Ricky Bo questions why Rob Thomson kept Jesús Luzardo in the game for so long
Ricky Bo questions why Rob Thomson kept Jesús Luzardo in the game for so long
Jesús Luzardo allowed 12 earned runs on Saturday, the most by a Phillies starter since 1947. The Phillies Postgame Live crew is not happy that he stayed in the game for so long.Ricky Bo questions why Rob Thomson kept Jesús Luzardo in the game for so long originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
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MLB first-round pick Jeff Francoeur talks fatherhood in youth sports, Pete Rose, potential baseball lockout
Jeff Francoeur, in his own words, "know[s] baseball backwards and forwards." A former first-round pick once dubbed "The Natural," Francoeur is now an analyst for his former Atlanta Braves while doubling up as a dad to athletes. An expert of the game, it would be easy for him to take charge of his children's ball games. But he wants to let his kids be kids. "Take the parents out of [youth sports] and the kids usually have a great time," Francoeur told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "I coach a 12U travel softball team for my daughter – all the parents think their kid should be hitting third, playing here, being this. If you took all the parents out and asked those girls to make a batting order, I bet you they can do a pretty good job of making what the batting order should be." Francoeur knows that there are a ton of parents out there who choose to live vicariously through their kids when it comes to athletics (he even admitted he can "get carried away"), and he's not afraid to put those parents to the test. "The first question I ask a lot of parents is, 'What do you want out of sports for your kids?' My mom and dad wanted me to learn to be a great teammate, how to have [a] work ethic, overcome adversity," he added. "Parents now, there are still plenty that look at it like that, but so many look at it as a 'win at all costs' at such a young age. [Former Braves pitcher John Smoltz] said it best on the podcast. He said, 'I wish there were more coaches that have the balls to worry about development over winning, especially at the younger ages.' That gets lost, man. So many people care about the bottom line and winning. Have you ever thought 'what's best for my kid?'" In fact, one of Francoeur's kids "hates baseball" and plays lacrosse. 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"I love how they personalize everything; everything is specific to what you're trying to do. "If you're looking at trying to get the next step in advance, that's such a big part now. We talk to all these athletes, man, even for my career, if I look back, if there's one thing I could have done better, it's take care of your body, right? Train better, agility, nutrition, all that. I just think D1's on the cutting edge of a lot of what they do." Pete Rose is now eligible for the Hall of Fame. If, and likely when, he makes it, he won't see it. He died last September. Rose was placed on baseball's ineligible list in 1989 after it was rumored he bet on baseball while he was with the Cincinnati Reds. Fifteen years after the ban, he finally admitted to doing so as a manager. It's since been reported he gambled as a player, but he denied that. It may be tough for some to give "Charlie Hustle" the benefit of the doubt, but Francoeur said he's talked to more Hall of Famers that are on the side of letting him in than not letting him in." "I got so many mixed feelings about that. There's no right answer to that. It's kind of like, man, really? You're going to wait until he died to do that?" Francoeur said. "It's so funny, because you remember Pete Rose said before he died, 'When I die, they'll make me eligible.' Sure enough, he called it. I mean, they did." Rose's Cooperstown fate will likely be decided in 2027 by the Classic Baseball Era Committee, which considers players whose careers ended more than 15 years ago. He would need 12 of the 16 votes to get in. The current collective bargaining agreement expires in December 2026, and the threat of a lockout is certainly real. Players and owners agreed to a deal after a lockout of a little more than three months, from late 2021 into early 2022. 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We have 18 months to figure out what we need to do to make sure there's not a work stoppage. Attendance is up, stadiums have so much now, but trying to figure that out is important." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Fox News
26 minutes ago
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MSNBC's revamped lineup flounders, Jen Psaki sheds 47% of predecessors' viewership
