Author: rincon

SURPRISE, Ariz. — The morning after Tony Clark’s abrupt resignation, the Major League Baseball Players Association was still without an acting executive director. But that could change as soon as Wednesday afternoon. 

The union’s executive board of player representatives met Tuesday afternoon with MLBPA staff and outside counsel to discuss next steps following Clark’s ouster but did not come to a vote on a successor. That vote, however, could take place before the end of the day Wednesday, when MLBPA’s executive board is expected to reconvene to determine future leadership. 

Union officials began their annual spring training camp visits by meeting with Royals players on Wednesday morning. Following that visit, Royals player rep John Schreiber said he thinks the MLBPA could have a new executive director by day’s end. 

“We’ll see how the meeting goes today,” Schreiber said. “We’re going on the right path. I think we’ll have a decision shortly.” 

Clark, who had led the MLB players union since 2013, resigned from his role on Tuesday after an internal investigation reportedly revealed an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law, who was hired as a union employee in 2023. Separately, a federal investigation into Clark and the union’s handling of finances remains ongoing. 

Clark was scheduled to join union officials on Tuesday to begin the MLBPA’s first camp visits with the Guardians before that meeting was canceled. 

MLBPA deputy executive director Bruce Meyer said the information that led to Clark’s resignation did not come to light until the last “72 hours or so.” 

“Just on a personal level, I think we were all fairly devastated by things that have happened in the last 48 to 72 hours,” Meyer said. “I’m not going to go beyond that in terms of personal feelings, but it’s fair to say we were all personally upset, concerned about Tony. But I think this was something players determined had to happen at this particular point in time, and we’ll move forward and again be strong as we always are.”

What’s next in the search for a new union leader

Meyer is perhaps the most logical option to replace Clark, however that decision had not been made as of Wednesday morning. Meyer offered no comment when asked if he wanted to be the next executive director or if there were other internal candidates. 

“We want the union to be in a good place,” Meyer said. “We want the union to remain strong. That’s all any of us care about.” 

Whether or not Meyer ends up being voted in as Clark’s successor, he expects to continue his role as the union’s lead negotiator ahead of what is likely to be a contentious labor battle. 

“Everything’s up to the players, but I don’t anticipate that anybody’s going to be leading negotiations other than me,” Meyer said. 

The new executive director will be voted on by the 72-member executive board, which includes the eight-member executive subcommittee, 30 player representatives and 34 minor league positions. 

“Players, I think, are aware there’s a need in terms of stability both internally and otherwise for ideally a quick decision,” Meyer said. “But on the other hand, it’s more important for players to make the right decision. They recognize that, and they’ll take as much time as they feel they need.” 

What’s next for the unity and strength of the MLBPA 

The current MLB collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1, after which the owners could decide to lock out the players if a deal hasn’t been reached. 

That makes the timing of the director vacancy particularly troubling, though Meyer remained adamant that it won’t impact negotiations with the league. 

“We don’t expect anything to change in terms of bargaining,” Meyer said. “We’ve been preparing for bargaining for years. Players have been preparing. Players know what’s coming. At the end of the day, leadership is important, and leadership comes and goes, but what remains is the players. At the end of the day, it’s the players who determine the direction of the union. At the end of the day, it’s the players who determine our priorities in bargaining. Those priorities obviously have not changed and will not change.”

Meyer also went on to say he doesn’t think Clark’s resignation will weaken the union. 

“Anybody who’s going to assume that and act on that is really making a mistake,” Meyer said. “I’m not going to say this is a great thing. This is unforeseen. There have been some issues hanging over, as you know, and in some respects it’s good to get them out of the way sooner than later. 

“I’m not going to say this is like a nothing and that there’s not going to be some disruptions, but at the end of the day, bargaining is the most important thing, it’s always been the most important thing, and our team that’s been preparing for that for years remains in place.”

