Since the start of the baseball’s amateur draft, high school players have always been eligible. Selecting a young player out of high school and offering him enough money to forego college was just one of the ways to ensure an organization secured top-notch talent.
If that player agreed to a deal, which included a signing bonus, then he would report to the minors and start at the lowest rung of the minor league system. Even if it didn’t work out, he’d hopefully have money left over from that signing bonus.
If the player didn’t sign and instead went to college, he’d have to play a varied amount of time in the college system before he could re-enter the draft. The team that originally signed him would no longer hold his draft rights, making him available to the rest of the league—including, of course, that original team.
Sometimes going to college paid off. There have been numerous instances of players heading to college and improving their draft stock. However, the inverse was more likely to occur—college baseball didn’t go as well, injuries occurred, the player didn’t improve all that much, etc., and then his draft stock plummeted.
Before the days of NIL, that player would be out of luck when it came to money.
Now, in the days of NIL and revenue sharing, I wonder how much that has changed. How much do college baseball players make? Does that NIL money that wreaks havoc in college football and college basketball trickle down enough to convince a player from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, to choose the Sooners over the Astros?
At OverSlotBaseball.com on Wednesday, Joe Doyle wrote an article free for all to read about how the league’s next Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) could end high school draft pick eligibility.
Part of the reason why is making further changes to the minor league system and length of the draft. In 2021, as Doyle notes, the draft shrunk by half, going from 40 rounds to 20 rounds. At the same time, the minor league system contracted as a chunk of the lower levels were extinguished.
In the next CBA, the draft could become even smaller, perhaps even down to 15 or 10 rounds as soon as the 2028 Draft while the minor leagues could further shrink, this time with the elimination of what is now referred to as Class A ball in 2030.
As logic would indicate—and Doyle spells out—fewer rounds of the draft + no Class A ball = less draft eligibility, specifically for high schoolers.
Not only would this eliminate more jobs at the lower levels of the organization, it would also force high school players to forego a potential guaranteed payday to attend college. And for how long? Would the college eligibility rules change, too, so that a player could enter the draft after his freshman year? Or would the player have to stay on campus longer?
It’s clear why this is on the table—the owners want to save as much money as possible. You may not become a billionaire by being a cheapskate, but evidently that’s how you stay a billionaire.
This not only hurts players, but it also hurts clubs like the Kansas City Royals, organizations that depend on drafting younger players and developing them over the years. It takes potentially great players off the board. If this rule currently existed, there would be no Bobby Witt Jr. in Kansas City.
I’ll note something Doyle makes clear in his column—this isn’t guaranteed. “To be sure, none of this is set in stone or agreed upon in any way yet,” Doyle writes.
For baseball fans, there are more pressing issues than this with upcoming labor talks. If the owners truly push for a salary cap, and it sounds like they will, it could be a long, ugly fight between the owners and the players that will certainly void games and perhaps the entire season.
Ending high school draft pick eligibility isn’t high on the list of fans’ concerns, but it will almost certainly affect how the Royals mold their future.
Third in the series.Today we look at the Cubs’ young DH/C/1B.
In previous episodes, we looked at the Cubs’ two catchers, Miguel Amaya and Carson Kelly, indulged in a little speculation, and had video of some of their exploits.
As we move on to the rest of the roster, it seems reasonable to look next at the Cubs’ left-handed DH, Moisés Ballesteros, who isn’t ready for prime time (and perhaps never will be) as a catcher, though the Cubs still continue to float the idea that he’s just a few reps away from competence.
A lot can be said about Ballesteros’ defensive deficiencies, but that tale has been told, and so we’re only saying this little bit — he has a career .985 fielding percentage. Baseball consensus also has it that he’s probably too short to make the scoop at first base, but I’m not really concerned about him playing defense for extended periods.
Because the real tale is about his bat, which is ready for prime time, and is why he’s in The Show. His bio has it that he’s 5’8”, 215, and he looks every bit of 215. He’s husky but he does tend to a bit of avoirdupois weight — however, he has shown a good bat path and quick hips which enable him to get around on any pitch with facility. He was clearly not overwhelmed at the plate in his rookie season, with a slash line of .298/.394/.474 lending credence to the idea that he could be a full-time or LH/Platoon Designated Hitter. Most predictives have him somewhere around .260/.330/.410, with 7-10 HR and 40-45 RBI. The SLG and power numbers look a little low to me but ‘ballpark’.
I’m sure we’d all like it if he exceeded those numbers, and I’d give him a good chance. He’ll probably log a few innings at catcher in the spring. If he doesn’t, then we can probably abandon that part of the narrative. Likewise first base, where Tyler Austin and Jonathon Long offer preferable RH alternatives if the left-handed Busch isn’t going.
Austin is penciled in to back up both Ballesteros and Michael Busch, and will be the subject of our next profile.
On Saturday night, January 24th, 2026, the Los Angeles Lakers came to town with their new franchise star, Luka Dončić, for his second trip back to Dallas since the trade that shattered everything.
In just a few days, we’ll mark the one-year anniversary of that midnight surrender — the moment Dončić was sent away for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, a future pick, and the kind of package you might offer for a slightly bruised star, not a generational one. I was at my desk that night. I remember staring blankly at the screen as I typed a column called “The Worst Moment in DFW Sports History Is Here.” I meant every word.
Because the truth is simple and brutal: You never close a championship window voluntarily.
In the coming days, as the trade deadline nears, much of the Mavs discourse will focus on what veterans Dallas might ship off. Klay Thompson. Daniel Gafford. Maybe even P.J. Washington. It’s a familiar cycle by now: tear down, reshuffle, pray for the ping-pong balls to be kind again. But I’d ask Mavericks fans to pause — to feel — before submitting fully to this future-tense loop.
