CHICAGO — Now would be a good time for all Chicago White Sox fans to declare their true feelings about the state of the organization as the team ends 2025 on an upbeat note.

Is the hard part of the rebuild finally over, or is “Mune Time” a mirage?

The signing of Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami, whom Sox general manager Chris Getz ...Read more

NEW YORK — David Stearns has effectively taken a wrecking ball to the New York Mets core.

The team traded former NL batting champ Jeff McNeil to the Athletics on Monday, a source confirmed to the New York Daily News. It appears to be a bigger move for the A’s than the Mets. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Mets are receiving only 17-...Read more

CHICAGO — Matt Shaw was back in a familiar place this weekend.

But instead of speaking to a dozen or so media members in front of his Wrigley Field locker, the Chicago Cubs third baseman was wearing a sports coat and addressing hundreds of people at an annual Turning Point USA event in Phoenix.

Shaw’s media gathering in late September was ...Read more

MONTREAL — Ben Cherington has been an easy and understandable target for criticism due to the Pittsburgh Pirates topping out at 76 wins since he took over in 2019.

There have been trades that haven't worked out, too few position player prospects developed and a checkered history in free agency.

But there's really no other way to slice this ...Read more

BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox have finally landed their first bat of the offseason.

According to multiple reports, the Red Sox have acquired first baseman Willson Contreras from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for right-hander Hunter Dobbins and pitching prospects Yhoiker Fajardo and Blake Aita.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan was first to report ...Read more

CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox have been looking for more power. They might have found an answer after landing Japanese free-agent slugger Munetaka Murakami.

The Sox are signing the left-handed hitting infielder to a two-year, $34 million contract, a source confirmed to the Chicago Tribune. The club made the signing official later Sunday ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — The San Diego Padres were good at baseball last year, winning 90 games.

What still stands as a good Padres team was improved on Friday, it appears, with the announced signing of pitcher Michael King.

I buy that a bounce-back season by King in 2026 seems a fair bet, because the Padres had the most medical information on him and ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — When the Texas Rangers won the World Series in 2023, Brad Miller and Adolis García sprinted from the dugout to jubilate with their teammates behind the pitcher’s mound.

It wasn’t much of a race.

“Adolis has a torn oblique [in his left side] and is still just pulling away from me,” Miller said by phone this week, ...Read more

ARLINGTON, Texas — Manager Bruce Bochy, pitching coach Mike Maddux, outfielder Adolis Garcia and All-Star second baseman Marcus Semien all shared one thing in common beyond their time together with the Texas Rangers — they weren’t cheap.

Their departures from the team this offseason have led many a scarred Ranger fan to believe the ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Matt Strahm ranked among the most effective lefty relievers in baseball over the last three seasons.

Yet, to the Phillies, he was expendable.

In a move that saved nearly $7 million to help address other needs (re-signing J.T. Realmuto?) — and may have been spurred by an increasingly strained relationship between the team and...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The Rays had a busy Friday that seemed to shift their focus to the future, trading two-time All-Star slugger Brandon Lowe and two other major leaguers to the Pirates in a three-team deal, and sending starting pitcher Shane Baz to the division rival Orioles for a haul of four prospects and a draft pick.

The trade of Baz, who went...Read more

SANTA ANA, Calif. — The family of deceased pitcher Tyler Skaggs and the Angels reached a settlement Friday, ending a contentious trial as jurors had begun a third day of deliberations regarding Skaggs' drug-related death on the road with the team. Terms of the agreement, which followed 31 days of testimony and four years of legal wrangling, ...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — The Rays had a busy Friday that seemed to shift their focus to the future, trading starting pitcher Shane Baz to the Orioles for four prospects and a draft pick, and working on another deal that would ship out veteran infielder Brandon Lowe and two other major leaguers to bring back two other prospects.

The trade of Baz, who ...Read more

NEW YORK — Over the last two seasons, four pitchers have saved eight or more games for the Yankees. Three of those pitchers are now with the Mets.

The Mets might have a pitching lab in Port St. Lucie, Fla., but there’s a pitching pipeline that has suddenly developed over the last few years that goes from the Bronx to Queens. Luke Weaver ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — Adolis García is the new Nick Castellanos. That’s the simplest way to look at the Phillies agreeing to a one-year, $10 million contract with the former Rangers star on Monday. It’s true on a lot of different levels, including some that will make you scratch your head about why Dave Dombrowski decided to go in this direction...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Four years after the family of deceased Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs filed a wrongful death suit against the Angels, and two months into often contentious testimony in an Orange County Superior Court courtroom, jurors are set to begin deliberations on whether Skaggs' widow and parents deserve hundreds of millions of dollars.

...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Proving yet again that nobody combines excitement and entertainment like these guys, this week the Los Angeles Dodgers made baseball's most important winter deal.

They acquired Timmy Trumpet.

In real life he's an Australian impresario who, surprise, plays the trumpet. But in the breathtaking world of ninth-inning baseball, he's...Read more

TAMPA, Fla. — He is 24 years old and has lost most everything he once held dear in his life.

The paychecks, at one time scheduled to potentially accumulate in excess of $200 million, are no longer deposited in his bank account. The career, which he spent the greater part of his youth creating, is on perpetual hold. The lifelong dreams, ...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — After a spring training workout in February, Kyle Schwarber contemplated the likelihood of the Phillies keeping most of the roster’s core intact through the end of the decade.

“I think we would love to all finish our careers together,” he said. “But who would want to come out and watch a bunch of 40-year-old dudes play ...Read more