Talk about the NHL Draft here, if you please!
Details-
When: 7:00pm eastern
What: First round of the draft (Rounds 2-7 begin tomorrow at noon)
How to watch: ESPN (tomorrow, NHL Network)
Penguin pick: Currently 22nd overall, but they have a manager with a history of draft night trades
Atlanta has lost 10 of their last 13, and things have gone so poorly that the Giants nearly swept them last weekend, but for an act of rain that postponed the final game of the series to August. They’ve allowed 5 runs per game during this stretch while averaging just 3.2 runs scored. It’s probably not a staggering surprise despite Atlanta’s division-leading record and top 10 lineup because this is the sort of thing that befalls every team during the regular season. But, of course, they’re playing the 2026 San Francisco Giants, a team that offers every other team the opportunity to turn things around right away.
I am writing this preview far too late for anyone to read it, but as of this publication, the Giants still don’t have starters named for this series. Drew Cavanaugh is slated to be promoted to take the spot of the injured Daniel Susac. Heliot Ramos might also be activated. It’s hard to guess but, more importantly, maybe a little harder to care. The Giants aren’t a good baseball team and it’s a shame we can’t just fast forward to the end of the season like a baseball video game sim.
Atlanta did trade for Joey Bart after the Giants series, so add him to the list of former Giants who will be returning to Oracle Park. You’ve got Mauricio Dubon, Dominic Smith, and, of course, Mike Yastrzemski; but also, J.P. Martinez is Atlanta’s bullpen coach and Antoan Richardson is the first base coach. I wonder if these guys returning to San Francisco will feel a little bit like returning to one’s hometown long after graduating high school. “Wow, everything is exactly the same… for better or worse.”
The Giants are 5-5 since the anti-Pride Night protest, and are 10-11 on the month, meaning that this series gives them a shot to actually have a winning month this season, a feat that seemed impossible even a week ago. Despite all the crapitude in the bullpen, maybe this Band of Bigots really has bonded over sticking it a bunch of the team’s fans. It wouldn’t be the first time a team has played the “us against the world” card, and athletes thrive on underdog narratives. The Giants don’t seem like a particularly cohesive, intelligent, or talented enough group to flip a switch and be decent again, but one cannot predict baseball.
Who: San Francisco Giants (33-47) vs. Atlanta Braves (48-31)
Where: Oracle Park | San Francisco, California
When: Friday at 7:15pm PT, Saturday at 6:05pm PT, Sunday at 1:05pm PT
National broadcasts: None
Projected starters
Friday: TBD vs. Reynaldo Lopez (RHP 3-1, 3.50 ERA)
Saturday: TBD vs. Bryce Elder (RHP 5-5, 3.71 ERA)
Sunday: TBD vs. Chris Sale (LHP 8-5, 2.14 ERA)
Thank goodness for Max Muncy… seriously! In the last series preview, I predicted “An A will hit a home run,” and that’s exactly what happened. An A (Max Muncy) hit the lone home run of the series for West Sacramento. As to the second prediction, “The Giants will do something really dumb,” I think I was spot on there, too, given all that transpired off the field.
So, for this series I’ll just say that somebody in the pool of Joey Bart, Mauricio Dubon, Mike Yastrzemski, and Dom Smith will homer. I also predict that we will see Yaz throw out Jung Hoo Lee or vice versa.
Earlier today, Andy Green officially became the 25th manager in Mets history (26th if you count Carlos Beltrán’s ill-fated tenure) after the team fired Carlos Mendoza. We did learn via David Stearns’ press conference that Green will strictly serve as an interim manager and will return to his previous role of Senior Vice President for Player Development, which he’s held since 2024, when the season concludes.
Andrew Mulligan Green is not really a household name around these parts, though he’s hardly new to the Mets. Green was born in Lexington, Kentucky on July 7, 1977 (7-7-77, for those of you who love numbers) and is a former major league infielder who played parts of four seasons with the Diamondbacks and the Mets. He was picked in the 24th round of the 2000 MLB draft and ended up having a great minor league career, earning the Pacific Coast League MVP award in 2005. That success did not translate at the major league level with the Diamondbacks, as he hit .199/.280/.265 in 136 games from 2004-2006. During his time, he played a little bit of second, short, third, and even got some chances in the outfield.
After his stint with Arizona, he bounced around from Japan in 2007 with the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters to the Reds’ farm system in 2008. He briefly re-emerged in 2009, playing four games with the Mets and picking up one hit in four at-bats. The hit was enough to get his career batting average over .200 and give him one more hit as a Met than Jed Lowrie. He was invited to spring training in 2010 but was ultimately released by the Mets.
From there, he spent a lot of time in the dugout, managing the Missoula Osprey to the Pioneer League Championship in 2012, and leading the Mobile BayBears to first and second half division titles, which led to him being named the Southern League’s Manager of the Year in 2013. He served as the Diamondbacks’ third base coach in 2015, and used that to catapult himself to the managerial ranks in 2016 for the Padres. His tenure came during a rough patch for the Padres, who had averaged 74.8 wins between 2011 and 2015 and had not had made the playoffs since 2006.
He unfortunately failed to lead the Padres to glory, finishing with a 274-366 record as their manager. The club went 68-94 under his leadership in 2016, 71-91 in 2017, and 66-96 in 2018. Halfway through the 2017 season, he was extended through 2021, but he was ultimately fired in September 2019 with the team owning a 69–85 at the time of his dismissal. He joined the Cubs as a bench coach, where he stayed under manager David Ross until Craig Counsell was hired brought in his own staff.