Because the real tragedy of this past year wasn’t just the trade itself. It was how easily so many moved on. How quickly the refrain became “we weren’t going to win anyway,” or “he was leaving eventually,” or worse, “he’s not our guy anymore.”
Luka didn’t just put this team back in the national spotlight. He took a roster stapled together by trade deadline grit and dragged it to the NBA Finals. Three wins away from a parade. And the response from the front office? Not joy. Not commitment. But cold calculus and revisionist logic.
Nico Harrison, shortly after pulling the trigger, told reporters:
“The easiest thing for me is to do nothing. Everyone would praise me for doing nothing. We really believed in it. Time will tell if I’m right.”
Patrick Dumont, echoed that detachment just weeks later:
“We got to the championship games and we didn’t win… so we had to decide: how do we get better?”
As if getting to the championship games…ahem, NBA Finals isn’t what every team in the league is begging the basketball gods for. As if three wins short of the mountaintop is cause to abandon the hike altogether.
Here’s the part that gnaws at me. Most teams never get a Luka. Most teams never get a Dirk. They get glimpses. Moments. And if they’re lucky, a window. The Mavericks had one. Open. Real. Proven. And they chose to board it shut.
I’m not saying another Finals run was guaranteed. Of course it wasn’t. Sports don’t offer that. Life doesn’t offer that. But the point isn’t the parade. It’s the pilgrimage. It’s the chance. You stay in the window until time or nature or the laws of basketball physics close it on you. But you don’t quit on it after one failed attempt. You don’t trade the star who took you there for a player on the back end of his prime and a few half-measures. You don’t make a move Babe Ruth-level in consequence and rationalize it with a shrug.
And if you do?
You don’t get to act surprised when the crowd doesn’t clap.
Saturday night wasn’t just a basketball game. It was a requiem. Luka put up 33 and 11 with a +18 in 39 minutes — in that building, against this team. But the stat sheet wasn’t what made the night surreal. It was the suite full of Mavs fans — invited by Luka himself — who came to thank the player this franchise gave up on. Some of them had defended him through the ugliest moments of last year. And he remembered.
But the reaction online, from the “just move on” crowd, was predictable. Scoffs. Side-eyes. “He’s not your guy anymore.”
Except maybe he is.
Because for some of us, caring about a team means not forgetting. It means mourning what could’ve been. It means feeling both pride and heartbreak when the player you raised becomes something historic — just no longer in your jersey. Being a fan isn’t just about who suits up today. It’s also about honoring the ghost of what was supposed to happen. Dirk did not win it all until he did. We cannot say for certain what would have happened had Doncic been allowed to play out his era, but many of us would rather have continued on those train tracks—wherever they may have led.
Cooper Flagg is the future now. And he deserves our full attention, our full hope. But hope doesn’t require amnesia.
The Dallas Mavericks will rebuild. They’ll market. They’ll sell tickets. They’ll hire a GM outside of the sneaker industry. But they will never undo the moment they chose to walk away from a title window rather than walk through it.
And until the next banner is raised — if it ever is — we will remember. We should remember.
Because sometimes the greatest loyalty is found in the refusal to forget.
Week 14 is officially in the books, and it somehow managed to be the best of times and the worst of times all at once. The line between winning basketball and losing basketball could not have been clearer.
The record tells the story. A 2–2 week. The two wins came with Devin Booker on the floor. The two losses came without him, at least when it mattered most in the fourth quarter. You could feel it. You could see it in how the offense flowed, or stalled, depending on his presence.
In the games Booker played, the team shot 45.7% from the field and 50% from deep, knocking down 46-of-92 from three. When he was not available, those numbers cratered. 34.7% overall in the 5 quarters without him. 17.8% from beyond the arc. Woof.
4 games in Week 14 for the Suns:
11 quarters with Booker: 45.7 FG%, 50 3PT% (46-of-92) 5 quarters without Booker: 34.7 FG%, 17.8 3PT% pic.twitter.com/9H7xLWoBAd
If you are looking for a clean personification of what Devin Booker means to this team, there it is in black and white.
Yes, surviving Atlanta emotionally after that night was always going to be tough. But the looks were there. The same can be said against Miami. Open threes. Clean opportunities. Shots that usually fall. If a handful of those go down, both games feel very different late.
And that is the reminder this week delivers. Even if Booker is not the most efficient version of himself this season, he brings steadiness. He brings order. He brings a scoring and playmaking gravity that holds everything together. That is the heliocentric core of this offense. Take it away, and there is a learning curve.
Without him, there are moments where the team looks rudderless. That has been evident. In the 41 games Booker has played, the Suns are 26–15. In the four games he has missed, they are 1–3.
That gap is not theoretical. It is real. And Week 14 made sure everyone noticed.
Week 14 Record: 2-2
@ Brooklyn Nets, W, 126-117
Possession Differential: +1.9
Turnover Differential: +5
Offensive Rebounding Differential: 0
It was not pretty, but it was professional. The Suns handled Brooklyn on Monday, never fully shaking the Nets but keeping a firm grip all night. Phoenix spread the wealth, dropped 126 points, had three over 20, six in double figures, and grabbed win number 26.
@ Philadelphia 76ers, W, 116-110
Possession Differential: +1.9
Turnover Differential: +3
Offensive Rebounding Differential: -3
Vibes do not show up in the box score, but they were loud in Philly. On the second night of a back-to-back, the Suns showed up healthy, whole, and very much alive, with Jalen Green finally back in the mix. No Embiid, no George, no excuses. This one mattered for tone, momentum, and belief.
