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A cautious Rob Manfred says MLB's 'values on diversity remain unchanged'

Sports / Baseball /

PALM BEACH, Fla. — Three days after NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said his league would remain committed to its diversity initiatives, Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said his league would, too — albeit more cautiously.

"Our values on diversity remain unchanged, but another value that is pretty important to us is, we always ...Read more

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS

'Are the Dodgers crazy?' How baseball's newest big-market antihero reacts to villain storyline.

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — For the first of what's certain to be many times, following a blockbuster offseason of seemingly limitless roster spending, Dodgers players were asked about the same hot-button topic last weekend.

Were they surprised how the rest of the sport recoiled in the face of the team's freewheeling winter, in which the Dodgers made half ...Read more

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Pete Alonso agrees to return to Mets on 2-year, $54 million deal: reports

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — Pete Alonso isn’t going anywhere.

In a surprise development, the fan-favorite first baseman reached a two-year, $54 million contract to return to the Mets, according to multiple reports. The first baseman will be making $30 million next season and owns a $24 million player option for the 2026 season.

Alonso’s agreement ...Read more

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Angels extend their Angel Stadium lease, committing to the venue through 2032

Sports / Baseball /

ANAHEIM, Calif. — The Angels extended their stay at Angel Stadium for three more years, committing to remain at their Anaheim home through 2032.

The Angels' future had been murky since a deal with the city collapsed in 2022. Under that deal, the team would have renovated or replaced Angel Stadium and committed to play there through 2050.

...Read more

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Mike Vorel: Defending the 'dismay' expressed by more than a few Mariners fans

Sports / Baseball /

SEATTLE — Two weeks before position players report to spring training in Peoria, Ariz., Jerry Dipoto acknowledged that there won't be many new names among them ...

"Much to, I think, the dismay of a few."

A few more than a few.

The 2024 Mariners (85-77), after all, finished one game out of a wild-card spot — thanks to an offense that ...Read more

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Yankees fan who grabbed Mookie Betts' glove bombarded with messages, anonymous packages: 'I just want to be forgotten'

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — The Yankees fan who ripped the ball from Mookie Betts’ glove at the World Series has since received social-media vitriol, profanity-riddled voicemails and even a package containing feces, he said in a new interview.

In his first comments since MLB banned him indefinitely, Austin Capobianco told The Athletic he regrets the ...Read more

K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Tom Krasovic: Padres have been smarter, savvier under A.J. Preller

Sports / Baseball /

SAN DIEGO — It took a while, but A.J. Preller — entering his 11th spring training with the Padres — has established San Diego as one of the National League’s smarter franchises.

Don’t take it only from me. Take it from executives with other teams.

Front-office folks surveyed by MLB.com this winter have voted the small-market Padres ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Dodgers trade reliever Ryan Brasier to the Cubs

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — Ryan Brasier's time with the Dodgers officially ended on Tuesday, with the veteran reliever being traded to the Chicago Cubs less than a week after being designated for assignment.

Brasier, 37, was DFA'd by the Dodgers last week in order to make room on their 40-man roster for newly signed veteran reliever Kirby Yates.

The ...Read more

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Former Met J.D. Martinez will pivot to pickleball after retirement: 'I see pickleball as a sport I'll be involved in for the long run'

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — J.D. Martinez hasn’t officially retired from baseball, but he’s already planning a post-retirement pivot to pickleball. Table tennis and pickleball equipment manufacturer JOOLA announced a sponsorship contract Tuesday, detailing the free agent DH’s intention to compete in competitive pickleball when his baseball career comes ...Read more

Meg McLaughlin/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

John Romano: Rays' signing of Ha-Seong Kim is one more example of MLB's broken system

Sports / Baseball /

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Welcome to baseball’s problem in a nutshell.

Was enjoying a quiet Sunday morning reading the Tampa Bay Times when I came across this phrase in a Marc Topkin analysis of Ha-Seong Kim’s two-year, $29 million deal with the Rays:

“… the second largest the Rays ever have given a free-agent position player, behind ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Dylan Hernández: Shohei Ohtani has had two major surgeries. So why aren't the Dodgers concerned?

