There are big expectations for Baltimore backstop Samuel Basallo as he heads into his official rookie season. The 21-year-old out of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, doesn’t just represent the leader of a new wave of talent graduating from the Orioles’ farm system. Basallo represents the first real fruits of an increased emphasis on developing talent through the international free agent market.
Basallo signed with the Orioles in 2021 for a then-club record $1.3M signing bonus. After a relative sprint through the minors that saw him make his big league debut at 20, the now-No. 1 catching prospect in baseball showed flashes of his immense potential in 31 games last season. Highlights included a walk-off homer against the eventual World Series champion Dodgers, another walk-off winner four days later against the Pirates and a moonshot against the Yankees for his final long ball of the year.
That’s not to say that the rookie didn’t have his struggles. In the first 109 ABs of his career, Basallo posted a .165 average and .559 OPS and struggled with strikeouts. The 6’4” catcher certainly faded down the stretch of his first major league cameo. Over his first 15 games, he posted a modest .204 average with a .660 OPS and 24% strikeout rate—decent returns for a 20-year-old rookie. Over the following 16 games, that average dipped to .127, the OPS plummeted to .459 and his strikeout rate spiked to 31%.
One of the big tasks for Craig Albernaz and his staff will be getting Basallo to tap into his excellent tools on a more consistent basis. The big Dominican showed elite bad speed in his first month-plus in the big leagues; his 75.5mph average swing speed would rank top 20 in all of baseball and is on par with star SS Gunnar Henderson. If Basallo can start to make more consistent contact, that bat speed should lead to the hard hit rates and exit velocities that lead to the upper echelon power output we’ve seen from Henderson.
The new manager will also have to figure out the best role for his young backstop in 2026. Injuries to Adley Rutschman and Gary Sánchez meant that Basallo spent a lot more time at catcher last season than most could have anticipated. Twenty of his 29 starts came behind the dish as Basallo quieted some of those who doubted his ability to provide major-league-caliber defense.
With Sánchez not brought back and Alex Jackson traded to the Twins, Basallo comes into the upcoming season as the undisputed backup to Rutschman. Given that Rutschman’s OPS is over 100 points higher when he’s DH’ing instead of catching, and given Basallo’s undeniable offensive upside, the Orioles may elect to rotate Rutschman and Basallo between catcher and DH while keeping both in the lineup. Basallo is also currently the Orioles’ only left-handed-hitting 1B option, so he should see some starts to spell righties Pete Alonso, Ryan Mountcastle and Coby Mayo.
If a combination of Basallo’s hard work, additional exposure to major league pitching and the benefits of the new coaching staff helps him take a leap, it’ll represent a success on two fronts for the Orioles. A fully-realized Basallo (or close to it) can provide a similar offensive boost to new additions Pete Alonso and Taylor Ward. However, Basallo’s success would also represent the first major success of Mike Elias’ efforts to overhaul the Orioles approach in the international free agent market.
Under Elias’ predecessor, Dan Duquette, the O’s largely ignored international free agent prospects. Over Duquette’s eight seasons at the helm (2011 — 2018), Baltimore only had three former international free agent signings crack their top 10 prospects. Jonathan Schoop was a mainstay on the Orioles’ top 10 prospect list from 2011 until his debut in 2013. Eduardo Rodriguez was the Orioles’ No. 3 prospect when they flipped him for reliever Andrew Miller at the 2014 trade deadline. However, both of those players also predated Duquette, with Schoop signing out of Curaçao in 2008 and Rodríguez signing out of Venezuela in 2010.
The only player Duquette signed that ever cracked the Orioles’ top 10 prospects was infielder Jomar Reyes. Signed out of the Dominican Republic, Reyes rose as high as the Orioles’ No. 3 prospect in 2016. Injuries and inconsistent performance then derailed his progress through the minors, ultimately leading to his release in 2020. Reyes’ failure to launch was an example of Duquette’s approach to developing foreign talent. While teams like the Astros, Dodgers and Braves were using the international free agent market to propel them to World Series titles, the Orioles fell further and further behind competitive organizations.
Since Elias took charge, the organization has done a complete 180 in the international market. The O’s have committed major resources to revamping their international scouting, opened a state-of-the-art academy in the Dominican Republic and continue to sign more and more top international prospects. Baltimore’s most recent class featured five players in MLB.com’s Top 50 international prospects, 10 total signings and saw the Orioles hand out a club-record $2.3M signing bonus to Dominican shortstop Jose Luis Acevedo.
It’s hard to say what impact Basallo’s ascension to the big leagues and subsequent contract extension had on the most recent class of international free agents, but it couldn’t have hurt. Should the Orioles’ No. 1 prospect reward the front office’s faith in him, it would be a signal to other budding stars in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and beyond that Baltimore is now a serious player when it comes to developing premier international talent.
The Orioles already have other top international prospects rocketing up their farm system. Many evaluators view Orioles’ top pitching prospect Esteban Mejia as a player who can develop into a top-of-the-rotation pitcher. Infielder Aron Estrada and LHP Luis De León both have outside shots at making it to the majors in 2026. Fellow top 30 prospects RHP Keeler Morfe and OF Stiven Martinez also present as high-upside prospects that still need plenty of development.
However, Basallo is undoubtedly the face of this new wave of Orioles international talent. A breakout during his rookie season can not just help the 2026 Orioles but also serve as a massive domino in turning this wave into a constant flow of international talent to Baltimore.
