On the latest episode of The Mets Pod presented by Tri-State Cadillac, recorded live following the 2025 MLB Trade Deadline, Connor Rogers and Joe DeMayo recap all the moves made by the Mets!
The guys break down the deals for Cedric Mullins, Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley, and Gregory Soto and discuss the strategy and process followed by Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns. The show then goes into Mailbag-mode to answer questions about the best bullpen in the NL East, the immediate future of pitching prospects Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat, the starting rotation moving forward, and more.
Be sure to subscribe to The Mets Pod at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Angels acquired underperforming Yankees third baseman Oswald Peraza as well as two relievers during two trades at the deadline. (Joshua A. Bickel / Associated Press)
In the slang, “mid” means disappointingly mediocre, forgettable, uninspiring. On TikTok, a classic rant starts: “It’s called the Midwest because everything in it is mid! Skyline Chili? Mid! Your Cincinnati Reds, who haven’t won a World Series since 1990? M-M-M-Mid!!!”
Today, the Reds are five games over .500, and one of four teams that appear to be competing for the three National League wild-card spots. They added a starting pitcher, an elite defensive third baseman and a veteran utilityman batting .298 ahead of Thursday’s trade deadline.
They are three games under .500, four games out in the American League wild-card race, with four teams to pass, hoping to end baseball’s longest playoff drought at 10 years.
The Seattle Mariners, tied with the Texas Rangers for the final wild-card spot, traded for middle-of-the-lineup corner infielders in third baseman Eugenio Suárez and first baseman Josh Naylor. The Rangers acquired Merrill Kelly to supplement Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi atop the starting rotation.
The Angels made two trades, picking up two veteran setup men and an infielder batting .152 for three lightly regarded minor leaguers.
Why lightly bolster a team with a 1.3% chance of making the playoffs, as projected by Baseball Prospectus before Thursday’s trades, when you could start building the 2026 roster in the many areas needing improvement?
“Giving them a chance to play this thing out, relative to what was presented [in trade talks], made a lot of sense,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian said.
In large part, he said, this was about the young players.
“The development of our core is obviously very, very, very important,” Minasian said. “Being competitive in August and September is really, really important for this group, not only for the now but for the future — playing meaningful games, understanding there is an expectation to win, showing up to the ballpark every day feeling like you have a chance to win over a six-month period.
“It’s hard to quantify, but I felt like it was very important for this group to go through that, to see what playing in August demands, what playing in September is like.”
Does he see the 2025 Angels playing meaningful games in October?
“I don’t make predictions,” he said.
Beyond shortstop Zach Neto, no one on the Angels’ current roster was likely to command an elite prospect in return.
Yet the Angels could have traded soon-to-be free agents such as pitchers Kenley Jansen and Tyler Anderson, or infielders Yoan Moncada and Luis Rengifo, to fill 2026 needs: a back-end starter, bullpen help, a utility infielder, a defense-first outfielder, upper-level depth in the minor leagues.
Maybe Oswald Peraza, the once-hyped New York Yankees prospect with the .152 average, starts at third base next year, or secures that utility job. Minasian called him “a classic change-of-scenery guy.”
To get him, however, the Angels surrendered $73,766 in international bonus pool money that could have been better used to sign Latin American prospects. Minasian said the Angels had used what they needed of their $6,261,600 pool they needed this year — and the better prospects cost much more than $73,766 — but they cannot afford to close any avenues for talent acquisition.
But the Dodgers spend whatever they need, and then some, on deep and talented rosters of players, coaches and executives, and on player development and player acquisition.
It’s not all about money. It’s about creativity too. The Dodgers inserted themselves into a three-team trade Wednesday to bolster their farm system by trading a surplus minor league catcher for two minor league pitchers. The Dodgers last year inserted themselves into another three-team trade to grab reliever Michael Kopech, then-injured Tommy Edman for a depth bat and two minor leaguers.
The last time the Angels were a party to a three-team deal, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman facilitated that too. The Dodgers got four players from the Miami Marlins, then swapped pitcher Andrew Heaney to the Angels for infielder Howie Kendrick. That was in 2014.
The Angels these days do not spend as much, or as well, on free agents. They do not distinguish themselves in scouting, analytics, player development or international signings.
The Angels have their kids, but the optimism inherent in their talk of a young core obscures the fact they are about to have to pay the kids — and, money aside, they are running out of time.
Shortstop Zach Neto has emerged as a young star for the Angels, who are fighting for a wild-card playoff spot this season. (Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
Neto, the lone star to emerge so far from the young core, is eligible for salary arbitration this winter. The Angels control him for only three more seasons — maybe less, if some or all of the 2027 season is lost to a collective bargaining war.
Catcher Logan O’Hoppe and pitcher José Soriano also are eligible for arbitration this winter. First baseman Nolan Schanuel is eligible next winter.
In the big picture, nothing much changed Thursday. The plan today is the same as it was in spring training: hope enough young players blossom that, when Anthony Rendon’s contract expires next fall, Minasian can persuade owner Arte Moreno that spending big on one or two players in free agency could make the difference. If playing meaningful games this August makes those young players that much better, perhaps this trade deadline was worth it.
