Former Stanford football coach Troy Taylor has filed a defamation lawsuit against ESPN over an article which led to his firing.
Report: Yankees agree to acquire All-Star closer David Bednar from Pirates for 3 prospects
PITTSBURGH — Looking to fortify their bullpen for the stretch run, the New York Yankees agreed to acquire two-time All-Star closer David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates a few hours ahead of baseball’s trade deadline Thursday.
New York was set to send catcher/first base prospect Rafael Flores, catcher Edgleen Perez and outfielder Brian Sanchez to the Pirates in exchange for Bednar, a person with knowledge of the deal told The Associated Press.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the deal was pending a review of medical information and had not been announced.
The Yankees had been seeking more late-inning options for their bullpen, which entered Thursday with a 4.24 ERA — including a 6.27 mark in July.
Knicks closing in on adding Brendan O’Connor to top position on Mike Brown’s staff
The Knicks are closing in on a deal to add Clippers assistant Brendan O’Connor to a top position on Mike Brown’s staff, league sources tell SNY.
O’Connor, a longtime assistant coach, has a strong defensive acumen. He’s worked for the Clippers under both Ty Lue and Doc Rivers. He will be Brown’s top assistant on defense. The Knicks have been looking to add two coaches to Brown’s staff, and their next hire will presumably be Brown’s associate head coach.
Brown will keep some coaches from Tom Thibodeau’s staff, including Darren Erman, Mark Bryant, Maurice Cheeks, Rick Brunson and Jordan Brink.
New York has been denied permission to speak to several assistant coaches the club had interest in. The Knicks were in touch with Pablo Prigioni for a top assistant spot, but Prigioni decided to stay in Minnesota.
Sirius XM’s Frank Isola first reported that the Knicks and O’Connor were close to a deal. The New York Post first reported that O’Connor will be the top defensive assistant in New York.
Yankees acquiring reliever Jake Bird in trade with Rockies
The Yankees continue to add to their bullpen, acquiring right-hander Jake Bird from the Colorado Rockies, per multiple reports.
According to ESPN's Jeff Passan, the Yankees are sending second base prospect Roc Riggio and left-handed pitching prospect Ben Shields to Colorado. MLB Pipeline ranked Riggio as the No. 10 overall prospect in the Yankees' system, with Shields coming in at No. 28.
Bird, 29, is in his fourth pro season with Colorado, pitching to a 4.73 ERA with 62 strikeouts in 53.1 innings pitched.
Bird isn't just a rental for the Yankees, as the righty is under club control and arbitration eligible through the 2028 season.
Earlier in the day, the Yankees acquired David Bednar from the Pittsburgh Pirates, and it's clear that improving the bullpen was a huge focal point for GM Brian Cashman and the rest of the front office.
Mets acquiring Cedric Mullins in trade with Orioles
The Mets are trading for Orioles center fielderCedric Mullins, reports SNY MLB Insider Andy Martino.
In exchange for Mullins, who is set for free agency after the season, the Mets are sending three right-handed pitching prospects to Baltimore: Raimon Gomez, Anthony Nunez, and Chandler Marsh.
Gomez, whose fastball has reached as high as 104 mph, was No. 28 on SNY's preseason Top 30 list. Nunez and Marsh were not on the list.
Before dealing for Mullins, the Mets spoke with the White Sox about a potential trade for Luis Robert Jr. But Chicago's asking price was likely prohibitive.
Mullins has picked it up offensively lately, slashing .321/.333/.547 in 57 plate appearances over his last 16 games.
Overall this season, he has hit .229/.305/.433 with 15 home runs, 19 doubles, and 14 stolen bases. His OPS+ is 103, which is a tick above average.
Defensively, Mullins is in the 83rd percentile this season while being worth 2 OAA, via Baseball Savant. On Wednesday afternoon against the Blue Jays in Baltimore, he made a highlight-reel catch while going high above the wall to rob a home run.
An All-Star in 2021, Mullins has hit .250/.318/.426 with 101 home runs and 140 doubles in 784 games over eight big league seasons -- all with the O's.
Adding Mullins to the mix will help provide some length to the bottom of the Mets' lineup, and signal an end to Tyrone Taylor and Jeff McNeil splitting time in center field.
Taylor -- an elite defender -- has been struggling badly at the plate this season, slashing .201/.258/.295 with a 60 OPS+. McNeil had been playing an admirable center field, but was out of position.
From The Archive: Rings For Wings: Part III
The Hockey News has released its archive to all THN subscribers: 76 years of history, stories, and features.
Subscribe now to view the full THN Archives here
Also, go to thn.com/free to subscribe.
Rings For Wings: Part III - Apr. 19 2002 - Vol. 55, Issue 32 - Mark Brender
On the morning of an April battle with Original Six rival Toronto, a surprise awaits Detroit backup goalie Manny Legace as he comes clomp-clomping down the hallway for the game-day skate. When he gets to the bench he stops, pulls up his mask and takes in the scene.
