these aren’t eligible, and that is enforced consistently, or you don’t get to use these things as an exclusionary tactic.
But they can’t have it both ways and still expect to be respected as an institution.
When things are going the way they’ve been going for the Knicks, can you ever definitively say you’re confident in them to win, regardless of opponent?
Yes, on paper, it was more likely the Knicks (26-18) would embarrass the Nets (12-30) by biblical margins than it was for them to manage to lose, especially when fully healthy. But after whatever the hell happened on MLK Day (and in Sacramento), the offense’s recent short-circuiting, and the fact that Cam Thomas has a penchant for scoring in bunches against the Knicks, I was worried.
Maybe I should’t have been. Some things transcend slumps and horrifically bad vibes.
When one team owns another the way the Knicks do to the Nets, they’ll win no matter what. This effect was reversed a few years ago, as the Nets, in the midst of their ten-game winning streak against the Knicks, came back from a 21-point halftime deficit despite missing Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Ben Simmons. Sometimes, you just own a team.
Nic Claxton would know, that’s 13 straight.
"Me I never lost to the Knicks since I been in the league"
Every so often, we get a game that makes you dig deep into the Statmuse files. Let’s see what we can get from this historic, 54-point drubbing:
It’s the largest margin of victory in franchise history. For a team that’s now played 6,231 games since 1946, that’s a lot. It breaks a three-way tie of games in 1968, 1972, and 1994, all 48-point wins.
The Knicks led by 59 in the final minute before the Nets scored five to end the game. That 59-point lead is probably the largest in franchise history, but we only have concrete data in the last 30-ish years. Looking at the box scores of the pre-play-by-play era games, I don’t think an anyone got to 60.
It’s the second-largest margin of victory by an NBA team this season. The Hornets destroyed the Jazz, 150-95, 11 days ago. The Knicks would’ve had this one, but Danny Wolf had to statpad with 10 seconds left. Alas!
The Knicks last allowed 66 points or fewer on April 13, 2012, when they smacked the Wizards 103-65. Wizards’ leading scorer? Jordan Crawford (who went 6-for-20 from the field).
The Nets are the first NBA team to score fewer than 70 points since… them last season (67). Last one to score less than that was the Mavericks on November 18, 2016, losing a disgusting 80-64 game to Memphis. Who remembers the 79-73 a few years ago?
The Nets last scored this few points on March 12, 2005. In case you forgot, team’s score more in like four minutes now than they did in whole quarters 20 years ago.
For reference, with 66 points, the Knicks have had 21 halves this season where they’ve put up 66 points. They’ve also allowed 10, with six coming since Christmas (yikes)
The Knicks have won 13 straight games against the Nets. It’s the longest streak in the rivalry’s history and is quickly rivaling the streak the Knicks had against the Pistons from 2020-24 of 16 straight.
120-66 is such a ridiculous score. It’s happened once before in NBA history, but it’s a score you’re more likely to see in non-conference college basketball. In November 2024, UMass Lowell beat NAIA Fisher College, 121-66. That’s a bunch of Division I athletes destroying a non-NCAA school. This just shouldn’t happen in the NBA with 15 of the best 450 players in the world on each bench.
There’s not much to say about the game itself. The only time the Nets looked anything other than total dog poo was when Egor Demin nailed two threes early. From what I’ve seen so far, the No. 8 overall pick has by far the best chance of becoming a solid NBA starter of the five first-round picks the Nets had this year. He’s shown some advanced playmaking, and the BYU product is a sneaky good shooter.
Egor Dëmin has, for the majority of his rookie season, shut down the narrative that he’s a non-shooter
He’s not just hitting catch-and-shoot looks, but he’s consistently creating threes for himself on the perimeter, too
What I really liked about how the Knicks started this game was the way they involved Karl-Anthony Towns early. The struggling big man finished with just 14 points in 20 minutes and still had some bewildering offensive fouls, but in a situation where he needed to come out and perform, he got off to a good start to quickly put the team up by double digits.
Jalen Brunson only had 20-5-4 in a team-high 31 minutes and went 1-for-8 from three, yet we won by 54, so who cares? It was a quiet game for OG Anunoby and a meh game from Mikal Bridges, but again, who cares? It was the Landry Shamet show, baby!
The Knicks shot 50% from three, a welcome sign after how bad they’ve been from deep this month. They also held the Nets to 27.5%, and it wasn’t wide-open bricks; it was forcing a bad team into bad shots. The Nets also shot 29.1% from the field, the lowest by an NBA team in two years. It was also the worst for the Nets since December 26, 2019, when they shot 26.9%… against the Knicks!
