Andy Ibáñez's RBI single
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Early look at Yankees' 10 potential free agents with predictions
NEW YORK — The Yankees tried hard to keep their superstar 1A last winter when Juan Soto hit the free agent market after one great season hitting behind Aaron Judge. When $760 million over 16 seasons wasn't enough to keep Soto from heading to Queens to play for the Mets for 15 years and $765 million plus perks, the Yankees pivoted to spending big on a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher and two former MVPs for the lineup, left-hander Max Fried and first baseman Paul Goldschmidt as free agents and Cody Bellinger in a trade to replace Soto's left-handed power while bringing excellent defense at all three outfield spots plus first base. The Yankees will have more tough money calls to make this coming offseason with 10 players on their roster who can become free agents. Will they keep Bellinger if he does what everyone suspects and passes on vesting his $25 million player option for 2026? Will they try to bring back center fielder Trent Grisham, who has followed a poor first season with the Yankees with a fabulous second one that's included a career-best 21 homers and what figures to be a third Gold Glove? What about Luke Weaver? They've had him eating up a lot of bullpen innings cheap the last two seasons. He's going to get paid by someone. Will the Yankees move on from Goldschmidt and hand first base to Ben Rice, who suddenly is catching more than Austin Wells? One decision that surely will be a formality: Two-time All-Star reliever Devin Williams will be a one-and-done Yankee after following nothing but great seasons in Milwaukee with a dud for the ages in pinstripes. Here is an early look at the Yankees' 10 potential free agents with predictions on whether they'll stay or go: CODY BELLINGER, OF/1B Age: 30 (31 on July 13, 2026). Contract: Making $27.5M in first of two player-option seasons included in a three-year, $80M pact signed with Cubs on 2/25/24. Has $25 million player option or $5 million buyout for 2026. 2025 hitting stats: Yankees, .269 average, 431 AB, 65 runs, 116 hits, 21 HR, 68 RBI, 10 SB, .808 OPS, 111 games. 2025 fielding stats: 0 errors, 55 games (38 starts) in left field; 0 errors, 36 games (34 starts) in right field; 2 errors, 34 games (33 starts) in center field; 0 errors, 6 games (2 starts) at first base. Prediction: Re-signs with Yankees. PAUL GOLDSCHMIDT Age: 37 (38 on Sept. 10, 2025). Contract: Making $12.5 million on one-year free agent pact signed on 12/21/24. Free agent after season. 2025 hitting stats: Yankees, .276 average, 398 AB, 65 runs, 110 hits, 10 HR, 40 RBI, 5 SB, .753 OPS, 112 games. 2025 fielding stats: 3 errors, 106 games (93 starts) at first base. Prediction: Signs with another club or retires. TRENT GRISHAM, CF Age: 28 (29 on Nov. 1, 2025). Contract: Making $5 million on one-year pact signed with Yankees on 11/22/24. Free agent after season. 2025 hitting stats: Yankees, .244 average, 348 AB, 55 runs, 85 hits, 21 HR, 46 RBI, 1 SB, .804 OPS, 103 games. 2025 fielding stats: 1 error, 100 games (87 starts) in center field. Prediction: Signs with another club. TIM HILL, LHP Age: 35 (35 on Feb. 10, 2026). Contract: Making $2.85M on one-year free agent pact signed with Yankees on 2/4/25 that includes $3M club option or $350,000 buyout for 2026. 2025 pitching stats: Yankees, 4-3 record, 3.04 ERA, 56 games, 53.1 IP, 43 hits, 22 runs, 18 ER, 6 HR, 14 BB, 28 K. Prediction: Club option vested. JONATHAN LOAISIGA, RHP Age: 30 (31 on Nov. 2, 2025). Contract: Making $4.5M on one-year pact signed with Yankees on 12/11/24 that includes $5M club option for 2026. 2025 pitching stats: Yankees, 0-1 record, 4.25 ERA, 30 games, 1 save, 29.1 IP, 34 hits, 15 runs, 14 ER, 7 HR, 10 BB, 25 K. Prediction: Club option not vested. AMED ROSARIO, INF/OF Age: 29 (30 on Nov. 20, 2025). Contract: Making $2M on one-year pact signed with Nationals on 1/8/25. 2025 hitting stats: Nationals & Yankees, .277 average, 155 AB, 19 runs, 43 hits, 5 HR, 19 RBI, 1 SB, .747 OPS, 50 games. 2025 fielding stats: 4 errors, 24 games (20 starts) at 3rd base; 2 errors, 16 games (13 starts) at 2nd base; 0 errors, 4 games (1 start) in right field; 0 errors, 1 game (0 starts) as pitcher. Prediction: Re-signs with Yankees. AUSTIN SLATER, OF Age: 32 (33 on Dec. 13, 2025). Contract: Making $1.75M on one-year pact signed with White Sox on 11/20/24. Free agent after season. 2025 hitting stats: White Sox & Yankees, .236 average, 123 AB, 20 runs, 29 hits, 5 HR, 11 RBI, 1 SB, .721 OPS, 51 games. 2025 fielding stats: 2 errors, 21 games (15 starts) in right field; 0 errors, 20 games (9 starts) in left field; 0 errors, 2 games (0 starts) in center field; 0 errors, 1 game (0 starts) at first base. Prediction: Signs with another club. LUKE WEAVER, RHP Age: 31 (32 on Aug. 21, 2025). Contract: Making $2.5M in club option year of one-year, $2M pact signed with Yankees on 1/11/24. Free agent after season. 