Forecasting most players has, well… constrained error bounds. A pretty good player with a point estimate of about 3 WAR might give you a couple more in a great year or lose you three wins in a worse-than-forgettable campaign.
Ronald Acuña Jr., though? He can make your season by himself, if things go his (and your) way. The difference between his MVP-winning 2023 and his unfortunate 2024 was over eight wins in fWAR terms. Eight wins turns a .500 team into a likely playoff entrant. Forecasting Acuña is probably less scary than facing him as a pitcher, but neither should strike you with confidence or zeal.
Career-to-date, status
Oh boy, how to summarize this? Acuña hit the ground running with over 9 fWAR in his first 1,200 career PAs, and then found another gear offensively in 2022-2021, approaching 7 fWAR in under 600 PAs. Unfortunately, there was that whole ACL injury thing suffered in 2021, and 2022 was an uncomfortably pedestrian season. He rebounded with an MVP campaign (9.2 fWAR) in 2023, socking 41 homers, stealing 73 bags, and putting up an absurd .460 xwOBA — he and Aaron Judge were the only two players that year to eclipse even .450 in xwOBA, and Judge only managed 458 PAs that year. 2024 ended up being a weirdly uncomfortable season for him (a career-worst .350 xwOBA) and he never got a change to dig out of that hole, as he tore his other ACL.
His defense also never really returned to anything useful after his first ACL injury — whether due to his own tentativeness, a direction for him to take it easy in the field, or some combination of the two.
Acuña is in the final guaranteed year of an eight-year, $100 million extension he signed early in the 2019 season, which was the largest contract at that time for a player with less than a year of service time. The Braves hold a couple of $17 million options for him in 2027 and 2028, which they’ll certainly exercise — unless they can somehow find a way to layer on an extension in the process. That seems to be in their favor for the obvious reason that Acuña can change an entire season around for a team given how good he can be, but, of course, the cost effectiveness of any deal that would get him to forgo a shot at free agency looms large. As we’ll see below, forecasting him is kind of a nightmare, so it requires a lot of risk tolerance to work out a solution that will result in fresh ink on contract pages (are MLB contracts e-signed now? I have no idea).
Recent performance
Acuña’s 2025 was weird. He approached a .400 xwOBA, and actually outhit it, the first time he’s outhit his xwOBA since his rookie year. (He has a sizable career xwOBA underperformance.) Still, his “new gear” offensively was notably higher than “just” .400. On top of that, it’s hard to make heads or tails of what exactly he changed (or didn’t) in 2025. He walked a ton, and he explicitly credited Tim Hyers and the team’s changed offensive approach to his ability to garner those walks… but the reality is that his chase rate didn’t really budge, and he had a bunch of contact issues, especially on changeups for whatever reason. When Acuña is going berserk, he’s crushing changeups and sliders as well as fastballs, but the changes he made in 2025 made him much more of a fastball-eviscerator. As noted, he really struggled to connect with changeups, while his contact quality on sliders straight-up died as he was fighting them off and flicking them rather than destroying them like he did earlier in his career. What does any of this mean for the future? I have no idea. Acuña’s ability to make on-the-fly adjustments is one of the many things that makes him a phenom, so there’s no reason he’s locked in to any system or mode of performance.
On the flip side, we can probably figure he’s going to continue to be tentative in the field, and might see a bunch of DH time, especially with Sean Murphy apparently not making it back for Opening Day. Acuña hasn’t been a positively defensively in an outfield corner relative to his peers since before the first ACL tear, and last season was as big of a mess defensively as you’ll see from a guy that isn’t miscast as an outfielder in the first place. Suffice to say: his ability to generate value is entirely on his bat, and moreover, on how well his hitting outpaces whatever he gives away WAR-wise from hanging out in right field or appearing as a DH.
All in all, Acuña managed 3.5 fWAR in 412 PAs last year. Nothing to sneeze at, and really, laudable numbers for nearly any MLBer. His 161 wRC+ was the second-highest of his career, but again, (slight) xwOBA overperformance helped there.
Forecasting
Yeah, I don’t know. To do this well, you not only have to somehow figure whether there’s going to be another catastrophic injury, how many small nagging injuries he’ll get breaks for, how much rest is baked in to his schedule, and even aside from all that, which offensive version of the guy you’re going to get. We’ve had two struggle-y seasons, one coming off injury (2022) and one before an injury struck (2024). Those sandwiched an MVP campaign. As noted above, his 2025 was weird but still good despite the weirdness.
If you’re struck by those numbers being “low” — they aren’t — except the PA tally, which resembles 2025 in point estimate terms. The wRC+ is basically in line with his career, and yeah, the defense is a drag, but it is what it is. My interpretation here is that the big question for Acuña is health — there’s basically a 1.5 WAR swing between figuring he misses up to seven weeks with issues, and he plays pretty regularly, and that matters.
And nowhere is that more evident than in the above chart, where, like Austin Riley before him, there’s this giant gap between the rate of production (which looks normal-ish, if skewed towards lower rates a bit) and how that actually translates into production given that he might once again miss a bunch of time. This bimodal distribution is the stuff of nightmares because of how far apart the two peaks are — that’s basically an entire meaty part of the win curve right there, as a result of one ultra-talented 28-year-old. Oof.
With regard to other systems:
Steamer has Acuña at a 148 wRC+ and basically the same WAR/600 as IWAG. The issue is, again, whether you discount his playing time at all given his track record.
ZiPS has him hitting notably better than IWAG/Steamer, and basically a half-win better on a per-600 basis — but also has a PA point estimate of well below 550 PAs. I don’t really know what to do with this, I’m just throwing it out there.