Moreno resists rebuilding, as an advocate for fans he believes deserve to see a competitive team. No one in Orange County has to watch what something akin to what the Colorado Rockies are offering — or what the Houston Astros were offering before their ongoing run of success. Rebuilding could mean 100-loss seasons and an even greater drop in attendance; competing could mean sneaking into the playoffs with 84 victories.
The Angels could do that this year. It could work. However, it has not worked over the last decade, and in the meantime the Angels have become an unwitting poster child for a players’ union fighting against a salary cap to say, “Market size is not destiny. Look at the Angels.”
You can say the game plan is to contend every year, in the interest of the fans, but you should not try to win every year on a wing and a prayer.
Your most dedicated fans — represented by the hundreds that decorated themselves in wings and halos at Wednesday’s game, flapping their arms as angels in the outfield — were not shy about letting their feelings be known.
You could hear them loud and clear, at the game and on the television broadcast, “Sell the team!”
DETROIT — 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. Then they added a starting veteran starter, too.
The Tigers acquired Washington’s Kyle Finnegan, Cleveland’s Paul Sewald and Texas minor leaguer Codi Heuer for prospects and cash, and also announced a deal shortly after the deadline for 41-year-old Charlie Morton from Baltimore.
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.
Morton headlines Thursday’s additions. The two-time World Series winner has won 145 games over 18 big league seasons. He’s 7-8 with a 5.42 ERA this year, although he’s been sharper lately with a 3.98 ERA in 10 starts since June 1.
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.
PHOENIX — The Texas Rangers acquired right-hander Merrill Kelly from the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday, adding a veteran starter with postseason experience to fortify their rotation at the trade deadline.
The D-backs received three minor league pitchers: left-handers Kohl Drake and Mitch Bratt and right-hander David Hagaman.
The 36-year-old Kelly has spent all of his seven major league seasons leagues with the Diamondbacks. He was the only Arizona pitcher to beat the Rangers in the 2023 World Series, throwing seven dominant innings in Game 2.
“We know when he takes the ball, we’ve seen it firsthand playing against him, and we have heard from so many people what an ultra competitor he is,” Rangers general manager Chris Young said. “So happy he’s a Ranger.”
Kelly is 9-6 with a 3.22 ERA and 121 strikeouts over 128 2/3 innings this season.
The Rangers also beefed up their bullpen, adding right-hander Phil Maton from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers — right-hander Skylar Hales and lefty Mason Molina — and international bonus pool money. The 32-year-old Maton has a 2.35 ERA and 48 strikeouts over 38 1/3 innings.
Finally, Texas added left-handed reliever Danny Coulombe from the Minnesota Twins in exchange for minor league left-hander Garrett Horn.
Texas entered Thursday with a 57-52 record, tied with the Seattle Mariners for the final American League wild-card spot.
The D-backs were sellers at the deadline, sending first baseman Josh Naylor and third baseman Eugenio Suarez to the Mariners in separate deals. Outfielder Randal Grichuk was shipped to the Royals. Arizona also sent pitchers Shelby Miller and Jordan Montgomery to the Brewers for cash.
Arizona is 51-58 after entering the season with playoff expectations. General manager Mike Hazen said it was particularly tough to lose Kelly, given his history with the organization.
“There’s the collective disappointment in how we’ve played,” Hazen said. “We all feel it. The players feel it, I’ve certainly taken responsibility, shared that with them, how I didn’t do a good enough job to keep this team in position to keep going.”
The biggest question after the Mets' trade deadline deals were completed was, why didn't they acquire a starting pitcher?
While Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said in his post-deadline Zoom he was engaged with teams in that market, he ultimately went with revamping his bullpen. As he put it, "there's multiple ways to build a pitching staff," and he hopes the arms he has on the big league roster and even those in the minor leagues can help his team down the stretch.
"As we saw, there were some starting pitchers that were traded not every pitcher who was rumored to be available was ultimately moved. We were engaged throughout," Stearns said. "We’re really happy with the arms we were able to acquire, who are going to pitch out of our pen. And we have confidence in the starters not only who are here, who will keep us competitive and help us win games, but also pleased with the development of some of the guys in Triple-A are progressing. We understand that they could, may not definitely, but they could be part of the mix going forward if needed."
Nolan McLean and Brandon Sproat are two such minor league arms that are the closest to making the jump to the major leagues. When their names were brought up specifically to Stearns, he praised both of their development so far this season.
"They can help. It’s just a matter of their continued development and when does the opportunity arise, and is it the right time," Stearns said. "Both guys have taken very nice steps forward in their development. We’re going to continue to challenge them. We’re going to continue to ask them to get better and work on things. They are doing a good job. If we need someone from Triple-A, we’ve got people down and they are among them who can help us."
McLean, 24, has had a great year for Syracuse, posting a 3.01 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP across 14 games (11 starts). In his last start (July 30), McLean allowed two runs across six innings while striking out six batters.
Sproat, 24, has been just as good as McLean. Entering Thursday's start, Sproat pitched to a 4.30 ERA with a 1.29 WHIP but hadn't allowed a run in more than a month before his July 25 start, where he gave up two runs. But Sproat is now starting a new streak, as he pitched five scoreless innings for Syracuse on Thursday.