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — If any other hitter were coming back from a shoulder operation, there would be concerns. If any other pitcher were returning from a season-long absence spent recovering from a second elbow reconstruction, there would be tempered expectations.

Shohei Ohtani will encounter both obstacles this year, but the widespread assumption is...Read more

Nelvin C. Cepeda/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Bryce Miller: Padres fans uneasy as uncertain 2025 arrives

Sports / Baseball /

SAN DIEGO — There’s no doubt a huge chunk of the Padres’ fan base is feeling, as the old saying goes, the unease of a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

They’ve seen the talent-hogging onslaught engineered this offseason by the defending World Series champion Dodgers.

They know the Giants signed top-10 MVP finisher Willy Adames at ...Read more

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS

For Dodgers star Freddie Freeman, much of the offseason was a fanfest

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — The second step of virtually every 12-step recovery program states that "we came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity."

For one Dodgers fan, that "power" came in the form of first baseman Freddie Freeman, whose walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning of a World Series Game 1 victory over the ...Read more

Robin Buckson/The Detroit News/TNS

Tigers reach deal to bring back pitcher Jack Flaherty

Sports / Baseball /

DETROIT — Sometimes where there’s smoke, there’s actual fire.

There have been rumblings the last couple of weeks that right-handed free agent starter Jack Flaherty and the Tigers were moving toward a reunion.

Sure enough, a source familiar with the negotiations confirmed to The Detroit News on Sunday that that the Tigers and 29-year-old ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Bill Shaikin: In San Diego, an ownership dispute tests the belief of a great Padres fan base

Sports / Baseball /

SAN DIEGO — In 2009, as the couple that owned the Dodgers announced their separation, the attorney for Frank McCourt said he did not anticipate a legal battle over the team. The attorney said documents would prove the Dodgers were owned solely by McCourt, not jointly by the couple, and said there was "not a chance" the team would be put up for...Read more

Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

John Romano: Stuart Sternberg could sell the Rays, but it may not be a quick resolution

Sports / Baseball /

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tropicana Field may not have a roof, but Tampa Bay does have rumors.

Do you like the one about Stuart Sternberg selling the team, or the one about a new stadium plan in Tampa? Should we discuss the hard-to-believe whispers that the Seminole Tribe is interested in baseball, or the aptly named group of Dreamers in Orlando...Read more

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Bill Madden: The free-spending Dodgers have spooked the rest of baseball

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — In his continuing frustration at getting the Mets to go beyond three years for Pete Alonso, or anybody to pony up $200 million for Alex Bregman, here’s a sudden thought for Scott Boras: How about ringing up the Dodgers? They’re signing everyone this offseason, even if they don’t need them.

OK, we jest ... sort of. Boras, of ...Read more

K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune/TNS

Tom Krasovic: As Padres, Michael King agree to terms, attention turns to Dylan Cease

Sports / Baseball /

SAN DIEGO — A.J. Preller is finding traction amid a low-transaction offseason that seems to have been complicated by a budget crunch.

Start with Friday’s breakthrough: the arbitration-avoiding, one-year contract reached between Preller and Padres co-ace Michael King.

The one-year, $7.75-million deal averted a contentious hearing. The two ...Read more

Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group/TNS

Rickey Henderson's love affair with Oakland a big part in celebrating his life

Sports / Baseball /

OAKLAND, Calif. — The life of Rickey Henderson was saluted Saturday at the Oakland Arena.

It was part celebration of life, part spiritual revival, part memorial service. Mostly, it was Oakland through and through.

As former NBA star and Oakland native Gary Payton said as he stood at the podium and pointed back to a picture of Henderson ...Read more

Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times/TNS

Matt Calkins: If Mariners' roster is set now, it's hard to say they got any better

Sports / Baseball /

SEATTLE — The thing is, the Mariners could still end up being a playoff team. They could even be a division winner. And given the pitching staff and nature of baseball — where the most dominant teams aren't always hoisting trophies by season's end — a deep postseason run is in play, too.

Offensively anemic as this team was last year, and ...Read more