2025 pitching stats: Yankees, 2-3 record, 2.68 ERA, 45 games, 47 IP, 25 hits, 16 runs, 14 ER, 7 HR, 13 BB, 49 K. Prediction: Re-signs with Yankees. DEVIN WILLIAMS, RHP Age: 30 (31 on Nov. 2, 2025). Contract: Making $8.6M on one-year pact signed 1/9/25. Free agent after season. 2025 pitching stats: Yankees, 3-5 record, 3.90 ERA, 16 games, 8 starts. 55.1 IP, 48 hits, 24 runs, 24 ER, 10 HR, 5 HR, 17 BB, 49 K. Prediction: Signs with another club. RYAN YARBROUGH, LHP Age: 33 (34 on Dec. 31, 2025). Contract: Making $2M on one-year free agent pact signed with Yankees on 3/24/25. Free agent after season. 2025 pitching stats: Yankees, 3-1 record, 5.60 ERA, 49 games, 17 saves, 45 IP, 35 hits, 31 runs, 28 ER, 19 BB, 59 K. Prediction: Re-signs with Yankees. Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Is sign stealing illegal in baseball? What MLB Little League rules say about controversial tactic
Is sign stealing illegal in baseball? What MLB & Little League rules say about controversial tactic originally appeared on The Sporting News Major League Baseball has featured many kinds of scandals in its existence, but very few are more unique to the sport than sign stealing. Ever since baseball's inception in the late 1800s, teams have had paranoia regarding sign stealing and losing a competitive edge. That has only grown over time, as the game continues to introduce new technology over the years. While the game will continue to evolve, sign stealing will always have a place in the game. Here's a breakdown of sign stealing and the differences between what's legal and what's illegal. MORE: Breaking down the oldest players to see action in an MLB game What is sign stealing in baseball? Sign stealing is when one team decodes the opposing team's pitching signs, allowing the hitters to know which pitches are coming. It gives the offense an advantage over the pitcher, taking away the pitcher's element of surprise. "When you cheat on the field, telling people when a fastball is coming, you're really playing with the heart of the game," Former MLB commissioner Fay Vincent once said in the documentary, "The Astros Edge." MORE:Complete list of every player in the 3,000 strikeout club Is sign stealing illegal in baseball? Sign stealing is legal in baseball under certain guidelines, and illegal under others. Players are allowed to steal signs on the field as long as it is natural, and they don't use any technology or other added elements to help them steal signs. This distinction was once described by Ty Cobb in a 1926 newspaper column. "In the minds of the public, there seems to be an impression that sign stealing is illegal—at any rate, unsportsmanlike. It is not so regarded by ball players. If a player is smart enough to solve the opposing system of signals he is given due credit," Cobb said, via Sports Illustrated. "There isanother form of sign stealing which is reprehensible and should be so regarded. That is where mechanical devices worked from outside sources, such as the use of field glasses, mirrors and so on, are on the fields is not against the rules, while the use of outside devices is against all the laws of baseball and the playing rules. It is obviously unfair." MORE:16 NFL stars you didn't know were drafted by MLB teams MLB sign stealing rules In Major League Baseball, stealing signs is legal but stealing signs using technology is illegal. So, baserunners are allowed to try and steal signs in games, but teams cannot use video devices in any way to decode the opposing team's signs. After the Astros sign stealing scandal in 2017, MLB tightened its sign stealing rules by forbidding teams from installing cameras that can see catchers' signs. The league also initially banned in-game video, only to allow it to return in 2021 as long as the video doesn't include the catcher relaying signs. Finally, club personnel who aren't participating in the game can't relay signs to players in any way. MORE: Most home runs in an MLB Game, from Lou Gehrig to Nick Kurtz Little League sign stealing rules Stealing signs is technically illegal in Little League. According to the Little League rules, umpires are able to eject any coach or player for stealing signs during a game. "Each umpire has authority to disqualify any player, coach, manager or substitute for objecting to decisions or for unsportsmanlike conduct or language and to eject such disqualified person from the playing field. If an umpire disqualifies a player while a play is in progress, the disqualification shall not take effect until no further action is possible in that play. The stealing and relaying of signs to alert the batter of pitch selection and/or location is unsportsmanlike behavior." At first, teams will be warned for sign stealing, but umpires then can disqualify coaches or players for offenses beyond the first act. "If, in the judgment of the umpire