Both have been impressive this year, but like Stearns said, the team needs to wait for the right opportunity for a call-up. The Mets' rotation is healthy, with David Peterson, Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Frankie Montas and Clay Holmes pitching without issue -- physically -- in weeks. The team also has Paul Blackburn in the minors, who Stearns said a conversation about his role on the Mets needs to be discussed, so there's currently no room for young arms.
And unless there's an injury, a win-now team in the midst of a race for the division may not want a youngster pitching.
However the rest of the season shakes out, the Mets have made it known they believe in Sproat and McLean, we'll just have to see if that "opportunity" Stearns spoke of arrives.
15 Years Later: The 2008 Red Wings, a Retrospective - June 14, 2023
(Original author: Sam Stockton)
Fifteen years ago this month, the Detroit Red Wings lifted the Stanley Cup for the eleventh time in franchise history. It was the team’s fourth title in eleven seasons. If you are the kind of person who is stringent in their application of the label “dynasty,” perhaps believing that a minimum of three consecutive championships is an essential criterion, then you might not count the Red Wings from the late nineties through the late aughts, but you couldn’t put any other hockey team in front of them during that span. In the nascent days of the NHL’s salary cap era, the ‘08 Wings provided the league with an aspirational gold standard.
In June of 2008, you would be in rare company if you suspected that the end of a golden age was imminent, but with the benefit of hindsight, maybe it wasn’t so surprising. To be sure, there was one more big run left—the following season’s journey to a Cup Final rematch with the Penguins, a home defeat in Game 7, and symbolic torch-passing to Sidney Crosby, but beyond that, precious little.
In the four seasons spanning the NHL’s 2005 return from another lockout and that 2009 Game 7 loss in Detroit, the Red Wings won nine playoff series. They twice won the Western Conference and took home the big prize in 2008.
From the 2009-10 season to the present, the Wings have won just two playoff series, both of them prior to joining the Eastern Conference before the '13-14 season.
In 2017, Detroit missed the playoffs for the first time since 1990—a streak generally accepted as a core cause for the depth of the ensuing and ongoing rebuild.
In other words, at the rate of a trickle, the band broke up, and, within a decade, the notion of the Detroit Red Wings as a standard for excellence around the league was laughable.
Yet the legacy of the 2008 Red Wings could not be so easily forgotten. With the possible exception of Darryl Sutter’s Cup-winning LA Kings, they remained the supreme example of possession-based hockey in the NHL. Conveniently, the ‘07-08 season is the first for which we have (mostly) reliable shot data and thus a sort of year zero for modern analytics. With those tools at our disposal, we can better express the extent of those Red Wings’ dominance.
At fifteen years' remove, it’s striking that this wasn’t a team of preposterous talent up and down the lineup, layering one scoring line on top of another in the style of the ‘15 Blackhawks or the ‘16 and ‘17 Penguins. To be sure, they weren't bereft of talent, but you wouldn't confuse the lineup for an all-star team.
At the top of the lineup, there was glimmering skill: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidsrom, Rafalski. But from a depth perspective, these Wings were more dependent on brawn than skill. Up front it was Draper, Maltby, and Drake. Along the blue line, Lebda, Lilja, and whatever remained of Chris Chelios.
It was during the 2008 postseason that Johan Franzen, with his eighteen points in sixteen games, emerged as one of the best power forwards in the league.
THN.com's ongoing series on the Buffalo Sabres and their opponents next season continues with this look at the New York Rangers and the considerable changes the Rangers have made thus far this off-season, as well as their record against the Sabres and their schedule head-to-head this coming season.
The Rangers have a new voice guiding them on the ice in former Pittsburgh Penguins and Boston Bruins coach Mike Sullivan. And the Blueshirts were quite active in the trade and free-agency departments, so the Sabres team that mostly stayed the same is going to see a much different Rangers squad. So we're excited to see the way the games between the two teams shakes out this year.
BUFFALO SABRES VS. NEW YORK RANGERS
NEW RANGERS PLAYERS: Vladislav Gavrikov, D; Taylor Raddysh, RW; Justin Dowling, LW; Scott Morrow, D
2024-25 SERIES: Sabres 2-1-0, Rangers 1-2-0
2025-26 GAMES AGAINST EACH OTHER: October 9 at Buffalo; January 8 at Rangers; April 8 at Rangers
CAN THE SABRES BEAT THIS TEAM? The Rangers and Sabres squeezed in their regular-season action last year by the third week of February. which is a bit of a shame, as this rivalry is a favorite of ours and needs more games deep down the stretch of the regular season.
Thankfully, the NHL schedule-maker is giving us this year's three games betweeen the Sabres and Rangers at very different points in the season. First, Buffalo takes on the Rangers in their first game of the year. Then, they meet again in the first week of January. And finally, they wrap things up in a game that's the fourth-to-last on the Sabres' schedule.
That latter game has the potentil to be a powderkeg game, with both teams possibly fighting it out for a wild card berth. But by then, each team will have worked far past the trade deadlne, so we could be talking about two very different rosters.
Regardless, the Sabres will be taking on a Rangers team that said goodbye to longtime cornerstone winger Chris Kreider, as well as veteran defenseman K'Andre Miller. In their place is former L.A. Kings stalwart Gavrikov and...well, a few depth players in Raddysh, Dowling and Morrow. There shouldn't be any sizeable expectations of those three players, but Gavrikov will definitely be an upgrade defensively on Miller.
