MLB

After a very slow start, the free-agent market is finally starting to move. The Yankees inked deals with both DJ LeMahieu and Corey Kluber, and the Washington Nationals added Jon Lester to their rotation. As the market heats up, ESPN MLB reporter Jesse Rogers weighs in with the latest offseason buzz he is hearing right

10:59 PM ET Mina Kimes Close ESPN Senior Writer Mina Kimes:• Senior writer for ESPN The Magazine• Joined ESPN in 2014• Former features reporter at Bloomberg• Wrote for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek• Spent five years at Fortune magazine Jeff Passan Close ESPN ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”

Chris Sale is under contract for four more years with the Boston Red Sox — plus an option for 2025 — and with the team hoping that he can contribute throughout the length of the contract, the pace for his return from Tommy John surgery is expected to be deliberate, according to sources. Sale had

I check all of the boxes. I played nine seasons in the big leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers. I have experience as an executive subcommittee member in the Major League Baseball Players Association and am well-versed in baseball governance. I have an Ivy League degree at a time when that

I write this with great respect for my many friends who are Mets fans: It might be redundant to say they are irrational. It wasn’t surprising, then, that within a few weeks of Steve Cohen being installed as the team’s new owner, some among the Mets’ faithful — their suffering made possible by years of

Former Oakland Athletics pitcher Dave Stewart submitted a $115 million bid to buy the city of Oakland’s share of the Coliseum with plans to develop the site, he told the San Francisco Chronicle. With both the NBA’s Warriors and NFL’s Raiders leaving the site in recent years, the A’s are the last pro team using

TROY, N.Y. — Left in the lurch by minor league contraction, the Tri-City ValleyCats have filed a lawsuit against Major League Baseball and the Houston Astros. The suit, filed Thursday in New York State Supreme Court, seeks more than $15 million, ValleyCats chairman Doug Gladstone told the Albany Times-Union. The move comes in response to

The New York Yankees finally crossed off the top item on their to-do list, agreeing with second baseman DJ LeMahieu on a six-year, $90 million contract. The deal keeps the 2020 batting champion in the Bronx through 2026, his age-32 though age-37 seasons. Here are some thoughts on the signing and what might be next

Timing is everything, in sports as well as life. If the timing is right between Corey Kluber and the New York Yankees, with whom the longtime ace was finalizing a one-year, $11 million deal late Friday, it will be good news for the pitcher in the long term — and perhaps even better for the

NEW YORK — The New York Mets agreed to one-year contracts with eight players Friday to avoid salary arbitration, including shortstop Francisco Lindor, outfielder Michael Conforto and first baseman-outfielder Dominic Smith. Lindor will earn $22.3 million and Conforto gets $12.25 million in their final years before potentially becoming free agents. Smith agreed to a $2.55

BALTIMORE — — The Baltimore Orioles agreed to a $4.75 million, one-year deal with recovering slugger Trey Mancini on Friday but haven’t come to terms yet with outfielder Anthony Santander. The Orioles and Santander exchanged salary arbitration figures Friday, with Baltimore offering $2.1 million and Santander asking for $2,475,000. The sides can still settle on

Slugging outfielder Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees avoided arbitration when they agreed Friday to a one-year contract worth $10,175,000, according to multiple reports. Judge had his third straight injury-interrupted season since winning the 2017 American League Rookie of the Year award, hitting .257 with nine homers and 22 RBIs in 101 at-bats and

International amateur baseball is a confusing market to these not well acquainted with it. It used to be that the first day of the new signing period, when the top 16-year-olds around Latin America are first eligible to sign with MLB teams, was July 2nd. Due to the pandemic, it was moved back to today,

SAN FRANCISCO — Left-hander Alex Wood agreed to a $3 million, one-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on Thursday. Wood, who turned 30 on Tuesday, can make up to an additional $3 million in performance bonuses for the number of games in which he gets 10 or more outs: $125,000 each for 12 and

LOS ANGELES — New Dodgers reliever Corey Knebel agreed to a one-year, $5.25 million contract on Thursday to avoid salary arbitration. The 29-year-old was acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers on Dec. 2 ahead of the deadline for teams to offer 2021 contracts to unsigned players on their 40-man rosters. He earned $1,898,148 in prorated pay

After a season ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, amidst a precedent-setting, slow-moving free-agency period, against the backdrop of MLB revenues in sharp decline, with multiple clubs nakedly dumping payroll and a bitter CBA fight on the horizon, baseball could use a purely positive story. Fernando Tatis Jr., the emphatic, electrifying, marketable 22-year-old budding superstar shortstop

Right-handed reliever Pedro Baez has agreed to a two-year contract with the Houston Astros, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The deal includes an option, sources said, and has a number of escalators and a buyout. It is expected to fall in the $12-14 million guaranteed range. Baez, 32, finished the 2020 season as the

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball is suspending all political contributions in the wake of last week’s invasion of the U.S. Capitol by a mob loyal to President Donald Trump, joining a wave of major corporations rethinking their efforts to lobby Washington. “In light of the unprecedented events last week at the U.S. Capitol, MLB