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Boston Globe
31-07-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Pitching top priority for Red Sox at trade deadline
And so, the value of upgrades is clearer than it has been since the team Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up With Thursday's 6 p.m. trade deadline nearing, according to major league sources, the Red Sox remain engaged with numerous clubs about potential upgrades. Their primary focus appears to be pitching in just about any form — starters or bullpen, rentals or longer-term contributors — though the team has also shown openness to improvement in other facets as well. Advertisement Start with pitching, where the Sox' rationale to upgrade is fairly obvious. The market for relievers picked up considerable steam Wednesday, with the Sox interested in upgrading their late-innings relay. The Sox have received solid relief work this year, with a 3.37 bullpen ERA (4th best in baseball), but with a modest 22 percent strikeout rate (15th) and 10 percent walk rate (21st). While Aroldis Chapman has been overpowering throughout the year and Garrett Whitlock has been brilliant since his role shifted to single-inning appearances, there's a degree of uncertainty beyond those two. Advertisement Lefty Justin Wilson has been great against same-handed hitters (.349 OPS against) but vulnerable against righties (.950). Both Greg Weissert and Brennan Bernardino have alternated stretches of brilliance with pronounced struggles while fatigued. Righthander Jordan Hicks, acquired in the The Mets acquired submarining righthander Tyler Rogers — a rental who will be eligible for free agency this offseason — from the Giants for a three-player package that included a pair of prospects who rank among New York's top 15. The Phillies then returned serve against their NL East rivals, agreeing to a deal to land Twins closer Jhoan Duran — a pitcher with a dominant arsenal who had also been of interest to the Red Sox — in exchange for two of the Phillies' top six prospects. The rotation has performed as a middle-of-the-pack group, with starters forging a 4.04 ERA (16th in MLB) that reflects the uneven contributions of the group. Garrett Crochet (12-4, 2.23, 31 percent strikeout rate) is in the conversation for the American League Cy Young Award, and both Brayan Bello (7-5, 3.19, 18 percent) and Lucas Giolito (7-2, 3.80, 21 percent) have been solid. But Walker Buehler's 5.72 ERA ranks 141st out of 150 pitchers with at least 60 innings this year, and Advertisement There are different considerations with those four arms (who represent just examples of pitchers whom the Sox have explored — rather than a remotely exhaustive list). Gallen and Kelly will be free agents after this year; Alcantara and Keller would have multiple years of team control beyond 2025. Kelly and Keller represent mid-rotation stability. Gallen and Alcantara had elite peaks but are amidst career-worst seasons — Alcantara while regaining his feel after missing all of 2024 while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. The question of team control is no small consideration, especially on the pitching front and with relievers. Given the volatility of relievers, the Sox are reluctant to give up top prospects — particularly upper levels pitchers — for two months of a reliever, given that the pitching prospect might have a comparable chance of delivering a bullpen impact. Last year was somewhat instructive. The Sox dealt for righthanded relievers Lucas Sims and Luis García. Both struggled, and in the deal for García, the Sox traded away a hard-throwing prospect (Ryan Zeferjahn) who excelled down the stretch for the Angels last year. (Zeferjahn has struggled this year.) Regardless, in a year with numerous buyers, the initial price of pitching is high. In recent years, those signs might have become deterrents to the Sox making aggressive moves for truly impactful upgrades. But with the team in solid position in the American League, the calculus is different — creating both pressure and possibility in the final hours leading to Thursday evening's deadline. Advertisement Alex Speier can be reached at
Boston Globe
24-07-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Brian Scalabrine added to NBC Sports and Peacock coverage team for national NBA broadcasts