This Rangers team has essentially doubled down on its core, including star winger Artemi Panarin, blueliner Adam Fox, and goalie Igor Shesterkin. None of those three players had an good year typical of them at the NHL level, but teams and players go through sub-par strethes and rebound from them, and that's what Blueshirts GM Chris Drury is banking on.
If things somehow go right for the Sabres and Rangers next season, there's a possibility the teams eventually meet in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Granted, that would take a particular game of plinko from the hockey gods to make happen, but again, the Sabres and Rangers have that built-in relationship that should be developed as much as possible. If the teams aren't going to be in the same division anytime soon -- and that's even if expansion winds up having an effect on the current divisional setup -- then the schedule-maker can continue giving us three games in the season.
If Shesterkin in particular can look like his old self, the Rangers should be in the mix for a wild card berth. It's now within the realm of possibility, though, that the Sabres take advantage of their games against the Blueshirts and play a key role in the Rangers missing the post-season for the second straight season. And if that's what happens for the Rangers next year, we can see Drury totally dismantle his core and start with a new group.
Between then, we're going to get three games between the Sabres and Rangers. And while there are some Sabres opponents who don't move the needle as playing especially-intriguing games against Buffalo, the Rangers are not one of those teams. And given the tightness of the playoff race in both conferences, the games between the Sabres and Rangers are likely to be highly-entertaining.
Who do we like to win those three games? Well, not to be all safe about it, but we see Buffalo -- for the second straight season -- winning two of their three games against the Rangers. It's hard for any team to sweep an opponent given the modern-day parity of the league, but the Sabres have what it takes on paper to beat the Rangers more often than they lose.
We'll see how our prediction lands, but it will nonetheless be intriguing to watch the Sabres/Rangers games this season. They've both got some solid components, but there has to be a desperation to both teams' attack. If not, it will be a long season, and an even longer summer next year, for the team that doesn't get into the post-season.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman held his annual post-trade deadline press conference on Thursday night. Here's what he said on the team's activity and outlook...
More today than yesterday
The Yankees made nine total trades over the last week, and of the five that transpired before the league's 6 p.m. deadline, three completely reshaped the structure of their bruised-and-battered bullpen.
While the Yankees checked off several boxes with a slew of trades, both large and small -- newly-acquired hitters Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario, and Austin Slater were all on the active roster Wednesday -- bullpen help was their top priority. Fair strategy, considering that the unit entered Thursday with the league's second-worst ERA (6.29) in July.
"We've improved the team, we believe. We tried to address the areas of need," Cashman said. "We added to the bullpen. We improved the position player group as well, giving the manager more choices to play matchups... He's certainly got more arms to mix and match with the new additions as well... We've addressed a lot of areas of need to give us the best shot we can take."
The deals involving Bednar, Bird, and Doval matter beyond 2025 as well. All three relievers are under team-friendly control through the 2026 season, and Cashman viewed this collective contract situation as an obvious "benefit." It wasn't the motive for the moves, as he also inquired about rental relievers in the marketplace.
But what about the rotation?
Despite the flurry of arrivals and departures, the Yankees didn't come away with any new rotation pieces. While they were linked to several starters in league-wide rumors spanning the entire month -- Sandy Alcantara, Edward Cabrera, Mitch Keller, and Merrill Kelly were mainly at the forefront -- nothing materialized, according to Cashman.
"We certainly knocked on many doors regarding potential starting pitching, but obviously weren't able to match up in that category," Cashman said. "We had a lot of conversations in a lot of different places. But again, this is what we have to show for those efforts."
The Yankees' inability to deliver rotation depth places immense pressure on a top-heavy staff that's become more volatile due to injuries and inconsistencies. While they have a quality one-two punch of star lefties Max Fried and Carlos Rodón in full-ish command, the back-end combination of Will Warren, Marcus Stroman, and others isn't reassuring by any means.
They can treat injured starter Luis Gil'simminent return to the rotation as a deadline acquisition, but only time will tell how the 2024 AL Rookie of the Year -- fully recovered from a months-long lat strain -- fares with a closely-monitored workload this summer. The Yankees already know that Gerrit Cole and Clarke Schmidt won't see the mound again until sometime in 2026.
Jul 28, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher David Bednar (51) delivers a pitch against the San Francisco Giants during the ninth inning at Oracle Park. / D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images
Top prospects stick around
As the chaotic week unfolded, expectations of the Yankees making highly-coveted outfielder Spencer Jones the centerpiece of any blockbuster trade package waned. This news came as no surprise, as a torrid start to his first stint in Triple-A exponentially boosted his value and altered his stock.
Cashman was asked if he tried to avoid trades that would've required the Yankees to part ways with Jones, or top infield farmhand George Lombard Jr. He didn't speak to either prospect by name in response, but did acknowledge that some players are "more touchable than others."
"There's a lot of guys that we like, and unfortunately, we parted with guys we like," Cashman said. "Just the nature of the beast. We were trying to stay away from certain guys more than others, but we also recognize that you have to give to get...