[MLB Spring Training Buzz: Dodgers RHP Brusdar Graterol Not Yet Ready for 2026]

What’s next for the timeline of negotiations

Meyer doesn’t anticipate Clark’s ouster to impact the timing of negotiations, which are expected to begin at some point after Opening Day, likely in April. 

“For reference, I checked, last time we started on April 20,” Meyer said. “There’s no hard and fast rule, but we’ll be ready, and I anticipate that it will operate on a normal schedule starting sometime in the spring.” 

The question looming over the upcoming negotiations is how far owners will go to enforce a salary cap, which is a concept the players have always strongly rejected. 

“We have a duty to the players and otherwise to listen to anything the league offers,” Meyer said. “We will evaluate, analyze anything that’s offered. We will report to our players and give them our recommendations. Our position, and the historic position of this union for decades on a salary cap, is well-known. It’s the ultimate restriction. It’s something that owners in all the sports have wanted more than anything, and in baseball in particular there’s a reason for that — because it’s good for them and not good for players.”

Last spring, MLBPA officials met with teams to discuss bargaining and the upcoming 2026 negotiations. They then went on a summer tour with teams, something they hadn’t done before, meeting with each team individually on the road to continue discussing bargaining. 

“We got great participation in that, great engagement,” Meyer said. “We had a fantastic board meeting in December. In between, talking to players, not just me but our former players on staff. So, guys are engaged. Guys are locked in. Guys appreciate the importance and significance of what’s coming.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on X at @RowanKavner.

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The snow is slowly melting, and the days are getting longer and warmer. Yes, Major League Baseball is back. 

Well, almost back. 

Spring training games begin this week, and we are a little more than a month away from the return of the MLB regular season. 

We are coming off the high of one of the greatest World Series in baseball history and an epic Game 7 that crowned the Dodgers as the first back-to-back champions since the Yankees of the early 2000s. 

Now, 2026 promises to be another exciting year. 

With the season fast approaching, let’s take a look at the American League East and a wager that I believe offers tremendous value regarding the potential division champion.

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Last year, the team with the longest division odds and lowest win total in the East, the Toronto Blue Jays, outperformed their last-place projection and won the division on their way to the World Series. Will 2026 see another long shot pay off in the ultra-competitive AL East? 

I’m looking at the Baltimore Orioles at +475. 

In 2023, the Orioles won 101 games and won the AL East. In 2024, the Orioles and Yankees had a season-long battle for the division, with the Yankees eventually pulling away and coming out on top. That young and promising Orioles team won 91 games but got swept in the wild-card round by the Royals. 

The Orioles’ disappointing postseason exit was a sign of things to come, and 2025 was a season derailed by a cluster of injuries to the pitching staff and regression by some of their talented young position players. This year, however, could look more like the ’23 and ‘24 seasons in what I expect to be a bounce-back year in Baltimore. 

The pitching rotation — at least for now — is healthy. Righty Kyle Bradish returned at the tail end of last year and is generating some buzz as a Cy Young sleeper. Lefty Trevor Rogers emerged as one of the best arms in baseball last year and, despite only throwing 109 innings, he found his way onto the Cy Young ballot with a 1.81 era.  

Shane Baz was once a highly touted pitching prospect and will likely see his stats improve after leaving the hitter-friendly Steinbrenner Field following his trade from the Tampa Bay Rays. Veteran Chris Bassitt was signed recently. He is a solid innings-eater who won 15 games in 2022 and led the AL in wins in 2023 with 16, consistently logging 27 or more starts every year since 2019 (outside the 2020 shortened season).

The pitching is infinitely better than it was last year, and the offense should get a bump as well. All-Star first baseman Pete Alonso and outfielder Taylor Ward were both added in the offseason, supplementing what looks to be a dynamic lineup. Those two players combined for 74 home runs in 2025. 

It’s a competitive division, perhaps the best in baseball, but the Yankees and Red Sox did very little over the offseason to improve their teams and the Blue Jays will have to prove they were not a one-year wonder. 

