MLB

4:00 PM ET New York Mets owner Steve Cohen is an avid collector of art, his collection of Picasso and Doig and others reportedly worth many hundreds of millions of dollars. But one of his favorite pieces is round: the baseball that rolled between the legs of Bill Buckner to end Game 6 of the

1:53 PM ET New York Mets owner Steven Cohen announced the team has hired Buck Showalter as its new manager. Showalter, 65, has been a major league manager for four teams between 1992 and 2018. He won American League Manager of the Year honors during stints with the New York Yankees, Texas Rangers and Baltimore

3:13 PM ET Major League Baseball and the players’ association met Thursday for the first time since owners locked out the players while the sides negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, sources familiar with the talks told ESPN. The conversations involved several noncore economic issues such as scheduling, grievance procedures, special events, and/or the drug

7:00 AM ET It’s probably best to forget about Kris Bryant‘s extraordinary first three years in the big leagues, when he captured a Rookie of the Year Award in 2015, was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player in 2016 and boasted a .946 OPS in 2017. We might never see that guy again, and

12:16 AM ET Associated Press CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Guardians said minor league catcher Andres Melendez died Thursday in Miami. He was 20. The team said Melendez died suddenly. There was no immediate word on the cause of his death. The Venezuela native began his career with Milwaukee’s organization in 2018. He spent two seasons

6:42 PM ET Associated Press PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks announced more than two dozen changes to their front office staff Thursday, including the addition of veteran baseball operations executive Jason McLeod. McLeod’s title is Special Assistant to D-backs Executive Vice President & General Manager Mike Hazen. McLeod has 26 years of baseball experience, including

4:53 PM ET Associated Press PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have hired former Milwaukee assistant Andy Haines as hitting coach. Haines replaces Rick Eckstein, who was fired in August. Haines spent the last three seasons as the hitting coach in Milwaukee before being let go in October. Haines joins one of the worst offensive teams

5:57 AM ET Associated Press TOKYO — Veteran infielder Freddy Galvis has signed a two-year deal with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. The club in Nippon Professional Baseball confirmed the length of the contract with The Associated Press but declined to give financial details. Reports in Japan say the total contract could be worth 700 million

7:00 AM ET During the lockout, Major League Baseball personnel notably cannot speak with their major league players — not about free agency talks, rehab assignments, or spring plans. That gag order extends to the press, too — and early evidence shows that it has been effective, with some staffers mentioning fears of having their

7:00 AM ET Last week, we covered the late flurry of action before the CBA expired on Dec. 1, which saw an almost unprecedented levels of spending in a short period of time. Now that there’s a lockout that should last most of the winter, we don’t have any imminent action. But come February, we

11:28 AM ET Buck Showalter will be among the candidates to get a second round of interviews with the New York Mets concerning their vacant managerial position, sources told ESPN, confirming multiple reports. Joe Espada will have his second interview on Thursday, while Matt Quatraro will also return to talk to the Mets, sources confirmed

7:00 AM ET If we think of the lockout that has mostly shut down baseball’s offseason as a holiday break, it’s not so bad, right? For a couple of weeks at the end of November and into the first day of December, the transaction wire was buzzing. Then: Nothing. The upside is that with 40-man

6:46 PM ET Associated Press Roland Hemond, whose 70-year career in baseball included three Executive of the Year awards as general manager of the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles, died Sunday night. He was 92. The Arizona Diamondbacks, with whom he spent 19 seasons, announced Hemond’s death Monday. “He passed peacefully in his son

4:19 PM ET Justin Verlander‘s two-year, $50 million agreement with the Houston Astros has been given formal approval by Major League Baseball, industry sources told ESPN, even at a time when the owners have locked out the players in the ongoing labor battle. Verlander reached an agreement with Houston last month before the expiration of

7:00 AM ET At some point, maybe in January, probably not until February, the owners and players will agree on how to divvy up the billions of dollars of baseball revenue. For now, we wait for the return of what will be the abbreviated hot stove season, but we can still talk baseball. While there

3:10 PM ET Associated Press SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — San Diego Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. suffered scrapes on a knee and his hands in a fall in the Dominican Republic but is doing fine, his father said Saturday. “He is fine, in perfect condition,″ said the Padres star’s father, former major league infielder

1:54 PM ET Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jim Fregosi Jr., a special assistant in the Kansas City Royals‘ front office and a son of the longtime major league manager, has died. He was 57. Fregosi died Thursday in Los Angeles, the Royals said. He spent 17 seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies as an

8:00 AM ET Mark Fainaru-Wada Close ESPN Staff Writer Investigative reporter for ESPN’s Enterprise and Investigative Unit since 2007 Co-author of New York Times best-selling books “League of Denial” and “Game of Shadows” Co-winner, 2004 George Polk Award T.J. Quinn Close ESPN Staff Writer T.J. Quinn joined ESPN in November 2007 as an investigative reporter