Since leaving the dugout, a move he said during today’s press conference he made intentionally to give him more time to spend with his family, he has entered the front office to serve as David Stearns’ Senior Vice President for Player Development. In this role, he oversees the club’s farm system and minor league operations. As Stearns made abundantly clear, this is a temporary role, and Green will ultimately go back to the front office following the season. Green also made it clear during his introductory press conference that he will not be handling anything related to his old job while he is managing.
The Andy Green era, which will last exactly 81 games barring anything unforeseen, begins tonight, with the Mets taking on the Phillies to begin a three-game series at Citi Field.
The first phase of the MLB proposal for the new Collective Bargaining Agreement to the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) included a hard salary cap and a hard salary floor. They also outlined multiple revenue-sharing proposals.
The MLBPA quickly rejected the concept, as they have in past negotiations. The debate between the two sides began in May and will continue intermittently until the current agreement expires on Dec. 1.
The second proposal from MLB to the union included changes to the draft, including the elimination of high school drafting and the institution of an international draft. In response to that proposal, the union requested the elimination of the Qualifying Offer from free agency and the shortening of time it takes for a player to reach free agency.
On Thursday, during their regular negotiation session, the MLB negotiators proposed a minimum salary increase from $780,000 to $1 million for pre-arbitration players with two years of service time.
Those with less than two years would receive $900,000 with a $100,000 bonus at the end of the year if they spend less than 50 percent of the season on the injured list and complete the season with the team.
They agreed to the MLBPA’s request to reduce the free-agent eligibility requirement to five years of service time from the current six years for players 30 and older. They accepted the request for the elimination of the qualifying offer.
The MLB then proposed that all free-agent contracts be capped at five years for players changing teams or six years for those staying with their current team. The maximum dollar amount would be capped based on payroll. The top would be 15 percent of total payroll with a five percent increase per contract year. (Example: six-year/ $265 million under 2025 numbers).
The proposal also included the elimination of deferred money contracts, such as the controversial contract Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The pre-arbitration pool would increase by 30 percent ($50 million to $65 million) and up to $75 million by the end of the agreement.
The MLB proposed expanding the Prospect Promotion Program with the eligible player yielding up to two draft picks if the player is in the top two or three in Rookie of the Year or four or five in Cy Young voting or MVP voting. The picks would be distributed one for each draft (domestic and international).
MLB released its statement in support of its proposals.
“The biggest issue baseball fans want solved to strengthen the game is fixing the payroll disparity that leaves too many fans without hope of their team competing for a World Series title,” MLB spokesperson Glen Caplin said. “Every other major U.S. sport has tackled this problem, and every year more small-market teams in those leagues have a chance to win. The salary cap and floor proposal levels the playing field, allowing us greater flexibility to address longstanding player priorities while sharing baseball revenue with the players 50/50.
“Today, in addition to proposing the largest-ever increase in the minimum salary, earned by over half of MLB players, we accepted two landmark changes to free agency that have been in place for 50 years. We agreed to both the MLBPA’s proposal to provide earlier access to free agency, and their proposal to eliminate the qualifying offer system, a provision players view as a drag on free agency. We also proposed to eliminate deferred compensation and to create a new ‘Cornerstone Player’ provision similar to the NBA’s ‘Bird rights’ to give every team a fair shot at retaining their fans’ favorite star players. We will continue working with the MLBPA during the bargaining process to improve the game for teams, players and fans.”
The MLBPA had a rapid response to the latest offer from the MLB negotiating team.
“After making a series of proposals to reduce player compensation by billions of dollars, eliminate fundamental rights with a salary cap, and destroy the amateur entry process, Major League Baseball and team owners are now attempting to distract from the true impact their plan would have on baseball,” a statement from the MLBPA said. “These misleading offers are designed to look like ‘improvements’ but are of little or no value, given they are expressly conditioned on agreement to the league’s cap system which eliminates the free market, and ensures gains for one player only come at the expense of another. The league also introduced a litany of additional restrictions on player rights — limiting salaries, contract length, performance, award, and signing bonuses. While MLB claims to be acting in the interest of fans, their proposals thus far are entirely consistent with owners’ long-held goals: suppressing player salaries and maximizing club profits.
“Owners’ attempts to pit players against players are nothing new, but they’ve failed in the past and will fail again now, because PA members remain unified. We are committed to achieving a fair deal that protects the rights of all players, promotes competition, and leaves our game better for future generations.”
The two sides are expected to meet again before the All-Star break in July. There seems to be very little current space for agreement with the initial proposal as the basis for all subsequent proposals by both sides.
With the players staunchly refusing to consider that suggestion, nothing else can be achieved until they find some common ground on the competitive balance issue.
Draft day has arrived, and it represents one of the most important dates on the Calgary Flames’ calendar.
The Flames enter the 2026 NHL Entry Draft in an enviable position, with an abundance of draft capital and the chance to further accelerate the organization’s rebuild. With multiple selections in the opening rounds, Calgary has the flexibility to add high-end prospects, package picks to move up the draft board, or use those assets in trades for NHL-ready talent.
The club currently holds two first-round selections; sixth overall and 30th overall, the latter acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights, along with three second-round picks and additional selections throughout the draft.
That collection of picks gives general manager Craig Conroy several options as he looks to strengthen both the present and future of the franchise. Whether Calgary stands pat, moves around the draft board, or swings a trade, the decisions made over the next two days could play a significant role in shaping the next phase of the team’s retool.