@ Atlanta Hawks, L, 110-103
Possession Differential: +2.7
Turnover Differential: 0
Offensive Rebounding Differential: +3
The Suns limped out of Atlanta shell-shocked, losing both the game and their emotional armor in one brutal night. Jalen Green went down. Devin Booker left on crutches. A road trip that ended 3–3 suddenly felt like a gut punch instead of a win.
vs. Miami Heat, L, 111-102
Possession Differential: -2.1
Turnover Differential: -5
Offensive Rebounding Differential: -2
Phoenix shot a brutal 37% from the field and an unforgivable 7-of-35 from deep, turning a winnable game into a slow bleed. The Heat were quicker, sharper, and better armed, even on a back-to-back.
Inside the Possession Game
Weekly Possession Differential: +6.4
Weekly Turnover Differential: -1
Offensive Rebounding Differential: +2
Year-to-Date Over/Under .500: +8
Grpah it? Let’s graph it.
The Suns actually did a better job overall of maintaining and earning extra possessions. From a raw numbers standpoint, it was a solid-looking week. But as noted above, this becomes a different team without Devin Booker on the floor.
The next week, maybe two, is going to be telling. Not because the effort disappears, but because the context changes. It will be interesting to see how these same metrics hold up without him, because the team has shown it can still generate extra possessions. That part of the equation does not belong to Booker anyway.
He is not your rebounder. He is not the guy hunting steals or living in passing lanes. That work belongs to the players around him. Booker’s role is different. He is the rudder. He gives direction. He stabilizes everything.
Because of that, the possession and turnover margins might stay relatively intact. The efficiency, however, is another story. That is where the drop off tends to show up, especially when you factor in the upcoming opponents and the reality that players are now being asked to operate with less space.
Without Booker’s gravity, defenders shrink the floor. Shots come a beat quicker. Reads get tighter. Roles blur. And that is where you start to feel his absence most, not in the hustle stats, but in how hard every basket suddenly becomes.
Week 15 Preview
Another week, another four games in six nights. All of them at home, sitting right in the middle of a five-game homestand. The setting is friendly. The schedule is not.
It starts with the Brooklyn Nets, a team the Suns handled earlier this week. That does not mean it gets easier the second time around. If Phoenix wants to take care of business again, controlling Michael Porter Jr. becomes priority number one. The Nets are not a great team, but they are feisty. They hang around. They turn games into work if you let them. Oh, and it’ Dave King’s Bright Side Night. I’ll see you there!
Then comes the back-to-back, and this is where the degree of difficulty spikes.
First up, the Detroit Pistons, currently the best team in the Eastern Conference. And if you want to talk about timing luck, look at it from their perspective. Two games against the Suns, and both come without Devin Booker. That is a gift.
The very next night, the Suns turn around and face the Cleveland Cavaliers, who currently sit fifth in the East. That one comes with some residue. Phoenix lost to Cleveland on New Year’s Eve.The Suns walked into Sunday night like gunslingers at high noon, stared down Miami, and then realized the chamber was empty. Phoenix shot a brutal 37% from the field and an unforgivable 7-of-35 from deep, turning a winnable game into a slow bleed. Miami’s pace exposed every loose possession, every second chance, every stagnant trip. Fourteen assists on 37 makes told the story. The Heat were quicker, sharper, and better armed, even on a back-to-back. Sometimes the duel ends before you ever get a clean shot.
The homestand closes Sunday with the Suns’ first Western Conference opponent since January 7, the LA Clippers. The record says 20–24. The seeding says tenth. The recent form says something entirely different. They have won 15 of their last 18 games. They have figured something out. They are organized. They are physical. And they are a team nobody is excited to see on the schedule right now.
So yes, the Suns are home. But comfort is relative. This week is going to ask questions. The answers will tell us a lot.
Mother Nature isn’t the only one capable of bringing down a storm. We had so much to discuss that we broke this episode into two parts.
In Part 1, Mike and Dan find the Islanders at a low point after an average road trip and a disastrous return game.
In three games this week, the Islanders left us with layers of anger and frustration. They finished their trip with two bad games, one that somehow yielded a win and another that landed like a lead balloon. They then came back to UBS Arena to face the surging Sabres and once again no-showed a matinee game full of kids, an all-too familiar scenario for them over the last decade-plus. The Isles are still in a playoff berth as of now, but only because the teams below them are scuffling. Management has made no indications that any changes are coming, and the same assortment of deck chairs keeps getting rearranged, leading to no surprises and predictable outcomes.
A game against a Flyers team hunting for the same playoff berth on Monday is huge for both clubs. The Islanders follow that with back-to-back(!) games against a Rangers team that would love to play spoiler, even as they wave their second white flag in seven years. Then it’s a game against Nashville, that old boogie man. With just two weeks before the Olympic Break, these winnable games will all have an effect on how the rest of the Islanders’ season should be treated.
In Part 2, we react to the first concrete reporting on the Islanders moving their AHL team from Bridgeport, CT to Hamilton, ONT, and also wrap up the Mitch Marner Chronicles in another massive Master Leaf Theatre.
The Bridgeport Islanders leaving their home of over 25 years was first teased months ago, but a recent report in The Athletic put out a lot of details we didn’t know already. While the team has yet to make anything official, we give our initial reactions and concerns about the move, while also feeling sympathy for the fans who supported the Sound Tigers/Baby Islanders organization during an usually long time for one minor league team to stay in one place.
Then it’s on to another epic-length Master Leaf Theatre, as Mitch Marner makes his return to his hometown and his former favorite team’s home rink. As expected, the takes afterward were equal parts dramatic and ridiculous, with some writing about the fan reaction in delusional or Shakespearian terms, and others calling out the evening’s failings, including those of the Leafs themselves in a gutless 6-3 loss. We add some new voices to the Master Leaf Theatre canon, which is always a treat, and enjoy some unexpected twists from classic artists of the genre. We had so much to get to that we forgot to mention the Leafs selling an autographed Marner Knights jersey on the concourse during his return game. That tells you all you need to know about how this “hostile” this environment was.