“Holy kids day!” he exclaims.
Chris Chelios and Brett Hull and a few other Wings are already out there, but so are a dozen shinny-playing squirts and peewees and five-footers in ‘Robitaille’ sweaters, some wearing hockey gloves, some wearing shin pads (no socks), none with any idea it might be time to get the heck off of Joe Louis Arena ice.
Legace shrugs, heads to his crease and assumes the position.
The rest of the Wings don’t seem to mind much, either. Soon they’re all out there, skating, stretching, and the kids - one is Luc Robitaille’s son, another a Chelios boy - stand out like baby pines in a redwood forest. Some wiseacre points out the pint-sizers to associate coach Dave Lewis. “That’s your lineup tonight,” he offers. Hey, could be. Anything to keep things interesting. In the final weeks of the season other teams fight for a playoff spot or to firm up their position.
These Wings fight apathy While they talked of getting prepared and doing the little things right – and they are in a grumpy mood following a 5-4 OT loss to the Leafs the truth is Detroit needed to accomplish : only three things before the post season:
One, get some downtime for key veterans such as Sergei Fedorov, Igor Larionov, Nicklas Lidstrom and Chelios. Competitive balance be damned, the Wings felt they earned the right to rest by clinching first place overall before anyone else clinched a playoff spot.
Two, get Steve Yzerman fully healthy from his knee injury. As strong and deep as the Wings are, last year provided the perfect example of how losing their captain can change everything. A fractured ankle kept him out of all but Game 1 of the opening round series versus Los Angeles The Wings fell in six.
Three, pray nobody else gets hurt.
Now, if all those are accomplished, can the Stanley Cup be far behind?
What Will It Take For Detroit to Be Considered a Cup Contender?Exploring benchmarks the Red Wings must hit if they want to be a Stanley Cup contender next season
Consider that over the regular season, the Wings have been the NHL’s best offensive team and second-best defensively. They have the second best power play and fourth-best penalty killing. With Yzerman, Fedorov and Larionov, they are ’ unrivaled at center. One of their defenseman, either Lidstrom or Chelios, will win the Norris Trophy The other will finish second. There’s also this Hasek fella. They say he can play some.
They have the playoff experience– ten players remain from the Stanley Cup teams of 1997 and ’98 - and the hunger. Hasek and Robitaille have never won Stanley Cups. The rest of the corps believes it hasn’t won enough of them. Funny how just six months ago, this team had its doubters. Too few pucks on the ice, too much Geritol in the medicine cabinet. It has been a long time since anyone worried about either one.
“The question was could (coach) Scotty (Bowman) find enough ice time to keep, everybody happy and I think Scotty has done that,” says GM Ken Holland. “It’s a happy bunch.”
Sure, the Wings have the NHL’s highest payroll, but the Rangers aren’t far behind and look where it got them. Holland deserves credit for bringing in the type of players that could coalesce around a single goal.
“Guys don’t care this year who gets it done as long as we get it done,” says winger Darren McCarty. “That’s really the secret to our success. No one’s got another agenda than to win. Unless we win the Stanley Cup this year it’s an unsuccessful season. Is that pressure? A little bit in a way, but nothing we haven’t all felt before.”
Any jealousy that has surfaced in the Wings’ midst has come from their opponents. Larionov and Fedorov have both heard from friends who say Detroit has such a great team they wish they could be part of it. They are awed by Detroit’s magical puck possession and its roster of stars.
“I got that sense,” Fedorov says, “but I said we still have our own problems.”
Michigan-Based Universities Dominating Recruiting With Top Class of 2025Michigan-based universities have solidified their dominance in the world of college hockey by securing top-tier recruiting classes for 2025, according to recent rankings.
Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-day coverage, and player features.
Popular Target
Players such as Tomas Holmstrom provide more than enough grit to see Detroit through in close games. “We feel we’ve got a team that can win 2-1 in the playoffs,” said GM Ken Holland.
Like, say, which future Hall of Famer’s mass-marketed T-shirt to wear in the dressing room? After the Leaf game, trade deadline pickup defenseman Jiri Slegr sports the Hasek model. It’s a caricature of a goalie with an angular head sprawled out in front of a net, bending like a boomerang. The bottom reads “Dominik Hasek Fan Club.”
“One thing surprised me,” Slegr says, sitting in his corner stall. “There are so many superstars and you don’t even know about it. They don’t act like superstars. They are just so friendly”
It is easy to be over-whelmed by this cast of active hockey heroes, to think that they have fundamentally changed the complexion of the team. At first glance, not only & are these a far cry from your father’s Red Wings, they’re not even your older brother’s. Along with the star-factor, it seems, has come decrease in the prominence of Detroit’s grit. McCarty is the prime example.