For Conroy, however, the priority remains straightforward: select the best players available, regardless of where the Flames are picking.
“We’re looking for best player,” Conroy told FlamesTV. “We want to have the best player at each pick, but really, with all those picks we want to make sure - whether you’re the sixth overall pick or our last pick in the sixth round - we want to make sure the guys are ready and we want to be excited about the player we pick at that position.”
With ten selections at their disposal, the Flames have an opportunity to add significant depth to one of the NHL’s improving prospect pools. How they utilize those assets, and whether they keep every pick or leverage them in trades, will be one of the biggest storylines of the 2026 NHL Draft.
For full Flames coverage of the 2026 NHL Draft follow along with our draft tracker here.
The Ottawa Senators announced on Friday afternoon that they have acquired goaltender Samuel Ersson from the Toronto Maple Leafs for their fifth-round selection in the 2027 NHL Draft.
The acquisition is an odd one.
Ten days ago, the Leafs sent goaltender Joseph Woll and defenceman Simon Benoit to the Philadelphia Flyers for defenceman Emil Andrae, Ersson, and a 2026 third-round pick.
The inclusion of Ersson in that deal was a head-scratcher, simply because the Leafs already had a ton of goaltending depth in the form of Dennis Hildeby and the Calder Cup-winning Artur Akhtyamov.
Considering that Ersson was coming off a two-year contract with an average annual value of $1.4 million, as an impending restricted free agent (RFA), he would need a qualifying offer of $1.6 million for the Maple Leafs to retain his rights.
While playing professionally over parts of five seasons across the AHL and NHL, Ersson has never recorded a season with a save percentage greater than .900. In 33 appearances with the Flyers this past season, the 26-year-old posted a 14-11-5 record, a 3.12 goals against average, and an .870 save percentage.
According to Evolving-Hockey’s model, Ersson’s -6.09 goals saved above expected (GSAx) was the fifth-lowest total in the league. In 2024-25, his GSAx of -22.09 was the league’s worst.
Using their ‘wins above replacement’ model, Ersson has been worth -3.3 wins over the course of his NHL career. Meaning, had he been replaced by a league-average goaltender over the same period, it would have benefited the Flyers by three wins. The only season in which he posted a positive GSAx was his rookie 2022-23 campaign.
Ersson is still relatively young at 26, but he has not performed well in North America. Albeit, his experiences in the NHL, with the exception of this season, came while playing in front of a porous Philadelphia Flyers team.
It is worth noting that Ersson is arbitration-eligible, but a player must still be qualified by a club to maintain his rights and take him to arbitration. Given his ineffectiveness and the relatively high cost to qualify him as a RFA, there were rumours that the Maple Leafs were not going to qualify Ersson, allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent (UFA).
The Maple Leafs obviously exhausted the market trying to trade Ersson’s rights, but the Senators must have had confidence that another team was close to acquiring his services. Otherwise, it doesn’t make sense to give up any assets for a player that they could have likely signed as an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.
On many levels, it would make sense for the organization to target Ersson as a young goaltender with NHL experience who could be called up from Belleville in the event that injuries or ineffectiveness beset other options, but on the surface, this feels like the Senators have tabbed Ersson as their backup.
There is simply no reason for Ersson to turn down his qualifying offer. Given his body of work, a $1.6 million one-way salary would be way too expensive as a luxury in Belleville.
It is a puzzling move given the team’s goaltenders' performance this past season.
Until Linus Ullmark returned from his leave of absence in late January, the Senators’ goaltending collectively let the organization down. Despite some of the best defensive metrics in the league, they had created a deficit in the standings that the team just barely overcame.
In his end-of-season media availability, general manager Steve Staios acknowledged that his greatest misstep was not insulating Ullmark with a veteran option, because of the pressure it put on him and rookie Leevi Merilainen. The addition of veteran James Reimer had a noticeable effect on the dressing room and on Ullmark, but Ersson has only 143 games of experience, and the performances have not been particularly inspiring.
In consideration of Ullmark’s mental health battles and the fact that he has never appeared in more than 50 games in a regular season, entrusting the backup duties to an unproven Ersson feels like a massive gamble with the Senators taking on a lot of risk.
In fairness to Staios, however, the free agent market is not exactly brimming with desirable options. And of the veteran goaltenders who are somewhat intriguing, like Stuart Skinner or Connor Ingram, they are not going to come cheaply.
It feels odd to hang hopes on the fact that goaltending is such a volatile position and that maybe there’s a reality where Ersson comes in and does a great job. But the organization obviously has some measure of familiarity and confidence in its ability to turn around Ersson’s game.
If anything, the acquisition may speak to the influence of the newly-hired director of goaltender development, Maciej Szwoch. There does not appear to be any overlap in the respective careers of Ersson and Szwoch from their time in the SHL. Szwoch worked as a goaltending coach for MODO and Färjestad BK, while Ersson played for Brynäs IF.
If Ersson can't turn it around, it could be one of those moves that gets heavily scrutinized in retrospect.
By Graeme Nichols
The Hockey News
This article first appeared at The Hockey News/Ottawa, where you can read more articles at the links below:
Dollars And Spence: Senators Re-Sign Defenseman Jordan Spence
Forget Brady Day: Ottawa's Pro Baseball Team Offering Free Tkachuk Jersey Exchange
Mike Babcock Hires Former Senators Head Coach In Edmonton
Jacob Misiorowski is having among the most dominant pitching seasons we’ve ever seen. What does he need to do to get it up there with the all-time greats?