this behavior is occurring, the team manager and those responsible including any player(s) and/or coach(es) shall be warned after the first offense. Those responsible including any player(s), coach(es), and/or manager shall be ejected from the game for a team's subsequent offense." MORE:Who are MLB's 50-50 club members? Most infamous sign stealing scandals in baseball There have been many instances of sign-stealing accusations in MLB history. Here are a few of the biggest scandals in MLB history. Hartford Dark Blues, 1876 The first known instance of sign stealing, according to "The Cheater's Guide to Baseball," belongs to the Hartford Dark Blues, who put a man in a small shack on a telegraph pole past the outfield wall to tell the hitter when a curveball was coming. MORE:Ranking the 9 worst performances of 'Take Me Out to the Ball Game' Philadelphia Phillies, 1900 In 1900, the Phillies executed sign stealing using technology for the first time, when backup catcher Morgan Murphy stole signs in an observatory over the center field wall. He would then notify the third base coach through a junction box that was connected to the observatory with an underground wire. Murphy had other sign stealing systems for the team, like adjusting the awning on his observatory perch to sitting on rooftops, bleachers or buildings with newspapers on the road. New York Giants 1951 The 1951 Giants are responsible for one of the most iconic moments in baseball history, when Bobby Thompson hit the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" against the Brooklyn Dodgers to win the pennant. However, years later, several Giants players revealed the team was stealing signs. "Every hitter knew what was coming," pitcher Al Gettel said in 2001, via The Wall Street Journal. "Made a big difference." The Giants' penchant for sign stealing appeared to start with manager Leo Durocher. "He asked each person if he wanted the sign," left fielder Monte Irvin, the Giants said. "I told him no. He said, 'You mean to tell me, if a fat fastball is coming, you don't want to know?'" The Giants had an electrician named Abe Chadwick install a "bell-and-buzzer" system in the stadium that connected phones in the dugout and bullpen and allowed players in an office over center field to steal signs, using a Wollensak telescope, and buzz the bullpen, who would then relay the signs to hitters. MORE:Breaking down MLB's attendance records Houston Astros, 2017 The Astros executed the biggest sign stealing scandal of the 21st century, as they were caught illegally stealing signs during their World Series championship season in 2017. While there was rampant speculation throughout the league about illegal sign-stealing Houston was caught using a center field camera to decode signs, then banging a trash can in the dugout to relay the findings to hitters. MLB investigated the Astros after the 2019 season, in which Houston went to Game 7 of the World Series again, and the league fined the team $5 million and suspended manager A.J. Hinch and general manager Jeff Lunhow for the 2020 season. Houston ultimately fired both Hinch and Lunhow anyway, and Boston did the same with Cora but re-hired him a year later. Alex Cora and Carlos Beltran also lost their respective managerial jobs for their roles in the scandal, but Cora was re-hired a year later. Boston Red Sox, 2017-2018 The late-2010s featured a lot of paranoia about sign stealing, and the Red Sox were one team that was caught. In 2017, Boston was fined for using apple watches to relay stolen signs against the Yankees, and in 2018 the team was fined for using the video replay room to steal signs. MORE:Everything to know about history of Tommy John surgery in baseball How MLB teams avoid sign stealing As sign stealing became more prominent in Major League Baseball teams and players created ways to protect themselves. Catchers would often change pitch sequences with runners on base, and teams would use mound visits to directly speak to pitchers instead of using signs. Most recently, teams adopted PitchCom, an electronic system that relays signs from catcher to pitcher without putting fingers down. One of the catcher-pitcher combination presses a button to choose a pitch, and the other end hears the selection through a device in their hat.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
MLB games today: Schedule, times, how to watch for Aug. 13
Here is the full Major League Baseball schedule for Aug. 13 and how to watch all the games. Or see our sortable MLB schedule to filter by team or division. MLB schedule today All times Eastern and accurate as of Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025, at 4:41 a.m. Watch MLB games all season long with Fubo (free trial). MLB scores, results MLB scores for Aug. 13 games are available on Here's how to access today's results: See scores, results for all the games listed above. See MLB Scores, results from Aug. 12