Your turn
Alright, I’ve given you the info. Well, some info. You may have your own info. With that, I ask you:
Rounded to the nearest fWAR, how much will Ronald Acuña Jr. produce in 2026?
How confident are you in your choice? Go with a scale from 1-5, where 3 is “I dunno, reasonably confident,” 5 is certain, and 1 is “I am participating but have no confidence in my choice and don’t want the fact that it will likely be incorrect to affect my place in any theoretical standings all that much.”
Zac Gallen, also attached to a qualifying offer, fits in the same boat.
New York's continued openness to players attached to a QO is notable because they are going to lose their second- and fifth-highest selections in the 2026 MLB Draft for signing Bo Bichette.
If Valdez or Gallen is signed by the Mets, they will also lose their third- and sixth-highest picks in the 2026 draft.
The Mets remain in need of a pitcher who can slot in near the top of their rotation, and have also been linked to Freddy Peralta, whom the Milwaukee Brewers have made available via trade.
In order to acquire Peralta, who is one year away from free agency but reportedly open to an extension, New York would likely have to part with one of its young starting pitching prospects and more.
If not Peralta, the 32-year-old Valdez could be a very strong fit.
After 30-year-old Ranger Suarez recently signed a five-year, $130 million deal with the Boston Red Sox, it's fair to believe that Valdez can be had on a three- or four-year pact with a higher average annual value than Suarez received.
Houston Astros pitcher Framber Valdez (59) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers in game one of the Wild Card round for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Minute Maid Park. / Troy Taormina - Imagn Images
The above type of deal for Valdez would theoretically be in the wheelhouse of David Stearns, who generally prefers to not go long on contracts for pitchers over 30.
Valdez has been a workhorse over the last four seasons, posting a 3.21 ERA and 1.15 WHIP across 767.2 innings.
After leading the American League in innings pitched in 2022 (201.1 IP), Valdez hasn't really slowed down. He fired 198.0 innings in 2023, 176.1 innings in 2024, and 192.0 innings this past season.
His ERA in 2025 was 3.66 -- the highest it's been since 2019, when Valdez was working mostly in relief. But while the ERA was a tick high, there wasn't much cause for concern elsewhere, as Valdez's WHIP, hit rate, walk rate, home run rate, and strikeout rate were all right around his career averages.
When looking at Valdez's relatively down 2025 season, it's also skewed a bit by a rough final six weeks.
Valdez had a 2.62 ERA ahead of his start on Aug. 3, but was hit hard in six of his final 10 outings. In the middle of that tough stretch, though, Valdez had one start where he fired 7.0 shutout innings, another where he allowed three runs across 7.0 innings, and closed his season on a high note, tossing 7.0 innings of one-run ball while striking out 10 on Sept. 25.
SAN FRANCISCO — The Warriors may have seen their title chances disappear Monday night.
Star Jimmy Butler suffered a torn ACL in the Warriors’ 135-112 victory over the Heat, according to ESPN.com.
Butler, 36, was helped off the court with a right knee injury at the 7:41 mark of the third quarter against his former team.
Jimmy Butler suffered a torn ACL for the Warriors on Jan. 19, 2026. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Butler was hurt moments after catching a pass in the paint when he went down hard and awkwardly following a collision with the Heat’s Davion Mitchell — who was called for a foul.
After the play, Butler was asking for two free throws, a positive sign to coach Steve Kerr that his spirits were good and “hopefully that’s a good sign.”
“We’re all really concerned but we’ll know more after the MRI,” Kerr said. “Everybody is subdued because of the injury, waiting to hear the news.”
Butler’s knee buckled upon his landing and he grimaced and grabbed at his knee while down for a couple of minutes.
He needed teammates Gary Payton II and Buddy Hield to escort him off the court and to the locker room after the fall on the Warriors’ offensive end.
When he finally got up with assistance, he was unable to put any pressure on his knee.
Worried Warriors teammates surround Jimmy Butler after the injury. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
“It’s something you hadn’t seen before, usually you expect him get up and even if he can’t finish the game just get off the sideline. I just told him to take his time and figure out what he needed in that moment,” Stephen Curry said.
“It’s kind of funny he was still cracking jokes over there while he was on the ground in true Jimmy fashion. He’s always going to have a good time no matter the situation is. I do love that perspective and that part of his personality, even in the worst of moment he’s still having a good time. He was trying to get to the free-throw line, he said it was two shots.”
In just under 21 minutes, Butler had 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting, four assists and three rebounds.
He is Golden State’s second-leading scorer behind Curry, having averaged 20.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists entering the week.
The Warriors currently sit at 25-19 and the eighth seed in the Western Conference.
A disgruntled Butler was acquired last season from the Heat to add another veteran star to Golden State’s aging roster.
The Warriors did make it to the Western Conference semifinals with Butler’s help, but Curry got hurt in Game 1 against the Timberwolves and Golden State was dismissed in five games.
This will only add to questions about whether the Warriors should consider a drastic move at the trade deadline.
“He’s an alpha. He’s one of those guys in the league who everybody else in the gym knows that’s the guy,” Kerr said.
“He has that presence but he also has that game where we can play through him possession after possession. So, assuming we’ll be without him for a little bit, we’re going to miss him, we’ve got a lot of players who can play and we’re showing our depth right now. We’ll just wait for the news to figure out what’s next.”
The Montreal Canadiens should be looking to add to their roster ahead of the 2026 NHL trade deadline. They are third in the Atlantic Division at this point in the season and should not be afraid to boost their roster because of it.
