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There’s one major reason the New York Rangers decided to send their 2025 12th overall pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins and keep their 2026 first-round pick. 

Part of the thinking for the Rangers in moving this year's pick is to potentially be able to use their 2026 first-rounder for a move at the trade deadline if they are in a position to contend according to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun.

The Rangers had a choice as part of the conditions of a trade with the Vancouver Canucks involving J.T. Miller to either give up their 2025 or 2026 first-round pick. 

Rangers president and general manager Chris Drury has not spoken publicly since making this decision, so it’s unclear exactly where his head is at on this specific choice he made. 

It’s clear that he deemed having their 2026 first-round pick is more valuable than keeping the 12th overall pick whether they are competitive during the 2025-26 season or not. 

The Rangers Made The Right Decision To Give Away Their 2025 12th Overall Pick And Keep 2026 First-Round Pick There’s a lot to sort out when analyzing the New York Rangers’ move to transfer their 12th overall pick in this year’s draft to the Pittsburgh Penguins and keep their 2026 first-round pick. 

It’s a move that may be frustrating for fans in the short term but could pay dividends for the Rangers in the long term.

Over the past 24 hours, both Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and president of baseball operations David Stearns have publicly acknowledged the obvious: the bottom of the Mets order is not producing.

They’re right to identify the problem. But Stearns was also correct on Tuesday in suggesting that internal fixes were coming.

More vexing for the season’s long-term outlook is the state of the Mets’ pitching.

On the hitting side, the current active roster is probably not strong enough to shake off the recent trend of frequently recurring flat games. But a lengthier lineup by mid-summer is easy enough to imagine -- not tonight, not tomorrow, but soon enough to keep the Mets in contention to make the deep playoff run that until recently felt likely.

Mark Vientos should return from the injured list at the end of the week, and Francisco Alvarez is in Syracuse trying to get right. It’s not unreasonable to think that at least one of those dynamic young hitters will find himself over the next few months. Both have already proven that they can slug in the big leagues.

Jesse Winker, on the IL since May 5 with an oblique strain, will begin a rehab assignment next week. His return will help shore up the DH spot and further lengthen the lineup.

Beyond that, I expect the Mets to seek a center fielder at the trade deadline, with Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins and Boston’s Jarren Duran among those who might become available. Tyrone Taylor is a winning player, but another bat could push Jeff McNeil into the bottom third of the lineup, which is where he fits best.

It’s too early to say if the Mets will seek a third baseman. But let’s play fantasy baseball for a moment. If Arizona makes free-agent-to-be Eugenio Suarez available or Boston is willing to move Alex Bregman ($40 million this year, followed by an opt out or two more years at $40 million), the Mets could acquire one as a rental player and use Vientos at DH for the remainder of the year. Brett Baty’s swing would play at Fenway Park.

That is all speculative. Maybe the reality of tweaking the infield mix is more in the Jeimer Candelario category than the Bregman/Suarez lane. But the idea illustrates how many avenues, both internal and external, exist that could improve the offense beyond the continued excellence of Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor.

"We have some players who are getting healthy who I think will help there," Stearns said Tuesday. "I also think the players who have struggled in our lineup over the last month largely are better offensive players than we've seen so far. They themselves have demonstrated that over periods of this season.”

It’s not as easy to see how the Mets address a pitching staff that suddenly seems shaky and tired -- and which still leads baseball in staff earned run average, though likely not for long.

Most nights, the Mets simply aren’t able to match the ace-level opponents they have faced in recent series against Tampa Bay, Atlanta and Philadelphia. That makes it hard to end a losing streak, or kick off a winning one.

Tuesday brought the news that Sean Manaea will pitch for the remainder of the season with a "loose body" or floating bone fragment, in his elbow.

Manaea had a cortisone injection to address the discomfort, and the team still expects him to return shortly from the oblique injury that has delayed the start of his season. But Manaea is more hopeful than certain that the elbow issue will not impede him for the rest of the year.

Clay Holmes, moved into a starting role this year, has lately shown signs of fatigue. Tylor Megill struggled before injuring his elbow. The bullpen, asked to carry a heavy load, has seen its own share of injury and regression.

Looking for hope? David Peterson continues to develop into a top-of-the-rotation starter, and Kodai Senga (hamstring) will return. The Mets continue to employ one of the best pitching coaches in the sport, Jeremy Hefner, and a POBO who has done this before -- including last year.

As the Mets try to find their way back to consistent winning, they are forced to do so with diminished pitching. They have prospects who might contribute in the future, but are not ready now. And just like at every trade deadline, most contending teams will be looking for impact pitchers.

It won’t be easy to find a way back toward enjoying the best pitching staff in the league.

Francisco Alvarez's difficulties behind the plate reached a crescendo in the days before the Mets sent him down to Triple-A Syracuse.

His inability to get in front of a ball in the dirt, and indecisiveness on a rundown play contributed to a loss early last week in Atlanta.

Then, on Saturday in Philadelphia, a passed ball on Alvarez led to a run.

The 23-year-old also mashed a 452-foot homer on Saturday night, showing the immense potential he still has.

Overall, Alvarez is hitting just .236/.319/.333 with three home runs and three doubles in 138 plate appearances over 35 games this season. And his struggles at the plate and behind it simply became too much for the Mets to ignore, resulting in his demotion on Sunday.

