Britton, who pitched for the Yankees from 2018-22, complimented Cashman and Boone for their baseball acumen — but was critical of the organization’s use of analytics. Britton said that Cashman communicated “great” with him personally, but described a general organizational “disconnect” in how analytics are implemented with the team. I think sometimes, and this happened with me personally, when analytics comes into play, we get our iPad,” Britton said. “You can go down the rabbit hole with analytics and you can kind of find anything to justify anything, right? The numbers, you can skew them any ..read more

As Paul Sullivan reports, Dawson has sent a letter to the chairman of the board of directors for the Hall of Fame, asking for a meeting to discuss changing the cap. Dawson sees it as something of a late-in-life mission to get the cap changed to the Cubs. The main reason Andre Dawson sees getting this fixed is because of how he felt when he became a Chicago Cub. “It was an eye-opening experience for me,” Dawson told Sullivan. “The adoration of the fan base, the welcoming from the city itself and the joy of being able to experience that feeling in the second half of my career. … I was one of the ..read more

Reliever Liam Hendriks and outfielder Cody Bellinger were selected Major League Baseball’s Comeback Players of the Year on Tuesday. The pair, both free agents, were chosen in voting by MLB.com beat writers. Hendriks, a 34-year-old right-hander, made his season debut on May 29 following treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He went 2-0 with one save and a 5.40 ERA in five appearances for the Chicago White Sox, the last on June 9. He went on the injured list with right elbow inflammation and on Aug. 2 had Tommy John surgery, which will sideline him until late in the 2024 season or 2025…. Bellinger ..read more

Right-hander Nick Martinez and the Cincinnati Reds agreed on a two-year, $26 million contract that includes an opt-out after the first season, sources told ESPN, capping a busy Wednesday in which the Reds bulked up their pitching staff in hopes of winning the National League Central next season. Martinez had opted out of the final two years of his contract with San Diego that would have paid him $16 million after the Padres declined their two-year, $32 million club option on the 33-year-old. He comes off a season in which he pitched 54 games out of the bullpen but thrived over nine starts, pos ..read more

The Milwaukee Brewers are expected to sign top outfield prospect Jackson Chourio to a record-breaking contract extension on Thursday, per the New York Post. Chourio, 19, is set to sign an eight-year deal worth close to $80 million, per the report. Such an extension would shatter the record for the largest contract ever signed by a player before making their MLB debut. That record currently belongs to Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert, who inked a six-year, $50 million pact in 2020. Chourio reached Triple-A in 2023, but played just six games at the minors’ highest level. This deal will c ..read more

To start, Las Vegas would be better served with a new name and brand. While the Raiders kept their name when moving to Sin City, they are part of the NFL which is the most popular sport in the U.S. by a large margin. Not since Walter Haas owned the A’s has there been any lasting legacy around winning and current A’s ownership isn’t exactly providing excitement in the standings ahead of relocation. The market will have no emotional tie to the club, which offers opportunity for the club to be rechristened. This would build market loyalty. “It’s our team” as opposed to “the team formerly from Oak ..read more

Jim Leyland was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in a vote by the Contemporary Baseball Era Non-Players Committee on Sunday. The voting, which took place at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center as part of MLB’s Winter Meetings, was the result of a recently restructured ballot system in which manager, umpire and executive candidates are no longer lumped together with their player counterparts in the election cycle, thereby creating better opportunity for their induction. Candidates for the “Contemporary Era” are defined as those whose greatest impact came from 1980 t ..read more

The Winter Meetings are underway and the Atlanta Braves wasted no time in acquiring an outfielder. The Braves are acquiring outfielder Jarred Kelenic, left hander Marco Gonzales and first baseman Evan White from the Seattle Mariners according to a report by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Atlanta is sending right-hander Cole Phillips and righty Jackson Kowar to Seattle to complete the deal. The Braves get Kelenic who just turned 24 and is still a work in progress at the major league level. He had his best season to date in 2023, appearing in 105 games while hitting .253/.327/.419 with 11 home runs and a 1 ..read more

Wright, 28, will likely miss all of 2024 after undergoing right shoulder surgery, but he led the Majors with 21 wins and a 3.19 ERA in 2022, becoming the first Braves pitcher to lead the Majors in wins since Tom Glavine in 2000. Wright was an integral part of the 2021 World Series champion Braves when he allowed one run over 5 1/3 relief innings against the Astros that October ..read more

While Nola’s ERA regressed to 4.46 this year amid a spike in home runs allowed, he still threw 193⅔ innings ..read more