The increased defensive intensity was evident all night. I don’t have a clip show to show you, but the effort was there from the start. Kudos to the captain, who led by example and was visibly defending hard from the opening tip. Brunson’s not the worst defender when he’s engaged like this, it’s just hard when you’re also the only guy on the team that can dribble.
After the Mavs’ drubbing, I called back to the last time the Knicks got pulverized by the Mavericks at MSG while in the doldrums. After that game, Tom Thibodeau permanently benched Evan Fournier (although it was trending that way for a while), Derrick Rose, and Cam Reddish. History did repeat itself for Mike Brown, who banished Jordan Clarkson to the bench after his recent rough performance.
Jordan Clarkson, now outside of the Knicks' rotation, knows he can still help any team win games.
"I read the room. I see what it is. … I'm not gonna go in there and f**k the game up."https://t.co/IyTmAf6qR2
I don’t think Clarkson will be permanently glued to the bench, as his ability to create for himself is valuable, and when he’s hot, he’s hot. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was shipped out at the trade deadline if the Knicks are more active than just finding a taker for Guerschon Yabusele.
What’s important for the Knicks is that they, for at least one night, have quieted the noise behind a record-breaking effort. Make no mistake, beating the snot out of a tanking team means nothing for the very real problems they’ve had lately, but sometimes all it takes is one win to snap a team out of a funk. They’ve now played three straight elite halves of defense and, for the first time in months, will have consecutive days off at home before they next play the Sixers on Saturday.
Win that one, and I think brighter days are ahead.
Doncic wasn’t the number one overall pick in 2018, but it’s been obvious for a while that he should have been. It’s incredible to think that not only DeAndre Ayton, but Marvin Bagley Jr., and (technically) Trae Young were selected ahead of Doncic.
The Dallas Mavericks are hoping Flagg’s career mirrors that of Doncic’s, if not better. The only thing we have to compare right now, though, are the two young stars’ first 41 games, so let’s take a look at how they look next to each other.
Doncic’s highest scoring game in the first half of his rookie season came against the New Orleans Pelicans on December 28th, 2018. But his best game was probably a week earlier, on December 20th, against the Los Angeles Clippers. Doncic put up 32 points, four rebounds, five assists, and four steals in that game.
Meanwhile, Flagg’s highest scoring game in the first half of his rookie season is also his best game. On December 15th, 2025 against the Utah Jazz, Flagg notched 42 points, seven rebounds, six assists, two blocks, and one steal. Here’s what Flagg’s first 41 games looks like:
Flagg measures up to Doncic’s first 41 games pretty well! That’s encouraging for everyone rooting for Flagg to live up to that number one overall pick label.
Each rookie enters a completely different situation when they’re drafted. Some join well-run, competitive teams with a clearly defined role. Some enter rebuilds that are complete tear-downs. Others are dropped into absolute messes.
Doncic came into a more stable situation. His first game he started alongside veterans Wes Matthews and DeAndre Jordan, with J.J. Barea and Devin Harris coming off the bench. Dirk Nowitzki began the year injured and wouldn’t join the lineup until 27 games into the season, but he was there to guide Doncic as he adapted to the NBA.
That’s not to say everything was perfect for Doncic as he navigated those first 41 games. There were some issues with veterans freezing him out during games, and he had issues with head coach Rick Carlisle. But it went about as well as you could hope for an introduction to the NBA.
Flagg has dealt with a situation that’s much more murky, at least off the court. The Mavericks came into the season with a poorly constructed roster. With a lack of established point guards to get the talent-laden front court the ball, the likelihood of Dallas struggling was high. That alone was going to make things rough on Flagg.
Head coach Jason Kidd resorted to playing Flagg at point guard early in the season, and it didn’t go well. Thankfully that experiment was abandoned and the Mavericks’ rookie was moved to a more natural position at forward. Kidd found a guard rotation of Brandon Williams and Ryan Nembhard that’s been serviceable, and Flagg has benefitted greatly.
Flagg also joined a franchise in the midst of a front office mess. Just 11 games into Flagg’s rookie season, Nico Harrison was rightfully fired for trading one of the top five players in the NBA for one of the most injured in Anthony Davis. Since joining the Mavericks, Davis hasn’t played more than five consecutive games.