NBC Sports Boston and NBC are working together, per sources, to make sure Scalabrine's national role has a limited impact on his local one. NBC Sports, which as part of the new Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Scalabrine is among the latest batch of analyst additions, which also include former players Brad Daugherty, Derek Fisher, Austin Rivers, and Robbie Hummel. Michael Grady was announced as a play-by-play voice. Advertisement Previously, NBC had announced that play-by-play voices would include Mike Tirico (the lead voice), Noah Eagle, and Terry Gannon, while Reggie Miller, Jamal Crawford, and Grant Hill would be analysts. Scalabrine, who has been the primary analyst on NBC Sports Boston's Celtics broadcasts since 2021-22, also will do occasional studio appearances for NBC Sports, which is based in Stamford, Conn. Scalabrine, who along with Frank Isola hosts the SiriusXM morning radio show 'Starting Lineup,' said he's excited about the opportunity for some national television work. Advertisement 'I would never leave for ESPN, but the fact that it's NBC is a massive, massive plus for me,' he said. 'I have a lot of respect for the way that NBC Sports Boston treats me and I'm loving the stuff that they're talking about doing at the big network, so I'm just really excited about the whole opportunity.' The 2025-26 NBA season begins Oct 21 on NBC and Peacock. NBC has the league's opening-night doubleheader as part of up to 100 regular-season games it will broadcast across its platforms. More than half of those games will air on NBC on Sunday and Tuesday nights. Peacock will stream a doubleheader each Monday night of the season. Every Tuesday night, NBC will telecast two games across certain affiliate stations in different regions of the country. All Tuesday games will be available on Peacock nationally. Chad Finn can be reached at
Boston Globe
25-04-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Big Tech carries Wall Street to the close of its winning, roller-coaster week
Alphabet climbed 1.7 percent in its first trading after Google's parent company reported late Thursday that its Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Alphabet is one of the biggest companies on Wall Street in terms of size, and that gives its stock's movements extra influence on the S&P 500 and other indexes. Another market heavyweight, Nvidia, was also a major force pushing the S&P 500 index upward after the chip company rose 4.3 percent. Advertisement They helped offset a 6.7 percent drop for Intel, which fell even though its results for the beginning of the year also topped expectations. The chip company said it's seeing 'elevated uncertainty across the industry' and gave a forecast for upcoming revenue and profit that fell short of analysts' expectations. It wasn't just Intel. Roughly three out of every five stocks in the S&P 500 sank, including Eastman Chemical, which dropped 6.2 percent after it gave a forecast for profit this spring that fell short of analysts' expectations. Advertisement CEO Mark Costa said that the 'macroeconomic uncertainty that defined the last several years has only increased' and that future demand for its products 'is unclear given the magnitude and scope of tariffs.' Skechers U.S.A., the shoe and apparel company, pulled its financial forecasts for the year due to 'macroeconomic uncertainty stemming from global trade policies' even though it just reported a record quarter of revenue at $2.41 billion. Its stock fell 5.3 percent. Companies Stocks bounced back from a But Trump's on-again-off-again tariffs may nevertheless be pushing households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term investment because of how quickly conditions can change, sometimes seemingly by the hour. 'Business owners scrambling to figure out their supply chains and exposure to tariffs is more than just a distraction,' according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management. 'It could be an existential threat, especially for smaller businesses that don't have the scale or resources to have the same supply chain flexibility as larger firms.' Advertisement All told, the S&P 500 rose 40.44 points to 5,525.21. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 20.10 to 40,113.50, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 216.90 to 17,382.94. In stock markets abroad, indexes rose modestly across much of Europe following more mixed movements in Asia. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 jumped 1.9 percent, but stocks in Shanghai slipped 0.1 percent. In the bond market, Treasury yields eased some more, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.25 percent from 4.32 percent late Thursday. It's been generally falling since approaching 4.50 percent earlier this month in a Yields have dropped as several reports on the US economy have come in weaker than expected, bolstering expectations that the Federal Reserve may cut interest rates later this year to support growth. A report on Friday morning said sentiment among US consumers sank in April, though not by as much as economists expected. The survey from the University of Michigan said its measure of expectations for coming conditions has dropped 32 percent since January for the steepest three-month percentage decline seen since the 1990 recession. The value of the US dollar meanwhile held steady against the euro and other rival currencies. It's been recovering some of its sharp, unexpected AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed.
