4:56 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Major League Baseball went ahead with its planned rules changes for this season, including the requirement a pitcher must face at least three batters or end the half-inning, unless he is hurt. The changes were agreed to by MLB and the players’ association last March 8, subject
MLB
3:51 PM ET TAMPA, Fla. — On the other side of the state, Astros players remained under guard, cordoned away from reporters in advance of what is expected to be an orchestrated organizational message, in a first collective response to their sign-stealing scandal. At Yankees camp, however, there are no signs of group-speak, no guardrails
9:30 AM ET Life isn’t a zero-sum game, but baseball certainly is. We mostly focus on teams getting better in the form of big signings and giant trades, but for any team to improve, another team has to get worse. There are 2,430 wins out there on the schedule, and if your team gets better,
2:51 PM ET ESPN News Services Keone Kela will begin the season as the Pittsburgh Pirates‘ closer, manager Derek Shelton announced Wednesday. Felipe Vazquez was an All-Star the past two seasons as the Pirates’ closer, but he was arrested in September on felony charges stemming from an alleged sexual relationship with a minor. Kela converted
2:55 PM ET FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Boston Red Sox spent the first half of the 2019 season without a reliever in a defined closer role, but interim manager Ron Roenicke does not have a similar plan for the 2020 season. Roenicke said Wednesday that he envisions reliever Brandon Workman closing out games this
11:00 AM ET Baseball is back … well, sort of. Opening Day isn’t until March 26, but pitchers and catchers began reporting to spring training this week. Major League Baseball’s postseason may look different in 2022, but some players will look different this coming season — and not just because they’ve changed teams! Several franchises
2:24 PM ET The Detroit Tigers agreed to a one-year major league contract with outfielder Cameron Maybin on Wednesday, the team announced. Financial terms were not disclosed, but according to multiple reports, the deal is for one year and $1.5 million with the chance to make more in incentives. The deal marks a return to
2:10 PM ET ESPN News Services Right-handed pitcher Taijuan Walker and the Seattle Mariners are in agreement on a one-year, $2 million contract, league sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Walker can make up to $3 million total based on incentives. He appeared to confirm the move with a tweet Wednesday: Let’s gooo!! 💪🏾💪🏾 pic.twitter.com/SijPsjyvdt —
Feb 11, 2020 Kiley McDaniel Close ESPN MLB Insider Kiley McDaniel covers MLB prospects, the MLB Draft and more, including trades and free agency. Has worked for three MLB teams. I’ll be doing a good bit of MLB analysis here at ESPN, so it makes sense as I’m walking in the door to do a
10:24 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Houston Astros owner Jim Crane is expected to meet with the full Astros roster Wednesday to discuss the team’s strategy for publicly addressing the sign-stealing scandal that