Four years ago, if you were asked to identify four key Wings, Claude Lemieux’s hit-man would be on every list. This season McCarty was a healthy scratch nine times. His dream of stepping into the scoring bruiser role vacated by Martin Lapointe has never materialized.
“I was looking forward to that,” McCarty says. “But then after you sign guys like Brett Hull, Luc Robitaille, you’re bringing in 1,300 goals or 1,200 goals or whatever it is, so that sort of squishes the spot for that offensive move you’re looking for.”
McCarty’s ice time, as much as 17:04 in 1998-99, has fallen to less than 12 minutes a game. And his old Grind Line center Draper has been moved to right wing where his speed can be used in an offensive role.
But Detroit without old-time sandpaper doesn’t quite fit. This is a team that honors its Stanley Cup and award winners in red paint on white cinderblock in a hall-way under the stands. The Wings still have stanchions holding up their glass. A routine scrum can propel 20,000 Joe Louis fanatics their feet, hollering for blood.
And the truth is the Wings haven’t lost their grit; if anything, it’s only spread out better among the four ever-changing lines. Shanahan, Tomas Holmstrom, Draper, McCarty, even Robitaille all get dirty in battles for pucks along the boards.
If the Wings weren’t such a great skating team, you could even say their wall work was a strength.
As always, in the post-season they’ll need their hard hats as much as their talent. Foes may be awed by the Wings’ glitter, but that doesn’t mean they’ll abandon the fight in the alley
“You think they’re going to lay down with all that (superstar) baggage in the background?” asks center Sergei Fedorov. “It has never happened and it never will.”
If Fedorov and the Wings believe their own words, that might be the best sign of all. They certainly have so far.
Hall of Fame awaits Winged retirements
Detroit’s star-studded lineup includes nine potential Hall-of-Famers. Players are given four stars (shoo-in), three (a good shot) or two (on the bubble) to indicate their chances.
From landslide to Cup?
Detroit’s projected 17-point margin over the next-best regular season team would be the third-highest since 1967 expansion. The Wings had a 27-point margin in 1996, when they lost in the second round. Here’s how the runaway first overall finishers have fared come playoff time.
Detroit Red Wings 2025-26 Promotional ScheduleThe Red Wings announced their promotional schedule for the 2025-26 season
Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites!
Five NHL Teams With The Longest Competitive Windows
As the NHL continues to evolve with a rising salary cap and a greater emphasis on youth and speed, a team’s window to win can open and close faster than ever.
That makes long-term roster planning more important than ever. Franchises that can secure their core, be conscious of the cap and maintain a steady flow of young talent are better positioned to remain competitive season after season, even as the rest of the NHL evolves.
Five NHL teams, in particular, are built for the long haul. These teams aren’t just competing for a Stanley Cup next season – they structured their rosters with a balance of proven and upcoming young talent signed long-term, giving them the chance to be perennial contenders.
Florida Panthers
It seemed nearly impossible for Florida Panthers GM Bill Zito to lock up Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Brad Marchand as they were all due for significant raises following a second straight Stanley Cup victory. A rising salary cap and a clear desire to win by all of those players helped put together one of the most remarkable off-seasons in the Salary Cap Era.
With Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Bennett, Marchand, Seth Jones, Ekblad and Gustav Forsling all signed until at least 2030, there isn’t a team that is better constructed for the rest of the decade to consistently challenge for a Stanley Cup.
Sergei Bobrovsky is entering the final season of his contract with a $10-million cap hit. While he would undoubtedly deserve around the same average annual value, this summer is proof that nobody should be surprised if the 36-year-old ends up taking less to help Zito add even more talent to this incredible roster.
In every area of the ice, the Panthers have legitimate star-level talents who have proven to shine in the biggest moments. There’s no reason to believe they won’t stay competitive for a very long time.
Tampa Bay Lightning
While the Tampa Bay Lightning’s reign as back-to-back Stanley Cup champions in 2020 and 2021 may have felt like the end of the story for this core, there are many reasons to believe this group might not be done yet.
Brayden Point, Jake Guentzel, Brandon Hagel, Anthony Cirelli and Yanni Gourde are all under contract for at least the next five seasons. Victor Hedman and Erik Cernak will be leading the defensive core for the next four, and goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy is around for at least the next three seasons.
While Nikita Kucherov’s contract is just two seasons away from expiring, there are no indications that the perennial Hart Trophy candidate has any desire to leave. Why would he want to?
Not only do the Lightning have a core of remarkable forwards, but with no player earning more than $9.5 million per season, GM Julien Brisebois has a ton of flexibility with a rising cap to consistently build around the team’s depth year-over-year.
After trading prospect Isaac Howard this summer, a lack of upcoming prospects could be a cause for concern for this core as years progress, but there’s no doubt the Lightning have the foundation to compete for Stanley Cup championships continuously.
Dallas Stars
While Dallas fans may be disappointed with this Stars core’s inability to get past the Western Conference final over the last three seasons, adding a game-breaking talent, Mikko Rantanen, truly has changed the trajectory of this organization. It really feels like the question is not if, but when the Stars will hoist the Stanley Cup.