In a recent piece I did about the greatest single season pitching seasons, I quickly mentioned in the intro that Misiorowski was on pace for an all-time season if he kept up his current pace before launching into verbose soliloquies about 2018 Jacob deGrom and 1985 Dwight Gooden. But the blueprint was there; if we have some sense of what makes the best pitching seasons, surely we can get The Miz to that level.
Two factors consistently colored my ranking: dominance relative to other pitchers in the same time (why steroid-era Pedro Martinez in 1999-2000 was the greatest pitcher ever) and statistical outliers extended over a full season. Misiorowski needs a true mathematical trump card that will be visible and obvious to everyone for the rest of time. For Misiorowski, that’s currently his ERA: 1.45, the best ever save for 1968 Bob Gibson (number three on my other list) and his patently absurd 1.12 ERA in over 300 innings pitched. That figure is so good it needs additional context, namely that the strike zone was much larger than it is today in 1968, and Gibson’s dominance — along with Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale — led to rule changes that fixed that. Misiorowski would, for all intents and purposes, pass 1985 Dwight Gooden for the best non-“juiced zone” ERA ever.*
(*whenever I say “ever” in this piece, I generally mean since 1945, since I think post-World War II is a good starting point for pitching legacy conversations given many players returned from military service, integration began soon after and pitchers stopped pitching 19 billion innings per year. It just wasn’t the same sport for pitchers before.)
But ERA is a flawed statistic, and not necessarily great at capturing true pitcher performance. I also like ERA estimators like FIP and SIERA, basically ERA-scale stats that try to correct for things pitchers can’t control like defense and balls in play. I only have SIERA data going back to 2002, but Misiorowski would be third all-time in the SIERA club behind 2014 Clayton Kershaw (fourth on my list) and 2002 Curt Schilling (by .01). As for FIP, or fielding independent pitching, good at telling you which pitchers prevent runs by themselves rather than with defensive help, Misiorowski is in hallowed ground. Since 1945, he trails only 2021 Corbin Burnes (FIP god for some reason) and 1999 Pedro Martinez — number one on my list and the undisputed king of pitching seasons.
You may be thinking “what do I care about FIP? I’ve never even heard of that until now!” But I assure you, FIP is a powerful thing, and Misiorowski being a FIP and ERA god is good for other historical markers, namely Wins Above Replacement (WAR), calculated by two websites differently. “bWAR” from Baseball-References relies more on runs allowed, while “fWAR” from FanGraphs is FIP-based. Misiorowski is insane at both, meaning if he keeps this up, his WAR number could go down as an all-timer — he’s already on pace for about 10 WAR right now, a bonkers achievement for a starting pitcher in the age of the reliever.
But Misiorowski’s greatness goes beyond this numerical soups I’ve just concocted. He’s also super cool because he throws super hard and refuses to throw slower. He threw 47 pitches above 101 mphin a loss to Atlanta, which is the record for a starter. He threw a pitch to strikeout Kyle Schwarber that clocked in at 105 mph, the fastest ever from a starter. In 2026, he ratcheted up his four-seam fastball usage up almost 10 percent from 2025 to a ridiculous 64 percent, the highest in the majors by a lot and the second highest in the Statcast era (since 2015) behind only 2017 Kevin Gausman. MLB has moved away from a lot of fastballs and towards fewer-but-better fastballs, but Misiorowski pulled up to the club and said “nah, I’ll just throw more, better fastballs.”
And why not? Using Baseball Savant’s glorious new swing timing + miss distance data, we can see that 2026 Jacob Misiorowski’s fastball is among the most unhittable pitches since they started tracking in 2023. I would go so far as to say it is the single least hittable pitch since it is a fastball producing a 44 percent whiff rate. That is not something you are supposed to be able to do, and Misiorowski’s fastball is straight-up the best swing-and-miss fastball in the Majors since at least 2023 (probably longer) among both starters and relievers.
I don’t know if my profuse use of italics is underscoring how impossibly impossible it is that Misiorowski is putting up these kinds of numbers, but even if you don’t like numbers, we also have historical intrigue: Misiorowski is on pace for one of the greatest seasons ever, but he’s actually not the most on pace anyone has ever been.
That title goes to 2021 Jacob deGrom, who was, if you can believe it, a wildly superior version of 2026 Misiorowski through basically the exact same number of innings pitched. He has a 1.08 ERA (would be the best ever) a 1.24 FIP (would be the best ever) and struck out 14.28 per nine innings (would be the best ever). And that’s where it stands today; deGrom got injured and missed the rest of the season, meaning he pitched by far the greatest half-season ever. This is what Misiorowski needs to avoid.
He throws hard, we all know that, and while it’s commonly debated whether velocity is the real culprit for UCL injuries and tears, it’s obviously a concern that Misiorowski may not be able to sustain this pitching output that’s like he’s the Winter Soldier with a vibranium arm. But I don’t speculate about injuries; I speculate if this is sustainable for the rest of the season.
Looking at expected statistics, Misiorowski is overperforming based on his contact quality, but so is every pitcher who’s ever had a great season in the history of ever. And he’s not actually overperforming by that much — most of his expected numbers are within small enough margins not to take much stock in them, and the discrepancy is mostly because it is not supposed to be possible to create this kind of swing-and-miss with a fastball as a starter. It’s legitimately unprecedented stuff.
Maybe that will regress, and maybe Misiorowski will start getting barreled later in the year. But I could see a world where we look back on 2026 Misiorowski and think of one of the greatest pitching seasons in the history of baseball. So I suggest we all drink it in while we’ve got it.
