7:00 AM ET Earlier in the offseason, I ranked the top 100 MLB prospects and all 30 farm systems heading into the 2022 season. Now it’s time to go deeper with my team-by-team rankings, starting with the National League followed by the American League lists later this week. A quick refresher on a key term
MLB
10:30 PM ET ESPN News Services PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — In his first start since last summer, New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom had some butterflies during his Grapefruit League debut. But he certainly looked healthy. “I was nervous, to be honest with you,” deGrom said after firing two innings of one-hit ball Tuesday
8:00 AM ET Ryan Hockensmith JASON VASS IS WEARING a Ken Griffey Jr. sweatshirt and a Ken Griffey Jr. hat when he opens the front door. He motions to come in and then points toward the bottom of the front stairs, and the official tour of one of the world’s largest, life-changing collections of sports
7:00 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” With nearly all of the top MLB free agents signed, the clearest takeaway from this winter is that not even a 99-day lockout could preclude the most lucrative offseason in baseball history.
7:59 PM ET Associated Press FORT MYERS, Fla. — Carlos Correa met his new Minnesota teammates on Monday morning — and wasted no time making new friends. Two days after agreeing to a deal that makes him the highest-paid infielder in baseball, Correa walked into the Twins clubhouse and introduced himself to almost everyone inside.
2:24 PM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” Infielder Ryan McMahon and the Colorado Rockies agreed on a six-year, $70 million contract extension Monday, capping a week of spending in which the team guaranteed more than a quarter-billion dollars in
7:00 AM ET The universal designated hitter is here. A style of baseball that has been a near constant in this nation since 1876 is about to ease into quasi-extinction, save for a few Shohei Ohtani starts on the mound and, perhaps, a smattering of pinch-hit appearances (Madison Bumgarner, Zack Greinke) or pinch-running maneuvers. It’s
2:22 PM ET 1 Related The concern in the fantasy baseball world with All-Star shortstop Trevor Story leaving the Colorado Rockies and surprisingly signing with the Boston Red Sox is obvious. He no longer gets to play half his games in altitude at Denver’s Coors Field. Boston’s Fenway Park is still a friendly place to
1:37 PM ET Seems as if everybody in baseball was working through the weekend. Starting late Friday night, the last few big dominoes in this year’s free-agent market fell in a final sprint, with Nick Castellanos landing with the Phillies, Carlos Correa stunningly signing with the Twins and, finally, the last shortstop standing, Trevor Story
12:07 AM ET It will certainly look strange the first time Kenley Jansen faces Freddie Freeman in a crucial moment late in a close game, Jansen in an Atlanta Braves uniform, Freeman in a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform, symbols of this entire twisted offseason. Jansen debuted for the Dodgers on July 24, 2010 — 38
7:00 AM ET The Philadelphia Phillies, masterminded by longtime MLB roster-building guru Dave Dombrowski, nabbed one of the few impact bats left on the free-agent market late Friday night. Philadelphia agreed to a five-year, $100 million contract with righty-masher Nick Castellanos, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. There is no doubt that
11:10 AM ET Talk about March madness. Front offices dream of executing the perfect offseason plan, but those aspirations rarely come to fruition because of the complexities of free agency and trades and the need to adjust on the fly. With the signing of shortstop Carlos Correa, this year’s top free agent, to a three-year,
2:07 AM ET Shortstop Carlos Correa and the Minnesota Twins are in agreement on a three-year, $105.3 million contract that includes opt-outs after the first two seasons, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Correa’s deal will pay him $35.1 million in each of the three years, sources said. Correa, 27, is coming off perhaps his
1:43 PM ET THE SPLIT OF Freddie Freeman and the Atlanta Braves sent shock waves through the industry: It felt like the divorce of a seemingly happy couple, bringing to an end more than a decade of apparent joy and contentment. Freeman, the 2020 NL MVP, was a beloved favorite of Atlanta fans. For years,
12:45 PM ET Freddie Freeman begins his Los Angeles Dodgers career when he reports to spring training Friday, officially making the improbable possible. A Dodgers team that won 106 games in 2021 and led the National League in runs adds a player who hit .300 with 31 home runs. “On paper, it’s a great ballclub,
6:21 PM ET ESPN News Services NEW YORK — Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer will miss the start of the season after his administrative leave was extended through April 16 on Thursday by Major League Baseball and the players’ association. He was placed on seven days’ paid leave last July 2 under the union
8:04 PM ET Hold on, let me readjust my projections … nope, the Colorado Rockies still aren’t the favorites to win the National League West. It’s been a wild, sometimes bumpy ride for Kris Bryant to free agency — one that includes an MVP award and a World Series title in his sophomore season in
1:44 AM ET It’s official. Freddie Freeman is not returning to the Atlanta Braves. We knew this, even before ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan reported that Freeman had agreed to a six-year, $162 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers late Wednesday night. We knew this, in part, because the Braves had already acquired