Adding another top-six forward should be one of the Canadiens' top objectives this season. When looking at trade candidates around the NHL, St. Louis Blues forward Jordan Kyrou stands out as a very interesting option to consider.
With the Blues having an incredibly disappointing season, several of their players have been in the rumor mill with the trade deadline less than two months away. Kyrou is among the top Blues players creating chatter, and he would have the potential to be a strong addition to the Canadiens' roster.
Kyrou has recorded eight goals and 20 points in 39 games so far this campaign. While these numbers are not the most impressive, there is reason to believe he should turn things around when looking at his past success. In three out of his previous four seasons, the 27-year-old winger has hit the 70-point mark. He also scored 31 goals in each of his last three seasons. Right now, he is struggling on a Blues team where everyone else is performing below expectations.
If the Canadiens acquired Kyrou, he could make some real magic on the Habs' first line with Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. He would also give the Canadiens another impactful player to work with on their power play.
Kyrou would also be much more than a rental for the Canadiens, as he has an $8.125 million cap hit until the end of the 2030-31 season. This adds to his appeal, but he also has a full no-trade clause, so he would need to approve a move to Montreal for any chance of a deal going down.
The Phillies are reportedly ‘livid’ that Bo Bichette spurned their $200 million offer in favor of a shorter-term deal with the Mets, with reporter Jim Salisbury saying, “It feels like the Lufthansa heist at LaGuardia from ‘Goodfellas’.”
The Mets are looking to add reinforcements in their outfield and rotation following the Bichette signing.
Even with their recent moves, the Mets have yet to figure out how to escape the Dodgers’ shadow, writes Joel Sherman. In the piece, Sherman shared some insights into how personally Steve and Alex Cohen tried to recruit Kyle Tucker.
CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson ranked the top 20 prospects in the NL East, with Nolan McLean topping the list.
Sarah Langs explained how the team’s new-look infield could pull off a rare feat on Opening Day.
Around the National League East
One day after losing infielder Ha-Seong Kim for an extended period of time, the Braves inked infielder Jorge Mateo to a one-year deal.
Cole Weintraub identified some notable minor-league additions to keep an eye on in Phillies camp.
The Good Phight talked about Philadelphia needing to rely on pieces from their farm system to keep their window open.
With spring training set to begin in less than one month, there are still some big free agents remaining on the market.
Aaron Judge exemplifies the Yankees’ arc a decade into his career, writes Bryan Hoch.
The Orioles made their biggest splash yet on the international market—eight players from the Dominican Republic and two from Venezuela.
Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue
Lukas Vlahos graded the team’s signing of Bo Bichette.
Elian Peña came in at number 13 on the Amazin’ Avenue list of Mets’ prospects list.
This Date in Mets History
The reunion between Tom Seaver and the Mets ended on this date in 1984, as the White Sox picked up the right-hander after the Mets left The Franchise unprotected in the annual free agent compensation draft.
It appears the Athletics were ready to pull the trigger on a big move.
After acquiring second baseman Jeff McNeil in a trade with the New York Mets earlier this offseason, the A’s weren’t done searching for infield upgrades.
The Green and Gold had a deal in place with the St. Louis Cardinals for eight-time All-Star third baseman Nolan Arenado, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported Tuesday, citing people briefed on the discussions.
St. Louis ultimately traded Arenado to the Arizona Diamondbacks for right-handed pitcher Jack Martinez on Jan. 13.
Rosenthal also reported that the A’s would have absorbed more of the $42 million remaining on Arenado’s contract in a potential deal than Arizona will, but, according to someone familiar with Arenado’s thinking, the third baseman, who has a full no-trade clause, indicated he would not approve a trade to the A’s.
Arenado batted an underwhelming .237/.298/.377 with 12 home runs and 52 RBI in 107 games with St. Louis last season.
With Arenado out of the picture, the A’s, according to Rosenthal, intend to use Max Muncy at third base, with Brett Harris and Darell Hernaiz also in the mix.
The Phoenix Suns have won two straight, but their win streak will be put to the test when they face the Philadelphia 76ers at Xfinity Mobile Arena tonight.
With both team rosters trending toward full health, my Suns vs 76ers predictions expect a high-scoring affair in the City of Brotherly Love.
Here are my best free NBA picks for this cross-conference clash on Tuesday, January 20.
Suns vs 76ers prediction
Suns vs 76ers best bet: Over 224 (-110)
Both teams are expected to be at or near full strength tonight, which means a high-scoring affair.
Phoenix Suns G Jalen Green will return from a multi-week absence, and Philadelphia 76ers F Paul George is expected to be available. Even if Joel Embiid sits out the second leg of the back-to-back, Philly has more than enough firepower to put up points at home, and the return of Green to Phoenix's lineup should give the offense a boost.
The Sixers have hit the Over in nine of 15 games as the home favorite, and the Suns have hit the Over in 10 of 17 as the road underdog.
Over the last 10 games, the Suns rank 10th in offensive rating at 116.4, and the Sixers are close behind in 11th at 116.3. In that span, the teams have combined to average 230.9 points, nearly seven points more than tonight’s total.
I’ll take the Over on this modest total as two emerging offenses go head-to-head.
Suns vs 76ers same-game parlay
The Sixers are just 10-12 ATS at home and 6-9 ATS as the home favorite, while the Suns are 15-9 ATS on the road and 9-8 as the road underdog. The spread is just one point, making this essentially a pick 'em, so betting Phoenix to win straight up as the underdog is the most sensible bet with the most profitable odds.
