Worldwide Sports News

1934
Urban “Red” Faber retired after 20 seasons with the White Sox.

Somewhat overlooked in White Sox annals given he pitched in the immediate aftermath of the legendary Ed Walsh, Faber stakes a claim as the greatest hurler in White Sox history, with 67.7 WAR. That makes him their third-best player ever, behind Luke Appling and Frank Thomas.

But don’t feel guilty if you undervalue Faber, as it took him 17 tries to make the Hall of Fame despite ranking 11th all-time in pitching WAR at the time of his retirement (and still ranks 38th all-time, 90 seasons later). Faber never received more than 30.9% BBWAA voting support over 16 (!) different votes — and 10 times failed to poll at as much as 5%.

Faber’s 254 wins (254-212) fell just six short of Ted Lyons’ all-time White Sox mark.

Faber also authored the second-best two-season span in White Sox pitching history, with 21.0 WAR (11.4 in 1921, still tied for third in team history, and 9.6 in 1922, tied for eighth). Exactly 50 seasons later, Wilbur Wood topped Faber’s feat, with a 22.5 WAR two-season span in 1971-72.

For more on Faber, read KP’s terrific piece from 2018.

1959
Bill Veeck exercised his option to purchase the White Sox from majority owner Dorothy Comiskey. However, due to her brother Chuck’s lawsuit claiming ownership of the club, the official date of sale would end up being March 5, with club transfer not occurring until March 10.

1964
Luke Appling was elected to the Hall of Fame, by curious means.

Sixty years ago, the BBWAA held “runoff” elections in years when no candidate crossed the 75% threshold on the first ballot. Appling tallied just 70.6% in regular voting, and while that led all players on the ballot, it was still nine votes short of election.

Given a second chance, the writers snapped out of their decade-long sleepwalk over Appling’s legitimacy and landslid him in, with 90.4% support.

It was Appling’s eighth attempt to be voted into the Hall, and until 1964 he hadn’t received more than 30% support! In his first year of eligibility (1953), Appling got … TWO VOTES from the BBWAA.

While of course the statistic did not exist at the time, Appling’s 77.5 career WAR ranked 18th all-time among position players and fourth among shortstops at the time (even today, Appling ranks 45th in position player WAR and 77th overall). And to this day, no shortstop has hit for a higher batting average than Appling’s .388 in 1936 — something you’d think would have had major impact in a counting-stats era.

But one aspect of the delay was sweet, at least for White Sox fans, as four-year Appling teammate Red Faber (elected via Veterans Committee) joined the Class of 1964 as well.

2006
In one of many before and after, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén issued an apology for an off-cuff remark. This time, it was to Yankees third baseman Álex Rodríguez, over his indecision on what country to represent in the World Baseball Classic. A-Rod, who was born in the United States with Dominican heritage, first opted to play for the Dominican Republic. Then he decided not to play in the WBC at all. Finally, Rodríguez settled on suiting up for Team USA.

Guillén had been quoted by Sports Illustrated as critical of Rodríguez’s “waffling’ over his decision, making him a “hypocrite.”

The defending champion White Sox would dominate the first half of the 2006 season, but faltered and did not qualify for the playoffs despite finishing with 90 wins.

Manager Alex Cora announced yesterday that Red Sox utility man Romy Gonzalez is currently shut down from all baseball activities except for playing catch. This announcement came after earlier reports that he initially injured his shoulder in the final series of the 2025 regular season and has been dealing with pain and discomfort all offseason. Gonzalez has received a PRP injection and has not technically yet been ruled out for Opening Day, but the fact that he has now been dealing with an injury for over four months seems, uhh, really, really bad to me.

One year ago, it wouldn’t have been a very big deal if the Red Sox announced that Romy Gonzalez was injured. But he broke out last year, particularly against southpaws. Against lefties in 2025, Romy led the team in homers, batting average, slugging percentage, OPS, wOBA, and wRC+. And by the way, the players who were second, third, and fourth on the team in OPS against lefties were Rob Refsnyder, Rafael Devers, and Alex Bregman. The team’s entire offense against left-handed pitching is either gone or injured, with only Willson Contreras and Caleb Durbin to replace them.

Romy’s injury puts even more pressure on Roman Anthony, who was fifth on the team in OPS against lefties in 2025. Considering that he wasn’t even in the big leagues for the first few months of the season last year, Anthony’s swift rise to offensive cornerstone and face of the franchise is rather stunning. (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

Outfielder/“fastest DH in the league” Jarren Duran was asked about his performance against lefties, saying “I did pretty good against lefties in ’24, right? So, ’25 they adjusted, so in ’26 I can adjust to them.” For the record, in 2024 Duran put up an OPS of .665 against lefties. (Tim Healey, Boston Globe)

