Author: alaskaadmin

Craig Breslow, the Red Sox chief baseball officer, is having a lot of conversations about how his front office will pilot MLB’s Aug. 3 trade deadline. But it seems like those discussions are not reflecting their reality. The Red Sox (27-37) are last in the American League East, 11 ½ games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays, and 4 ½ games out of a Wild Card spot with six teams in front of them. They’re not a serious threat to win the World Series. They have several trade chips whose value may never be higher. Yet they’re still masquerading as potential playoff contenders. “It’s been true industry-wide,” Breslow said in New York over the weekend about how he would characterize trade talks. “There are a lot of teams that probably feel pretty similarly to us, which is to say that they have confidence in their rosters, they know they’re not playing as well as they’re capable of, and really nobody has put the postseason out of reach. So there are a bunch of teams that are in it right now that are thinking along the same lines as we are.” The Red Sox are fooling themselves if they believe buying instead of selling is the best move for their immediate and future success. Their offense has hit the fewest home runs (49) in Major League Baseball. Boston’s .376 slugging percentage and 90 wRC+ are both ranked 26th in the majors. ESPN reported this week that the Red Sox are aggressively looking to add a right-handed bat, and that they’re even willing to take on money. (That’s puzzling, considering they had an opportunity to spend more money on an impact bat in the offseason, but more on that later.) The larger point is that their offensive problems won’t be solved by simply acquiring a power hitter at the deadline. The Red Sox don’t walk much (7.8%, ranked 27th in MLB), they don’t slug (.131 ISO, 29th in MLB), they hit a ton of weak ground balls (44.1% GB rate, 5th in MLB), and they’ve scored the second-fewest runs in baseball (250) behind only the Padres. First baseman Willson Contreras is supplying all the power in the lineup, and the Red Sox could use an extra slugger, to be sure. But that’s not going to help them play better on the margins. The lineup is poorly constructed. One way to overcome that is to change their approach at the plate, emphasize small-ball, steal bases, and execute sacrifice flies and bunts. But looking at the rest of the mediocre field, and understanding that 10 of 15 AL teams are playing sub-.500 baseball, is a trap. The danger of a weak playoff race is that the Red Sox are convincing themselves that they’re one hot streak away. “We need to run our own race,” Breslow said when asked whether the weak state of the AL could drive the Red Sox to be buyers. “We need to make sure that we get our house in order. We need to play better. We need to win more games. At that point, we can figure out where we are relative to the league. But the first thing is we need to build on the progress that we’ve seen offensively over the last month. And then make sure that we’re pitching consistently well. We need to win games for any of this to happen.” The reality is, the Red Sox actually have a handful of compelling players they could be shopping in the weeks leading up to the deadline. Closer Aroldis Chapman is, by far, Boston’s most attractive trade chip. At 38 years old, Chapman has a 0.46 ERA and 33.8% strikeout rate across 20 games (13 saves) and 19 ⅔ innings. Several teams are desperate for an elite closer with proven postseason experience, who’s also a rental on a one-year deal. Chapman could net the Red Sox a top-100 prospect or multiple upper-minors prospects. It’s a no-brainer to deal him. Veteran right-hander Sonny Gray is another logical candidate to dangle in front of contenders. He’s 7-1 with a 3.20 ERA in 11 starts and 56 ⅓ innings pitched. His fastball has looked elite this season, and he’s improved on his hard-hit rate, with 37% being his lowest since 2021. Contenders always want starters at the deadline, and Gray’s postseason experience and reliable innings make him an attractive asset. The Red Sox could get a near-MLB ready arm or mid-tier prospects for Gray. Boston should also be entertaining blockbuster deals for outfielder Jarren Duran, who has started to heat up at the plate. After hitting .170 with a .481 OPS and one home run in 26 games in April, Duran hit .261 with a .879 OPS and nine home runs in 27 games in May. Rival executives might be weary of his attitude in the clubhouse after being involved in controversial off-field altercations and emotional reactions. But he’s still a fascinating player for his speed, defense and left-handed bat, with two more years of team control. Boston would likely need an overwhelming offer to move him. Right-handed reliever Garrett Whitlock and designated hitter Masataka Yoshida could also join those three players on the trade block. With so many valuable candidates, the Red Sox should be using the deadline to shore up prospects and MLB-ready players. They can accelerate their 2027 window, rather than chasing an 84-win season that might be good enough to sneak into the playoffs, because that’s how weak the AL is. But the team doesn’t show much promise beyond an early October exit. That being said, Red Sox fans are right to doubt whether Breslow can engineer the best returns for the attractive pieces he has, and how he’ll handle those hauls. We’re approaching the one-year anniversary of Breslow’s infamous Rafael Devers trade, and it sure looks like the San Francisco Giants won the deal. Of course, the Giants gave up a lot of players and are paying Devers over $31 million per year. And even though Devers has not yet panned out the way the Giants had hoped, he posted a .949 OPS in May, he still owns a .847 career OPS, and they have plenty of time to figure it out together. The Red Sox, meanwhile, botched the Devers trade the minute they let third baseman Alex Bregman sign with the Cubs over this past offseason. Devers entered 2025 having played seven seasons at third base in Boston. But the Red Sox had just signed Bregman to play third base, and Breslow and company were not up front with Devers about switching positions. So they traded him to San Francisco. Entering 2026, Bregman wanted to stay in Boston. But the Red Sox were unwilling to sign him due to disagreements over Bregman’s requests: a long-term contract with a no-trade clause and less deferred money. Then, the Red Sox traded away most of Devers’ return package, which consisted of four players. Since they were counting on Bregman to be their long-term solution at third base when they made the decision to trade Devers, and then Bregman signed with the Cubs, they were caught with their tail between their legs entering 2026 without a third baseman. So in February, they traded away one of the best return pieces from the Devers’ haul, left-hander Kyle Harrison, to Milwaukee for Caleb Durbin, Andruw Monasterio, and Anthony