Devin Booker is averaging 10.5 rebounds+assists, and he's recorded 10+ in 23 of 39 contests. He's posted 11.2 rebounds+assists across his last five outings and hit the Over on this combo line three times in that span.
Suns vs 76ers SGP
Over 224
Suns moneyline
Devin Booker Over 9.5 rebounds + assists
Our "from downtown" SGP: Maxey Power
Tyrese Maxey is dishing 6.9 assists per game at home. He's recorded at least seven helpers in 21 of 39 appearances overall, including 12 of 20 at home.
Suns vs 76ers SGP
Over 224
Suns moneyline
Devin Booker Over 9.5 rebounds + assists
Tyrese Maxey Over 6.5 assists
Suns vs 76ers odds
Spread: Suns +1 (-110) | 76ers -1 (-110)
Moneyline: Suns -105 | 76ers -115
Over/Under: Over 224 (-110) | Under 224 (-110)
Suns vs 76ers betting trend to know
The Phoenix Suns have covered the Spread in 32 of their last 45 games (+17.70 Units / 36% ROI). Find more NBA betting trends for Suns vs. 76ers.
How to watch Suns vs 76ers
Location
Xfinity Mobile Arena, Philadelphia, PA
Date
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Tip-off
7:00 p.m. ET
TV
KTVK, NBC Sports Philadelphia
Suns vs 76ers latest injuries
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.
This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here
Eckstein had a ten-year MLB career. One of those seasons was with the Blue Jays. Well, 2/3s of one.
After the 2007 season, with the Jays finishing, once again, in third place, J.P. Ricciardi figured the way to make up the 13-game difference between our Jays and the Red Sox was to add ‘proven winner’ Eckstein.
I’m exaggerating some. J.P. also traded Troy Glaus to get Scott Rolen. He also added Rod Barajas and an aging Shannon Stewart.
Eckstein would give the team that bit of “grittiness” needed. He was a well-liked player. He made a couple of All-Star teams and received MVP votes twice, finishing 11th in 2002, his second MLB season. How he got MVP votes with a 101 OPS+ is anyone’s guess (though he was hit by pitch a league-leading 27 times). I never understand people who decide that a rather average-ish player is a “winner.”
By 2008, his relatively marginal skills had declined. David hit .277/.354/.358 in 76 games as a Jay. Not terrible. But his defensive range vanished (he had yet to play much on artificial turf before that season). FanGraphs has him at a -19.2 UZR/150 at shortstop. I often joke that his hardest hit of the season came when he accidentally elbowed Aaron Hill in the head, putting Hill out for the rest of the season with concussion-like symptoms.
He wasn’t that bad. However, he was miscast as a shortstop and as a leadoff hitter. If he played second and hit ninth, we could have been ok with him.
On August 31st, we traded Eckstein to the Diamondbacks for Chad Beck. He’d finish the season with them and then play two more seasons with the Padres before retiring.
Career, he hit .280/.345/.355 with 35 home runs and 123 steals.
Happy Birthday, David.
Former Blue Jays pitcher Luis Perez turns 41 today.
Perez, a lefty, played parts of three seasons with the Jays from 2011 to 2013. He pitched in 78 games and had a 4.50 ERA. After that, he spent a couple more seasons in the Jays’ minor league system and then played in Japan for two seasons. Then Luis played in the Mexican League for a few more years.
Happy Birthday, Luis.
Ali Sanchez turns 29 today. He caught in 8 games for us last year, 21 at-bats with 5 hits.
The East-West Major League Baseball Classic was played on May 28, 1970, and featured 23 Hall of Famers who either played or coached in the game, including Roy Campanella managing and Sandy Koufax coaching.
Here’s former Dodgers pitcher Al Downing, from Murti:
“All of the players were in unison, totally behind it,” Al Downing said of the mix of Black, Latino and white players who took part.
“It was like being in the locker room with a bunch of All-Stars,” Downing remembered. “It was a tremendous activity and a tremendous idea.”
A fun Dodgers-related factoid from Sarah Langs at MLB.com, who noted that the Mets plan to use new signees Bo Bichette and Jorge Polanco at third base and first base, respectively, both at positions they have never started at in the majors. Langs noted that only one MLB team in the last 100 years started two non-rookie infielders at positions with no more than one prior MLB game at said positions — the 1948 Brooklyn Dodgers, with Jackie Robinson at second base and Billy Cox at third base.
Cox homered in a two-hit game against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in that game on April 20, 1948, and Robinson’s two-run double in the eighth inning provided the insurance runs need for Brooklyn to prevail in a 7-6 victory.
Wilbur Wood died on Saturday at age 84. He never pitched for the Dodgers, and I never even saw him pitch — his last season was in 1978 — but Wood always occupied a special fondness in my heart. First was the beautiful aesthetics of a left-handed knuckleballer, but also he had an eight-year workhorse stretch with the Chicago White Sox that stands out in the relatively modern era.
From 1968-70, Wood pitched in relief, and led the majors in innings pitched over those three years, pitching 88, 76, and 77 games, leading the American League in appearances each year. Then from 1971-75 he averaged 45 starts and 336 1/3 innings per year, leading the majors in innings over those five seasons. In a 10-day stretch in August 1972, Wood pitched four complete games in a row, with only four runs allowed in 38 innings. He started 49 games that year, and 48 games the next.