Someone who has performed well against lefties is Triston Casas, the slugger who posted an OPS of .817 against them in 2023. But 2023 was his only full season in the majors, as he is struggling to show he can stay on the field. Casas is not yet participating in full team activities and is expected to be out until at least May, but he’s okay taking his time: “This was a major injury and I’m a great player, and I don’t find any reason to rush this process. And whenever I feel ready to come back is when I am going to contribute best.” (Ian Browne, MLB.com)

The injury to Romy and the lengthy recovery for Triston Casas is also a major hit to the team’s first base depth. That’s why Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who has played every single position expect for first base in his big league career, is now working out there. (Sean McAdam, MassLive)

With so many question marks in the lineup, the 2026 Red Sox are going to need to be carried by their excellent (on paper) starting rotation. Sonny Gray is expected to be a big part of that, but right now it’s his 11-year-old son who is going viral on social media. (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)

Newcomer Johan Oviedo has not yet locked in a rotation spot alongside Gray, but Alex Cora likes what he sees out of him so far: “He’s physical. Good stuff. I don’t want to say he’s a work in progress but there’s a lot of things that we can help him accomplish and have the total package.” (Peter Abraham, Boston Globe)

When asked to describe Game 7 of the World Series and his place in it more than three months later, veteran infielder Miguel Rojas did not hesitate with his answer.

“Game 7 of the World Series was unbelievable,” Rojas said at his locker inside the Dodgers' clubhouse at Camelback Ranch last week. “Because nobody believed that I was able to hit a home run in the ninth inning with one out, and in that spot. No way.”

Rojas worked the count full, and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman left a slider over the plate, which Rojas rocketed over the left field bullpen, leaving the 44,000 fans on hand at the Rogers Centre — and the 51 million viewers watching — completely stunned.

“That was one of the most shocking World Series home runs I’ve ever seen,” award-winning baseball writer and Fox Sports commentator Tom Verducci said. “Here I was thinking, ‘Well, Ohtani’s on deck, so he doesn’t want to walk him.’ Never in my mind did I ever think that he was going to hit a home run. It was even more shocking to me than the Rajai Davis home run off [Aroldis] Chapman in 2016.”

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Davis’ two-run blast in the 2016 World Series tied Game 7 at 6-6, capping a three-run comeback for the then-Cleveland Indians. It however, occurred in the eighth inning, and came in a loss, as the Cubs snapped their 108-year championship drought in extra innings that night in Cleveland.

How does Rojas’ tying homer rank historically? Is it on par with Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit, walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series?

“I think in terms of game leverage, it’s right up there in I want to say the top five [greatest hits in the World Series],” Verducci said. “You’re not going to match Gibby’s for the kind of cinematic quality of it. But, in terms of out-of-the blue, series on the line — not just game on the line. Kirk Gibson was Game 1. Freddie Freeman off [Nestor] Cortes [in 2024] was Game 1. This is down to your last couple of outs in the World Series by a guy who hadn’t hit a home run all year against a right-handed pitcher — he hit one off of a position player right-handed. The shock value and game-leverage situation, it’s got to be top five; I’m talking about any hit in a World Series game.”

Rojas, who turns 37 next week, has not been known for his power. The middle infielder enters his 13th and final big league season with a total of 57 home runs. As Verducci notes, he hit just seven last season — six off left-handed pitchers and the one he hit off of a righty came against San Francisco Giants catcher Logan Porter late in a regular season game in which the Dodgers won, 10-0.

Batting ninth, with Shohei Ohtani on deck, Rojas stepped into the box with the goal of getting to first base. Hoffman started Rojas off with an 86-mph slider off the plate, getting the veteran to chase, putting him behind in the count, 0-1.

“I mean, my mentality was always to get on base,” Rojas said. “I think the first pitch taught me a lot about how the at bat was going to go. I was able to, kind of like, regroup and kind of keep myself in that at-bat and give myself an opportunity to get on base."

Hoffman proceeded to throw the next two pitches out of the zone, bringing the count to 2-1. He then attacked the strike zone with back-to-back fastballs, both of which Rojas fouled away, into the stands. An up-and-in slider brought the count full.

“Then he hung a slider, and I put a good swing on it,” Rojas said. “I knew a strike was coming. I didn't know what kind of strike I was gonna see. I was happy to put the barrel on that ball.”

The rest is history. The Dodgers would go on to win in 11 innings, repeating as World Series champions. What came in the immediate aftermath of confetti and champagne, was not something Rojas could have ever expected when he rejoined the Dodgers via trade before the 2023 season.

“It was a little bit more of attention, on the media side, fans and all that,” Rojas said. “It feels like it was overwhelming with the off-the-field stuff, because I was traveling a lot and all that.”

Little did he know, Rojas had unintentionally launched himself to stardom.

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“There were definitely a couple things that I didn't have on my radar, like the Latin Grammys was one of them,” Rojas said. “I went and shot an episode of 'Wheel of Fortune.' A couple nice things that you don't even know that you're playing this game for. But then you got the opportunity to, kind of like, travel and visit the world and go to places that you never expected to go. Really, it was really cool, overwhelming… but I think it's something that you don't have another opportunity to do.”