After parting ways with manager Carlos Mendoza on Friday morning, the Mets made a flurry of smaller roster moves. Tyrone Taylor has been activated from the injured list and left-handed-pitcher Zach Thornton has been recalled from Triple-A, while MJ Melendez and right-hander Daniel Duarte were optioned to Triple-A.
Taylor spent exactly one month on the IL with a right hip flexor strain. In four rehab games with Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Syracuse over the past week, Taylor went 7-for-15 with two homers and six runs batted in. He was slashing .186/.210/.320 before getting injured, and notably posting defensive metrics well below his career norms (-1 Outs Above Average and -1 Arm Value).
A fifth-round pick in the 2023 Draft, and Amazin’ Avenue’s No. 14 preseason prospect, Thornton made his big-league debut at Nationals Park on May 20 – allowing four earned runs in 4.1 innings of work. The 24-year-old holds a 4.25 ERA in 55.0 IP this season between Binghamton and Syracuse.
Duarte has made three appearances with the Mets this year, most recently on June 14 against the Braves. He’s been awfully effective, allowing no runs, one hit, and one walk while striking out three in five innings of work. The 29-year-old was promoted to the Major League roster on Thursday, and spent one day with the team before being sent back to Syracuse.
Melendez started hot for the Mets, posting a 1.024 OPS through his first 16 games after being promoted on April 15. But he’s been mired in a slump since then, batting just .123 with a .495 OPS.
The Mets will look to find a spark with their new roster pieces (and their new interim manager, Andy Green) during a three-game set with the Phillies this weekend at Citi Field. The series opener is Friday night at 7:10 p.m. ET, with the ever-fearsome Zack Wheeler on the mound for Philadelphia.
Former Florida State catcher Hunter Carns has committed to transfer to Georgia, according to College Baseball Central’s Andrew Riedell. The 6-foot, 200-pound sophomore will have at least two years of eligibility remaining in Athens.
Carns had a .289 batting average, six home runs, 11 doubles, one triple, 38 RBI, and 48 runs scored while appearing in 51 games during the 2026 season, including 49 combined starts at both catcher and designated hitter.
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Carns is considered a physical right-handed hitter with plus-power at the plate while also showing rare athleticism behind the plate. He presents a similar profile to the player he’ll likely replace in the Bulldogs’ lineup: Daniel Jackson, who won the SEC’s triple crown with a conference-best .379 average, 32 home runs and 87 RBIs. He joined Mississippi State‘s Brent Rooker and Rafael Palmeiro as the only other SEC players to achieve such a feat.
Jackson, who also became the sixth Division I college baseball player to hit at least 25 home runs and still at least 25 bases, raked in multiple awards in 2026 — the Dick Howser Trophy, the Buster Posey Catcher of the Year Award, the Bobby Bragan Slugger Award, and the D1 National Position Player of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association and Rawlings Sporting Goods. Jackson is widely expected to be a first-round pick in the upcoming 2026 MLB Draft next month.
Carns was originally drafted in the 20th round of the 2024 MLB Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks, but chose to attend FSU instead. The Jacksonville, Fla. native hit .384 with 28 hits, seven doubles, 27 runs scored, 16 RBI and seven home runs as a senior from First Coast (Jacksonville, Fla.) High.
As a freshman at Florida State, Carns hit .286 with eight doubles, six home runs and 15 RBI in 40 games during the 2025 season, including 39 starts.
Carns becomes Georgia’s sixth transfer addition this offseason joining outfielder Mikey Bell (Gonzaga), shortstop Matthew Farner (North Florida) and right-handed pitchers Cooper Wells (Florida), Christopher Cespedes (Maryland), and Luke Howe (Long Beach State), according to On3’s Baseball Transfer Portal tracker.
Good afternoon everyone, it’s time to dive back into the mailbag and answer some of your questions. Remember to send in your questions for our weekly call by e-mail to pinstripealleyblog [at] gmail [dot] com.
Michael R. asks:What’s going on with Dax Kilby? Is he in a witness protection program? Last I heard it was a hamstring injury. Was there an amputation needed? Surely, if it was just a hamstring issue he should be back by now.
Hamstrings are finnicky muscles, and tweaking them can easily set back a rehabbing player’s progress — look no further than Giancarlo Stanton for a prime example of how long it can take if things go poorly. Kilby did manage to get into a rehab game at the end of May, but reaggravated the injury during the game and has been out again since. We don’t know the full extent to how bad the hamstring was after that game, but the team is going to be cautious with any soft tissue injury like this especially after the rehab attempt went poorly. If we don’t have an update around mid-July then there’d be some valid concern, but for now Kilby is simply going to be on the shelf for a bit longer.
jws85 asks:Why do writers keep talking starting pitchers? I would think the hot topic would be Josh Jung and Higgy from Texas.
It’s not so much that starting pitching is a need as it is the singular face of the trade market this deadline appears to be Tarik Skubal — and when the reigning two-time Cy Young winner is available, you have to at least consider being the one to make a move for him. Any other starter wouldn’t make sense for the Yankees to pursue when they have one of the strongest rotations in baseball and have some clear holes elsewhere, but Skubal could push them all-in on being perhaps the most dangerous team in the field even with the reigning champion Dodgers looking every bit as strong as they have been the last two years.