We’ve done a lot of this over the last two weeks, so we’re going to take a little hiatus unless something crazy happens.
Thanks for listening to this two-part episode. The severe weather impacted us in a few way and this was the best solution.
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Even though they almost let it slip away on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Penguins won all four games on their Western Conference road trip and mostly did so in impressive fashion. They beat the Seattle Kraken, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers by multiple goals, with all three games being rather convincing wins, and then had a 3-0 lead on the Vancouver Canucks going into the third period. They needed goalie Stuart Skinner to stand on his head a little bit to secure that win, but the bottom line is he did, they got the two points, and they remain one of the best teams in the NHL since the holiday break with an 11-2-2 record in their first 15 games since then.
What that means for the standings:
The Penguins are tied for the seventh-best points percentage (.618) in the entire NHL.
Their goal-differential is tied for the sixth-best in the NHL.
They are tied for the fourth-best points percentage (.618) in the Eastern Conference.
They are four points ahead of the New York Islanders for the second spot in the Metropolitan Division in the same number of games played.
They are on a 101-point pace for the season.
The current playoff cut-off line in the Eastern Conference is 98 points in the wild-card race and 94 points in the Metropolitan Division.
Overall, they have put themselves in a pretty good spot.
They have a chance to keep it going on this upcoming three-game home stand against the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators.
The home stand begins on Thursday night against Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks. The Penguins won the first meeting this season, 7-3, back on Dec. 28 in Chicago to kickstart this recent strong stretch of play.
While Bedard is a blossoming superstar in the NHL, the Blackhawks as a whole are still not particularly good. They enter the week having won just three of their past nine games, have the sixth-worst record in the NHL and some of the worst 5-on-5 scoring chance and possession metrics in the NHL.
They are 30th in 5-on-5 expected goal share and 28th in expected goals against per 60 minutes. That should be a winnable game.
On Saturday the Penguins host former head coach Mike Sullivan and the Rangers for a celebration of the 2016 Stanley Cup team. Several former players will be in the house, and it should be another chance to collect some points against a Rangers team that is currently, by far, the worst team in the Eastern Conference. They are even worse due to the current injuries to top defenseman Adam Fox and starting goalie Igor Shesterkin. Aside from the injuries, the Rangers simply have a lack of offensive talent that limits their scoring ability and ability to push play during 5-on-5 hockey. It is a poorly constructed team that is currently without two of the players it could least afford to be without. The Penguins and Rangers have split the first two games this season, with the Penguins getting a 3-0 win in New York in the season opener, and the Rangers getting a 6-1 win in Sullivan’s first return back to Pittsburgh as an opposing coach.
Even the Monday against the Senators is a winnable game. Ottawa is probably better than its record indicates and has been ruined by awful goaltending all season, but there is still a chance there for more points.
The two big wild cards this week for the Penguins are going to be the availability of forwards Bryan Rust and Evgeni Malkin.
Malkin seemed to be in pain at the end of Sunday’s game when he was bumped on the bench in celebration of the win.
Rust, meanwhile, could be facing a potential suspension for a hit to the head late in Sunday’s win against the Canucks.
Any potential absence of either player (or both) would disrupt the line chemistry the Penguins have really started to develop over the past few weeks.
Even so, given the way the Penguins are playing, and given the teams on the schedule this week, it would be a bit of a disappointment to not come out of this week with four points. That should be a realistic expectation and goal.
Another weekend, another few days of soul-searching for Liverpool and Tottenham. Liverpool had been on a 13-game unbeaten run before Saturday’s defeat to Bournemouth, but nobody could claim a string of results that included home draws with all three promoted clubs was convincing. Spurs had won just two of their 13 league games before Saturday’s away draw at Burnley, which was salvaged only thanks to an injury-time goal from Cristian Romero.
For both, European competition had offered some relief – Liverpool looked very good in a 3-0 win away to Marseille while Spurs, at least in the first half, produced probably their best performance since August in beating Borussia Dortmund 2-0 – but the sad truth is that the vast majority of European sides these days simply cannot live with the physicality of the Premier League. That’s not to say that Bournemouth or Burnley are better than Marseille or Dortmund, but it is to say that the challenge they pose a Premier League side is less.
The New York Islanders have been generous to Under backers this season, particularly when facing sturdy defensive teams.
My Islanders vs. Flyers predictions and NHL picks expect that to hold true in an important divisional battle between two teams neck-and-neck in the standings.
Islanders vs Flyers prediction
Islanders vs Flyers best bet: Under 5.5 (+105)
Ilya Sorokin has performed as well as anybody this season, leading the NHL in goals saved above expected with a mark of +23.8 through 30 appearances. He's a huge reason why the New York Islanders rank fifth in goals against per game and sit in a playoff spot.
The Islanders have played in a lot of low-scoring games (they possess an O/U record of 22-27-2), especially against other stingy sides.
The Philadelphia Flyers meet the criteria. They're one of the best shot suppression teams in the NHL and also prevent goals very effectively — at least with Dan Vladar, tonight’s projected starter, between the pipes.
Isolating games against Top-10 teams in terms of limiting shots, eight of New York’s past 12 have featured five goals or fewer. That includes five straight on the road.
The Islanders don’t have enough firepower to score consistently against good defensive teams, while almost every opponent struggles to beat Sorokin. Neither of these teams has scored more than three goals over the past five head-to-head matchups.
With Sorokin and Vladar expected between the pipes, there’s no reason to expect either team to hit its offensive ceiling in this one.
Islanders vs Flyers same-game parlay
Owen Tippett has shot the lights out of late, averaging 3.2 SOG over the past 10 while clearing this line in eight. Coming off a hat trick against the No. 1-ranked Avalanche, Tippett should have all the confidence to keep shooting in this one.
