7:00 AM ET Sam MillerESPN.com Close ESPN baseball columnist/feature writerFormer editor-in-chief of Baseball ProspectusCo-author of “The Only Rule Is It Has To Work” Royals utilityman Whit Merrifield was the closest the AL came to having a first baseman receive any MVP consideration last season. Ed Zurga/Getty Images Here’s a trivia question you can bring to your
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9:00 AM ET Signing Patrick Corbin doesn’t mean the Nationals are done with Bryce Harper. But it is one more sign that they’re more than prepared for life without him. To be perfectly clear, Corbin isn’t a power-hitting outfielder like Harper. He’s a starting pitcher, and a pretty darned good one at that. In fact,
9:56 AM ET The James Paxton trade was one of the first of Major League Baseball’s offseason, and part of the New York Yankees’ thinking in grabbing the left-hander from Seattle was that it would inoculate them from any desperation. No matter what followed, the Yankees would know that their rotation would start with Paxton,
7:22 PM ET Free agent catcher Robinson Chirinos has agreed to a one-year deal with the Houston Astros. Chirinos, 34, who confirmed the agreement to FOX26, hit .222 for the Rangers last season with 18 home runs and 65 RBIs, both career highs. He and Max Stassi are expected to be the primary catchers for
5:57 PM ET Mike Rizzo is not afraid of a little risk. When he targets a player — as he’s done a few times as the Nationals’ GM, whether it’s Jayson Werth, Max Scherzer or now Patrick Corbin — he’s nearly always been willing to tack on the extra year or increase his bid by
6:00 PM ET The first big free-agent pitcher is off the market: Left-hander Patrick Corbin has agreed to a six-year contract with the Washington Nationals, pending a physical, reportedly for $140 million, significantly more than the $126 million Yu Darvish received from the Cubs a year ago. My first reaction: Welcome to the division of
4:19 PM ET The Washington Nationals are adding another high-caliber pitcher to their rotation, reportedly agreeing to terms on a six-year deal with free agent Patrick Corbin on Tuesday. The deal, pending a physical, reportedly is for $140 million — significantly higher than the deal Yu Darvish signed with the Chicago Cubs last year. The
6:41 AM ET Who is Bryce Harper? Well, he first appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated when he was 16, which created a circus of hype about his impending stardom. Because of that early attention, he’s one of the few baseball players with name cachet outside of the sport, which is one reason his
1:35 PM ET The Seattle Mariners‘ rebuild continued Monday with a deal that brought back an out-of-favor prospect who is just a half-season into his major-league career and sent one of Seattle’s best remaining players, Jean Segura, to a Philadelphia Phillies team that had a black hole at shortstop in 2018. Segura’s career has been
12:18 PM ET New York Mets executive Jeff Wilpon said the team aggressively pushed to acquire Edwin Diaz in part to “block” the rival Philadelphia Phillies from trading for the All-Star closer. The Mariners have completed the deal that will send Robinson Cano and ace closer Edwin Diaz to the Mets for two highly rated