The sporadic availability of Davis, coupled with the tinkering Kidd has had to do with the lineup haven’t made things easy on the court for Flagg. Still, he’s pushed through and put up numbers that are comparable to Doncic and some of the best number one overall draft picks of the last decade. There’s still a whole second half of the season to play, but the Mavericks and their fans should feel great about the trajectory he’s on so early in his career.
The Phoenix Suns were completely screwed. The franchise’s all-in moves for Kevin Durant at the 2023 trade deadline and Bradley Beal to begin the 2024 offseason had backfired in epic fashion, resulting in just one playoff series win (with Durant only) before a first-round sweep and lottery appearance forced a hard pivot. The Suns had no choice but to trade Durant last summer coming off a 36-win season, and they followed it by waiving-and-stretching Beal, which put $19.4 million of dead money on their books for the next five years. In addition to putting themselves in a cap crunch, the Suns also didn’t have any draft ammunition without control of their first-round pick until 2032.
The Suns could have had a life vest for their future this summer, but they were too delusional to take it. Phoenix’s most prudent move would have been trading Devin Booker, and trying to recoup some of their own first-round picks that they’ve traded away. Instead, Booker signed an extension that will pay him $75 million once it kicks in for the 2028-29 season. It just feels very unlikely they can build a good team around him in the West while not owning any of their first-round picks.
Vegas didn’t believe in the retooled Suns either, putting their over/under at 30.5 wins entering the season.
Fast forward through the first half of the first year without Durant and Beal, and Phoenix has made me and their other skeptics look very stupid. The Suns are 27-17 and would make the playoffs in the West without needing to go through the play-in if the season ended today. After starting the year at No. 25 in my initial power rankings, Phoenix now cracks the top-10. The Suns are the most pleasant surprise in the league, and they’ve given their fans something to cheer for when everyone else wrote off their next half-decade.
How has Phoenix pulled off the best turnaround of the season? Let’s count the ways.
The Suns nailed their Kevin Durant trade
It felt like the Suns didn’t have any leverage when they went to trade Durant over the summer, because a) the whole league knew he was on the block, b) he was about to turn 37 years old, and c) he was on an expiring contract. Without a bidding war, the Rockets were able to land KD without giving back anyone of note from their young core or either of the future first-round picks they possessed from Phoenix. How could the Suns do that deal without at least landing Reed Sheppard? That was one of my complaints in giving Phoenix a D grade for the trade.
Whoops. It’s clear now that the Suns did very well in the Durant trade, and it’s part of what set them up for success this year and possibly beyond. The Suns checked every box in the trade:
They got a win-now veteran starter in Dillon Brooks, who gave them both the volume three-point shooting and competitive edge defensively that they needed
They got a young player with upside in Jalen Green, who could benefit from a change of scenery and wasn’t on the books that long even if it felt like he was a little overpaid
They got a long-term upside play with the No. 10 overall pick, which they used to swing on Duke center Khaman Maluach, who I had ranked No. 3 overall in the class
Three assets, one that could help immediately, one that aided their short-term future, and one that aided their long term future. Green has barely even played this year as he’s dealt with a lingering hamstring strain, and Maluach is essentially getting a redshirt year in the G League. Despite two of the three players contributing nothing so far, it was still a great for Phoenix that has a chance to pay off even bigger in the future.
The Suns nailed their coaching hire
Mat Ishbia demanded a head coach with championship experience from the moment he took over the Suns. After needing to fire Monty Williams, Frank Vogel, and Mike Budenholzer in the three years to begin his tenure, Ishbia allowed in his front office to go the other way with the hiring on Jordan Ott.
Ott had no previous head coaching experience and had never been a player. At 40 years old, he was most recently on staff the Cleveland Cavaliers under Kenny Atkinson, but his main qualification for the Suns seemed to be that he went to Michigan State.
Ott has obviously been outstanding through the first half of this season, and should be the runaway favorite for NBA Coach of the Year. Ott’s schematic brilliance has been on display in raising the Phoenix defense from No. 28 to No. 4 in just one year, but he’s also done a great job getting everyone to buy into their role to create an egoless team of role players around Booker.
The Suns nailed their fringe roster moves
Collin Gillespie was a two-time Big East Player of the Year and All-American at Villanova who went undrafted because he didn’t have the size, athleticism, or rim scoring teams look for in a point guard. The Suns originally signed him to a two-way deal in the summer of 2024, and he looked good enough in 33 games last year that Phoenix decided to give him a guaranteed one-year minimum deal for this season.