The value here is on the Orioles at a juicy number to rebound and win the AL East crown.

PICK: Orioles (+475) to win AL East

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Giancarlo Stanton feels his Yankees career is lacking.

“It’s definitely incomplete,” he said Tuesday ahead of his ninth season in pinstripes. “The point of being a Yankee is being a champion.”

Now 36 and entering the final two guaranteed seasons of a $325 million, 13-year contract he signed with the Miami Marlins, Stanton has gone on the injured list in seven consecutive seasons but has been a force when healthy.

After missing New York’s first 70 games last year because of inflammation in the tendons of both elbows, he hit .273 with 24 homers, 66 RBIs and a .944 OPS in 77 games.

His elbows require constant treatment.

“I’m good. Ready to go,” Stanton maintained. “As I said before, it’s not going anywhere. It’s always going to be maintenance, but it didn’t hinder me from any work.”

He said the preparation is “a lot of hold, strengthening, make sure I’m able to maintain holding and swinging with power and throwing.”

A five-time All-Star and the 2017 NL MVP, Stanton has a .258 average with 453 homers — most among active players — and 1,169 RBIs in 16 big league seasons. He is key component in the Yankees batting order.

“With us over the last couple of years (having) become more and more left-handed, his presence in the middle is just really big,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s like having that guy lingering there, that’s Big G in the middle.”

Stanton had 38 homers with 100 RBIs in his first season with New York in 2018 but missed 266 of 708 games over the next five seasons because of a series of strains of right biceps, right knee, left hamstring (twice) and left quadriceps along with right ankle inflammation and left Achilles tendinitis.

Noticeably slimmer in 2024, he limited his lost time to 28 games for a strained left hamstring. Stanton finished with 27 homers and 72 RBIs in 114 games and added seven homers and 16 RBIs in 14 postseason games.

He isn’t thinking about career stats.

“Numbers like the next one and the next one is good for now,” he said. “Those numbers, 500 or what not, is the same as we’re going to win the World Series right now. You got each day to do work and prove and do something positive.”

Stanton is owed $64 million in guaranteed money by the Yankees: $29 million this year, $25 million in 2027 and a $10 million buyout of a $25 million club option for 2028. He comes at a discount because the Marlins owe the Yankees $30 million to offset part of what remains in his contract: $5 million each on July 1 and Oct. 1 in 2026, 2027 and 2028.

However, his salary for purposes of the Yankees’ luxury tax payroll is $25 million and since New York is likely to pay the top tax rate of 110%, he adds $27.5 million to the team’s tax bill.

Teammates look to Stanton for succinct tips before they bat.

“He just processes things really well and really gains from the things he sees: the experience, the times he faces a pitcher, how he processes that and puts it to use in future at-bats against guys,” Boone said. “I think he knows himself incredibly well as a hitter, but his presence with just the makeup of our club is huge.”

Volpe hopes to return in April

Shortstop Anthony Volpe won’t be ready for the March 25 opener but hopes to return in April following surgery on Oct. 14 to repair the labrum in his left shoulder.

He started a hitting progression Monday with dry swings — no ball involved — and hopes to advance soon to hitting off a tee and soft toss.

“My body’s ready to go defensively and running, so the hitting will be what we work through next, and judging on how everything’s gone so far, I’m just excited,” he said.

Volpe hurt the shoulder on May 3. He returned to the lineup two days later but struggled for much of the season. He had a pair of cortisone shots and hit .212 with 19 homers and a career-high 72 RBIs. He went 1 for 15 with 11 strikeouts in the AL Division Series loss to Toronto, making an out in his last 13 at-bats.

Volpe’s surgery was more extensive than had been expected following an MRI.

“When I woke up from the surgery and we went through everything, we kind of had an idea of what the best case and what the worst case and everything in between would have been, so I wasn’t shocked” he said. “I was just more excited and in pain and motivated.”

Looking back, his left shoulder and side didn’t feel like his right after the injury. Yankees manager Aaron Boone said following the surgery that Volpe could start hitting in four months but couldn’t dive on the shoulder for six months.

