6:15 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” Major League Baseball on Thursday outlined a litany of experimental rules it plans to implement at different minor league levels this season, including banning some forms of defensive shifts, more games governed
MLB
9:15 PM ET Major League Baseball announced that it would test a variety of experimental rules across different levels of the minor leagues during the 2021 season. Ranging from banning some forms of the defensive shift and using larger bases to implementing electronic strike zones and experimenting with 15-second pitch clocks, the new rules will
7:30 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Indians was among eight players whose contracts were unilaterally renewed by their team before Thursday’s deadline for all players on 40-man rosters to have deals for the 2021 season. Bieber will receive a $679,700 salary while in
10:49 AM ET John BarrESPN.com Close Joined ESPN in June 2003 Winner: 2013 Peabody Award; 2011 Edward R. Murrow Award/Video Investigative Reporting Covers breaking news, investigative pieces and human interest features Major League Baseball investigators have interviewed a woman who said free-agent outfielder Yasiel Puig sexually assaulted her in a Staples Center bathroom, but have
2:47 PM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — Outfielder Billy Hamilton won’t make Cleveland’s roster, and the Indians are trying to find him another team this spring. Manager Terry Francona said the club told Hamilton on Thursday that he wasn’t part of their plans. The Indians will try to trade the 30-year-old, who signed a minor
1:01 PM ET Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. — New York Yankees pitcher Luis Severino has thrown off a mound for the first time since Tommy John surgery on Feb. 27 last year. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said the 27-year-old right-hander threw 20 pitches, all fastballs, during a bullpen session Tuesday. “It was a lot of
7:00 AM ET DAVID PRICE CALLED opting out of the 2020 MLB season “the toughest decision I’ve ever had to make.” He felt the strain and the doubt most on Opening Day and at the start of the postseason. But when Price watched from home as Julio Urias struck out Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Willy
6:50 PM ET Associated Press PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — New Mets pitcher Carlos Carrasco is uncertain to be ready for the start of the season after elbow soreness forced him to stop throwing. New York manager Luis Rojas said the right-hander, who turns 34 on March 21, started spring training workouts behind other players
6:05 PM ET Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. — A sports gambler faces up to five years in federal prison for threatening social media messages sent to players with the Tampa Bay Rays. Benjamin Tucker Patz, 24, of Napa, California, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Tampa federal court to transmitting threats in interstate or foreign commerce, according
3:31 PM ET Associated Press Jon Lester could tell something wasn’t right. Long known for taking the ball whenever it was his turn to pitch, no matter what — never making fewer than 31 starts in any of the past 12 full Major League Baseball seasons — Lester seemed, to use his phrase, “a little