"That's where the rubber meets the road. You've got to make a decision on certain things, where you pick the lane, holding on and have that for yourself, or use that to get something that's going to help you in the near term. We had to make those tough decisions..."
A brief state of the union
While the Yankees wrapped up July on a three-game winning streak, several of their warts were exposed throughout the month. They produced a sub-.500 record in July for a third straight season, and saw a red-hot Blue Jays squad leap as many as 6.5 games ahead of them for first place in the AL East.
With a tight 1.5-game lead over the Red Sox for second place in the division, the Yankees will need to play a much cleaner brand of baseball in order to supplant the Blue Jays and avoid the extra round of wild-card postseason games. And all that Cashman can do now is cross his fingers for a roster that's largely underwhelmed.
"I know we have improved ourselves, and that's the nature of the beast at the deadline," Cashman said. "You and your group -- and I've got great people behind me advising me -- you get after it and prepare for whatever comes your way because it's so unpredictable. I thought we were buttoned up and we were prepared.
"We were hopeful to try to execute some things, and now it's time to test the theory of how it plays out with the group of players we currently have. I know we're better. We're better today than we were yesterday, so mission accomplished there... We're looking forward to taking our shot -- that's all we can give it."
The 31-year-old’s goalie coach, George Bosak, shared a video of Stolarz training on Instagram earlier this week. The 6-foot-6 goaltender commanded the crease as players fired shots at him from his left and right sides.
“Anthony Stolarz has been looking very sharp in workouts,” Bosak wrote in the post’s caption. “The first thing he said to me this summer is that there’s unfinished business on the table. I know he is incredibly grateful for all the fan support in Toronto and is motivated to bring home a title for the Maple Leafs faithful.”
It was an up-and-down season for Stolarz, who dealt with two significant injuries throughout the year. After a strong start with Toronto, where he had 10 wins and a .927 save percentage in 17 games, the goaltender picked up a knee injury in December, forcing him to miss nearly two months.
Stolarz returned in early February and finished the season with a .926 save percentage (the best among NHL goaltenders who played 30-plus games) and 22 wins in 34 games. He entered the playoffs as Toronto’s starting goaltender, helping them get past the Ottawa Senators in the first round.
“Yeah, he had all the makeup for it. Sometimes it takes longer for goalies. He played for us. He brought us to the Memorial Cup. Unfortunately, we ran into this Nathan MacKinnon guy, and he got us,” said Hunter.
“[Stolarz] played very well. He's in a good place right now. Being an ex-London Knight, I watch him a lot. He's confident and he looks like he's ready to roll for the Leafs.”
Stolarz has a .918 save percentage and a 116-64-39 record in 142 games with the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks, Panthers, and Maple Leafs. His 34 games played with the Maple Leafs last season were a career high.
It was a busy trade deadline for David Stearns and the rest of the Mets front office, as they tried to shore up holes and prepare the team for the final two months of the season and a potential long playoff run.
Stearns was able to accomplish his number one goal of remaking the bullpen with the acquisitions of Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto -- days prior -- but also grabbed an outfielder in Cedric Mullins.
And outside of some household names, like Jose Butto and a couple of minor leaguers -- more on them later -- the Mets didn't have to give up a lot to get these players. So, how did Stearns accomplish that?
"The story of this deadline, for us, is really an amateur talent acquisition and player development story," Stearns said over Zoom after the 6 p.m. trade deadline. "Our amateur talent acquisition departments and player development group put us in position to have this type of deadline, where we were to go out and acquire players that would help us in the major league level and not touch some really high-upside players at the top of our system. Enormous credit to them."
Stearns lauded Mullins' athleticism and ability to affect games in ways that won't show up in the box score. He also praised the two-headed monster of Helsley and Rogers that will give manager Carlos Mendoza more options to bridge to star closer Edwin Diaz. But some of the minor league capital -- specifically Drew Gilbert and Blade Tidwell in the Rogers deal -- used to acquire some of these arms were met with raised eyebrows.
The Mets' president of baseball operations understands how good the team's minor leaguers are, but also understands it needed to be done in order to compete this year.
"They’re good players, there’s no question they are good players," Stearns said of Tidwell and Gilbert. "Proximity to the major leagues certainly factors into these types of deals. We believe we’ve traded a number of players who are going to play on TV and continue to play on TV and I hope they do…
"We are rooting for them. We are in a position where we thought these deals made sense, giving good players for good players who can help us in a more concentrated fashion right now. Never easy decisions to make, but it was the right decisions to make right now."
Jun 3, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Tyler Rogers (71) looks over his shoulder before a pitch against the San Diego Padres during the eighth inning at Oracle Park. / Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images
While Stearns got the outfield bat and remade the bullpen, many felt the Mets would be better off trading for a starter to bolster the rotation. The current starters, outside of David Peterson, have not been able to give the team consistent length, and a proven arm could rectify that.
Of course, the Mets did not deal for one at this trade deadline and Stearns explained his thought process.
"As we saw, there were some starting pitchers that were traded but not every pitcher who was rumored to be available was ultimately moved. We were engaged throughout," Stearns said. "There’s multiple ways to build a pitching staff. We focused on the back-end of the pitching staff. We’re really happy with the arms we were able to acquire who are going to pitch out of our pen.