MSNBC's revamped lineup has been a misfire through one month, with Jen Psaki shedding half the audience her predecessors averaged in the same timeslot and other new programming struggling to attract viewers. Psaki, a former Biden White House press secretary who has insisted she never saw signs the former president had declined while she worked for him, saw an increased role as part of MSNBC's overhaul when programming changes were announced earlier this year. Psaki took over MSNBC's coveted 9 p.m. ET timeslot on Tuesday through Fridays last month as "The Rachel Maddow Show" returned to only airing on Mondays, after Maddow temporarily returned to airing five nights a week during President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office. "The Briefing with Jen Psaki" averaged 971,000 total viewers from its May 6 debut through May 28, shedding a staggering 47% of the audience that Maddow and Alex Wagner pulled in at 9 p.m. ET throughout 2025. Psaki has also hemorrhaged viewers from the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54, averaging 78,000 for a 52% drop compared to the 161,000 demo viewers that Maddow and Wagner averaged on Tuesday through Fridays at 9 p.m. ET before the former Biden spokesperson took over. Wagner hosted Tuesdays through Fridays in Maddow's usual spot before Trump's inauguration. The network also canceled Joy Reid's program "The ReidOut" and replaced it with "The Weeknight," an ensemble program featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris spokesperson Symone Sanders-Townsend, Alicia Menendez, the daughter of disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chair who now staunchly opposes the GOP. "The Weeknight" debuted on May 5 and averaged 776,000 total viewers through May 28 for a 12% drop compared to the 886,000 total viewers that "The ReidOut" and other temporary programs managed throughout 2025 in the 7 p.m. ET timeslot before changes went into effect. "The Weeknight" shed even more viewers from the key demo, as the new MSNBC show averaged 72,000 for a 20% decrease, compared to the 90,000 demo viewers who tuned into the 7 p.m. ET timeslot before the ensemble program kicked off. Another new show, "The Weekend: Primetime," with Antonia Hylton, Catherine Rampell, Elise Jordan and Ayman Mohyeldin, is down 11% among total viewers and 6% in the demo compared to MSNBC programming that used to occupy its timeslot. Despite the programming overhaul, MSNBC had its second-worst May in history among both total day and primetime in the demo. For the month, MSNBC settled for a dismal average of 49,000 viewers among the critical demo to lose to CNN, which averaged 59,000. During primetime, CNN averaged 76,000 demo viewers and MSNBC finished with an average of only 73,000. Only one of MSNBC's new shows is outdrawing its timeslot predecessor, as "The Weekend" with Jonathan Capehart, Eugene Daniels, and Jackie Alemany is up 24% in total viewers and 29% among the demo since launching on May 3. An MSNBC insider pushed back on the notion the network was struggling, pointing to the historic news cycle that occurred during Trump's first 100 days in office that helped attract viewers before the new programs launched. The insider also noted that Psaki has built on the audience of her lead-in while competing in the NBA and NHL playoffs. MSNBC's viewership issues come as Comcast gears up to spin off NBCUniversal cable assets, including MSNBC, into a separate company called Versant that will not be tied to NBC News. MSNBC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Ratings data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
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28 minutes ago
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Why Bengals' personnel additions are more notable than typical June transactions
Shuffling of personnel staff, adding of supplemental scouts and assistants doesn't typically resonate as news, even in the empty June news cycles. The Bengals aren't the typical organization. So, when the club made official the additions of scouts Josh Hinch and Tyler Ramsey, along with scouting research analyst Trey LaBounty on Monday, it left a larger impression than the typical transaction. Advertisement The size of the Bengals' scouting staff has been a criticism of the organization for decades. So, when the team enters this season netting two extra assistants following scout Christian Sarkisian leaving to become general manager at Northwestern, it's notable. It also comes four months removed from the director of player personnel Duke Tobin saying this about his scouting group: 'If I thought we were missing something, I would definitely add more.' The Bengals still face a cavernous gap with the rest of the league, and specifically the AFC North. That's as easy to find as a link on the team directory page. There are differences in how teams categorize and list their scouting and analytics staffers, but they generally categorize them into research and strategy and player personnel. Combining those groups, here are the general numbers of employees in those divisions. • Ravens: 36 • Browns: 35 • Steelers: 27 • Bengals: 9 The Browns, known for their heavy lean into analytics, list 15 in research and strategy alone, plus another 20 in player personnel. The Bengals only list employees in alphabetical order and don't classify them by division. Staffers don't necessarily equate to results, of course. Plus, the Bengals utilize their coaching staff in the scouting process as much, if not more, than any organization in the NFL. Tobin's idea is that the coaches are responsible for developing the draft picks, and they want everyone pulling in the same direction with conviction once the player enters the building. Head coach Zac Taylor has repeatedly spoken out about his support for the Bengals' process, lending weight to the coaching staff's opinions in the evaluation period. Tobin has provided a version of the same answer to the repeated question about the smallest scouting staff in the NFL for decades. 