Even with Mason Marchment and Logan Stankoven being traded, Jason Robertson being a topic of trade speculation and Jamie Benn nearing the end of his career, the Stars still boast one of the most dangerous cores in the league.
Wyatt Johnston, Roope Hintz, Rantanen, Miro Heiskanen, Esa Lindell and Jake Oettinger are all signed for at least the next five seasons. They also have a mix of younger emerging talent they will likely retain for many years, highlighted by Mavrik Bourque and Thomas Harley.
Harley is obviously at a significantly different point in his development than Bourque as he potentially pushes for a roster spot on Team Canada at the 2026 Olympics. That said, with both players being just 23 years old, they reinforce how dominant the Stars look capable of being for the present and the foreseeable future.
New Jersey Devils
While the New Jersey Devils still need upgrades to truly be considered Stanley Cup contenders, having a core of Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce and Johnathan Kovacevic signed for at least three seasons makes it hard to believe they won’t find a way to make a deep run at some point.
That list excludes Nico Hischier, current RFA Luke Hughes and Jacob Markstrom, three integral players who are due for contracts over the next two years. The Devils likely won’t have issues retaining Hischier and Hughes, but they do have an important decision to make regarding Markstrom’s future with the club.
After extending Jake Allen to a five-year deal with a modest $1.8-million cap hit, how much salary and term are they willing to commit to another veteran goaltender in Markstrom? They must decide whether Nico Daws is ready to become a full-time NHL netminder or whether there are alternative options they can target. It’s tough to project, but the Devils’ competitive window will change drastically if they fail to maintain a strong one-two punch in the crease.
Carolina Taking Risk, Setting The Standard With Jackson Blake SigningThe Carolina Hurricanes have become known for thinking outside of the box, doing things their own way and even playing a brand of hockey that is unique to their team. So when they announced the eight-year extension of Jackson Blake, a rookie last year with 34 points in 80 games, there were eyebrows raised throughout the hockey world. When everyone took a step back and broke things down, the deal was viewed as a long-term value play despite the $5.117 AAV.
Carolina Hurricanes
The past few seasons have been a rollercoaster for the Carolina Hurricanes.
With multiple exits in the Eastern Conference final and failing to retain two major rental acquisitions – Guentzel and Rantanen – GM Eric Tulsky has still managed to build this team for long-term success somehow.
The Hurricanes’ homegrown core of Sebastian Aho, Andrei Svechnikov, Seth Jarvis, Jackson Blake and Jaccob Slavin are all locked up for at least the next seven seasons. Tulsky also brought in Logan Stankoven, Nikolaj Ehlers and K’Andre Miller on long-term deals in the past few months.
Similarly to the Devils, the real question marks come in net, considering Frederik Andersen’s injury history and Pyotr Kochetkov’s unproven track record and struggles in the playoffs. However, the Hurricanes possess so much talent from top to bottom that it’s hard to deny their status as perennial contenders.
Get the latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com.
How Buster Posey's MLB trade deadline selling approach shapes Giants' future
How Buster Posey's MLB trade deadline selling approach shapes Giants' future originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — The last two weeks have been unfathomably bad for the Giants, but Buster Posey has actually watched this movie before.
Posey was one of the stars of the 2016 team that came out of the All-Star break with a 1-7 road trip through San Diego, Boston and New York. If your counter is that this 2025 stretch has been filled with particularly hard-to-watch plays, take a few moments and find a video of Santiago Casilla’s walk-off balk at Petco Park nine years ago.
That collapse led to the stunning Matt Duffy-Matt Moore swap, but there was a key difference back then. The 2016 Giants were the best team in baseball for most of the first half and had built such a cushion that they still found themselves in first place and 17 games above .500 on deadline day.
This year’s group was nine games up just three weeks ago, but has been in a freefall ever since. The Giants dipped under .500 the day before the deadline, and that was enough for Posey to swallow hard and commit to becoming a seller, something the Giants have just about entirely avoided since moving to Oracle Park 25 years ago.
“We wanted to be in a different position, to add. Unfortunately, with the way we’ve played, we had to make a decision here to try to add some talent that we felt like could help us going forward,” the president of baseball operations said. “Overall, I think Zack (Minasian) and myself and the rest of the group are happy with the players that we have coming to put on a Giants uniform now.”
The front office ended up parting with relievers Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers, along with outfielder Mike Yastrzemski. On Wednesday morning, there were five players on the roster who had played with Posey in his final big league season. By 3 p.m. on Thursday, he had traded three of them. Only Logan Webb and Wilmer Flores remain from the last Giants team to reach the postseason.
A lot has changed for the organization in the past four years, and a lot changed in the past 48 hours. The Giants held out hope for as long as possible that they could add a starting pitcher and make a second half run, but they pivoted to a sale while getting swept by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Posey said there was no one moment when a white flag was raised. It just became clear what had to be done.