Who would’ve thought that the Minnesota Timberwolves would be 27-14 at the halfway point of the season? Probably the five of you who predicted that Minnesota would finish with a 54-28 record in our predictions edition of Canis Pulsus! Three and a half months later, 72 voters shared their grades. Welcome to…
Canis Pulsus Vol. 46 – Semester 1 Report Card
(Note: Canis Pulsus Vol. 46 data was collected through 1/16 before the Houston Rockets game)
Anthony Edwards
A (40.3%)
Quarter 1: A- (47.1%)
There should be no surprise here, as the recently snubbed All-Star starter has been having a career season on the offensive end of the court. The Wolves are only going to go as far as Ant can carry them, and all indications is that he’s going to carry them very far.
Full voting results:
Julius Randle
A / B+ (31.9% each)
Quarter 1: B+ (38.2%)
Big Ju had an up-and-down first quarter of the season, but has rounded into form in the second quarter. He’s been fantastic in the games that Ant has been out and has been punishing any defender in front of him. What once felt like a salary cap placeholder now looks like a foundational part of the Wolves.
Full voting results:
Jaden McDaniels
A / A- (31% each)
Quarter 1: A- / B+ (35.3%)
Slim has his faults. He still gets into these funks when he’s in foul trouble or emotionally rickety, but he has certain continued to show his evolution, particularly on offense. The secondary playmaking is there, while he’s thriving when called upon as the primary scoring option.
Full voting results:
Rudy Gobert
A (33.3%)
Quarter 1: B+ (35.3%)
Rudy has really time-traveled back to his prime form. Or maybe that form never left. Whatever the case is, he’s certainly making his case for a NBA record fifth Defensive Player of the Year. Even more impressive has been his improvement on the other end of the court (Free throw woes not withstanding). He’s finishing with ferocity and making accurate reads in the short roll.
Full voting results:
Donte DiVincenzo
B (34.7%)
Quarter 1: B (35.3%)
The Donte rollercoaster from perimeter continues. He’s just below his career average from three (37.9%) and though that isn’t a terrible mark, it’s his worst since four seasons ago. Big Ragu will need to find more consistency in his stroke if he wants to improve from his B grades.
Full voting results:
Naz Reid
B(40.8%)
Quarter 1: B- (35.3%)
Naz Reid has really found himself as the season has progressed. Sure, he’s no dynamo on defense, but he’s been scorching hot on offense. In the second quarter of the season, he’s shooting about 50% from the field and over 40% from beyond the arc.
Full voting results:
Mike Conley
C- (23.9%)
Quarter 1: C (29.4%)
Minnesota Mike has continued to lose his touch. Sure, he’s not getting as much opportunity on the court, but he’s averaging almost all career lows across the board. Most telling is his field goal percentage which is down to career-worst 34.9%. These may be the final months of Conley’s career, sadly.
Full voting results:
Jaylen Clark
B- (31.9%)
Quarter 1: B+ (21.2%)
I believe the “Record When Jaylen Clark Plays At Least 15 Minutes” is sitting at 16-2, but we have seen a bit more slippage in his game. Not only is his three-point percentage down to sub 30%, but he hasn’t quite been the point-of-attack defensive ace that we were used to seeing. He’ll still make momentum changing energy plays, but we’ll need more from young Clark County moving forward.
Full voting results:
Bones Hyland
B+ (30%)
Quarter 1: Incomplete
Bones has entered the chat this second quarter of the season. The 25-year-old has shown many flashes in this second quarter of the season. He’s a classic fan favorite and not just for his chin waving celebration. Bones plays with a carefree attitude, for better or worse, that is reminiscent of a young Jamal Crawford. Will he be able to bring more consistency in his minutes while competing on defense? He sure seems to have the chance to do so, unlike…
Full voting results:
Rob Dillingham
F (26.1%)
Quarter 1: C- (32.4%)
It pains me to write this, but it seems like the Rob Dillingham Timberwolves era is over. Just the other night, we saw Johnny Juzang, then Leonard Miller, get meaningful minutes ahead of Dillingham. He might score some impressive buckets in garbage time, but even those highlights are sandwiched between unconfident play filled with mistakes.
Full voting results:
Terrence Shannon Jr. / Leonard Miller / Joan Beringer / Joe Ingles / Johnny Juzang
Incomplete
Coaching staff
B+ (33.8%)
Quarter 1: B (29.4%)
Chris Finch and his team has continued to try pulling different levers throughout the season. It wasn’t a smooth first quarter, but he seems to have found rotations and a mix of players who have played much more consistent basketball in the second quarter.
Full voting results:
Front office
A- (31.9%)
Quarter 1: B (29.4%)
Sometimes no move is the best move. The Wolves haven’t jumped the gun to trade for a Ja Morant (Pun not intended, kinda) or blow things up. There’s still smoke around whether or not they plan to add a guard or wing to the rotation, but by next quarter, the trade deadline will have passed and we will have seen what their plan is for the rest of this season.
Full voting results:
Ownership
A (31.9%)
Quarter 1: B (26.5%)
What happens when you make amends with the most important player in franchise history? That’s an easy A for Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez. Bringing Kevin Garnett back into the fold is going to absolutely blow the roof off Target Center, whenever that’s going to happen.
Full voting results:
Will the Wolves make the play-in tournament?
No (Earn top 6 seed) (88.7%)
Quarter 1: No (Earn top 6 seed) (88.2%)
Full voting results:
Will the Wolves make the playoffs?
Yes (100%)
Quarter 1: Yes (100%)
Full voting results:
What do you hope the Wolves accomplish during the next quarter of the season the most?