Make no mistake though: it would be an all-in move, and it would be costly. Even though the team that lands him would only guarantee Skubal’s services for the remainder of this season, the Tigers can demand a king’s ransom for him and have a number of suitors willing to pony up. Skubal did sit out for a month with an elbow injury that might raise concerns, but he’s recovered in admirable time and the Yankees just got a front-row seat to see how sharp he looks already so I doubt there would be a major discount on account of his arm. Any trade on the Yankees’ ends would start with top prospect George Lombard Jr. and likely include several other top prospects within the organization’s top 10, probably even their top five given their rankings fall off quick from there. That’s going to mortgage the future fairly significantly, but if they don’t push those chips into the pot the Dodgers can definitely outbid them (and possibly still can even if the Yankees leave no one off the table).
Sounds like an awful lot to index everything into a rotation that is already one of the best, and leaves little room to make other upgrades when some are definitely warranted. So why should the Yankees consider this? Well, there’s the opportunity cost of passing on Skubal to consider — if they don’t go and get him, someone else will and the Yankees will likely have to face him on their road to a World Series title, making him a major obstacle instead of a piece of the puzzle. Could anyone compete with the Dodgers if Skubal dons an LA cap this postseason? Will the Yankees’ hopes of walking through a weak American League remain high if say, Seattle doesn’t want to fall just short of making the Fall Classic at long last and throws their arsenal of top 100 prospects at Detroit? Leaving it up to chance that Skubal won’t become the next version of Texas Cliff Lee or Houston Gerrit Cole isn’t ideal for a team whose core is getting dangerously close to old.
Age is the other factor — the Yankees have, outside of their push in 2024 with Juan Soto, danced around the idea of ever going all-in. Now they have a roster with superstars exiting their primes, with Aaron Judge already in his age-34 season and Cole approaching his 36th birthday in September. Both players have now faced mounting injuries in the last few years, and while I’m highly confident in both of them performing in October this year, how many more years will they be able to carry the weight of a title run on their shoulders? The team has gotten a much-needed injection of youth with Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler excelling this year, but they’re facing Father Time down with the contracts still on the books for their superstars. A rental starter would’ve been ideal in past seasons but isn’t this time around, but you could argue that getting picky about which pieces were available to them and at what prices got them into this position in the first place. Now they need to decide if pushing for a championship with their captain is more important than always being in the mix, and act accordingly.
With all this said I truly don’t know if they can even get Skubal or should pursue him if they could, but they have to do their due diligence in considering it. I like Lombard a lot, and he can potentially be the answer to a position that has given the Yankees a lot of headaches over the years. It would take a lot to move him, but the circumstances are undeniably there. We’ll see if they determine it’s worth pulling the trigger or not.
The idiot that said, “Harper is coming” asks:Clarke Schmidt? He’s going to face live batters any day now, so his return this season seems inevitable. What do the Yankees do with him? Do they just ride out the season and if he’s healthy and available keep him in the minors, or bring him up and force him into a bullpen role? Does he have any trade value? How does he rank among Yankee starters for 2027?
Schmidt is in a strange spot, with the rotation blossoming in his absence and nearly all the candidates to hold down a spot ahead of him being under control long-term. Schmidt, meanwhile, will be a free agent after next season and still has a minor league option remaining to toy with, giving the team flexibility now with how they handle his return but forcing the issue next year if they did keep him down. I doubt they would stash him in the minors, to be honest — when healthy he was one of the better starters the Yankees had, pacing out to about three fWAR per season had he played all of 2024 and 2025. The reality is he hasn’t pitched over 100 innings since 2023 though, so easing him back in a multi-inning relief role would be the ideal scenario if he stays and the rotation remains healthy in front of him.
A trade to shake things up in this equation is very much on the table though, as the Yankees have needs around the roster and for once have an extreme excess of starting pitching. Schmidt’s injuries might prevent him from recouping significant value, but he could also serve as a solid fallback option if Will Warren or one of the prospects like Elmer Rodriguez or Brendan Beck gets packaged in a deal. That could allow Schmidt to build back up his arm with a handful of starts this year and then slide back into the rotation as the fifth starter for 2027 should he beat out Ryan Weathers in spring. The only concern is that you truly can’t have too much pitching, and it would be the height of folly to act as if the team had too much pitching in July only to run on empty in October, but if they seriously pursued the Skubal angle perhaps that’s how they could hedge on building a super rotation for this season and still have depth for next year and beyond.
The Detroit Pistons' ongoing negotiations with Jalen Duren have hit a snag, according to a report.
The team and Duren, who is a restricted free agent, are far apart on contract talks, and Duren's camp is now planning to explore sign-and-trade scenarios when free agency opens June 30, according to The Athletic. Duren, 22, is coming off of a breakout All-NBA season. But his next deal likely will fall short of the maximum the Pistons can offer – five years and $287 million – following an underwhelming postseason performance.
Duren averaged 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game on 65% shooting for a 60-win Pistons team that lost in the second round. He earned All-NBA third team honors, qualifying him for a contract worth up to $287 million that starts at 30% of the salary cap with 8% raises.
But the "higher max criteria" only applies to the Pistons – outside teams are capped to a maximum deal starting at up to 25% of the cap with 5% raises over four years, which comes out to $177.4 million total.
Because outside teams need cap space to make a realistic offer sheet for Duren, a sign-and-trade would open more pathways for Duren to land with a new team. But Pistons still hold the upper hand in negotiations, since they can match any offer sheet or simply decline to agree to a trade. Duren's only other pathway, in that situation, would be picking up his qualifying offer for the 2026-27 to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.
They repeatedly have signaled that Duren is a priority and core player they wish to build around, even after his numbers dropped across the board through 14 postseason games, averaging 10.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks on 51.4% shooting.
