7:32 PM ET Associated Press ST. LOUIS — Joe Cunningham, who got off to a smashing start with the St. Louis Cardinals and later became a minor league manager, major league coach, key figure in their front office and team ambassador, has died. He was 89. Popularly called as “Smokey” Joe, he died Thursday in
MLB
6:14 PM ET Associated Press FORT MYERS, Fla. — Minnesota Twins bench coach Mike Bell, the younger brother of Cincinnati Reds manager David Bell, died Friday of kidney cancer. He was 46. At the request of Bell’s family to take the field in his honor, the Twins said their exhibition game against Atlanta would be
4:22 PM ET Associated Press LAKELAND, Fla. — Detroit Tigers right-hander Casey Mize will be part of the starting rotation and Michael Fulmer will pitch out of the bullpen to open the season, manager AJ Hinch said on Friday. Hinch also said that left-hander Derek Holland will make the team. Mize was the No. 1
3:20 PM ET Associated Press GOODYEAR, Arizona — The Cincinnati Reds on Friday released Dee Strange-Gordon, a non-roster invitee to spring training who auditioned at shortstop. Strange-Gordon, a 32-year-old former All-Star and NL batting champ, got a shot with Cincinnati after Freddy Galvis signed as a free agent with the Baltimore Orioles. But his chances
2:30 PM ET Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark said Friday that he “would look forward” to discussing moving the All-Star Game from Atlanta in the wake of Georgia’s decision to overhaul how its state elections are run. “Players are very much aware,” Clark told the Boston Globe in an interview. “As
2:05 PM ET Associated Press TEMPE, Ariz. — The Los Angeles Angels have released outfielder Jon Jay and right-hander Jesse Chavez. The Angels made the moves Friday as they trim their roster for opening day. Jay and Chavez both signed minor league deals with invitations to big spring training last month. The 36-year-old Jay batted
12:50 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Two major league players and two staff members were positive for COVID-19 during the past week among 13,978 tests, a 0.03% positive rate. There have been 17 positive tests — 12 for players, five for staff — among 72,751 monitoring tests during spring training, a rate of
9:48 AM ET A week ago, the Boston Red Sox announced Eduardo Rodriguez as the team’s Opening Day starter, but for the second straight season, the left-handed starter will be scratched from the season’s first game, this time after dealing with a dead arm. Rodriguez missed Opening Day last year after being diagnosed with myocarditis,
10:18 PM ET Associated Press JUPITER, Fla. — Reigning NL batting champion Juan Soto left Washington’s 7-3 exhibition loss against the Miami Marlins in the middle of the first inning Thursday with what manager Dave Martinez said was a cramp in his right calf. “I didn’t want to take any chances,” Martinez said. The Nationals
10:22 PM ET ESPN News Services ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tampa Bay Rays reliever Nick Anderson has a partially torn ligament in his pitching elbow and likely will be sidelined beyond the All-Star break, according to multiple reports. Anderson, who is not expected to need surgery, has been a key component of Tampa Bay’s bullpen
8:05 PM ET Associated Press PEORIA, Ariz. — Right-hander Yu Darvish is scheduled to start Opening Day for the San Diego Padres next Thursday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, manager Jayce Tingler said. Darvish, 34, was obtained from the Chicago Cubs along with catcher Victor Caratini on Dec. 29 in exchange for Zach Davies and four
3:27 PM ET Associated Press Bobby Brown, an infielder who played on five World Series champions with the New York Yankees and later became a cardiologist and president of the American League, has died. He was 96. He died Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas, the Yankees said. Brown played with the Yankees from 1946 to
4:08 PM ET Associated Press JUPITER, Fla. — Pitcher Gio González says he has retired after 13 major league seasons. The 35-year-old left-hander signed a minor league contract with the Miami Marlins and made one exhibition appearance, allowing seven runs and eight hits last Saturday while getting just one out against Washington, his former team.
4:53 PM ET Associated Press The Colorado Rockies were fearing the worst when lefthander Kyle Freeland bent down after tossing a pitch in an exhibition game and grabbed his shoulder. So it was promising news Thursday when an MRI revealed no further damage than a strain in his pitching shoulder, which will sideline him for
3:34 PM ET Associated Press ATLANTA — Max Fried will make his first Opening Day start for the Atlanta Braves, getting the nod in the wake of two stellar seasons. Manager Brian Snitker told Fried on Thursday that he would go in the opener at Philadelphia against the Phillies. Fried went 7-0 with a 2.25
2:17 PM ET Chicago White Sox left fielder Eloy Jimenez will have surgery for a ruptured pectoral tendon and will miss five to six months, general manager Rick Hahn said Thursday. Jimenez injured his left shoulder when he tried to make a leaping grab at the wall on Sean Murphy‘s solo homer for Oakland in
10:59 AM ET Associated Press SARASOTA, Fla. — Matt Harvey is back in the major leagues with the Baltimore Orioles. Baltimore selected the contract of the right-hander on Thursday, one week before its season opener at Boston. Harvey, who turns 32 on Saturday, gets a one-year, $1 million contract and the chance to earn performance
7:00 AM ET What do you do with Jose Altuve when you are ranking the top 100 MLB players for 2021? MVP in 2017, All-Star in 2018, a career-high 31 home runs in 2019 … and then came the sign-stealing scandal, the pandemic and a terrible 2020 season in which he hit .219 (only to