“I think it was watching the way we played over the last month and how poorly we played since the break,” Posey said. “We felt like this was a time that we needed to try to get back some players that will help us going forward in the future.”
Posey did not go nearly as far as he could have — Robbie Ray, Justin Verlander and others who could have been trade chips remained. The Giants would have needed to be “blown away” to trade Ray, and nobody crossed that threshold. Posey said he never approached Verlander to ask whether he wanted to continue his pursuit of 300 wins elsewhere.
The Giants hoped to add to their rotation at the deadline, but when things went south, they opted not to subtract. Those hits went to the bullpen, which is now without the eighth- and ninth-inning arms. The Giants will likely install Randy Rodriguez as their closer, and that might be actually an upgrade, but the team’s best unit was torn apart by the deadline.
Other than that, the Giants remain just about the same. Yastrzemski was in a platoon with Luis Matos, and the young outfielder might now get a chance to play everyday. The Giants also could call up Drew Gilbert — acquired in the Rogers trade — or give a shot to Marco Luciano or Grant McCray, who was scratched from the Triple-A lineup on Thursday, along with Kai-Wei Teng.
There was really no excuse for the Giants to play as poorly as they did on the homestand, and if guys like Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, Matt Chapman, Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos can get going at the same time, they might still pile up some wins against a soft schedule over their next 53 games.
But the hole is almost certainly already too deep. They are six games behind the San Diego Padres, who hold the final playoff spot at the moment and went absolutely nuts at the deadline, loading up in an attempt to run down the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers. Without Rogers and Doval, the Giants might start coughing up plenty of leads even if they can get them.
The two right-handers were first and third, respectively, in the National League in appearances since 2022. Yastrzemski, one of Farhan Zaidi’s greatest moves, didn’t debut until he was 28, but he ended up playing 790 games for the Giants and posting seven straight two-WAR seasons.
Beyond that, Rogers and Yastrzemski had become clubhouse leaders. They are both close with Webb, who is now the only Giant who has been around since the Bruce Bochy era.
In trading those two and Doval, Posey was sending a message that his predecessor never committed to. Hanging around .500 wasn’t good enough. It was time for a big shakeup, and now it’s time to clean it up.
“We just haven’t looked like the same team as we did at the beginning of the year,” Posey said. “I felt like at the beginning of the year it was, we harped on doing the little things right, it was clean baseball. We’ve kind of taken a 180. We’ve somehow got to recapture that form, that style of baseball that we had at the beginning of the season.
“Losing a guy like Rog, like Doval, like Yaz — these are veteran players that do impact your team, but we still feel like we’ve got a group that should go out there and perform much better than they have the last month or so.”
Report: Phillies add Gold Glove OF Harrison Bader from Twins for two prospects
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies are acquiring outfielder Harrison Bader for two minor leaguers, a person with direct knowledge of the trade said Thursday, their second deal with the Minnesota Twins in two days after landing closer Jhoan Duran.
The person confirmed the swap to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because it was pending a review of medical records. ESPN was first to report it.
The 31-year-old Bader, a 2021 Gold Glove winner, remains a strong defender at all three outfield spots and has 12 home runs, 38 RBIs and a .778 OPS in 96 games. Bader adds another bat to an outfield that has struggled to put up big offensive numbers. He also has postseason experience, playing in five postseason series with the Cardinals, Yankees and Mets with a .809 OPS and five career homers.
The right-handed hitting Bader could fall into a platoon with left-handers Brandon Marsh in center or Max Kepler in left.
The Phillies are sending minor league outfielder Hendry Mendez and right-hander Geremy Villoria to the Twins for Bader.
The Phillies acquired Duran to round out the bullpen a day earlier. He has 16 saves and a 2.01 ERA in 49 appearances this season, striking out 53 in 49 1/3 innings. That deal cost the win-now Phillies a stronger pair of prospects in catcher Eduardo Tait and right-hander Mick Abel.
Philadelphia is battling the New York Mets for the NL East title. The Phillies won the division last year before they were eliminated by the Mets in their NL Division Series.
Red Sox settle for Dustin May after missing out on Merrill Kelly, Joe Ryan
Red Sox settle for Dustin May after missing out on Merrill Kelly, Joe Ryan originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
The trade deadline roller coaster was a rocky ride for Boston baseball fans on Thursday. But ultimately, after hours of boredom and nerves, they watched the Red Sox swing and miss at their top two targets.
Merrill Kelly? Sorry, he’s now a Texas Ranger.
Last-ditch, desperate efforts to steal the deadline and pony up whatever it costs to land Joe Ryan? No, he’s just about the only member of the Twins roster not on the move.
But perhaps, Red Sox fans, you could be interested in Dustin May?