'It's never been and never will be about how many voices you have or how many opinions,' Tobin said before Super Bowl LVI in 2022. 'It's about having the right opinions and trusting in the guys you have entrusted to come up with the right opinions.' Validation of the philosophy will always be easier to find when the wins stack up, specifically in January. Tobin's team put together multiple productive free agent and draft classes in advance of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, leading to back-to-back AFC North titles, an AFC championship and an appearance in the AFC Championship Game that snapped a franchise record 10-game win streak. Advertisement The answers are harder to validate coming off missing the playoffs in back-to-back years, as he did at the combine in Indianapolis. 'Hugely disappointing,' Tobin said with the first two words regarding last season while addressing the gathered media in February. Inevitably, that day, the question came up again regarding the size of his scouting staff and if he was looking to add to the staff. 'Adding more just to satisfy a league quota isn't something I would do,' Tobin said. 'If I thought we were missing some area and weren't getting coverage where I need or where I wanted, or we needed a capacity we don't currently have, then certainly I would look at it. Right now, I think the group is operating very effectively and cohesively. I value their opinions. I know what I am getting out of their opinions. 'When you add new people, it takes a while to know what you are getting out of those opinions. So those opinions don't hold the weight until they have been here a while. There are people around the league I know, like and trust. Am I prepared if something happens? Yeah, I'm always prepared if something happens. But the need right now isn't there.' What happened over the ensuing four months came in waves and made an impact. Major contract negotiations with Tee Higgins, Ja'Marr Chase and (still) Trey Hendrickson ran parallel with a free agency week in which the Bengals stayed surprisingly quiet. Then came a draft where the club desperately needed to find starters in the first three rounds, all while negotiations over the expiring stadium lease were ongoing at the highest levels. Then Sarkisian moved on to Northwestern. His departure allowed an opportunity to reevaluate how the department operates. Tobin's right-hand men, Steven Radicevic (director of pro scouting), Mike Potts (director of college scouting) and Trey Brown (senior personnel executive) all remain, along with scout Andrew Johnson. Advertisement The addition of the 39-year-old Hinch, 35-year-old Ramsey and LaBounty, a product of Stanford (2021) and Miami University (2023), makes for a plus-two trade out. They still boast half the personnel staff as every other team in the league, but it marks the first addition to the group since Brown was added in 2021. Hinch and Ramsey offer a more traditional background in line with the rest of the department. Hinch spent the last four seasons with the Patriots, having broken into the NFL in 2015 with Tampa Bay. Ramsey has 16 years of scouting experience, mostly with Seattle and Carolina. The most interesting addition is LaBounty, who will bring an analytics element to player evaluation. Analytics chief Sam Francis has led the charge on the data side since his hiring in 2019, when he worked with current offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher to build the Bengals' analytics and game management from scratch. With most of his attention focused on the field during the season, LaBounty's ability to focus on the college evaluation side through a data lens brings a new angle to the draft process from start to finish, rather than Francis jumping in late to the game. 'If it pops up tomorrow that we need X and don't have the coverage for it, and I need somebody with a different skill set, we will go out and get them,' Tobin also said in February. These moves suggest there was an obvious need for a different skill set and willingness to move off a previous stance. Nobody will confuse the Bengals with the Browns, Ravens, or any other personnel department in football at this point, but with all the demands placed on executives, this at least serves as recognition that the time had come for an incremental move in a more modern direction. (Photo of Duke Tobin: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