"And we have confidence in the starters not only here who will keep us competitive and help us win games, but also pleased with the development of some of the guys in Triple-A who are progressing. We understand that they could, may not definitely, but they could be part of the mix going forward if needed."
Those Triple-A arms, which include veteran Paul Blackburn, who was not dealt at the deadline, are options. How viable those options are remains to be seen, but Stearns believes the team is good enough to win it all this year and for years to come.
Since being hired after the 2023 season, Stearns has committed to making the Mets a sustainable winner, and this trade deadline is just one part of it. So while many saw the moves for rental relievers as going all-in on a "window," Stearns sees it as just another part of his grand plan.
"I don’t view this as windows. Our responsibility here is to give ourselves a chance to make the playoffs and win a World Series every single year," he said. "That’s what this should be, that’s what we’re aiming for. I don’t view this era of Mets competitiveness as a window.
"I view it as the beginning of a long and sustained competitiveness at a high level. The moves we made help this year without, in a very material way, sacrificing some really high-end talent that could help us in years to come."
Mikal Bridges' first season reunited with his Villanova crew in New York didn't live up to the steep five first-round picks price paid for him, although Bridges started to find his footing and had some critical defensive moments in the playoffs.
That, along with his potential fit in new coach Mike Brown's system, had the Knicks and Bridges agreeing to a four-year, $150 million contract extension, something first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania and since confirmed by multiple other reports.
That is slightly less than the $156 million max he could have gotten this summer, Charania notes. While it may not seem like much, the giveback should give the Knicks more financial flexibility and help them avoid the dreaded second luxury tax apron in future seasons. Bridges also could have waited a year, become a free agent and gotten a larger five-year contract but took this deal instead.
This deal locks up the Knicks' core — Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart, and Bridges — for two more seasons, which becomes three years if KAT and Hart pick up their player options. Bridges' $37.5 million average salary on this contract is the fourth highest on the team (behind Towns, Anunoby and Brunson). That the Knicks were willing to pay Bridges that much now suggests they think Giannis Antetokounmpo is not going to be available this coming season.
Bridges had an up-and-down first season in New York, averaging 17.6 points a game and shooting 35.4% from 3, his lowest percentage since his rookie season. However, he seemed more comfortable in Tom Thibodeau's system as the season went on and had some critical defensive plays in the playoffs, helping the Knicks reach the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years. Bridges is considered one of the players most likely to benefit from the up-tempo, more ball movement system new coach Mike Brown is expected to bring to Madison Square Garden next season.
Ottawa Senators defenseman Nik Matinpalo is coming off a rookie NHL season that can best be described as unexpected.
At this time last summer, Matinpalo was a 25-year-old Finnish pro who had gone undrafted in the NHL, and had just completed his first year of pro hockey in North America. That included 67 games for the Belleville Senators, scoring 14 points, and four games with no points for Ottawa.
Very few people thought he was in line to be an NHL regular last season.
But after starting the year with Belleville again, playing in 24 games for the AHL club, he was able to overtake the injured Jacob Bernard-Docker and Travis Hamonic on the Ottawa depth chart. He went on to play 41 NHL games plus all six Stanley Cup Playoff games for the Senators.
He also represented Team Finland in the NHL's Four Nations Face-Off event in February and at the World Hockey Championships in May. To cap off his turnaround season, Matinpalo signed a two-year, one-way contract with Ottawa, just a few days after the club was eliminated.
The deal will pay him $875,000 for each of the next two years, and because the contract was taken care of so quickly after the season, it looked from the outside like an NHL job was all but assured.
Despite giving Matinpalo that two-year contract and a bit of security, the Senators didn’t mince words during exit meetings, making it clear that nothing is guaranteed this fall.
"Yeah, they said that I need to train hard," Matinpalo said on Thursday on the Coming in Hot podcast. "And when I come into training camp, I need to think like I'm not on the team. I need to boost myself to be better every day this summer. So yeah, I think that was the biggest message to me."
That's some tough love. But in hindsight, they may have been preparing him for what was about to happen because Matinpalo's clear path back to his NHL job has been quickly littered with new obstacles.
The club brought back right-shot defenseman Lassi Thomson, a former Sens first-rounder and fellow Finn. Then they went out and acquired LA Kings right-shot defenseman Jordan Spence in a draft-day trade. And of course, their first-round pick from last year, Carter Yakemchuk, is another right-shot who's hungry to reach the NHL as soon as possible, especially after being the team’s final cut last season.
That certainly changes things, especially if Nick Jensen is healthy and ready to start the season.
Outdueling those players may prove to be a tougher challenge than last season’s leapfrogging of two players whose NHL stock has fallen sharply over the past couple of years. But Matinpalo will trust his own game and try to stay in the headspace that worked for him last year, when he didn’t let the stage get too big.
"Yeah, I think I'm not that young anymore. Like, maybe this is the last chance for me to play in the NHL. So maybe that was the one thing. Like, I'm just gonna trust my game and do whatever takes to play."
Matinpalo’s real life has already surpassed his dream, which was about as modest as it gets for an NHL prospect.