Ultimately, that’s what Boston was able to get before the deadline bell rang, acquiring the 6-foot-6 May in exchange for James Tibbs III, the outfield prospect whom Boston acquired as part of the return package for Rafael Devers, and fellow outfield prospect Zach Ehrhard. Tibbs ranked fifth on the MLB Pipeline list of Sox prospects, while Ehrhard ranked 27th.
The right-handed May used to be a top young pitcher in baseball before his second Tommy John surgery set his career back in the summer of 2023.
After missing all of the 2024 season, May returned this year to the Dodgers’ rotation. He’s gone 6-7 with a 4.85 ERA and 1.346 WHIP, a far cry from the 3.10 ERA and 1.049 WHIP he posted from 2019-23.
May previously underwent Tommy John surgery in 2021, which kept him off the mound for more than a year.
May utilizes a four-pitch mix, heavily relying on a sweeper (41 percent usage rate) and sinker (36 percent). He throws his four-seam fastball just 16 percent of the time, and occasionally mixes in a cutter. He can help fill the fifth spot in the rotation, which has largely been occupied by Richard Fitts (demoted after his last start) and Hunter Dobbins (suffered season-ending knee injury earlier this month) this season, in place of the injured Tanner Houck. But he won’t do much to alter the expectations for a Red Sox team that entered deadline day in the second wild-card spot in the American League.
The Yankees (a game ahead of the Red Sox), Mariners and Rangers (both 1.5 games behind the Red Sox) all made significant additions at the deadline. Division leaders Toronto and Houston also made moves to get better.
The Red Sox got May and Steven Matz.
Making matters more painful for fans who wanted to see the Red Sox get aggressive and make some significant additions in a wide-open American League is the fact that Craig Breslow and Co. reportedly made some strong efforts to land both Kelly and Ryan, only to strike out on both fronts.
The Kelly pursuit seemed reasonable, as the 51-58 Diamondbacks have little use for a 36-year-old starting pitcher who’s due to hit free agency in the winter. And for a stretch, the Red Sox were heavily reported to be in discussions on Kelly. Yet rather swiftly, the Rangers swooped in and offered a package that got the trade done. (The Rangers sent their fifth, ninth and 13th-ranked prospects to Arizona in the deal.)
Yet with time left before the 6 p.m. deadline, Breslow had options. And according to Jon Morosi, he tried to fire up some last-minute talks for Ryan.
Acquiring Ryan — 26 years old, an All-Star for the first time this season, under team control through 2027, a perfect fit as a one-two punch with Garrett Crochet atop the Red Sox’ rotation — would have wiped away all of the frustration fans felt on Thursday. And it would have positioned the Red Sox rather strongly to not just secure a postseason berth for the first time in four years but also to perhaps make some headway toward a return to the World Series once those playoffs got underway.
Alas, that was not to be. Despite the Twins trading away 10 players before the deadline, they could not be convinced to trade Ryan.
For Breslow, this represents a second consecutive disappointing deadline. Last year, with the 57-51 Red Sox sitting 2.5 games out of the final AL wild-card spot, Breslow acquired James Paxton, who much like May was an underperforming Dodgers starter with an ERA close to 5. He also acquired backup catcher Danny Jansen and a trio of relievers — Luis Garcia, Lucas Sims, Quinn Priester. None helped the Red Sox do much of anything. The team went 24-30 in August and September and missed the playoffs by five games.
Matz should provide some help to a Boston bullpen that could use some. May will likely provide more or less the same type of impact that Dobbins and Fitts have given the team at the back of the rotation.
Yet this current team is eight games over .500 and is building some real interest and excitement in fans who had lost faith amid some of the floundering recent seasons. With so many hoping for Breslow to make a bold move to give the Red Sox a chance to make a real postseason run, the acquisitions of Matz and May certainly looks like the safe route.
Tom Brady’s Birmingham primed to touch down in the Championship
Driven by the ambitious ownership of Tom Wagner and an NFL icon, the Blues intend to take the second tier by storm
Unsurprisingly, Tom Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion and global sporting icon, is braced for the challenges that await Birmingham City, where he is a minority owner. “Just because you were successful last year doesn’t mean you’re going to be successful this year,” he says, alluding to a season that culminated in promotion and a record-breaking tally of 111 points. “You have to put the same amount of work, commitment and discipline in – sometimes more – because the stakes only get higher. When the competition gets tougher, the margin of error gets smaller.”
It is his final answer in an interview that takes in everything from the “blue-collar nature of Birmingham”, which he compares with Cleveland and Cincinnati, to the Championship landscape and the bubbling rivalry with Aston Villa, which he was educated on during his first visit to England’s second-biggest city after acquiring his 3.3% stake.
Continue reading...Yankees acquiring reliever David Bednar in trade with Pirates
The Yankees are bolstering their bullpen by acquiring right-handerDavid Bednar in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, per multiple reports.
The Yanks are reportedly sending catching prospect Rafael Flores, the club's No. 8 overall prospect per MLB Pipeline, along with C Edgleen Perez and OF Brian Sanchez to Pittsburgh to complete the deal.