Gillespie has rewarded their faith by turning into one of the league’s best development stories this year with a +2.9 EPM grades out in the 92nd percentile of all players. Gillespie still doesn’t finish at the rim, but he’s become a 42 percent three-point shooter, a solid passer, and a menace defensively who ranks No. 16 in the league in steal percentage. Before the season, everyone wondered how Phoenix would find a point guard next to Booker, and Gillespie has given them everything they needed.
Jordan Goodwin has been another awesome find. The Suns claimed him after he was waived by the Lakers, and he’s emerged as one of the league’s best defensive pests this season. Goodwin is No. 4 in the league in steal percentage and No. 6 in steals per 100 possessions right now. Ott has also empowered him to jack threes at every opportunity, going from 6.2 to 9.7 three-point attempts per 100 possessions over the last year. Goodwin is knocking them down at a 35 percent clip so far, which is great for him.
Add in solid contributions from 2024 second-round pick Oso Ighodaro and current two-way guard Jamaree Bouyea, and the Suns changed their entire outlook this season by most the making of every fringe roster signing.
The Suns crush the offensive glass while still getting back in transition
The conventional wisdom that said crashing the offensive glass came at the cost of getting back in transition defensively is dead, and the Suns are the best proof. Phoenix ranks No. 6 in the league in offensive rebound rate and No. 5 in points allowed in transition per 100 possessions, per Cleaning the Glass.
The Suns have not adopted the double big mentality of many teams, choosing to play with 6’6 Royce O’Neale and 6’7 Dillon Brooks next to center Mark Williams. Phoenix has been able to chase the long rebounds that come from their missed threes with a smaller lineup, and they can get back quicker defensively.
Phoenix was terrible in both areas last year, finishing No. 23 in offensive rebound rate and No. 27 in transition defense. This more than anything is the best example of Ott’s genius at work.
The Suns have maximized every ounce of defensive potential
Durant felt like the Suns’ best defender last year. That’s a huge problem. By trading him, the Suns put a bunch of defensive-minded players around Devin Booker who could do the dirty work and help win the possession battle.
Last year’s Suns were No. 28 in defensive rating under Budenholzer. This year’s Suns are No. 4 in defensive rating under Ott. Aside from fixing the transition defense, the biggest adjustment has been empowering his team to hunt for more steals even if it means getting called for fouls. The Suns have gone from No. 28 to No. 3 in defensive turnover percentage, with both Goodwin and Gillespie turning into steals monsters. All the steals have helped the transition frequency significantly increase as well, and transition scoring is always more efficient than halfcourt scoring.
Opponents are only shooting 34.6 percent from three against Phoenix this year, so maybe they have some shooting luck on their side. Still, it has to be exhausting to play against a team that plays so physically defensively and always hunts the ball. I don’t think it’s all shooting luck.
The Suns are no joke
Building around Booker without cap space or future draft capital seemed like an impossible task for the Suns. Instead, they’ve pulled it off by targeting role players who could go all-out defensively and try to get extra possessions on the offensive glass. Booker has been a solid contributor to a great defense, and offensively he’s done well to get more easy baskets at the foul line even during a year when he’s not shooting the ball well from deep.
Just about every move the Suns made worked out. Trading two late first-round picks for Mark Williams was a fantastic move to add rim protection and rebounding, though he’ll need to be resigned in restricted free agency. Keeping Grayson Allen and O’Neale instead of trading them for Jonathan Kuminga (which the Warriors reportedly turned down) was hugely beneficial. Ryan Dunn and Ighodaro are late round draft hits who don’t need the ball to impact winning. Everything revolves around Booker, and he’s making a big impact (89th percentile EPM) despite a brutal 49.7 percent effective field goal percentage. Just imagine how this looks when Booker’s shots start falling, and Jalen Green’s microwave scoring becomes a full-time part of the lineup.
The next step will be harder to take for the Suns with their draft and cap sheet limitations. The easiest path to leveling up is unleashing Maluach. I still see a super long interior scorer and paint protector who will be able to eventually hit shots from the three-point line. Resigning Gillespie is also a must, and integrating Green without sacrificing too much of the defense will be a tough needle to thread as well.
I was so, so wrong about the Suns. There’s nothing wrong with being a plucky mid-table playoff team, and Phoenix has already achieved that. After successfully pulling off a retooling with very little flexibility, it would be foolish to think another step is impossible. The Suns had to get everything right to avoid a doomed future, and they actually did it.
In a game that didn’t feature Cade Cunningham and Caris LeVert, this felt like an opportunity for Jaden Ivey to get some increased playing time, but that didn’t happen.