Earn homecourt advantage with a top four seed finish
Quarter 1: Increase effectiveness and consistency of defensive effort
Over 20% of responses were focused on the Western Conference standings. It’s going to be a photo finish when it all shakes out, but ideally the Wolves can finagle their way into a top three seed, effectively “dodging” the Oklahoma City Thunder until a potential Conference Finals rematch.
Other common answers included fixing/trading Rob Dillingham, and finding more opportunities for Joan Beringer.
With a quarter of the regular season over, my feelings on the direction of the Wolves are…
Very optimistic (70.8%)
Preseason: Very optimistic (63.3%) Quarter 1: Slightly optimistic (61.8%)
There’s that optimism we’ve been missing! It looks like voters are ready to believe in the Wolves again.
Full voting results:
It looks like the Wolves were sandbagging after that 2.92 first quarter progress report, as they ended up on Honors Roll with an impressive 3.13 GPA. Go ahead and order that bumper sticker, Wolves fans!
On December 3, 2022, the Knicks were embarrassed at home against Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks on a weekend matinee at the World’s Most Famous Arena. The Knicks led by 15 in the second quarter behind strong defense, but ultimately took their foot off the gas and got absolutely blitzed in the second half.
MSG wasn’t happy. A 38-12 run to start the second half turned a 68-68 game into a blowout. The Knicks were struggling badly and would drop to 10-13, including 4-7 at home. Tom Thibodeau was on the hot seat and there were rumors that a loss to Cleveland the next day might’ve cost him his job.
Of course, we know what happened from there. Thibs removed Cam Reddish and Derrick Rose from the rotation permanently to further feature Quentin Grimes. The Knicks won that game against the Cavs and went on a furious charge to win 47 games and a playoff series.
We don’t know if things are going to reach that perilous position in 2025-26, but with a mountain of expectations and a deep struggle to start the new year, the Knicks needed to enforce their will on a severely shorthanded Mavericks team.
They did not. They got absolutely blitzed.
Dallas improved to 18-26. The Knicks lost their ninth game in their last 11 despite welcoming Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart to the lineup. They continued to struggle shooting, continuing a recent slump, but the biggest issue today was the defense, which could look more like this meme than professional athletes paid millions to get stops.
I’m not sure how a team that started 23-9, won the NBA Cup, and looked cohesive on both ends turned into this mess overnight. The offense began short-circuiting on January 2 and hasn’t woken up yet (aside from a few stretches), and the defense has been bad for a while now. It’s the dog days of an NBA season, but it doesn’t make anything about this stretch excusable.
Brunson had 22, KAT had 22 and 18, and Mitch played well. Deuce somehow had a positive plus-minus. That’s about it. Mavericks go wire-to-wire and win 114-97. Bleh.
Dallas got off to a hot start in the first four minutes, taking advantage of poor transition defense and cashing a trio of triples, two by Max Christie and one by residential Knick killer Naji Marshall. The Knicks continued a concerning trend of late on offense, starting ice cold from the field despite good looks from Brunson, Bridges, and Towns. Mike Brown called his first timeout with 8:14 left, trailing 13-4.
It didn’t look better out of the timeout, as Towns turned it over and Bridges missed a corner 3 shortly after. After another Christie 3, the Knicks busted the drought on a nice pick-and-roll that led to a dunk by Mitchell Robinson. A few possessions later, the captain hit Big Mitch again on a pretty lob at the end of the shot clock.
Unfortunately, the defense continued to be porous, and the team still shot threes like they had the Ben Simmons disease. After closing the Suns game 1-for-11 from three, they started this one 0-for-9. This is somehow not the first 1-for-20 stretch we’ve had this week. Compare that to a hopelessly shorthanded Mavericks team that started 6-for-10.
Still, Brunson tried to will his team back in it after an early 15-point deficit. After some pretty passing early, he called bank on an and-1 before a TV timeout and came right back for a sweet floater after some much-needed off-ball movement.
The Knicks closed the first quarter with an innovative lineup, sitting Brunson and Towns for a bench lineup alongside OG Anunoby. Mitch feasted on the boards as usual with two putbacks to give him eight points in the period. Klay Thompson turned back the clock with a pair of threes late, and the Mavericks took a 31-22 lead into the second.
Cooper Flagg was making his MSG debut today, and he looked to take over to start the second with three consecutive buckets, but the Knicks’ offense started to heat up. Towns finished strong, Mikal broke the 3-ball skid, and Towns ran down the lane for a thunderous jam.
Finally, this started to look like a modern-day basketball game with scoring on both ends. The non-Brunson lineup was making shots, but they couldn’t get stops. The tandem of Flagg and Thompson started the quarter hot and the Mavs battled a small Knicks run to go up 43-31 and force another timeout.
That timeout didn’t help. Remember when I said they figured out how to score without Brunson? The next two minutes produced some of the clunkiest offense you’ll ever see, with contested Deuce McBride mid-range shots and KAT missing layups while they get burned in transition. In the blink of an eye, the Mavs were on an 11-0 run, and the deficit was 18 points as MSG began to boo.
After it got to 20, you got a brief run from KAT where he hit a corner three, and he got a dunk in transition after a Josh Hart steal, but that run came to a screeching halt on an interesting stepback three that somehow turned into a Flagrant 1 on Towns because he kicked Dwight Powell in the groin. One step forward, two steps back.
There’s always a point in a blowout where things just get away from you and in that second quarter, things got away from the Knicks.