"I want him here, that’s where I’m at with JD," team president Trajan Langdon said on June 18. "We really want JD to be here."
Despite Duren's desire to look elsewhere for a bigger contract, it appears nothing has changed for the Pistons. NBA insider Chris Haynes reported Friday after Duren's decision to seek other offers that "the Detroit Pistons are conveying that Jalen Duren will not be moved and are solely focused on coming to terms on an agreement."
Ultimately, the ball is in the Pistons' court. They can match any offer from an outside team and even if Duren is signed-and-traded, he'd be capped to four years and $177.4 million with an opposing team.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Pistons star C Jalen Duren to explore sign-and-trade offers, per report
Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said he believes he still has the support of owner Steve Cohen after firing manager Carlos Mendoza on Friday.
On the day the manager was let go with the Mets in last place in the NL East with a 34-47 record, Stearns was short when asked if he believed he still had ownership’s support to continue in his position: "Yes."
When asked what makes him think that, Stearns said it came from the conversations that he has with Cohen.
"Steve and I are talking on a regular basis," he said. "And he’s certainly indicated that I have his support."
As far as the decision to fire Mendoza – with the disappointing start to the season following a terrible collapse in last season’s campaign, when they finished the year 38-55 after having the best record in baseball on June 12 – and install Andy Green as the interim manager for the remainder of the season, Stearns said it was made in consultation with ownership.
"Any decision like this, of this magnitude for an organization, is an organizational decision," he said. "And we were aligned that this was the right thing to do."
Asked if the owner approached the front office about firing the manager or if it was the other way around, Stearns declined to get into specifics.
"I’m not gonna get into the specifics of Steve and my conversations," Stearns said. "We talk pretty much every day about the performance of our team.
"And we came to the decision that this was the right move."
Stearns said he took responsibility for his role in the Mets’ poor start to the season, but expressed his confidence in the roster he assembled.
"Clearly we’ve fallen short," he said. "I still have confidence in the talent that’s in our room, and believe in the talent that’s in our room, but belief on its own does not lead to results. And I understand that.
"We need better play, we need better production, and my focus now, and, Andy’s focus right now, is going to be doing everything we can to put our guys in the best position to succeed."
Stearns, who has said he considered his job to be done in partnership with Mendoza, said he had not considered stepping down from his role when asked directly.
"I believe that we are building the foundation of an organization that can deliver what we all want," he said in response to a question about stepping down. "I don’t believe that our record on the field this year is indicative of some of the advances we’ve made in the organization. But clearly our record is nowhere good enough."
While he said that he shared and "understood our fans' frustration and anger" in the way things have turned out, Stearns added that he understands their "skepticism" in his ability to turn things around.
"If I were sitting in the fan seat, I would share that," he said of the skepticism. "From my perspective, what I can do and what I will do, is for as long as I’m sitting in this seat, work as hard as I can with the people around me to do everything we can to push this organization forward. And I think we’re gonna be able to do that."
The Detroit Pistons knew they would have to upgrade their offense this summer, following a second-round exit in the NBA playoffs to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
On Friday, June 26, they did just that, acquiring Oklahoma City Thunder guard Isaiah Joe for two second-round picks, a league source confirmed to the Detroit Free Press, part of the USA TODAY Network. ESPN's Shams Charania reported it first.
Joe, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard, averaged 11.1 points and 2.5 rebounds, while shooting 45.5% overall and 42.3% on 3-pointers last season in 71 games, and gives the Pistons another much-needed option to space the floor. His 3-point percentage in 2025-26 was a career-best mark.
He's a high-volume 3-point shooter. and though he fell out of the Thunder's rotation during the playoffs, he will instantly help the Pistons fill their biggest need.
Along with Duncan Robinson, the Pistons now have two players to anchor their spacing. They scored 10.2 more points per 100 possessions when Robinson was on the floor last year according to Cleaning The Glass, with Cade Cunningham (+7.3) and Jalen Duren (+6.4) ranking second and third.
Outside of Robinson, they lacked reliable shooting. However, Robinson is a candidate to be waived this summer if the Pistons wish to create cap space to make a move in free agency. Only $2 million of his roughly $16 million salary next season is guaranteed, and they would have to waive him to clear enough space to be a player in the free agency market.
Joe has two years left on a reasonable four-year, $48 million contract he signed with the Thunder, with the two most expensive years already paid on a descending deal. He'll make $11.3 million each of the next two years, with the 2027-28 season a club option, according to Spotrac.
The Pistons on Tuesday night selected Stanford freshman guard Ebuka Okorie, trading up four spots with the Memphis Grizzlies to No. 17 overall in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft.
Then Wednesday, they dumped Isaiah Stewart and his $15 million contract to the Grizzlies for the same three future second-rounders they'd traded to them one night earlier. Later that night, they purchased the No. 53 pick from the New York Knicks to draft Virginia center Ugonna Onyenso.
The Pistons finished 60-22 last season – the third-best record in franchise history and their best since 2005-06, and fell to the Cavaliers in seven games in their deepest postseason run in 18 years. Game 7 was a 125-94 embarrassment at home, concluding a blown 2-0 series lead.
Third-year president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon has said he is building around their core three – Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson – this summer, with a repeated emphasis on adding more shooting and ball-handling.
Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Isaiah Joe trade: Detroit Pistons acquire 3-point sniper from OKC Thunder
Tom Dundon might be beloved in Charlotte (where his NHL team just hoisted the Stanley Cup), but fans in Portland have their doubts about their team's new owner. Dundon continues to live up to his penny-pinching reputation (except with players he says, although that has yet to be put to the test), and a couple of new instances have had fans — and plenty of people around the league — shaking their heads.