“The first half rehabbing was tough. It felt like rock bottom as far as physically,” Volpe said. “Probably at the turn of the New Year is when I really started to feel good and I started to do stuff, baseball activity.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Walker Buehler has signed with the San Diego Padres after the right-hander spent the first eight seasons of his major league career with their archrivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Buehler was in the Padres’ clubhouse Tuesday morning after agreeing to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp.

“Yeah, it feels a little weird,” Buehler told reporters in Arizona after pulling on a brown and gold uniform. “I imagine five years ago it would have felt a lot more weird, but this is a crazy game and this is a great opportunity for me.”

The 31-year-old Buehler said he will “come in and try and make the team and contribute in any way I can. I’m a starter, and I want to start, so I’m here to try and make the rotation.”

Buehler spent last season with Boston and Philadelphia, which signed him in late August after the Red Sox released him. Buehler struggled in Boston, but looked good enough during his brief time with the Phillies to generate interest from the Padres and other teams.

“I threw the ball well over there, and getting the velocity back as well as the delivery has kind of been the big thing,” Buehler said. “The second half of last year was relatively successful compared to the first half, and there’s stuff we want to continue to build on there.”

Buehler earned two All-Star selections and two World Series rings during his 10 years in the Dodgers organization, serving as a mainstay in their rotation whenever healthy and often looking like one of the majors’ top starters. He has been particularly good against the Padres in his career, going 7-1 with a 1.67 ERA and 83 strikeouts in his 13 starts.

He won Game 3 of the World Series in 2024 before earning the save in the Dodgers’ clinching Game 5 victory at Yankee Stadium, capping his return to uniform with a gritty Fall Classic. He had missed the entire 2023 season and big chunks of 2024 while recovering from his second Tommy John surgery.

But that memorable relief inning in Game 5 to preserve a 7-6 victory over the Yankees was his final appearance for the Dodgers, who allowed Buehler to walk as a free agent for a lucrative deal with Boston. After one tumultuous year back East, he’s eager to be back in the NL West with the Padres, who have two openings in their rotation.

“Obviously some familiarity with the division, and living in Southern California is something that my family and I are accustomed to,” Buehler said. “A good opportunity to be a part of a really talented ballclub. Looking forward to seeing what we can make of it.”

Nick Pivetta, Joe Musgrove and Michael King already have spots in San Diego’s rotation. Buehler will be competing for the final two slots with returnees Randy Vasquez and JP Sears and newly signed German Marquez and Griffin Canning.

Buehler said he moved out West during the offseason to prepare for another run at the majors, and he “got my body in a little better spot.”

Buehler said his delivery is returning to the level and form at which he spent his first six big league seasons with the Dodgers before elbow surgery.

“My elbow and my body has kind of been through some stuff,” he said.

The Padres have been remarkably busy over the past week after doing little during the winter to bolster the roster of a team that won 90 games and made the postseason for the fourth time in six years.

General manager A.J. Preller signed slugger Nick Castellanos along with Canning and Márquez over the weekend after adding Miguel Andujar a week earlier.

Preller also agreed to a contract extension, keeping the second-longest-tenured baseball boss in the majors with San Diego during the club’s probable sale process.

Buehler is 57-29 with a 3.52 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP over his decade in the majors. He has topped 150 strikeouts three times.

Reporting by The Associated Press

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“No … there is another.”

And that one is right-hander Lucas Giolito, who’s arguably the best remaining MLB free agent, position player or pitcher. Coming off a season that saw Giolito post a plausible 3.41 ERA in 26 regular-season starts for the Boston Red Sox, the 31-year-old could be a plug-and-play starter for numerous MLB teams.

With that in mind, here are the three best MLB free agent fits for Giolito.

The Athletics need pitching aid across the board, and Giolito would immediately become their ace.