An All-Star in both 2022 and 2023, Bednar struggled in 2024 and began this season in the same fashion, but the 30-year-old has turned things around and once again looks like one of the better relievers in the game.
In 42 appearances this year, he's pitched to a 2.37 ERA while converting 17 saves.
Bednar, who is arbitration-eligible next season, joins Luke Weaver and Devin Williams as potential closer options, giving the Yankees a terrific trio of late-inning arms.
Rangers Prospect Dives Into Big Goals For This Upcoming Season
Brendan Brisson’s life changed when he was traded from the Vegas Golden Knights to the New York Rangers in a deal that included Reilly Smith.
Everyone thinks of this deal from Smith’s point of view, returning to the same team he won a Stanley Cup with just a couple of years ago, but Brisson was a hidden gem in the trade.
The Golden Knights selected Brisson in the first round of the 2020 NHL Draft and over the past couple of seasons, he spent most of his time with the Henderson Silver Knights of the American Hockey League.
The 23-year-old forward admitted that it was a strange transition after the trade.
“It was a little different,” Brisson said about the trade. “Just having been with the same organization for the last five years since I got drafted, midseason too, not like it was in the summer when you get a chance to adjust into camp, it was different.”
Once the initial shock set in, Brisson adapted to his new environment with the Hartford Wolf Pack.
In 16 games, Brisson recorded two goals, four assists, and six points.
“It was great when I got here,” Brisson said. “The whole organization, the staff, the coaches, the players, they welcomed me with open arms and really allowed me to try to get my confidence back. It was a tough year for me, and they were great in that way.”
During the offseason, Brisson signed a one-year contract extension with the Rangers.
His primary goal now is to make a strong impression at training camp and put his best foot forward to make the Rangers’ opening-night roster.
Adam Fox Is The Biggest Winner In The Vladislav Gavrikov SigningThere are a lot of members of the New York Rangers who have to be happy about the Vladislav Gavrikov contract, but there’s one person in particular who should be the most ecstatic.
“Same as everyone, I want to make the team (Rangers) out of camp,” Brisson said of his goals. “I know I can do it, I’ve made an NHL roster before out of camp in Vegas, so just make it to camp and stick. I know what’s going to keep me in the league.
“I learned a lot from last year, and I want to use everything I learned over the summer and into camp. If I do that, I think I’ll be good.”
Tigers bolster bullpen and perhaps pitching chaos with right-handers Finnegan, Sewald and Heuer
DETROIT (AP) — The Detroit Tigers seem to be setting themselves up to potentially go back to what manager A.J. Hinch calls pitching chaos.
Detroit bolstered its bullpen, and options in games without a traditional starting pitcher, with a series of moves to add a trio of right-handers in the hours before the trade deadline on Thursday.
The Tigers acquired Washington’s Kyle Finnegan, Cleveland’s Paul Sewald and Texas minor leaguer Codi Heuer for prospects and cash.
Detroit made the trades — and one earlier this week — hoping to increase its chances of winning a World Series for the first time in more than four decades.
The AL Central-leading Tigers won their fourth straight game with newly acquired starting pitcher Chris Paddack on Wednesday, two days after he was added in a trade with the Minnesota Twins. Later that day, they acquired right-handed reliever Rafael Montero from Atlanta for minor league infielder Jim Jarvis.
Detroit has nearly a double-digit game lead in a division suddenly filled with rebuilding teams, including the defending AL Central-champion Guardians, and is vying with Toronto and Houston for the best record in the league.
The Tigers, trying to take advantage of ace Tarik Skubal and a balanced lineup, are aiming for their first World Series title since 1984.
Detroit earned a spot in the playoffs last year for the first time in the decade after a late-season surge, using Hinch’s unconventional approach to using relievers to start and pitch in games for an inning or two.
The 33-year-old Finnegan was an All-Star in 2024, but his velocity has been down this season. He has 20 saves with a 4.38 ERA in 2025.
In the trade for Finnegan, the Tigers sent minor league pitchers Josh Randall and R.J. Sales, Detroit’s third and 10th round draft picks from 2024, respectively, to Washington.
The 35-year-old Sewald is eligible to return from the injured list on Sunday after being shut down with a strained right shoulder, but he isn’t expected to pitch until September. He is 1-1 with a 4.70 ERA in 18 games this season, averaging more than one strikeout each inning.
The 29-year-old Heuer, who will report to Triple-A Toledo, was 3-2 with a 3.43 ERA and four saves in 35 games at Triple-A Round Rock this year and pitched in one game for the Rangers.
Detroit opens a three-game series Friday night at Philadelphia.
Remaining restricted free agents and their fantasy basketball value heading into next season
This portion of the calendar is usually the quietest from an NBA transaction standpoint. Summer leagues have already been played, introducing the league's newest talents, and free agency has largely run its course. However, this summer brings about an interesting situation, with four prominent restricted free agents still on the market.