After enjoying the ride of the unanticipated media tour, Rojas is back at Dodgers camp, itching to win the final game of the season for the third year in a row in what he has said will be the final season of his career.

“Ever since I got traded, I can feel like walking into this clubhouse in spring training, the expectations are the same,” Rojas said. “And they're always making the team better. It's kind of like, right now, it feels like you have to win. It's not like, ‘OK, let's try to win. Let's try to do our best.’ It's like, ‘We have to win.’ It feels the same as last year and the year before and the year before that. The mentality is 'win.'”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Spring training positional battles are storied Florida/Arizona traditions, but as of now, the Yankees don’t have many significant battles to play out in camp. Sure, there could be injuries that shake up the depth chart, and there will always be jockeying for spots at the back of the rotation and in the bullpen. But as far as the Yankee lineup goes, all the slots seems spoken for.

One of the few positional storylines actually left to follow is that of Jasson Domínguez and whether he’ll make the club’s Opening Day roster. After coming out of camp as the team’s starting left fielder last year, Domínguez is far from a lock to make the team, with Brian Cashman indicating earlier this week that Domínguez could plausibly start the season in the minors at this point.

What do you think the Yankees ought to do with Domínguez? From a pure roster-building standpoint, I think it’s hard to argue that he isn’t one of the most talented 26 players in the Yankee organization and that he shouldn’t make the team based on potential production alone. Domínguez struggled for chunks of 2025, but even as a 22-year-old coming off a series of major injuries that cost him huge chunks of development time, he managed a league-average batting line as a rookie, hitting the ball very well against right-handed pitchers and flashing elite athleticism.

Yet the Yankees’ decision on Domínguez doesn’t just hinge on whether he’s one of their 26 best players, as there’s obvious context to consider. The team’s outfield is plenty full, starting Cody Bellinger, Trent Grisham, and Aaron Judge from left to right, and Domínguez’s skillset at the plate (strong against righties, weak against lefties) doesn’t fit well as a backup, given the team’s desire for bats that can hit left-handed pitchers off the bench. Though Domínguez clearly has more upside than, say, Oswaldo Cabrera, or the veteran reserves the Yankees have brought in this offseason like Paul DeJong and Max Schuemann, they may be better served letting Domínguez get regular run in Triple-A while letting the others assume backup duties at the major-league level.

What do you think? Should the Yankees prioritize giving Domínguez consistent playing time in the minors, or should they include him on their Opening Day roster on the basis that he’s more talented than the other options?

Today on the site, you can get your morning started with Nolan’s overview on the state of relief pitching in the Yankee organization. Also, Matt celebrates Wally Pipp, the man most famous for losing his starting job to Lou Gehrig, and John previews J.C. Escarra’s 2026 campaign. And later, as part of our Free Agents series, Michael looks back at one of the most important signings in Yankees history, their re-signing of Aaron Judge in 2022.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are cutting ties with tenured outfielder Jack Suwinski as they are officially designating him for assignment.

Suwinski has been a part of the Pirates’ organization since July of 2021 when he was acquired in a trade that sent second baseman Adam Frazier to the San Diego Padres. Suwinski having now being DFA’d will have the opportunity to be claimed off waivers by the other 29 MLB organizations. If Suwinski is not claimed off waivers, he will return to the Pirates’ Minor League system and likely elect to hit the free-agency market.

Suwinski being DFA’d frees up space on the Pirates’ 40-man-roster to officially sign newly acquired designated hitter, Marcell Ozuna. The Pirates resigned Suwinski to a one-year contract this offseason to avoid arbitration.

The time that Suwinski spent with the Pirates was highlighted by power at the plate coupled with wild inconsistency. The 27-year-old slugger made his MLB debut in 2022 and played in 106 games for the Pirates that season. Suwinski enjoyed a breakout season in 2023 where he had 26 homers, which ranked as the 20th-most in the National League. Suwinski’s cardinal sin was while he would have incredible power at the plate, he also had a nasty reputation of having a high swing and miss rate. That same 2023 season where he ranked 20th in homers, he also ranked sixth in total strikeouts with 172.

While he had flashes of greatness and potential as a power hitter in Pittsburgh’s lineup, Suwinski was never able to replicate the pop he he showed during the 2023 season. 2024 saw Suwinski appear in 88 games and hitting just 9 home runs.

2025 seemed to be the real breaking point for Suwinski’s time in Pittsburgh. He would appear in just 59 games, as he battled inconsistent play at the plate and did several stints with Triple-A Indianapolis. Suwinski finished the season with a slash line of .147/.281/.534 with 57 strikeouts and a career low t3 homers.

Suwinski’s departure opens the door for prospects Jake Mangum, Jhostynxon Garcia and Esmerlyn Valdez to have more playing opportunities in a thin Pittsburgh outfield group.