Last season, the A’s starting rotation was 27th in MLB in ERA (4.85), 25th in opponent batting average (.257) and tied for 23rd in WHIP (1.34). Meanwhile, Giolito is coming off a reputable, bounce-back campaign, which came after he missed 2024 due to elbow surgery and posted a combined 4.89 ERA from 2022-23.

Giolito can post strikeouts at a high clip, work out of trouble and has proven himself to be a middle-to-top-of-the-rotation starter. It’s all about his health. What’s more, the A’s have been unable to develop any rotation linchpins of late, while veteran Luis Severino had a rough first season with the team in 2025 (4.54 ERA in 29 starts). The A’s have a tantalizing positional core (Nick Kurtz, Tyler Soderstrom, Jacob Wilson and Shea Langeliers, among many others) reminiscent of the one that the Baltimore Orioles established in 2023, but if they don’t assemble a mere middle-of-the-pack rotation, that organizational strength will be wasted.

All that said, what could halt an Athletics’ pursuit of Giolito is them potentially feeling that he wouldn’t move the needle for their pitching staff in a substantial way, instead choosing to keep their rotation slots open for younger arms.

Great starting pitching is a Cleveland trademark, and while that unit is coming off a respectable season (the Guardians’ starting rotation recorded a 3.86 ERA in 2025, good for 10th in MLB), it would still benefit from a veteran enhancement (e.g., Giolito).

Gavin Williams has blossomed into a legitimate, top-of-the-rotation starter; Tanner Bibee has proved himself capable of being a stiff force; Logan Allen has held his own. At the same time, Cleveland’s rotation was second in innings pitched last season (888.0). Having a veteran arm like Giolito in the mix would add another pitcher who can provide length.

Giolito, who relies on his four-seamer while mixing in a slider and changeup, was an All-Star with the Chicago White Sox in 2019 and recorded a combined 3.47 ERA from 2019-21. He actually briefly pitched for the Guardians down the stretch of the 2023 season. The 2025 season saw Giolito find success while pitching to his strengths and, given the Guardians’ track record of developing pitchers, maybe the right-hander builds on his success in Boston in Cleveland?

Giolito would be a compelling addition for Cleveland. The reason the Guardians aren’t No. 1 on the list of fits for Giolito, though, is that they may feel two of Slade Cecconi, Joey Cantillo, Ben Lively and Parker Messick have sizable room for growth and could fill out their 2026 rotation.

Simply put: the Padres could use another arm, and Giolito would be part of their 2026 starting rotation.

The Padres have experienced a chaotic year with their starting staff. Joe Musgrove missed 2025 due to Tommy John surgery; Michael King missed substantial time due to a shoulder injury; San Diego’s rotation finished the 2025 season 16th in ERA (4.07) and tied for 14th in WHIP (1.25); then, Dylan Cease signed a $210 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays, and now, Yu Darvish will miss 2026 due to a UCL tear.

On the bright side, Nick Pivetta had a breakout season in 2025 (career-best 2.87 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 190 strikeouts in 31 starts) and Randy Vasquez continues to make strides. Working under the expectation that Musgrove makes a full recovery, Giolito would finalize San Diego’s 2026 rotation. He would give them a starting pitcher who would be part of the starting staff for the bulk of contending teams in the sport. While many have speculated that star closer Mason Miller could, in time, move into San Diego’s rotation, adding a proven commodity in Giolito takes any pressure off new manager Craig Stammen to make that switch and/or have the recently signed Griffin Canning or German Marquez open the year in the rotation.

The Padres figure to remain in the National League pennant mix, but, when it comes to their starting staff, particularly the health of that unit, the more, the merrier. Giolito would give them a tangible boost.

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We have a big change in Major League Baseball as players are just getting warmed up for the 2026 season.

Tony Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), is expected to step down from his position, The Athletic reported on Tuesday morning.

Clark, who was involved in the union as a player, had been with the MLBPA since 2010, one season after retiring from the sport. He was previously deputy executive director and acting executive director of the union before becoming the executive director of the MLBPA in December 2013.