Josh Giddey, Quentin Grimes, Jonathan Kuminga and Cam Thomas have yet to agree to deals with their current teams, and there aren't many squads out there with the cap space required to produce an offer sheet that would be challenging to match. These situations impact roster construction, which impacts fantasy basketball. Let's look at each player's situation and how it will impact fantasy basketball for the 2025-26 season.
PG/SG Josh Giddey, Chicago Bulls
After struggling down the stretch for the Thunder in 2023-24, Giddey was traded to the Bulls ahead of his contract year. While he did boast a higher scoring average in 2022-23, this past season was the guard's best regarding overall production. In 70 games, Giddey averaged 14.6 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.2 assists, 1.2 steals, 0.6 blocks and 1.5 three-pointers, shooting 46.5 percent from the field and 78.1 percent from the foul line. He finished with career-highs in rebounds, assists, steals, three-pointers and three-point percentage, meshing well with fellow guard Cboy White.
However, Giddey's 2024-25 season wasn't enough to get Chicago to commit to an extension on par with the deal Orlando gave Jalen Suggs (AAV: $30.1 million). A top-50 player in eight-cat formats, the Bulls guard was ranked just inside the top-60 in nine-cat, according to Basketball Monster. Remaining with the Bulls would ensure Giddey's fantasy value holds, if not improves slightly, since this will also be the team's first full season since trading Zach LaVine at the February trade deadline. Giddey entered last season with a Yahoo! ADP of 69, and that would likely represent his draft floor this fall.
SG/SF Quentin Grimes, Philadelphia 76ers
Grimes is an interesting case, as the 76ers acquired him and a second-round pick (which would become Johni Broome) from the Mavericks at the February deadline for Caleb Martin. As the 76ers were playing out the string, Grimes went off, averaging 21.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.9 three-pointers per game in 28 appearances. It must be mentioned that Philadelphia would finish the season without Joel Embiid, Paul George and Tyrese Maxey, which freed up additional offensive opportunities for Grimes and others. Few expect Grimes to be the top-50 player (eight-cat formats) he was from February 7 onward, but he'll be a fantasy-relevant player in Philadelphia next season.
While Maxey will be ready for training camp, the same can't be guaranteed for Embiid or George. George's status is more impactful to Grimes, depending on the starting lineup. They both can start, but it would require one of them (or Kelly Oubre Jr.) to defend power forwards. Grimes was not on many fantasy radars before last season began, but that won't be the case this fall. Should he be selected with a top-100 pick? George's availability to start the season will undoubtedly impact where Grimes lands in fantasy drafts if he returns to Philadelphia.
SF/PF Jonathan Kuminga, Golden State Warriors
The Warriors are the one team that has not made a signing in free agency this summer, and Kuminga's status has been a factor. Until this situation is resolved, Golden State really can't do much, even with the reports of Al Horford and De'Anthony Melton potentially joining the ranks. Does Kuminga receive a new deal that is on par with his expectations? Or would it be a team-friendly deal that he's reportedly turned down? Or, does Kuminga sign the qualifying offer and play on that before heading into unrestricted free agency next summer? Phoenix and Sacramento have reportedly expressed interest in adding Kuminga, but both would need a willing partner in the Warriors to execute a sign-and-trade.
Injuries limited Kuminga to 47 games last season, and already-poor fantasy value dipped even more after the Warriors acquired Jimmy Butler. From February 7 onward, JK averaged 12.2 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 0.6 steals in 20.8 minutes, making 15 appearances. That production placed Kuminga outside the top-350 in nine-cat formats. Given how his career has gone thus far, his Yahoo! ADP will likely be far below where it was entering last season (91) if he were to remain with the Warriors. At best, Kuminga would be a player worth taking a late-round flier.
SG Cam Thomas, Brooklyn Nets
Thomas may have finished last season with a gaudy point average, but injuries limited him to 25 games. In those appearances, he averaged 24.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 three-pointers in 31.2 minutes, shooting 43.8 percent from the field and 88.1 percent from the foul line. A top-100 player in eight-cat formats, Thomas was ranked just outside that threshold in nine-cat formats. However, the lackluster availability meant fantasy managers missed out on the full benefits, especially with Thomas playing two games from November 27 to February 26, and his final appearance of the season coming on March 13.
The Nets are clearly in rebuilding mode, as evidenced by the team using all five of its first-round picks and trading Cam Johnson to the Nuggets in a deal that sent Michael Porter Jr. to Brooklyn. Thomas can certainly provide scoring in this lineup, as there's a clear need for a secondary option next to Porter. However, would he be given free rein, or would MPJ and the young guard added via the draft be the team's priority? Thomas' Yahoo! ADP is unlikely to approach what it was last fall (69), but returning to Brooklyn would make him worthy of a top-100 pick, at worst.