"Everybody always thinks they can play (in the NHL). But when you go to training camp, you see there's like 15 D-men already. So I'm not really thinking I'm gonna play in the NHL. But of course, that was the motivation, like, I want to play one game in the NHL. Or that's it. Maybe I wasn't thinking about that too much. But that was the dream, playing that one game."
Times change, and so can goals and dreams.
Matinpalo says he still has a lot of developing to do, and the two-year contract affords him more time to improve. But given his spectacular learning curve from last season, one suspects he might be right back in the thick of things at camp this fall.
The Detroit Red Wings may have missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the 2024-25 NHL season, but one of the major positives that they will be taking into the upcoming 2025-26 campaign was the goal scoring output of forward Alex DeBrincat.
DeBrincat, who was acquired just over two calendar years ago from the Ottawa Senators, scored 39 goals in what was his second season with the Red Wings. It was a 12-goal improvement from his output of 27 in 2023-24, and was also the most he'd scored since tallying 41 in the 2021-22 NHL season with the Chicago Blackhawks.
In fact, DeBrincat's 39 tallies were the most by any Red Wings player in a single season since Marian Hossa lit the lamp 40 times in his first and only campaign with the Red Wings in 2008-09.
DeBrincat's 2024-25 NHL season output was the kind of production envisioned by Red Wings fans and management when the Michigan native was acquired, and he attributed his increased production not only to his style of play but to less mental stress.
"There’s a lot of things that contribute to it but overall, I think it's just been a better year," DeBrincat said in April via The Detroit Free Press. "Mentally, a lot less hard on me. I've tried to stay more consistent - that was a goal of mine this year. Overall I feel like I’ve been a lot more consistent, not only with points and goals, but just the way I’ve been playing and being a factor every night."
That being said, DeBrincat also acknowledged his disappointment in the fact that he and his teammates weren't able to secure a berth in the postseason.
"Overall I think it’s a fine year, but obviously not good enough," he said. "With the position we’re in, everybody in the room wants more, feels like they can contribute more."
Upon his acquisition by the Red Wings, DeBrincat signed a four-year, $31.5 million contract with a reasonable $7.875 million cap hit.
DeBrincat and the Red Wings are aiming for bigger and better things as they begin preparations to enter the crucial 2025-26 NHL season.
If the Red Wings are to challenge for a postseason spot and ultimately get over the hump to bring postseason hockey to Little Caesars Arena for the first time, they'll need DeBrincat to keep the form that made him Detroit's leading goal scorer in 16 years.
Never miss a story by adding us to your Google News favorites!
Pitcher Dustin May, in the dugout during a game at Dodger Stadium last week against the Minnesota Twins, was traded to the Boston Red Sox on Thursday. (Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
Before trade rumors heated up and dream scenarios were briefly envisioned, before the Dodgers were linked to a string of big names who all wound up anywhere but Los Angeles, the team’s front office foreshadowed what proved to be a rather straightforward, unremarkable trade deadline on Thursday afternoon.
“This group is really talented,” general manager Brandon Gomes said last week. “I would argue it’s better than the team that won the World Series last year.”
“It’s really about our internal guys, and the fact that these are veteran guys that have well-established watermarks,” echoed president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, amid a July slump that fueled deadline speculation about what the team would need.
“I think the fact that we see the work they put in, how much they care, just makes it easier to bet on.”
On Thursday, maintaining faith in their current group is exactly what the Dodgers did.
The team did address its two main needs ahead of MLB’s annual midseason trade deadline. In the bullpen, it reunited with right-handed veteran Brock Stewart in a trade with the Minnesota Twins. In the outfield, it added solid-hitting, defensively serviceable 30-year-old Alex Call in a deal with the Washington Nationals.
But compared with the flurry of blockbuster deals that reverberated around them in the National League — from a head-spinning seven-player shopping spree by the San Diego Padres, to a bullpen arms race between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies — the Dodgers’ moves were mild, tame and certainly cost-conscientious.
They didn’t splurge for one of the several established closers that were dealt for sky-high prices throughout the league. They didn’t remake their lineup by landing someone such as Steven Kwan, or any other hitter with anything close to All-Star pedigree.
In fact, the Dodgers hardly gave up much at all, content to round out the margins of their roster while parting with little in the way of prospect capital.
High-A pitchers Eriq Swan and Sean Paul Liñan (the 16th- and 20th-ranked players in their farm system by MLB Pipeline) were shipped to Washington. But otherwise, the only other departures were 40-man roster players unlikely to factor much into the team’s late-season plans: James Outman, who went to Minnesota in exchange for Stewart; Dustin May, who was dealt to the Boston Red Sox for a prospect a few months before entering free agency; and minor league catcher Hunter Feduccia, who was part of a three-team deal late Wednesday night that netted the Dodgers two pitching prospects and a journeyman catcher.
The Dodgers' James Outman (33) celebrates after hitting a three-run home run during a game against the Miami Marlins in May. (Marta Lavandier / Associated Press)
Compared to last year — when the Dodgers added Jack Flaherty (their eventual Game 1 starter in the World Series), Tommy Edman (the eventual National League Championship Series MVP) and Michael Kopech (a key piece in a bullpen that carried the team to a World Series title) — it all felt rather anticlimactic.
Which, as the Dodgers’ top two executives had noted the week before, appeared to be perfectly fine by them.
