Rob

Manfred

The trade deadline has traditionally been on July 31, but was moved to July 30 last year after being on August 1 back in 2023. The move to Thursday makes a ton of sense since it’s usually lightest schedule of games during a typical week.

Manfred is said to be considering a petition filed in January by Rose’s family after he met with Rose’s oldest daughter in December. The commissioner previously rejected a similar petition after meeting with Rose himself in 2015. Rose, who passed away at the age of 83 in September of 2024, is MLB’s all-time hit leader, but was banned for life by then-commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti in 1989.

The robot umpires are finally here. Rogers adds that the league is testing out the system this spring in roughly 60 percent of Grapefruit and Cactus League contests for the first time after years of experimenting with ABS in the minor leagues. MLB isn’t expected to implement ABS in regular season contests until at least 2026. Each team will be given two challenges per game, and will retain successful challenges, while only the batter, catcher or pitcher can initiate a challenge. It’s an interesting wrinkle to monitor during spring training contests, but won’t have a tangible fantasy baseball impact for at least another year.

The Athletics will play at Triple-A Sutter Health Park in Sacramento for the next three seasons while their new home in Las Vegas is under construction. It’s a definite upgrade from a park factors standpoint for the club’s sluggers as their temporary minor-league home is a much friendlier offensive environment than Oakland Coliseum.

Considering baseball’s ratings are up across the board over the last two seasons, it would be devastating for the sport to endure another lockout. However, not everybody seems to agree, as commissioner Rob Manfred seemed to suggest that lockouts should be considered normal. “In a bizarre way, it’s actually a positive,” he said last month. “The great thing about offseason lockouts is the leverage that exists gets applied between the bargaining parties.” Meanwhile, MLBPA executive director Tony Clark has strongly expressed the opposite opinion: “Players know from first-hand experience that a lockout is neither routine nor positive...It’s a weapon, plain and simple, implemented to pressure players and their families by taking away a player’s ability to work.” The MLBPA has said in the past that they will not accept a salary cap, so if the owners do decide that it’s something they all agree on to address the revenue disparity between smaller- and larger-market teams, we could be looking at another shutdown. The cap isn’t the only issue on the table as Drellich said, “Manfred wants to change the way the league handles TV distribution...he wants to significantly alter revenue sharing, the way teams share money amongst themselves. Those are difficult issues politically amongst clubs, one that a cap could help smooth over.”

The league’s decision to terminate Hoberg was upheld following an appeal process in accordance with the league’s collective bargaining agreement. Hoberg denied betting on baseball and a league investigation found no evidence that he placed bets on games or took any action to manipulate the outcome of any games. The report details that Hoberg, who had been a full-time umpire since 2017, shared legal sports betting accounts with a friend who placed bets on baseball and impeded a subsequent investigation by deleting text messages between the two parties.

The horrible rumor that began circulating last night proved true. Henderson, a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2009 and probably the greatest leadoff hitter of all-time, spent 25 seasons in majors, leading his league in steals 12 times, runs five times and walks four times. He also topped the AL in OBP and OPS while winning MVP honors in 1990. 21 years after retiring, he remains the all-time major league leader in stolen bases (1,406) and runs scored (2,295), as well as the single-season steals leader (130 in 1982). He would have turned 66 on Christmas.

“I think we will have a spring training ABS test that will provide a meaningful opportunity for all major league players to see what the challenge system will look like,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said at the owners’ meeting on Wednesday. Triple-A stadiums used ABS in 2024 for the second straight season, but the league has suggested they will continue to look for ways to improve the technology before potentially introducing it during MLB games. “I would be interested in having it in ‘26,” Manfred said. If robot umpires were going to be introduced in MLB games, there would need to be an agreement reached with the Major League Baseball Umpires Association, whose collective bargaining agreement expires on December 1.

Rose, MLB’s all-time hits leader at 4,256, played for the Reds, Phillies and Expos from 1963-86, batting .303 with 160 homers. Along with being The Hit King, he’s MLB’s leader in plate appearances (15,890) and games played (3,563), and he was the NL MVP in 1973. After his playing career ended, he accepted a permanent place on MLB’s ineligible list after being accused of betting on baseball during his time as a manager, including games in which his team played.

It’s about time. The specially designed All-Star jerseys have drawn a lot of ire from fans over the last few years and have not been major hits with sales either, which likely has a lot to do with this decision. Regardless, it won’t be anything for fans to worry about moving forward.