It’s not even worth talking about the rest of that quarter. Christie nailed six threes in the first half, a Mavericks team that is the 26th best shooting team in basketball was shooting 60% from behind the arc, and the Knickerbockers were booed off the court with an unfathomable 75-47 deficit on national television.
The largest halftime deficit in a decade.
The Mavs got the lead up to 30 early in the third, but the Knicks showed some increased effort on both ends to slowly shave the lead down. Now, they still couldn’t make threes (aside from KAT, I guess), and they still got absolutely grilled by Christie, but the effort was better.
Max Christie… AGAIN 🤯
He's 7-8 from downtown to go along with 21 points!
Every time they seemed to be going on a run, though, they missed an open shot, missed free throws, or allowed an open three. It was always something, even if the team was able to get the lead down to 19.
This was an interesting game from Karl-Anthony Towns. He missed so many close shots, to the point where I started thinking his struggles had produced a yips-like effect. Yet, he was more aggressive than he has been of late, which is encouraging. His jumper looked cleaner. Yet, he was still doing dumb things. One big shrug emoji from this game.
Was also a weird game for Brunson, who just looked a tick off. He was missing some open shots that he had and seemed to be caught inbetween getting his own shot and playmaking for his teammates. It’s fine, I guess, but not when everyone else is struggling and the defense is this bad.
There was a funny sequence with two minutes left in the half that encapsulated this game. Brunson got a floater partially blocked off the glass, Mitch missed a putback dunk, and Deuce missed a contested mid-range. Nothing’s going right.
Dallas fell asleep at the wheel briefly, but refocused to get the lead back to 25 in the dying seconds of the quarter. The Knicks won the third, but trailed 94-71.
A sub-plot of this game that was at least interesting as the Knicks ran out the clock was Towns and Powell. Towns kept extending his knee into the groin of Powell, and it finally got called with 10 minutes left. The funny part of this one was one where Powell kicked Towns in the crotch, albeit after the play.
Some brutal missed open threes over the next few minutes prevented the Knicks from making this interesting, but they cut the deficit to 18 with 7:12 left after Naji Marshall finally started missing and KAT hit Bridges for a lob layup to force a rare timeout from Jason Kidd.
Lead was down to 17 on a Hart 3 with 6:15 left. Down to 15 on a Brunson floater with 5:15 left. Just when it looked like maybe they’d make this interesting, they gave up a putback layup to Moussa Cisse, and then Hart turned it over on the inbound.
Mike Brown emptied the bench at 2:45 and that was that. Some notes I came up with during the game:
Fastbreak points were 32-4 Dallas. The Knicks aren’t a big transition team, but goodness.
One of Mitchell Robinson’s better games. In a first half where everyone was awful, he had 12 and 12. He finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds in 19 minutes. NYK also won the possession battle with 17 offensive rebounds.
The Knicks have been one of the worst shooting teams in January. They’ve had brutal offensive stretches, and today was another rough one. 40% from the field and 29% from 3. It’s the fourth time in January they’ve shot 40% or worse from the field.
Max Christie’s eight three-pointers are tied for the third most ever by an opponent at MSG. Only 2013 Steph Curry and… 2019 Devonte Graham(?) have more.
Visually, I thought Klay was having a “turn back the clock” game. I checked the statsheet, and he had 14 points on meh shooting and was minus-8. Alright, then.
While the offense never got better, I appreciate the Knicks’ increased effort defensively in the second half. The Mavs shot 11-for-20 from 3 in the first half, but just 3-for-9 in the second half. Knicks held them to 11-for-30 from the field overall and forced nine turnovers after allowing them to shoot 54% in the first half.
You can’t call any game a gimme with the team’s recent struggles, but you hope a game against the crosstown rival Nets will wake them up. Knicks-Nets at MSG on Wednesday, January 21, at 7:30 pm.
The last Mavericks blowout in MSG was an inflection point for a struggling team. The team looked inward and the coaching staff made a change. Can we get a similar experience in a similar circumstance?
The San Francisco Giants certainly have many things to celebrate this season. As they have learned from the past decade or so, two Brandons are better than one. In addition to honoring the career and contributions of former first baseman Brandon Belt in April, Brandon Crawford will be getting his own celebration a couple of weeks later.
Eagle-eyed fans may be confused, as Crawford received his own celebration game last season. But we’ve got another reason to celebrate Crawford this year, and that’s because he will be inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame on May 14th!
Congratulations to @BayAreaSportHOF 2026 inductee, Brandon Crawford 👏 @bcraw35 will be enshrined into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame on May 14!
This is certainly worth celebrating! Crawford was a Bay Area kid, who grew up rooting for the Giants and then got to play almost his entire career with them, winning two World Series and representing the team in the All Star Game three times.
But he’s not the only Hall of Famer being honored this season. Because they’ve also got a former player going into the regular Hall of Fame! That’s right, they will be honoring the newest member of the Hall of Fame, Jeff Kent, with a celebration and ceremony where his jersey number, No. 21, will be retired on August 29th!
The first 21,000 fans in attendance will receive a National Baseball Hall of Fame replica ring, so make sure you get your tickets early and plan to get there early.
If you haven’t been to a jersey retirement ceremony, I highly recommend it! The Giants go all out, and it’s truly an electric environment to be in with your fellow Giants fans as you celebrate beloved players. I attended Barry Bonds’ ceremony, and it was one of the most fun things I’ve ever gotten to be a part of.
So congratulations to Kent and Crawford! We look forward to seeing the festivities this season!