One was the contract for the new head coach, Mikah Nori. He is a longtime assistant in the league who most recently served as the right-hand man to Chris Finch in Minnesota. Dundon waited until there were no other open jobs on the market, then offered Nori a one-year contract with two team options after that. It's an owner-friendly contract that is radically different from the standard contract given to a first-time head coach (usually four years, with the final year a team option). In a league where status is somewhat based on contract size, you can be sure every player on that roster knows their head coach is on a lame duck deal, undercutting his authority.
Nori took the deal, but around the NBA, other coaches have been livid.
"I feel like he was put in a situation that he shouldn't be put in with having to make a choice of this nature because of the structure of what the contract is," said Pistons' coach J.B. Bickerstaff, the president of the coaches union. "It's unfortunate that you have a dream, and from our perspective, it's like someone's taking advantage of your dream and devaluing what we feel like coaches have earned over the years. You think about the sacrifice, the time, the growth that coaches have helped and done with the NBA, and then for someone to come in and attempt to devalue the work that coaches have in this league is extremely disappointing."
Nori, for his part, handled questions about the contract with grace.
"The way I look at this is: opportunity," he told reporters at his introductory press conference. "For 28 years, the first 25 years I never had an agent. I never look at money or years. I know that if I'm successful, the rest of these things will take care of themselves."
Portland's Moda Center, home to the Trail Blazers, is 31 years old, feels a little dated, and is in need of maintenance and upgrades. Paying for those changes has become a political fight in Oregon.
An estimated $600 million in renovations and maintenance is needed for the building, which is owned by the city of Portland with the Trail Blazers as the main tenant and a lease that runs through 2030.
There are ongoing negotiations about how to pay for this amongst Portland (which has pledged $120 million), Multnomah County, the State of Oregon, with multiple of those entities saying that Dundon and the Trail Blazers should chip in toward the cost. Dundon said don't expect that. From Kyra Buckley and Alex Zielinski of Oregon Public Broadcasting, at the Portland Metro Chamber meeting this week.
"I just know it feels like we're making a pretty big investment by staying here and paying these tax rates and agreeing to these fees for dollars that go back into the building."
"There's lots of places that don't have taxes at the same rate. So if you charge people taxes and invest it back into the thing that helps generate the money relative to the market, other places … it's a huge investment."
While the Moda Center is city-owned and it benefits from the upgrades and maintenance, nobody would benefit more than Dundon and his franchise. In Oregon, a billionaire owner saying he shouldn't have to pay for any of the renovations to the building, and a cash-strapped city should use taxpayer dollars to fund all of it, is not going to go over well.
Not that Dundon cares. He won't care until it hits him in the pocketbook. Just know his casual threat to move the team is not something that's happening (with expansion coming to the NBA, no way Adam Silver and the other owners let that happen). Dundon is going to have to work out something with the city, and he should pay his fair share.
Alex Karaban was selected No. 29 overall in the first round of Tuesday’s NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings. The 6-foot 8-inch forward brings not just a wide variety of skills to the table, but a leading attitude on and off the floor.
An elite catch-and-shoot player from the perimeter isn’t the only thing that Sac-Town needs; As the all-time winningest player to put on the UConn Huskies jersey and having racked up the third most wins (15) all-time in NCAA tournament, he’s a winner in every sense of the word. The Kings finished this past season with just 22 wins, tied for last in the Western Conference. Karaban can show what it takes to build a sustainable winning culture and get back into the playoffs for the first time since 2023.
Dan Hurley spoke to KCRA3 on Wednesday morning to dive into the selection. “I talked to BJ Armstrong (Kings assistant GM) this morning, and he asked me how I felt, and I said, ‘How I feel is we got worse last night with Alex leaving and you guys got better with Alex joining your team,’”
The two-time national champion will likely come off the bench behind DeMar DeRozan. With DeRozan entering his 18th NBA season, only time will tell when Karaban can snatch that starting spot. Karaban will play alongside No. 7 pick Darius Acuff, Zach LaVine, Keegan Murray and Domantas Sabonis. Karaban’s elite catch-and-shoot ability provides immediate gravity on the perimeter. In an offense built around Sabonis’ high-post facilitating andDeRozan’s mid-range pressure, Karaban offers the exact floor-spacing safety valve the Kings desperately need to keep the lane open.
Sabonis is practically a walking double-double, but with Karaban spacing the floor on the wing, his passing lanes will open up significantly. Karaban’s ability to knock down kick-out jumpers could easily push Sabonis past his mark of 10 triple-doubles from last season.
Sabonis isn’t the only assist man the Kings have; Russell Westbrook is a prime example of an unselfish player. Westbrook’s ability to get downhill can allow for even more space to open up for Karaban out on the wing or find him cutting to the rim.
Defensively, Karaban offers the exact type of high-IQ that’s needed at the NBA level. While he may not be a lockdown isolation defender, his awareness as a weak-side helper is elite. Playing alongside Sabonis—who anchors the interior but isn’t a traditional rim protector—Karaban’s ability to read plays, box out, and execute crisp defensive rotations will give the Kings’ bench much-needed structural stability. He’ll be the first to dive for loose balls, put his body on the line to take a charge and be the first to help up a teammate when they go down.
Karaban doesn’t need for him to go out and light it up for 25 points a night to make his rookie season a success. He needs to stick to what made him a UConn legend and be the ultimate glue guy.