6:01 PM ET ESPN News Services Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James on Tuesday weighed in on the Houston Astros sign-stealing scandal and Rob Manfred’s handling of the situation, urging Major League Baseball’s commissioner to “fix this for the sake of sports.” “Listen I know I don’t play baseball but I am in Sports and
MLB
9:42 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — This being Florida, and Florida being the cradle of American absurdity, the sight of a man peeling off his shirt, walking to a place where he was
7:00 AM ET Steve RichardsESPN Major League Baseball will roll out several rule changes for the 2020 season, the most dramatic being the three-batter minimum for pitchers. MLB and the players’ union agreed to the changes in March 2019, so they have been out there for a while, but the league just announced its implementation
7:00 AM ET Last week, Major League Baseball officially announced its rule changes for the 2020 season that we had heard about several months ago. These include the three-batter minimum for relievers (unless the inning ends), longer minimum stays for pitchers on the injured list (from 10 days to 15), a longer minimum option period
8:04 PM ET Associated Press GLENDALE, Ariz. — Joc Pederson was back in a familiar clubhouse. He had the same dressing stall and many of the same teammates. Not much had changed, except for him. He felt awkward — and with good reason. Pederson put his Dodgers uniform back on at Camelback Ranch over the
1:15 PM ET FORT MYERS, Fla. — The camps have opened. Left-handers and right-handers are building their pitch counts. New gloves are being oiled, bent and broken in. Some players are learning new positions. Hitters have worked offseason swing changes into their first rounds of spring batting practice. Opening Day is 39 days away, meaning
11:10 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Baseball is burning. Opposing players are pummeling the Houston Astros as the fallout from their cheating scandal refuses to dissipate, and fans are frothing for vengeance after
8:00 AM ET DUNEDIN, Fla. — Coming up through the Toronto Blue Jays farm system together, spending hours upon hours with each other in Lansing, Dunedin, New Hampshire and Buffalo, the trio of famous baseball sons — Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — started assembling a vision for the shared future of
6:21 PM ET Boston Red Sox starter Chris Sale, still recovering from a case of the flu and pneumonia, continued to work with teammates Saturday at spring training, but interim manager Ron Roenicke made it clear Boston will not rush his progress, even if it means missing Opening Day. Roenicke told reporters in Fort Myers,
3:39 PM ET The impact of the Houston Astros‘ sign-stealing scandal is reverberating throughout Major League Baseball. There has been immediate impact — three managers lost their jobs in a week, along with the Astros’ general manager. And through all of the revelations, both the Astros themselves and players throughout the game have had something
12:06 PM ET Associated Press CLEARWATER, Fla. — Zack Wheeler wants to dial down his little dispute with his former team’s general manager. The new Philadelphia right-hander has recently been trading barbs with New York Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen, adding even more intrigue after Wheeler left the Mets to sign with the rival Phillies.
9:18 PM ET Associated Press MEXICO CITY — Bartolo Colon is headed to Mexico. The right-hander, who will turn 47 in May, has signed with the Monclova Acereros of the Mexican Baseball League. The Acereros, defending champions of the Triple-A circuit, announced the signing of the Dominican right-hander Friday. The team didn’t provide details of
7:00 PM ET GLENDALE, Ariz. — Dave Roberts was watching his players throw bullpen sessions and conduct batting practice while members of the 2017 Houston Astros stumbled through pre-arranged apologies on Thursday morning. Later, while addressing an eager media contingent, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ manager struck a distinct tone — he was done talking about
10:30 AM ET TAMPA, Fla. — Gerrit Cole ambled into the clubhouse at the New York Yankees‘ facility for the first time the other day, glancing at the placards at the tops of the lockers to find his name and his spot. The Cucuzza brothers, Rob and Lou, make the decisions about who sits where,
6:18 PM ET The Boston Red Sox have agreed to a deal with free-agent outfielder Kevin Pillar, according to The Boston Globe. The newspaper reports it’s a one-year, $4 million deal that could become official as soon as this weekend if Pillar passes his physical. Pillar will provide Boston with some outfielder depth with Mookie
12:32 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Houston Astros owner Jim Crane’s latest attempt at damage control blew up in spectacular fashion Thursday. In the span of 27 minutes at a news conference, he
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” Twenty years ago, when the Cincinnati Reds were trying to trade for Ken Griffey Jr., it wasn’t as though they had discovered a toolsy phenom playing semipro ball in a sugarcane field.
8:46 PM ET LOS ANGELES — Andrew Friedman, the Los Angeles Dodgers‘ president of baseball operations, tried to trade for Mookie Betts last summer. But the Boston Red Sox, at the time still under the direction of Dave Dombrowski, suddenly got hot. They won five of six against the division rival Tampa Bay Rays and