Philadelphia is great at taking away the middle of the ice and forcing teams to shoot from the perimeter. That bodes well for Tony DeAngelo, a former Flyer who's recorded multiple shots in four straight returns to Philadelphia.
The Islanders have cashed the Under in 14 of their last 20 road games for +9.75 units and a 45% ROI. Find more NHL betting trends for Islanders vs. Flyers.
How to watch Islanders vs Flyers
Location
Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, PA
Date
Friday, January 26, 2026
Puck drop
7:00 p.m. ET
TV
MSGSN, NBCS-Philadelphia
Islanders vs Flyers latest injuries
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
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This had the potential to be ugly, fortunately instead it was just pretty funny.
During Sunday night's game, Oklahoma City's Lu Dort rotated over to defend Toronto big man Sandro Mamukelashvili on the roll to the rim. When Mamukelashvili got the pass, he pump-faked, and Dort bought it — and ended up jumping on his shoulders.
Classy move by Mamukelashvili to make sure Dort didn't take a hard fall.
Toronto went on to hand Oklahoma City its second straight home loss 103-101, behind 23 from Immanuel Quickley (whose name keeps popping up in trade rumors as the Raptors look for another big man). Mamukelashvili had 10 points in the win.
From the moment he arrived in town last April, Ivan Demidov has been a Montreal Canadiens fan’s favourite, and his performance this season has not disappointed. He started the year on a line with fellow rookie Oliver Kapanen and Alex Newhook, which proved to be a very good line until Newhook was injured, forcing Martin St-Louis to find another combination. The rookies got a turn with Kirby Dach, but he was injured in their very first game as linemates. They then had a seven-game stint with Juraj Slafkovsky before spending a few games with Alexandre Texier. Still, ultimately, the coach reverted to the Slovak power forward, and the league has really come into its own.
After 52 games, the Russian rookie leads all NHL rookies with 43 points, 24 penalty minutes, and a plus-eight rating, and until Sunday night, his linemate Kapanen was leading all rookies in goals scored, with 16, but that changed with the Anaheim Ducks’ 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames. Ducks’ rookie Beckett Sennecke scored his first hat trick in the comeback overtime win, leapfrogging Kapanen in the rookie goal-scoring race. He now has 18 lamplighters.
That performance also allowed Sennecke to get closer to Demidov and the rookie-scoring lead, as he now has 41 points, just two behind the Canadiens’ Russian wonder. Both players have skated in 52 games and should be Matthew Schaefer’s main competition in the race for the Calder Trophy.
The fact that Demidov has the lead right now is impressive considering he only plays an average of 18.1 shifts per game compared to Sennecke’s 21.7 shifts and Schaefer’s 26.9. Of course, it means the Russian gets less ice time, skating for an average of 15 minutes and 24 seconds, while Sennecke spends an average of 17:09 on the ice, and the defenseman, 24:04. Demidov is undoubtedly making the most of the time he is given.
In the last 10 years, seven forwards have won the Calder Trophy while only three defensemen have been able to grab it. Last year, Lane Hutson won it with 66 points, while Moritz Seider claimed it in 2021-22, and Cale Makar landed it in 2019-20, both with 50 points, but Covid shortened Makar’s rookie season. Over those 10 years, the forwards who won the Trophy averaged 67 points.
As things stand, Demidov is on pace for 68 points while Sennecke is on pace for 65. Meanwhile, Schaefer is on pace for 55 points, in Calder Trophy territory for a blueliner, and his role goes beyond just putting up points for the New York Islanders. It feels like Demidov will need to really separate himself with his production if he’s to win the rookie of the year trophy for a second year running for the Canadiens.
Our CPL continues on this bright and beautiful morning and the third spot in our community’s rankings goes to another left-hander in Gage Jump. The Athletics’ second round pick last year had an amazing first season in the professional ranks, starting the year in High-A before getting promoted to Double-A, where he spent the majority of the season. Jump is much closer to the big leagues than his fellow left-hander Arnold and could legitimately become an option for the Athletics this summer if things continue on the path that they’re on right now. It shouldn’t be much longer before we see him donning the Green & Gold.
Taking Jump’s spot in the nominations list will be shortstop Edgar Montero. The young shortstop out of the Dominican Republic had a tough start to his pro career but elevated his game in his second full season. There’s lots to like in his approach at the plate as he’s able to draw walks without sacrificing much power in the batter’s box. Like other current nominees on our list he’s a bit farther away from truly impacting the big league squad but Montero has the chance to become a quality prospect given enough time. Does he rank above his fellow prospects on this list though?
The process for this public vote is explained below. Please take a moment to read this before participating:
Please only vote for one. The player with the most votes at the end of voting will win the ranked spot. The remaining four players move on to the next ballot where they are joined by a new nominee.
In the comments, below the official voting, the community will nominate players to be put onto the ballot for the next round. The format for your comment should be “Nomination: Player Name”.
If a prospect is traded, his name will be crossed out, and all other players will be moved up a space. If a prospect is acquired, a special vote will be put up to determine where that player should rank.
The voting continues! Who will take the fourth spot? The voting should get much more interesting from here on out. Here’s a quick rundown on each nominee— the scouting grades (on a 20-to-80 scale) and scouting reports come from MLB Pipeline.
Bolte is a tooled-up athlete who continues to fill out his big 6-foot-3 frame. His impressive raw power continues to show up in the Minors, though there is still a real concern over his swing-and-miss and high strikeout rate as he continues to struggle with offspeed stuff out of the zone. The A’s have worked with him to revamp his swing in order to improve his bat path and cover more of the zone, which has produced slight improvements in those areas, though there is still plenty of work to be done.
Another shining tool for Bolte is his near-elite speed, which was on display last season as he swiped 46 bags. That speed also comes in handy on defense, combining that with a strong arm that makes him a solid outfielder at all three spots. Further refining is required, but he remains an exciting talent with a very high ceiling who continues to steadily advance through the system.