In Stewart, the team got a lower-cost addition in what was an expensive seller’s reliever market.
The 33-year-old has only two career saves, and is unlikely to fix the Dodgers’ ninth-inning problems. But, he is having a strong statistical season with 14 holds and a 2.38 ERA, 14th-best in the American League among relievers with 30 innings. He will give the Dodgers a stout option against right-handed hitters, who have just a .104 average and .372 OPS against him. And he comes with familiarity in the organization, still thought highly of after starting his career with the Dodgers from 2016-2019 — back before he reinvented himself with a fastball that now sits in the mid-to-upper 90 mph range.
In Call, the Dodgers gave themselves more versatility in the outfield.
The right-handed hitter has appeared in just 277 career games over four MLB seasons with the Nationals and Cleveland Guardians.
But the former third-round draft pick is having a nice 2025 season, highlighted by a .274 batting average, .756 OPS and decent (if unspectacular) defensive grades at all three outfield positions.
While Call’s role wasn’t immediately clear, he could factor into a platoon with recently resurgent left-handed hitting outfielder Michael Conforto. He also gives the Dodgers another option in center field, specifically, which would allow Andy Pages to spend more time in a more naturally suited corner outfield spot.
For those Dodgers, the moves checked off their two big priorities: Adding another dependable right-handed reliever in the bullpen, and improving their defensive options in the outfield.
What was missing from the Dodgers’ deadline, however, was the kind of big splash so many other contenders reeled off this week. The Padres acquired Mason Miller, Ramon Laureano, and Ryan O’Hearn without sacrificing any key big-league pieces. The Mets added Tyler Rogers, Ryan Helsley and Gregory Soto to their already stout bullpen, while the Phillies upgraded theirs with the addition of Jhoan Durán.
Already this year, the rest of the NL was keeping pace with what was billed as a seemingly invincible Dodgers team. Suddenly, the competition looks that much stronger, not only for the club to defend its World Series, but even to preserve the narrow three-game lead it holds over the Padres in the NL West.
The Dodgers, however, see internal improvement as the key to the rest of the season.
Already, their pitching staff is getting healthy. Tyler Glasnow, Blake Treinen and (as of this coming Saturday) Blake Snell are all back from extended injuries. Michael Kopech, Brusdar Graterol, Tanner Scott and Roki Sasaki are also scheduled to return over the final two months.
Offensively, the club is confident that slumping stars Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Tesocar Hernández will get back on track, and that Max Muncy will provide a jolt in his return from injury next week. All that — coupled with the MVP-caliber play of Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith — they believe should yield a lineup capable of repeating a run to the World Series.
“It’s always tricky when you’re in the midst of a swoon in team performance, because in those moments you feel like we need everything,” Friedman acknowledged leading into the deadline, with the team enduring a 10-14 slide in July. “So for us, it’s about, all right, let’s look ahead to August, September. Let’s look at what our best-case scenario is. Let’s look at, if we have a few injuries here and there, what areas are we exposed? What areas do we feel like we have depth?”
Apparently, the Dodgers still liked what they already had, rolling the dice on their current group while other contenders stocked up all around them.
Mikal Bridges' future with the Knicks is no longer in question, as the team has signed the veteran guard to a four-year, $150 million contract extension, sources confirmed to SNY.
Bridges was eligible for a four-year extension worth as much as $156 million. By agreeing to a deal at $6 million less than the max, Bridges gives the Knicks some financial flexibility in an era where every dollar counts for contending teams.
That future financial flexibility was an important part of the deal for the Knicks and Bridges, per sources familiar with the matter.
“He wants to be here and wants to win here,” a league source told SNY.
Bridges, who joined the Knicks last summer in an offseason trade with the Nets, averaged 17.6 points with 3.7 assists and 3.2 rebounds across 82 regular season games in 2024-25. The 28-year-old then scored 15.6 points on average in the playoffs, helping the Knicks make a run to the Eastern Conference Finals. He had an up-and-down regular season but made several clutch plays for New York in the postseason.
The Knicks like how Bridges (who turns 29 next month) fits the timeline of their other top players. Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Bridges, OG Anunoby, Josh Hart and Mitchell Robinson are all 30 or under. Brunson, Towns, Bridges, Hart and Anunoby are all under contract through 2026-27.
The Bridges extension, which was first reported by ESPN, kicks in next season. If he’d waited to become an unrestricted free agent, Bridges would have been eligible for a deal as long as five years and for much more total money.
Brunson took a significant discount by signing an extension last summer. His decision to sign the extension instead of waiting until free agency will help the Knicks avoid onerous penalties in the second apron. Bridges’ discount will also, to a much lesser degree. But every dollar counts for teams like the Knicks, who want to contend. By having a team salary under the second apron, the Knicks will have more tools to acquire free agents and the flexibility to make trades that they wouldn’t have if they are over the second apron, which is $222 million in 2026-27.
According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks, the Knicks currently have $18 million in space under the second apron heading into the summer of 2027.
The Knicks sent five first-round picks to the Nets last summer to acquire Bridges. So they needed to either extend him or put him in a trade that netted a significant return. Now that Bridges is signed to the extension, he is ineligible to be traded for six months.