Seigler. Durbin, who was brought in as their primary third baseman, has an OPS+ of 55. Monasterio is also playing at replacement level, with a 0.2 WAR in 35 games. Harrison, meanwhile, has turned into an elite pitcher for the Brewers. His 2.72 ERA is ranked 12th-best among NL starters who have pitched at least 50 innings this year. So Breslow’s track record to this point should be enough for Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy to appoint a different front-office leader ahead of another important trade deadline. But according to a recent report from the Boston Globe, the Red Sox are not considering firing Breslow. In his third season, Breslow will continue to be the man in charge amid the team’s chaotic and disappointing year. The organization has regressed since qualifying for the postseason last year. On April 25, the Red Sox fired manager Alex Cora and six of his coaches. They were 10-17 at the time, and are 17-20 since interim manager Chad Tracy took over. The Red Sox have roughly seven weeks to find consistency in the win column, but it shouldn’t take that long to reach a decision. Sell.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

College football has a commissioner, and his name is Local Judge. The system we’ve seen built around college football in the 21st century won’t break because of the money, but because we allowed a player to gamble on the sport without the penalty of banishment. This system won’t break because one judge in the next county over made one ruling, but because college football’s most powerful individuals will not come to an agreement that protects and betters the sport they claim to love. Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby was granted a temporary injunction on Monday, allowing him to play for the Red Raiders this fall, despite being declared ineligible by the NCAA for betting on college sports, including bets made on his own team while at Indiana. So, this begs the question: where do we go now if we can’t protect the integrity of competition? That is the question facing many administrators, coaches and fans after the ruling came in from Judge Ken Curry, who is from Fort Worth, Texas, and was brought to Lubbock County for this case. The temporary restraining order prevents the NCAA from being able to block Sorsby’s eligibility for what will be his final collegiate season. Sorsby acknowledged placing thousands of bets over the past four years during his time at Indiana, Cincinnati and now Texas Tech, which have totaled upwards of $90,000, a clear violation of NCAA rules. Curry also unilaterally suspended Sorsby for the first two games of Texas Tech’s 2026 season against “Ain’t Played Nobody Conference” members Abilene Christian and Oregon State. This last stipulation in Curry’s ruling brings back around a case Sorsby’s attorney, Jeffrey Kessler, cited as evidence of the NCAA’s inconsistency in enforcing its gambling bylaws: Former Indiana volleyball assistant coach Brett Agne was found to have made more than 700 bets of more than $327,000 in five months — including 27 on IU football and men’s basketball. Agne received a two-year show cause order and a 10-game suspension but, importantly, no outright ban from coaching NCAA sports. Agne no longer coaches at Indiana and was recently coaching professional volleyball for the Indy Ignite, a women’s professional indoor volleyball team that competes in Major League Volleyball (MLV). The NCAA believed Sorsby’s actions warranted permanent ineligibility from playing college football, and according to some athletic directors and coaches, there simply shouldn’t be any exception to that rule. “We’re too f—ing greedy right now,” a Big 12 assistant coach told me. “We’re out for ourselves. Yeah, it goes without saying we want their kid [Sorsby] to be OK, but what about the whole doggone sport? No one wants the rules to apply to them, and they want the screws turned to everybody else.” Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks and Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen have each publicly said they will not schedule the Red Raiders in non-conference matchups. Big Ten athletic directors are expected to meet to discuss a league-wide mandate that effectively boycotts scheduling Texas Tech in their non-conference affairs. Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor is also saying the quiet part out loud. “We’ve had some serious conversation about it,” Taylor told Yahoo Sports. “There is still a lot to be discussed. We aren’t scheduled to play them this year, but it’s something we have to look at from a college football perspective. This is greater than the Big 12.” It’s greater than college football, too. American sport is built on the belief that competition is fair. It’s the reason that eight members of the 1919 Black Sox team received the harshest treatment imaginable for fixing games. It’s the reason Pete Rose’s bust will never see the inside of the Baseball Hall of Fame after betting on the sport. The integrity of the sport matters more than any institution, team or player. We must believe the game is, without question, being played to win, not to cover a spread or feast on long odds for the sake of money made. On Monday, a Texas judge unknown to most college football fans issued a ruling that could prove more consequential than any controversy the sport has faced this offseason. As a local judge, though, he got to play college football commissioner for a day. What’s worse is that another judge in another county will eventually make the next decision, because leaders still cannot agree on how to govern the sport and stop the evil that is greed from continuing to pillage our otherwise thriving village that is college football. Curry is hardly the first instance of this. In the past four months alone, judges in Tennessee, Mississippi and Oklahoma have been asked to rule on college football eligibility cases. Former Tennessee quarterback Joey Aguilar sued for an extra year of eligibility, arguing his junior college seasons should not count toward his NCAA clock. A chancellor in Tennessee disagreed. Had he won his case, he was likely to make seven figures in NIL and revenue-sharing at Tennessee. A Mississippi judge reached the opposite conclusion with Ole Miss QB Trinidad Chambliss, granting the soon-to-be 24-year-old another year of eligibility. Then in April, Oklahoma linebacker Owen Heinecke secured an injunction allowing him to play the 2026 season despite already participating in the NFL Scouting Combine. Sorsby going in front of a local judge and being granted a temporary restraining order against the NCAA that allows him to play college football is the latest instance of eligibility disputes being decided in courtrooms. This offseason has shown us that college football not only lacks the kind of enforcement it wants, but the enforcement it deserves.And yes, it’s only June.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports