9+ hour, 14+ min ago (708+ words) Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner claimed it was too early in the offseason to determine his team's payroll range for the 2026 season, but he'd prefer that the number drop from the $319 million he said New York spent on players in 2025. "Would it be ideal if I went down [with the payroll]? Of course," Steinbrenner said Monday on a video call with reporters. "But does that mean that's going to happen? Of course not. We want to field a team we know we believe could win a championship." The Yankees haven't fielded a championship team for 16 straight seasons, a skid extended this year when they were eliminated by the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Division Series. Steinbrenner stressed the disappointing result was not on manager Aaron Boone, who he labeled a "good manager at many of the things he has…...

2+ hour, 46+ min ago (172+ words) Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani will play for Team Japan in the 2026 World Baseball Classic, he announced on social media Monday night. Japan will be looking to repeat after winning gold in the 2023 Classic. Ohtani won the tournament's MVP award and memorably struck out former teammate Mike Trout for the final out of the deciding game against Team USA. Ohtani, who returned to the mound this past season after not pitching for nearly two years following a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament. He did not say in his post whether he would be pitching for Japan. The WBC kicks off on March 5, with Japan beginning group play in Pool C along with Australia, South Korea, Czechia and Chinese Taipei. Team USA will be in Pool B. Team USA has already received commitments from stars Aaron Judge, Cal Raleigh…...

14+ hour, 49+ min ago (422+ words) Vowing not to "run it back" again, New York Mets general manager David Stearns said the trade of outfielder Brandon Nimmo to the Texas Rangers for second baseman Marcus Semien picked up steam late last week at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas, culminating in a swap of the high-priced veterans. "It's a recognition that what we did last year wasn't good enough and running it back with the exact same group wasn't the right thing to do," Stearns said on a Monday Zoom with reporters. "He (Semien) balances our lineup from the right side which is something we were seeking to do." The Mets slumped in the second half, missing the postseason after making it to the NLCS in 2024. Semien, 35, saw his OPS drop to .669 last year after hitting .230 with 15 home runs, his lowest home run total in a…...

10+ hour, 32+ min ago (314+ words) Warren Schaeffer, who took over as interim manager of the Colorado Rockies after Bud Black was fired amid a historically bad season for the franchise, will return as full-time manager in 2026, it was announced Monday. Schaeffer, 40, was promoted from third-base coach to manager after Black and bench coach Mike Redmond were fired on May 11 after a major-league worst 7-33 start. Things continued to slide downhill for Schaeffer and the Rockies, who finished with 119 losses -- the most in the National League since the 1962 New York Mets had 120. They finished 50 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. General manager Bill Schmidt was dismissed on Oct. 1, with executive vice president Walker Monfort saying that Schmidt's replacement would make a decision on the managerial role for next season. Colorado was also a major league-worst 18-63 on the road, a franchise record. "The biggest…...

13+ hour, 34+ min ago (151+ words) ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Braves and right-hander Joel Payamps agreed to a one-year, $2.25 million deal on Monday in another move to retain a veteran member of the team's bullpen. The Braves signed Payamps off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers late last season. Payamps, 31, allowed one run in 2 2/3 innings with Atlanta and finished the season with a 6.84 ERA overall in 30 games. Payamps has a 3.41 ERA with 10 saves in seven seasons. He set a career high with six saves for Milwaukee in 2024. The agreement with Payamps is Atlanta's second move in less than a week to keep a veteran right-handed reliever. The Braves re-signed closer Raisel Iglesias to a one-year, $16 million deal announced Wednesday. Atlanta has had a busy start to its offseason. The team on Wednesday also acquired Mauricio Dub'n from the Houston Astros for Nick Allen....

16+ hour, 48+ min ago (843+ words) The 2025-26 MLB free agent class is fascinating despite lacking Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani or Juan Soto, the three superstar MLB free agents of the past three winters. It's deep in sluggers and late-game relievers, with a helping of starting pitchers and third basemen. It feels hard to predict where players will land, and that should make this a fun offseason. The domino effect of one or two surprise signings -- such as Kyle Schwarber not returning to the Philadelphia Phillies or Pete Alonso not returning to the New York Mets -- will create chaos. As always, a lot of money will be spent -- not all of it wisely. Last year's top-10 domestic free agents did pretty well, historically speaking, going from a combined 34.2 WAR in 2024 to 28.2 in 2025 to retain 82% of their value. In 2023-24, that figure was just 57% and in 2022-23, just 54%. Let's dig…...