JB Bickerstaff played 10 players last night and Ivey ranked 9th in minutes – only Javonte Green played less than him.
Ron Holland, Marcus Sasser, and Daniss Jenkins all played more minutes than Ivey.
It does feel like Ivey’s shot creation in the midrange has improved and his three-point stroke looks good, but his burst and explosiveness that made him such an intriguing prospect coming out of Purdue isn’t there anymore. Perhaps with more time it’ll slowly come back, but right now, he doesn’t have it.
As I watched last night’s game, it made me wonder: at this point, what does Ivey do that Sasser can’t?
There are more similarities to their game now than pre-Ivey-leg-break. Based on the depth at the guard position for Detroit, I think this is what makes Ivey expendable. Jenkins is more of a point guard, Sasser brings more offensive juice at a lower cost, and Green brings a 3-and-D look that no other guard on the roster can.
I think the writing is on the wall when it comes to Jaden Ivey’s future in Detroit.
I’ve been a consistent criticizer of the spacing on this team, usually due to the lack of shooting from Ausar and Duren, but the blueprint is there for these two co-existing.
Ausar’s inability to shoot isn’t an issue if he’s the on-ball initiator on offense, especially when he’s going downhill. I’m confident in his passing ability to find JD for a lob or make the right read to an open shooter at the three-point line.
If you pause the video right before Ausar throws the oop, you’ll see Duncan and Ivey in the corners with Tobias on the wing, and they’re all ready to shoot while spacing the floor. This is a great possession that minimizes the weaknesses of Ausar and Duren while also giving them ample room to operate inside.
DAVOS, Switzerland — Global inequality was a central theme at the World Economic Forum this week in Davos, as some of the world’s most powerful people gathered in the Swiss mountain enclave for the annual week-long discussion of global politics, money and technology.
It provided a fitting—if not also ironic—location for Todd Boehly, the co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, to defend his team’s superlative spending. The MLB team ignited baseball fans again last week after it signed Kyle Tucker to a four-year, $240 million deal. Tucker was among the priciest free agents of the offseason, and he joined a franchise that has won the last two World Series and currently has both the sport’s highest revenue and its largest payroll.
At an event hosted by Sportico adjacent to the forum in Davos, Boehly was asked whether the current economics of baseball were fair, and what it might mean for the sport’s looming labor fight. He started his answer by referencing the free-spending Yankees teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and the team’s 27 World Series titles.
“The facts are that ultimately you want really big teams that are pulling the league forward,” Boehly said in an interview.
The Dodgers have become a Rorschach test of sorts for baseball fans who are growing increasingly frustrated with the sport’s slanted economy. Some see the club’s owners as blowing the top off the sport, flexing their deep pockets to price out all but just a few other rivals. Others believe they are doing what all 29 other owners should—spending to win.
Baseball’s growing inequality has also become a central discussion in the sport’s looming labor fight. MLB’s current labor accord is up at the end of the upcoming season, and many in management have used the dominance of the sport’s elite as an argument for a salary cap. The MLB players union has unsurprisingly positioned that as an existential red line.
Boehly, who is the chairman of Eldridge Industries, said baseball was heading into what he called a “healthy” evolution. He also cited “mark-to-market” accounting, an economics principle in which assets and liabilities are re-priced as market conditions change.
“Demand for the sport continues to grow, and I think that there’s just going to have to be a little bit of teeth-gnashing about how it moves forward,” he said. “And I also think that there’s a mark-to-market that’s going to occur. And when those types of situations occur, there’s always a little bit of volatility.”
Boehly wasn’t the only person at the event to reference the Yankees, baseball’s most valuable team, in defense of the Dodgers. Former MLB star Alex Rodriguez, now the owner of the NBA’s Timberwolves and WNBA’s Lynx, threw his support behind the baseball team’s owners.
“It would be so hypocritical for me to dog the Los Angeles Dodgers when I played for the New York Yankees, and we were spending more money than anybody,” Rodriguez said in an interview.
While Boehly and Rodriguez are correct about those dominant Yankees teams of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the scale has changed slightly. In 2000, when the Yankees won their fourth World Series in five years, the team’s opening day payroll was $92.9 million. That was about 65% more than the median salary ($56.2 million) and nearly 6x the sport’s lowest payroll. The Dodgers last season opened the season at about $321 million, roughly equal with the New York Mets. That was more than double the median salary ($152 million) and nearly 5x the lowest-spending team.