Clark leaving his position comes against the backdrop of the Eastern District of New York investigating the MLBPA for alleged financial improprieties, ESPN reported.

The current MLB collective bargaining agreement ends on Dec. 1, 2026, with the potential for a lockout in the sport in 2027 as debate over whether MLB should implement a salary cap rages on.

As a player, Clark, a 2001 All-Star, spent the first seven seasons of his MLB career with the Detroit Tigers (1995-2001), followed by stints with the Boston Red Sox (2002), New York Mets (2003), New York Yankees (2004), Arizona Diamondbacks (2005-09) and San Diego Padres (2008). Clark had 1,188 career hits and 251 home runs.

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New York Mets owner Steve Cohen likes the vibe in a revamped clubhouse, and says he’ll never have a captain in charge of that scene.

“As long as I’m owning the team, there will never be a team captain,” Cohen said in his first meeting with reporters at spring training Monday. “That was my decision. My view is the locker room is unique. And let the locker room sort it out, year in, year out.”

New York said goodbye to popular slugger Pete Alonso, star closer Edwin Diaz and two other Mets stalwarts before Christmas, but added free agent Bo Bichette and traded for All-Star pitcher Freddy Peralta.

The Mets are going into their third season with manager Carlos Mendoza after they missed the playoffs following a run to the 2024 NL championship series.

“I just was in that locker room and in the meeting and I sense an energy that really is exciting,” Cohen said on the day of the team’s first full-squad workout. “These are new faces, fresh faces that I think our fans are really going to enjoy watch playing. It’s different. And I think we’ll play a different type of baseball, and I think that’s great.”

The rival Yankees had Derek Jeter, known simply as the “the captain,” for all 20 of the Hall of Famer’s seasons. Becoming an owner in the same city won’t sway Cohen, whose view might also keep the Mets from having a tricky choice between two of their biggest stars, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto.

“Just my own views on how I want a locker room to be,” Cohen said. “My view is every year the team’s different and let the team kind of figure it out in the locker room rather than having a designation. Having a captain in baseball doesn’t happen often. It’s actually unusual.”

40 years and counting

The Mets have alternated between making and missing the playoffs during Cohen’s tenure. New York made the playoffs in 2022, then missed in 2023 with an underperforming group that led to the unloading of star pitchers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer at the trade deadline.

Disappointment returned last season after the Mets lost in six games to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 NLCS. New York’s most recent World Series title came in 1986.

“About not winning? Yeah, I’m annoyed,” Cohen said. “I’m absolutely annoyed. Every year that goes by, I get frustrated. I’m really committed to this team. I know how much the fans care. I know we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of 1986, and that’s just too long.”

Looming labor situation

Asked about the big-spending Dodgers, Cohen said he had no problem with their approach, while drawing laughter from reporters by saying the billionaire hedge-fund manager could spend big, too.

Cohen also didn’t sound opposed to a salary cap, which figures to be the primary point of contention during collective bargaining talks that could jeopardize the 2027 season.

“Obviously, I’m listening to all the arguments,” Cohen said. “But I’ve always been a league-first owner. So I’m listening to all the sides and I haven’t made up my mind yet. We’ll see where it goes. Sometimes I put the league’s interests above my own interests.”

Tuckered out

Although the Mets pivoted with the signing of Bichette and the trade for Peralta, they thought they were going to land the biggest prize in free agency before four-time All-Star right fielder Kyle Tucker signed with those free-spending Dodgers.

“I’m competitive,” Cohen said. “When you’re actually making a bid and you decide you want that player, you don’t want to lose, like anything else. And then you get over it, and then you move on. It’s sort of like in my business. I have a bad trading day, all right, I move on to the next day, and then the next day’s better.”

More investment

The Mets are set to break ground on a player development complex at their spring training home in Port St. Lucie. The 55,000-square-foot facility will include locker space, a training room, therapy pools and a dining facility.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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