"Alvy's a really talented player. He got to the big leagues at such a young age, performed at such a high level immediately that it's difficult to remember sometimes he is still young," President of Baseball Operations David Stearns said on Tuesday at Citi Field. "He's an age that good prospects -- industry-leading prospects -- are still in Double-A. And he's been playing in the big leagues for two-plus years.

"So this is not unusual. And I think getting him a little bit of a chance to reset, to work on both sides of the game -- and we do think there are performance improvements that are needed on both sides of the game. Giving him an opportunity to do that in a less pressurized environment where he's not doing it in front of 45,000 people every night, against really good pitching, catching pitchers with really good stuff. We thought this was the right time to do that, both for him and for the team as a whole."

Alvarez missed the first month of the season after needing surgery for a fractured hamate bone in his left hand.

It was the second time in as many years that he missed significant time due to an injury -- Alvarez missed a chunk of time in 2024 after tearing a ligament in his left thumb.

While it's possible the recovery from the hamate surgery has impacted Alvarez's power a bit, it's not an extra-base hit surge the Mets are seeking from him in the minors before calling him back up.

"There are certainly some goals, and yes, they're not statistical," Stearns explained. "And they're on both sides of the ball. We want to see him get back to the level of player that we know he can be -- that's what he wants to do as well."

Stearns also discussed Alvarez's receiving difficulties, and whether or not he could be carrying his offensive struggles with him behind the dish.

"I think for any player, when you struggle on one side of the ball, sometimes it can impact the other side of the ball," Stearns said. "And I don't know if that is happening, but it would be natural if it would. Alvy's really competitive. He cares a lot, and sometimes that level of emotion -- that competitive spirit -- can be tough to corral.

"There are things I think we can help him with -- on both sides of the ball -- receiving among them, to get him back to the level that we're accustomed to seeing."

What we learned as Christian Koss homer isn't enough in Giants' loss to Marlins originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

• BOX SCORE

SAN FRANCISCO — After a weekend of beautiful weather and a much-needed off day at home, the Giants returned to Oracle Park on Tuesday and immediately got reminded that June in San Francisco is a different animal. The first night against the Miami Marlins was one of the coldest of the season, and the bats went cold in a 4-2 loss. 

It was an extremely quiet offensive night, but Jung Hoo Lee drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth to bring the crowd back to life. After a Willy Adames strikeout, red-hot third baseman Casey Schmitt hit into a game-ending double play. 

Justin Verlander left with a 3-0 deficit, but the lower-leverage relievers did a nice job of keeping the game close. Spencer Bivens ran into trouble in the eighth inning of a two-run game when the Marlins got back-to-back no-out singles, but he struck out Kyle Stowers and Eric Wagamn before getting Liam Hicks to fly out to deep center. 

Joey Lucchesi put two on in the ninth, but got out of it. The lineup, however, never could catch up. 

The game was the first in a two-week stretch against some of MLB’s worst teams, one the Giants must take advantage of. Following this series, they visit the Chicago White Sox, who are 25-55. After a four-game series at Arizona, they’ll visit the Athletics for the first time in Sacramento. 

First Time Back

Verlander is just the third Giants pitcher — joining Ross Stripling and Slick Castleman (yes, Slick Castleman) — to go his first 11 starts without getting a win, and that continued Tuesday. The Marlins scored two in the second and one in the third, and while Verlander retired eight of the final nine he faced, the high early pitch count led to him departing after the top of the fifth. 

Connor Norby plates Eric Wagaman and it's 2-0 @Marlins! pic.twitter.com/hTqYIMBABR

— Marlins Radio Network (@MarlinsRadio) June 25, 2025

Verlander was charged with three earned in his return from the paternity list. He struck out five, but when the Marlins were rallying, he had some trouble putting them away with two strikes. Through a dozen starts, Verlander has a 4.52 ERA. If you take out his rookie season and the season he had Tommy John, Verlander has never won fewer than five games as a big leaguer, but he’ll head into the final days of June still looking for his first in orange and black. 

Second Chance

The Giants entered the night with just three homers in 250 at-bats from their second basemen, but Christian Koss smoked a breaking ball into the first row in the fifth, cutting the deficit to one. The homer was Koss’ second in the big leagues, joining the grand slam he hit on May 13. 

KOSS IS BOSS 💪 pic.twitter.com/YJhMzoUxBK

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 25, 2025

Koss and Brett Wisely will split time at second base for now, with Tyler Fitzgerald getting a mental reset in Triple-A and Schmitt needed at third base for at least a couple more weeks. Manager Bob Melvin went with the righty against righty Cal Quantrill because he has allowed an OPS over 1.000 to right-handed hitters this season, and it paid off. 

The Giants nearly tied the game later in the inning, but Matt Williams sent Rafael Devers home on an Heliot Ramos double and he was thrown out by 15 feet — with team RBI leader Wilmer Flores on deck. Devers has been dealing with some groin tightness and didn’t look all that comfortable after reaching the plate.

Still Searching

Lee had a 15 at-bat hitless streak going after a flyball to center in the second inning, but he caught a break the next time up. Teams have started to shift their shortstops over as far as they can because Lee hits so many grounders up the middle, and his hard grounder was headed for shortstop Otto Lopez’s glove when it hit Quantrill’s leg. Lee ended up with a single, his first hit since last Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Guardians. 

Lee has been dropped in the order on this homestand, a reaction to what has become a lengthy slump, but he did reach base twice, something he had done just once in his previous eight starts.

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