The Dodgers last year became the first MLB team—and just the fourth sports team around the globe—to earn $1 billion in revenue. That number directly informs the team’s spending.
Boehly was asked what he considers to be the Dodgers’ budget. His answer: 40% of team revenue.
(Boehly’s Eldridge Industries is an investor in Penske Media Corporation, Sportico’s parent company).
Dallas Stars - 28-13-9 - 65 Points - 3-5-2 in the last 10 - Won 1 - 2nd in the Central
Columbus Blue Jackets - 22-20-7 - 51 Points - 5-4-1 in the last 10 - Lost 1 - 7th in the Metro
Team Notes Per CBJ PR
Columbus had its overall four-game win streak and four-game home points streak (3-0-1) snapped with a 4-1 loss to Ottawa on Tuesday.
The club continues a season-long five-game homestand on Thursday and is in a stretch of seven-of-eight games played at Nationwide Arena from Jan. 13-28 (2-1-0).
The Jackets have scored the first goal in 13 of the last 18 contests and 16 of the past 23. The team ranks sixth-T in the NHL in games scoring first in 2025-26 (28).
Columbus leads the NHL in goals by defensemen and ranks fourth in points with 37-86-123 in 49 contests.
CBJ are 5-of-14 on the power play in the last 5 games and rank third-T in the NHL in PP pct. since Jan. 11 (35.7 pct.).
The Blue Jackets rank 10th in the NHL in team save percentage since Dec. 22 (.906 in 14 GP).
Player Notes Per CBJ PR
Charlie Coyle is slated to become the sixth player from the 2010 NHL Draft to reach the 1,000-game milestone on Thursday vs. Dallas (199-316-515, 999 GP). He will also become the fifth player to play in his 1,000th game while in a Blue Jackets uniform (Sergei Fedorov, Vinny Prospal, Scott Hartnell, Jakub Voracek).
Jet Greaves ranks second in the NHL in saves and ninth-T in SV% since Dec. 22 (min. 6 GP) with a 6-3-1 record, 2.54 GAA, .915 SV% and 292 saves in 11 games.
Boone Jenner has collected assists in three of the last four games (1-3-4) and has notched 5-10-15 in 19 games since Dec. 11. He sits three assists from tying David Vyborny (204) for third on the club's all-time list in assists.
Kirill Marchenko has notched points in 11 of the last 14 contests dating back to Dec. 22 (8-7-15).
Mathieu Olivier combined for 21 hits in the last four contests and ranks second in the NHL with 62 hits since re-turning from injury on Dec. 28.
Zach Werenski, who leads NHL blueliners in goals (18, tied) and multi-point efforts (17), has registered points in 24 of his past 29 contests overall to lead NHL blueliners in goals (tied), points and points-per-game since Nov. 13 (14-27-41, 1.41).
Blue Jackets Stats
Power Play - 19.5% - 20th in the NHL
Penalty Kill - 75.4% - 28th in the NHL
Goals For - 144 - 21st in the NHL
Goals Against - 163 - 26th in the NHL
StarsStats
Power Play - 29.2% - 2nd in the NHL
Penalty Kill - 79.6% - 15st in the NHL
Goals For - 166 - 6th in the NHL
Goals Against - 138 - 6th in the NHL
Series History vs. TheStars
Columbus is 34-36-0-7 all-time, and 18-16-0-5 at home vs. Stars.
The Blue Jackets are 11-4-2 in the last 17 at home against Dallas.
The CBJ beat the Stars 5-1 back on October 21st.
Who To Watch For TheStars
Jason Robertson leads the Stars with 29 goals.
Mikko Rantanen leads Dallas with 44 assists and 63 points. He has 15 points in 14 games against the Blue Jackets.
Jake Oettinger is 18-10-4 with a SV% of .902.
Casey DeSmith is 10-3-5 with an .911 SV%. He hasn't played since January 13th.
CBJ Player Notes vs.Stars
Zach Werenski has 8 points in 12 games vs. the Stars
Charlie Coyle has 19 points in 39 games.
Sean Monahan has 18 points in 28 career games against the Stars.
Injuries
Brendan Smith - Lower Body - Missed 11 Games IR - Out for the rest of the regular season.
Miles Wood - Lower Body - Missed 10 Games - Week to week.
Denton Mateychuk - Lower Body - Missed 4 Games - Day to day.
TOTAL MAN GAMES LOST: 137
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There are now 63 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day. We’re much closer to the assorted milestones of spring training, now less than a month away from even the first spring training game. WBC-participating pitchers and catchers report on February 9, which is only 18 days away.
