MLB

7:00 AM ET The most significant number of the 2020 baseball season was 60 — the number of games most teams played in this pandemic-ravaged year. The Los Angeles Dodgers finally earned their place as World Series champions, and after going 43-17 in the regular season — a record-tying 116-win pace — a lingering question

7:39 PM ET Associated Press MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Brewers have claimed utilityman Tim Lopes off waivers from the Seattle Mariners. Lopes, 26, batted .238 with two homers and 15 RBIs in 46 games for Seattle last season. He posted a .278 on-base percentage and a .364 slugging percentage. He hit .270 with one homer

2:35 PM ET The Philadelphia Phillies are expected to name Sam Fuld as their general manager, ESPN has confirmed. The promotion would be the latest in a front-office overhaul for the Phillies, who reassigned former GM Matt Klentak in October and named Dave Dombrowski their new president of baseball operations earlier this month. Fuld, 39,

2:25 PM ET The New York Mets have avoided salary arbitration with Noah Syndergaard, agreeing to a one-year deal worth $9.7 million, sources confirm to ESPN. The deal was first reported Tuesday by USA Today Sports. Syndergaard, 28 missed the coronavirus-shortened 2020 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow last March. The

7:00 AM ET Normally by this time on the calendar, the MLB hot stove is already cooking with at least some major free-agent signings and offseason trades. But this year? Not so much. While we wait for the movement to pick up, we asked a panel of experts for their opinion on what’s to come.

7:13 PM ET ESPN News Services Howie Kendrick announced his retirement Monday after 15 major league seasons. In an Instagram post, Kendrick thanked each of the teams he played for in the majors, finishing with the Washington Nationals, the team he won a World Series title with in 2019. “To the fans, without your support

5:56 PM ET The San Francisco Giants signed right-handed reliever John Brebbia to a one-year major league contract on Monday, the team announced. Financial terms were not disclosed but a source told ESPN’s Jeff Passan that Brebbia will make $800,000 in the 2021 season. Brebbia, 30, did not pitch last season after undergoing Tommy John

1:05 PM ET Associated Press PHOENIX — Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to resolve misdemeanor drunken-driving charges stemming from his arrest nearly 10 months ago on a freeway in metro Phoenix. The 76-year-old pleaded guilty to reckless driving Monday in Maricopa County Justice Court. La Russa was

7:00 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” It was not a very eventful week in the MLB offseason, and with the holiday season ramping up this week and next, we could have more of the same. But that doesn’t

8:15 AM ET Steve Cohen is the ghost of Christmas future for some Yankees fans who fear that the Mets’ new owner will begin hoarding the type of pricey players who have long been the exclusive domain of the Steinbrenner family. This is the context in which Brian Cashman has been answering questions lately, and

8:23 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Major League Baseball payrolls plunged to $1.75 billion during the pandemic-shortened season from $4.22 billion, and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers led with $98.6 million — the smallest for the top spender in 20 years. Base wages for 40-man rosters tumbled to $1.54 billion, according

8:18 PM ET Jo Adell, quite possibly the best prospect the Los Angeles Angels have had since Mike Trout, struggled as a rookie in 2020, batting .161 while showing clear struggles defensively. And though Angels manager Joe Maddon considers it unfair to judge players based off such an unconventional season, he also said he believes

5:09 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — The New York Mets are sending minor league right-hander Ryder Ryan to the Texas Rangers as the player to be named in a trade for infielder Todd Frazier on Aug. 31. Ryan is a 25-year-old reliever who last pitched at Double-A Binghamton in 2019 because the coronavirus

4:48 PM ET Associated Press TORONTO — Each time Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo has made a pitch to free agents this offseason, there’s one topic he has known will come up. “The No. 1 question is if we’re going to play in Toronto,” Montoyo said Friday. “That’s rightly so. Our answer is, ‘Yeah, we’re

10:00 AM ET ESPN News Services The Tampa Bay Rays have signed right-hander Michael Wacha to a one-year, $3 million contract, the team announced Friday. Wacha spent the 2020 season with the New York Mets, going 1-4 with a 6.62 ERA in eight appearances (seven starts). The 29-year-old Wacha shined as a rookie for the

9:00 AM ET Major League Baseball’s decision to alter the status of the Negro Leagues to major league and incorporate Negro Leagues statistics into a historical record in which they did not participate is consistent with two opposing but defining forces of our time. One is the racial reckoning that has defined America post-George Floyd’s

7:00 AM ET Pedro GomezMLB Close ESPN’s Pedro Gomez covered the Oakland A’s home and away nearly every day from 1992-97 for the San Jose Mercury News and Sacramento Bee and then became the national baseball writer and later a general columnist at the Arizona Republic before becoming an ESPN bureau reporter in 2003. There

2:52 AM ET Associated Press ESPN will open its Sunday Night Baseball schedule on April 4 when the Los Angeles Angels host the Chicago White Sox. The game will feature the past two American League MVPs, with the Angels’ Mike Trout facing reigning MVP and White Sox first baseman Jose Abreu at 8:30 p.m. ET.