SARASOTA, Fla. — So, you want to be a baseball GM?

Want to make the calls, do the deals, endure the barbs. You want an owner looking over your shoulder, a manager expecting a better roster and the baseball gods occasionally throwing you a curve.

If so, let’s start with this simple challenge:

Should the Rays trade one of their starting ...Read more

MESA, Ariz. — A pitch-dark sky greets Jerry Weinstein every morning when he arrives at the Chicago Cubs spring training complex.

The 81-year-old coach is known for being the first among the staff to arrive each day, typically pulling up around 4:30 or 5 a.m.

“He’s done working out before the rest get there,” bench coach Ryan Flaherty ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — This was a week ago at LECOM Park in Bradenton where the Yankees were in the process of dismantling a seemingly overmatched Pirates team, 12-3, and a couple of scouts were discussing the 2025 prospects for Aaron Boone’s boys in the aftermath of the Juan Soto defection.

“I give [Brian] Cashman a lot of credit,” said one of ...Read more

NEW YORK — Things aren’t looking too great for Giancarlo Stanton.

The Yankees slugger said Saturday his tendon injuries are “severe in both elbows,” which is a result from bat adjustments from last season, according to MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch. Stanton is unsure when he came resume baseball activities.

Stanton returned to Yankees camp ...Read more

PHOENIX — Michael Conforto isn't the new Teoscar Hernández yet.

But as Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts discussed Conforto last week, he couldn't help but note the similarities between the two veteran outfielders.

Last year, of course, the Dodgers struck gold when they signed Hernández to a one-year, $23.5-million contract. It ...Read more

The Doctor has a prescription for the Mets: A staff ace.

Former Mets great Dwight “Doc” Gooden recently spent time in Port St. Lucie at Mets camp talking with the pitching staff and watching some bullpens and Grapefruit League games. The legendary right-hander came away with the impression that the rotation is strong, but it’s lacking a ...Read more

A month ago, Dave Roberts was asked if the Dodgers’ hope was for Shohei Ohtani to be back in the team’s pitching rotation by May this season.

“I think that’s about right, yeah,” the manager responded, speaking on Feb. 1 at the club’s preseason fan fest event. “And it might be earlier.”

Fast-forward to Thursday, however, and ...Read more

Another baseball season, heavy with hope, begins on March 17 with the first of two games between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers in, of all the “we are the world” places, Tokyo.

What is being called “traditional” Opening Day is set to take on March 27, with one Opening Day game moved to March 28 so that George M. ...Read more

Giancarlo Stanton’s return to Tampa is imminent. His return to the field is a different story.

On Thursday, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told reporters that Stanton is expected to rejoin the club in Tampa this weekend. The designated hitter has been in New York due to a personal matter while also dealing with tennis elbows. Those ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The Padres seem headed to another competitive season in a 15-team league that serves up six playoff berths, with two or three teams that raise a figurative white flag on Opening Day and a few others that lack the pitching to really go for it.

A constant to this unprecedented Padres era of consistent competitive relevance is the ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — It took some four hours of work, roughly 1,200 Rubik's Cubes, and years' worth of knowledge with the six-side, 54-panel puzzle.

Ever since high school, minor league Dodgers reliever Jack Dreyer has been able to master the Rubik's Cube; getting so good he not only solves them in as little as 20 seconds, but has learned to arrange...Read more

PEORIA, Ariz. — Baseball can beat you down.

Will Mitch Garver bounce back?

In the fourth inning of an 18-9 loss to the White Sox on Saturday, the 34-year-old veteran crouched in a slightly open stance, his bat resting below his helmet, peering at the pitcher. Chicago’s Nick Nastrini set from the stretch and unfurled a 95-mph fastball along...Read more

PHOENIX — It all came as advertised.

The 99-mph heat. The late-diving, hard-biting splitter. The overwhelming, if still raw, stuff that many expect will make him a future ace … if not more.

In his first official Major League Baseball contest, in the Dodgers’ 4-2 win against the Cincinnati Reds in Cactus League play at Camelback Ranch, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Four months later, it's the most grueling memories that have also become the most meaningful ones.

When the Dodgers won the World Series last October, it set off a cathartic celebration throughout the team and around the city. Old postseason demons had been vanquished. A club that had repeatedly fallen short of expectations — ...Read more

NEW YORK — It will be a while before Luis Gil returns to the mound.

The American League’s reigning Rookie of the Year has been shut down with a high-grade lat strain following an MRI, Aaron Boone told reporters on Monday. The Yankees‘ manager said that Gil won’t throw for at least six weeks as he continues to get exams and opinions from...Read more

CHICAGO — Pete Rose’s entrance into the Baseball Hall of Fame likely moved one step closer late Friday when President Donald Trump announced he would soon pardon the all-time hits leader.

While Trump’s expected pardon for the federal crime of tax evasion has nothing to do with Rose being banned from Major League Baseball for betting as ...Read more

PEORIA, Ariz. — On the morning of March 21, 2024, Scott Servais sat in his office at the Peoria Sports Complex. Two nights prior, his Seattle Mariners posted 18 hits and 12 runs (with just five strikeouts) in a 12-3 clubbing of the Colorado Rockies, followed by a deserved day off. They'd soon wrap a sizzling spring with more runs per game (6.3...Read more

PHOENIX — Jameson Taillon was among the 43,326 fans in Minute Park for Game 7 of the 2019 World Series, his arm in a brace following his second Tommy John surgery as he watched former Pittsburgh Pirates teammate Daniel Hudson, a fellow two-time Tommy John survivor, nail down the final three outs for the Washington Nationals.

"That was a ...Read more