Everyone’s assumed list of choices for the Orioles again assumed pursuit of a top-end starting pitcher was shortened by one last night. The New York Mets, who’ve been aggressive in the past week or so, went out and acquired starting pitcher Freddy Peralta as well as former Orioles pitching prospect Tobias Myers. The Mets sent prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat to the Brewers.
That’s two top 100 prospects from yesterday’s freshly-released Baseball America top 100 list. Williams, an infield prospect was the #71 prospect on the list, with Sproat, a righty starting pitcher, at #81. There was some extra value coming back from the Brewers in here with the acquisition of Myers, a 27-year-old who’s pitched in 49 games over the past two seasons since debuting and put up a 3.15 ERA in that time. Prospect lists can’t be taken as gospel for considering alternate trades, but with that in mind, that’s pretty close to two Orioles prospects, Trey Gibson (#72) and Nate George (#86).
That’s quite a haul for a one-year rental of the headliner of Peralta. The Mets could afford to give up a pitching prospect like that because they’ve got two even higher-ranked in Jonah Tong (#44) and former Orioles draft pick Nolan McLean (#8). They should have just signed that guy instead of worrying about whatever medical concerns.
This deal simultaneously takes Peralta off the board for the Orioles or anyone else and presumably removes the Mets as a possible destination for free agent starting pitcher Framber Valdez. If so, what teams are even still on the hunt for Valdez? We have no idea what Mike Elias thinks of the dude or what kind of price point he might be comfortable with in the more aggressive mode he’s operating this offseason. All we know is nobody’s signed Valdez yet.
The Orioles need a dude. If they believe Valdez can be a dude, they’ve got to pay what it takes. I don’t know what will happen here, but it feels like at long last, this is the only possible option left to the Orioles.
Some AL East news broke yesterday with the news that the Yankees are re-signing their own free agent, Cody Bellinger, to a five-year, $162.5 million deal that Bellinger can opt out of after two or three years, unless labor unrest wipes out the 2027 season, then he can only opt out after three or four years. This reunion felt pretty much inevitable, as my counterpart Andrew Mearns at the Yankees site Pinstripe Alley wrote in his reaction to the signing:
As soon as outfielder Cody Bellinger decided to exercise his opt-out in early November and hit free agency again this offseason, it seemed like he and the Yankees would find their way back to each other.
Orioles fans can now hope that this fails spectacularly and hilariously as soon as possible. That may not be a realistic hope because Bellinger was pretty good last year, putting up 5.1 bWAR as he hit 29 homers and OPSed .813 over 152 games. No full-season Oriole had as many home runs or an OPS so high as that, and only Gunnar Hendersong among O’s position players had a greater WAR. This year will be the age 30 season for Bellinger. Even the Chris Davis contract, miserable failure that it was, saw Davis post 3.0 bWAR in his age 30 season.
Are you ready for the evolving snow event and extreme freaking cold that are starting this weekend? It’s a good thing the Birdland Caravan is starting today, because maybe the Thursday and Friday events will be able to go off without a hitch. Saturday events, I guess that depends on when the snow is really supposed to start. Don’t put off the emergency grocery shopping until it’s too late.
Remaining questions before Orioles spring training begins (Baltimore Baseball) “Are they going to get a number one starter?” is the first question, same as it has been since the offseason began. It is only even more a question now that Peralta has been dealt and the choices are even more slim.
Today in 2006, the Orioles traded Jorge Julio and John Maine to the Mets for Kris Benson. Although they acquired two years of Benson, he only pitched one season with the team, posting a 4.82 ERA (94 ERA+) in 30 starts. Sadly, this made him that team’s effective #2 starter.
There are a few former Orioles who were born on this day. They are: 2014-17 pitcher Ubaldo Jiménez, 2004-05 pitcher Aaron Rakers, 1967-72 pitcher Dave Leonhard, and 1954-54 infielder Bobby Young.
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday to you! Your birthday buddies for today include: philosopher Francis Bacon (1561), poet Lord Byron (1788), pepper spice categorizer Wilbur Scoville (1865), DJ Jazzy Jeff (1965), actress Diane Lane (1965), and Maryland-born rapper Logic (1990).
On this day in history…
In 1901, England’s Queen Victoria died after reigning for 63 years. Her son, who took the regnant name Edward VII, became king at the age of 59.
In 1905, a revolution sparked in Russia following the massacre of hundreds who were attempting to deliver a petition to the tsar seeking better conditions for workers.