While working around the injuries, Nett has continued to show stellar velocity, touching as high as 99 mph in the Minor Leagues last season. He typically sits 95-97 mph and gets swing-and-miss up in the zone thanks to ample carry. He also throws a tight 81-84 mph slider that ran a 38 percent whiff rate in ’24 and a sharper 90-92 mph cutter that can catch hitters off guard. He’ll mix in an upper-70s curveball with more vertical drop and he’s scrapped a low-80s splitter in favor of a much more effective 88 mph kick-change that really neutralizes lefties.
Nett has some effort in his delivery, and the 2025 season (pre-trade) was the first time he’d posted a walk rate below 13 percent at any Minor League stop. Combine that with the early injury concerns, and it’s easy to think he could be a reliever eventually. But his arsenal is deep enough, and his stuff is promising enough — when combined with strides taken this season — to keep landing him in a starting role in the upper Minors.
It’s not often that teenage prospects launch home runs. But Colome has a tendency to get to that jumpy pop with frequency, consistently leveraging his swing well – so well in fact, that one evaluator mentioned the most recent occasion on which he saw an international prospect continually get to their launch point in such a manner was Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Colome is a right-handed hitter with explosive hands and a solid contact rate, although he has been known to be a tad aggressive in the box as a means of getting to said power.
Something of an athletic marvel at 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds at age 16, Colome is an agile athlete who shows a lot of lateral quickness. The fluidity of his movements and strong arm led to a Manny Machado comparison being hung on him defensively. Much like the seven-time All-Star, Colome may move off short as his frame fills out, but he’s a tremendously dedicated worker and has the feet, soft hands and instincts to stick at the premium position.
A 6-foot-2 left-hander, Lin has a combination of feel for as many as five pitches and projection to his frame. Right now his fastball averages just 91 mph, but it tops out at 95, and it’s easy to see that his frame has tremendous room to add good strength, with more consistent velocity to come. It already had the makings of a quality heater, thrown from around a 5.9-feet release height and with more than 18 inches of carry to it, helping it to miss a good amount of bats. His changeup has been his best secondary offering to date, with huge whiff rates during his debut. His short curve is his go-to breaking ball thus far, though he has a harder, shorter slider. He’ll also employ a splitter for another offspeed possibility.
It’s been a small sample size so far in his first full season, but Lin looks like he has the makings of being an extreme strike-thrower, showing particularly good command of his fastball and curve. If the teenaged southpaw is able to fill out and throw harder, the A’s could have a very interesting left-handed starting pitcher prospect on their hands.
A switch-hitting shortstop, Montero has shown the ability to impact the ball from both sides of the plate, with his natural right-handed swing more direct to the ball, though his left-handed swing is more picturesque and he obviously gets more plate appearances from that side. He has the chance to hit for average and power, with a solid approach that has allowed him to walk more than he strikes out for much of the summer.
Last year, Montero was slower and less athletic, but attention to conditioning and nutrition has helped him get leaner and stronger. An average runner, Montero has the instincts and actions to stick at shortstop for a long time, with a solid and accurate arm. If his body gets bigger as he matures — he played all of 2025 at age 18 — he could move to the hot corner, but the A’s don’t see that in his future. What they are hoping for is that he comes to instructs this year and stays in the United States as one of the better prospects to come out of their Dominican academy in some time.
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Programming Note: Each CPL vote will run for around 48 hours, so don’t delay making your selections!
Boston Bruins superstar David Pastrnak has recorded four or more shots in six of his past eight games, totaling 32 on 64 attempts. His 12.0 shots and 24.01 attempts per 60 minutes during the stretch rank eighth and fifth in the league, respectively.
With the New York Rangers ranking 28th in Corsi For percentage at 5-on-5 while allowing a healthy 29.2 shots per game out of the holiday break, this checks out as a soft matchup.
Viktor Arvidsson ranks second in shots while pacing the NHL in attempts per 60 minutes across his past 10 games, recording three or more in eight of those contests.
He’s piled up a monster 39 shots and 72 attempts during the stretch, and as noted, this is a great matchup for the B's snipers.
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
Jake Bloss is a 24-year-old (25 in June), right-handed pitcher. We picked him up (with Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner) from the Astros, at the trade deadlin in 2024, for Yusei Kikuchi.
Kikuchi made 10 starts for the Astros and had a 2.70 ERA with a 5-1 record, helping them get the Wild Card spot that year (they lost to the Tigers in two games). He played for the Angels last year.
Bloss was #7 on our Prospect List last year. Tom M wrote:
Bloss uses an aggressive drop and drive deliver that gets him great extension and also a flat plane to the plate. That pairs well with his fastball, a four-seamer that sits 93-95 and occasionally touches 98 with above average carry. He throws three breaking balls: a cutter in the 87mph range, a sweeping slider around 82, and a solid two plane curve at 79. His change-up is his weakest pitch, a little too firm at 90mph and with some arm side fade but fringe movement overall. None of the pitches are plus (except the fastball when it’s at the top of its range), but at least three look above average and the sheer variety helps everything play. Bloss has good feel most of the time, but he needs to find more consistency and refine his approach to cut down on his walks.
Bloss is undoubtedly advanced for a player just a season and a third into his pro career, but his advancement to Houston last year had more to do with desperation than him actually forcing the issue. He has work to do to refine his command and approach, and I don’t think it would be a surprise or a problem if he spent most or all of the season in Buffalo before making his Blue Jays debut. His upside is as #3/4 starter once he makes those refinements, and I think there’s a good chance he’ll be pencilled into that role going into 2026.
Unfortunately, for Jake, he ended up needing UCL surgery in May of last year and ended up missing the rest of the season.