In 1973, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier was resoundingly beaten by challenger George Foreman, being knocked down six times before the Kingston, Jamaica fight was stopped in the second round. This fight produced the famous sportscasting exclamation: “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!”
A random Orioles trivia question
I received a random book of Orioles trivia for Christmas. I’ll ask a question in this space each time I write until I run out of questions or forget. The book has multiple choice answers, which I’m ignoring because that would just be too easy. Today’s question:
The 1971 Orioles had four pitchers with 20+ win seasons. These were Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally, Jim Palmer, and which other pitcher?
**
And that’s the way it is in Birdland on January 22. Have a safe Thursday.
The Chicago Blackhawks are being viewed as likely sellers with the 2026 NHL trade deadline starting to get closer. One Blackhawks player who has been a popular name in the rumor mill is forward Jason Dickinson, and it makes sense with him being a pending unrestricted free agent (UFA).
Due to this, let's look at three teams that could pursue Dickinson this deadline season.
Edmonton Oilers
The Oilers could be on the hunt for another center leading up to the deadline, so they could make sense as a landing spot for Dickinson. The 30-year-old would have the potential to be a nice fit in their bottom six and would also give them another clear option for their penalty kill.
Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lightning are one of the top teams in the NHL this season and will be buyers at the deadline. One area they could look to boost is their bottom six, and bringing in a player like Dickinson would provide them with just that. Thus, they could be a club to keep an eye on when it comes to the Blackhawks forward.
Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers remain in the playoff race and could look to add to their roster ahead of the deadline because of it. With center Rodrigo Abols currently injured with a fractured ankle, perhaps they could look to add a veteran forward like Dickinson for their bottom six and penalty kill.
Had Scott Laughton's penalty shot in the second period gone in, the Toronto Maple Leafs could've been walking away from their game against the Detroit Red Wings with a different outcome than a 2-1 overtime loss.
As Laughton stepped up for the free breakaway, you would've thought: surely the veteran forward is going to walk in and score a slap shot on Red Wings goaltender John Gibson.
Instead, Laughton approached Gibson slowly and eventually mishandled the puck, allowing it to stay out. Why didn't he walk in and attempt his patented clapper?
"I was too tired," he said. "I should've faked a broken stick and let (Auston) Matthews go or something."
Despite the overtime loss — plus a failed penalty shot attempt — Laughton wasn't too down on himself after the game when discussing what occurred on the chance which could've put Toronto up 2-1.
"I've done that move before. Just lost the puck, that's pretty much it," Laughton continued. "I could probably shoot it there, but it's easy to say once I watch it again and slow it down and do all that.
"But it doesn't go in, and the sun comes up tomorrow, and we get back after it."
The 31-year-old, though, did have the Maple Leafs' only goal in the game, which came in the opening period off a nice tic-tac-toe play between him, Steven Lorentz, and Calle Jarnkrok.
"(Jarnkrok) fans on it, tried to go for a rebound, and was lucky enough that it bounced off a stick, and I had a wide-open net," added Laughton.
It was Laughton's seventh goal and ninth point in 32 games this season.
Although the trio of Laughton, Lorentz, and Jarnkrok were outchanced in the game at five-on-five, they did have a 66.49 percent expected goals-for at five-on-five, the best among all four of Toronto's lines against Detroit, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
"They were good. I mean, they got us a goal," head coach Craig Berube said, "but just they played against one of those top lines most of the night and did a good job against them and didn't give much up and checked well, did what they do, killed penalties. They were good."
A loss is a loss, albeit it was overtime. They did get one point.
Opponents are only going to get harder: the Vegas Golden Knights roll in on Friday, while the Colorado Avalanche come to Toronto on Sunday afternoon.
Scott Laughton, on what he expects the atmosphere to be like in Mitch Marner's return on Friday:
"It's going to be good. I think Mitch did a lot for this city while he was here. He was a really good player for this team for a while... Yeah, I'm sure it's going to be ... loud."
Games are only going to get tighter, too, as we saw on Wednesday evening against the Red Wings.
"You want to get the extra (point), I think, especially within the division, but we didn't, and we keep moving forward," said Laughton.
"I thought we played a better game than Minnesota. We were tighter. Our D grinded. You go down to five D that early, it's a grind, and they played really well for us. (Joseph Woll) was good. The guys stepped up.
"We just got to find a way to get that extra goal, a greasy one at some point in the game. But we didn't, and we just got to keep moving."