Baseball America has him listed as the Jays ninth best prospect coming into spring training this year, but he likely won’t be back on the mound until mid-season and then will have to show that he is still the same pitcher as before the surgery. Between that, and the number of pitchers we have at the major league level and the ones in the minors who seem major league ready, it is tough to see a path for Bloss to pitch in the majors. But he does have a fastball that can reach 98 mph so if a spot in the pen opens up, who knows.
Stream thinks that is the most likely outcome, figuring him to pitch in 12 games of the pen, with a 7.96 ERA in 12 innings.
With the NBA’s trade deadline fast approaching, so is the Lakers’ next chance to reshape their roster in Luka Dončić‘s image.
After an offseason that did little to clarify the team’s long-term outlook, many pointed to this deadline and the upcoming summer as the transactional periods that would officially usher in the team’s new chapter. Whether by choice or necessity.
Five Lakers are currently on expiring deals and three more have player options. Among the few who can decide to spend another year in Los Angeles is Deandre Ayton.
The polarizing former No. 1 overall pick joined the team after reaching a buyout from the Portland Trail Blazers at the start of free agency. It was a decision that made sense for both parties.
For Ayton, the Lakers represented a chance for redemption after several years mired in mediocrity. He could be spoon-fed by three of the league’s best creators, play for a club with championship aspirations and be granted a spotlight to earn his next big contract in Los Angeles or elsewhere.
For the Lakers, Ayton addressed their clear need at center following Anthony Davis’ exit. Despite his baggage, Ayton remained talented, maintained off-court ties to Dončić, and most importantly, came at a bargain.
Through 44 games, the union has teetered but mostly been positive. The team sits just a half-game out of the four seed despite a deluge of injuries, with Ayton shoring up the center spot to an adequate level. And yet, little traction has ultimately been made for both sides’ ultimate goals.
Even with improved center play compared to their post-Dončić trade efforts last season, Ayton has not done enough to be seen as a long-term answer down low.
To his credit, Ayton has been one of the league’s most efficient centers on offense. He is currently posting his highest points per shot attempt of his career and is converting 66.2% of his two-point looks (85th percentile among bigs), which is even more impressive given nearly half (49%) of his shot attempts come in the midrange.
He has also benefited greatly from playing alongside Dončić. When the two have shared the floor, Ayton is shooting a tremendous 81% at the rim compared to just 69% when Dončić is on the bench.
While the raw results have been encouraging, there remains stylistic dissonance between the two that raises long-term concerns. Ayton is not the explosive vertical threat who can consistently capitalize on Dončić’s prolific lob throwing and lacks the motor to be a rim-running threat in transition. He also plays at a similar methodical pace to Dončić, which counterintuitively is not ideal for a star who thrives with a level of athletic juice around him.
On defense, Ayton has not been enough of a rim deterrent to help cover up for Dončić and the collective roster’s perimeter struggles.
Teams are currently shooting 71.5% at the rim against the Lakers this season in non-garbage time minutes. That is the second-worst mark in the league.
Although this should not rest solely on Ayton’s shoulders, individually, the positives he offers on that end have been mostly offset by the lapses and wavering effort. He is capable, but should not be expected to be the type of anchor needed to protect a future group built around Dončić and Austin Reaves.
Among the 24 centers who have defended at least 200 shots within six feet this season, Ayton ranks 13th in field-goal percentage allowed according to the league’s tracking data. Not bad, just not good enough.
Barring a dramatic uptick in production or helping lead a deep postseason run, it is looking increasingly more likely that the Lakers may prefer to find a new starting center. The issue is that it may be easier said than done.
The Lakers could be armed with up to $60 million in cap space to address the position. Some free agents the team may be interested in include: Isaiah Hartenstein, Nikola Vucevic, Mitchell Robinson, Robert Williams, Jalen Duren, Mark Williams and Walker Kessler.
While there are enticing options on that list, there are also hurdles in actually signing any. The Thunder, for example, holds a team option on Hartenstein. And Duren, Williams and Kessler are all restricted free agents, meaning their respective teams own the right to match any offer the Lakers may present.
It is not impossible that they can shake one of these names loose from their current situations. But in reality, the Lakers and Williams are probably not a potential fit following their trade debacle, and Duren and Kessler remain too valuable to their current organizations as players — and trade pieces — to be given up for nothing.
There are also question marks hanging over the bigs that the Lakers could sign outright. Vucevic would be an excellent pick-and-pop addition, but his age and defense would be far worse than the team’s current internal options.
Robinson and Williams fit the mold of centers that Dončić historically has meshed well with and possess more defensive talent than Ayton. Both, however, have been plagued by injuries and may make a team like the Lakers nervous about offering lucrative long-term deals.
If the free-agent class proves barren, the Lakers could then ultimately look at trading for their center of the future. And if no deal transpires by the deadline, the team will be equipped with more draft capital in the offseason to put together an attractive package for a center they like. This is where their aforementioned cap space could also prove useful in terms of absorbing a larger salary player in a deal.
As is the case with any road taken, there is the risk of potential opportunity cost. For example, trading for the likes of Bam Adebayo, Jarrett Allen or Ivica Zubac will cost most of, if not all, of the Lakers’ draft assets as well as take a chunk out of their cap space.
They would all make the team better from a positional perspective, but leave them without many resources to shore up the other holes on the roster.
The Lakers could try to split the difference and target a lower tier of center with one of their picks and find help on the wing with their remaining tools. But they must weigh if a big such as Nic Claxton is that much better than Ayton, considering it may also restrict them from doing other things elsewhere. This is worth noting because the upcoming wing and forward free-agent class is woof, to say the least.
This is ultimately the dilemma Rob Pelinka and the front office will face in the upcoming weeks and in the summer.
Are they better suited to use a similar package they offered previously for Williams to shore up a key position in the starting lineup for the foreseeable future? Or would running it back with a stopgap like Ayton and then using their assets to better construct the rest of the roster be more fruitful?
LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 13: Deandre Ayton #5 and Luka Doncic #77 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on during the game against the Atlanta Hawks on January 13, 2026 at Crypto.Com Arena in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)
While not the popular decision, an Ayton reunion may not be the disaster that a large portion of the fanbase may view it as. At least in the short term and assuming the rest of the roster improves.
Despite his flaws, the Lakers have had a slightly positive net rating (+0.3) when Dončić and Ayton have shared the floor. And when you add Reaves to the mix, the trio have perfomed well, posting a net rating of +6.0.
Given his player’s option (only $8.1 million) Ayton also holds a large say in whether he is back. This is not a guarantee he would find himself back in the starting role or exempt him from being traded if he opts to, but considerable dominoes would need to fall for it not to happen.
It also remains to be seen how aggressive the Lakers will still be in looking for a center upgrade. Before the Ayton signing, the front office showed its hand and desperation with the botched Williams trade. Ayton’s play likely has not changed the calculation, but he may have done enough for them to focus their attention and assets elsewhere.
In an ideal world, the Lakers will employ a center who is better than Ayton by next season. A cornerstone that fit around and support Dončić and Reaves into the team’s next era.
But even with a boatload of cap space and several draft picks, finding the right big man may prove difficult for a franchise that has historically gotten them to fall into their laps.
All stats courtesy of Cleaning the Glass unless otherwise stated. You can follow Alex on Bluesky at @alexregla.bsky.social.
The Sixers are in an interesting spot as the trade deadline approaches. They look good enough on certain nights to be a real contender in an Eastern Conference that appears to be wide open.
While their record isn’t stellar, they’re still above .500 and the 2025-26 season has given fans a sliver of hope, both for the current season and that the future might not be super bleak. So, that leaves you with a team that’s probably not good enough to be an aggressive buyer within the next week, but certainly isn’t bad enough to be an obvious seller which leaves Daryl Morey with some decisions to make.
The most obvious decisions for Morey would be to sell off a few of Philly’s veterans who are on expiring contracts and there are three names to discuss here. Quentin Grimes, Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre are all set to become free agents this summer. Granted, lumping the 25-year-old Grimes in with these two players in their 30s is oversimplifying things a bit. However, dating back to last offseason when the Sixers and Grimes were seemingly never close to a long-term deal, it has felt like the Houston product has had one foot out the door.
Out of these three players, Drummond is the oldest and being paid the least amount of money for the season, so you would think he is the most likely to be traded. Joel Embiid has shown signs of looking like his old self of late and Adem Bona is a youngster that is playing about as many minutes as Drummond is anyway. The team also officially signed old friend Charles Bassey to a 10-day deal Monday.
That brings us to Oubre, who is the most complicated trade candidate on the roster. While the Sixers are Oubre’s fifth team in a decade of NBA service time, the 30-year-old journeyman wing player has been a constant for Philadelphia in his three seasons with the team. He appeared in 68 games in 2023-24, 60 games last season and could still end up playing in 50-60 games this year if he stays healthy in the second half after a knee injury early in the season. His numbers have been pretty steady in all three seasons as a Sixer, and this season, his 38% three-point field goal percentage is actually up significantly from last year’s 29%.
If there’s a team out there that is more solidified as a contender than Philadelphia is, it may call Morey about Oubre, especially considering an acquiring team would gain Oubre’s Bird rights. Oubre hasn’t played for many contenders in his career, but he feels like a prototypical deadline addition for a contender. For his career, Oubre has appeared in 677 games, starting 328 of them, making for almost exactly a 50-50 split between his time as a starter and a bench player. He’s been a pretty consistent scorer regardless of the team he’s played for and a team with championship aspirations would probably love to add a 15-points-per-game guy that is shooting the ball as well as Oubre is this season.
Whether the Sixers should bite and move on from Oubre is a different conversation. Surely, there’s a price on any player and if another team exceeds the price that Morey and his staff value Oubre at, then no one can blame the Sixers for moving on. But, there’s a lot of value in Oubre remaining in Philadelphia. First off, he can help them win games in the second half, climb in the standings and cement themselves as one of the top six seeds in the East and avoid the play-in tournament.
Secondly, a player like Oubre can certainly help bring Philly’s younger players along. Between Bona, VJ Edgecombe, Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow, the Sixers have four rotation players in their early 20s who are still learning the ropes of life in the NBA. Oubre has been in so many different environments in his 10+ years as a professional, he could certainly help Philly’s younger players feel like they belong.
Lastly, while everyone knows about the money Philadelphia has committed to Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George for the future, there isn’t a lot of money on the books to other players in future seasons. To bring it back to Oubre in comparison to Grimes and Drummond, it feels like a no-brainer that Oubre should be the one out of these three that the Sixers are most interested in singing this summer.
We discussed the presence of Bona making Drummond a bit more expendable. While 2025-26 has not gone according to planned for Jared McCain, one would figure the Sixers still want McCain to be a big part of their future and the departure of Grimes would make it much easier to get McCain more playing time next season. Who’s replacing Oubre if Oubre is gone either at the trade deadline or if he walks in free agency? Philly doesn’t have another plug-and-play wing like Oubre and so keeping him for the rest of the season in hopes of going on a playoff run in the spring probably makes it easier to retain Oubre moving forward.
As we said, there could be an offer for Oubre that is too good to pass up. We’re certainly not trying to make it sound like the future of the franchise hinges on if Kelly Oubre sticks around or not. But Oubre has been a consummate professional in his time as a Sixer. He’s at the point in his career where he can be both a mentor to younger players and a remain a key contributor for whatever team he’s playing for. That team should continue to be the Philadelphia 76ers.
David Pastrnak Over 3.5 shots on goal
Dylan Guenther Under 0.5 points
