MLB investigating Mets, Yankees on Judge talks
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Jeff PassanESPN
Major League Baseball is investigating whether the New York Mets and New York Yankees violated the collective bargaining agreement after a story explaining the Mets’ hesitancy to pursue Yankees star free agent Aaron Judge prompted the MLB Players Association to request an inquiry.
Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed the investigation Thursday after The Athletic first reported on it Wednesday night.
The investigation, sources confirmed, centers on a paragraph in a story on the website of the Mets’ television station, SNY, which discusses the “mutually respectful relationship” between Mets owner Steve Cohen and Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner and how they “do not expect to upend that with a high-profile bidding war” for Judge.
The union asked MLB to investigate communications between Cohen, who purchased the Mets in 2020, and Steinbrenner, whose father, George, bought the Yankees in 1973, sources said. The league plans to request records of phone calls, texts and emails between the two, according to sources.
Manfred, when asked Thursday about the reported investigation, told reporters he is “absolutely confident that the clubs behaved in a way that was consistent with the [CBA].”
“We will put ourselves in a position to demonstrate credibly to the MLBPA that this is not an issue,” Manfred said. “I’m sure that’s going to be the outcome. But obviously we understand the emotion that surrounds that word [collusion] and we’ll proceed accordingly.”
Similarly alarming to the union, sources said, were comments made by Houston Astros owner Jim Crane to league-run MLB.com, which after an interview with Crane wrote that he said free agent ace Justin Verlander “is seeking a deal similar to Max Scherzer, who signed a three-year, $130 million contract with the Mets a year ago.”
Nobody involved in the free agent process, according to past CBAs, “can make comments to the media about the value of an unsigned free agent, regardless of whether discussions have occurred.”
The MLBPA’s fear of collusion dates to the 1980s, when arbitrators ruled owners had created an information bank to suppress free agent salaries. Owners agreed to pay $280 million to players for three separate violations of the CBA.
Five years ago, the union considered filing a collusion grievance but declined to do so. The similarity of free agent offers in recent seasons left agents believing collusion still existed, but the lack of firm evidence kept the union from pursuing such a claim.
The last successful collusion case for players came in 2006, when MLB paid $12 million from claims in the 2002-03 offseason. Any successful collusion case would pay triple damages.
The union could file a grievance on behalf of Judge, but winning it would necessitate evidence that any communications between Cohen and Steinbrenner hindered his market — a difficult burden of proof to reach. Judge is expected to sign a deal for more than $300 million, with the Yankees and San Francisco Giants seen as his likeliest suitors.
The Mets, who ran a pre-luxury-tax-penalty payroll of nearly $288 million in 2022, currently have commitments nearing $230 million for 2023. Their co-ace with Scherzer, Jacob deGrom, is a free agent, as is center fielder Brandon Nimmo. The combined annual salaries of deGrom and Nimmo could approach $70 million. Signing Judge has not been a priority for the Mets since he turned down a $213.5 million contract extension offered by the Yankees this past spring training, according to the SNY story.
Astros general manager James Click left the organization last week after his contract expired and he rejected Crane’s one-year offer with a minimal raise. In his absence, Crane negotiated a free agent contract for reliever Rafael Montero and, according to sources, has taken an increasingly large role in baseball operations.
Crane told MLB.com he did not plan to hire a new GM until at least the new year.
In the most recent accessible CBA — the one negotiated in March remains in review by the parties and is not yet publicly available — an eight-point list of comments prohibited by owners and players includes: “Player X is seeking more than Player Y received.” In addition to suggesting Verlander is looking for a Scherzer-level deal, Crane told MLB.com that the 39-year-old right-hander is “looking at the [comparable player], which I think there’s only one or two.”
Proving collusion, between teams, via an information bank or through knowledge distributed by the media, can be challenging, although isolating specific individuals does help satisfy one portion of the CBA standard, which says: “A violation of this agreement will be established only if the grieving party identifies the specific individual at the Club, Commissioner’s Office, Players Association, or the specific player agent or player who was the source of the comment.”
ESPN’s Buster Olney contributed to this report.
Mitch Marner was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights — with an eight-year extension in place, sources told ESPN on Monday. Forward Nicolas Roy will go to the Toronto Maple Leafs in return.
Marner’s new deal has a $12 million average annual value, according to sources. Marner, 28, was the biggest name entering Tuesday’s NHL free agency, and multiple teams were hoping to make pitches. Marner was the NHL’s fifth-leading scorer last season with 102 points — 36 more than the next-closest free agent. The winger was drafted by his hometown Maple Leafs with the No. 4 pick in 2015.
The Maple Leafs knew that Marner was looking to test free agency at the end of the season. Over the past few days, Toronto worked with Vegas, which was Marner’s preferred destination, on a trade. The Maple Leafs held Marner’s rights until just before midnight Tuesday.
Had Marner become an unrestricted free agent, he couldn’t have signed a deal for more than seven years.
Marner finished a six-year deal that paid him $10.9 million annually. Marner, who played for Team Canada at Four Nations and likely will make their Olympic team, has 221 goals and 741 points in nine NHL seasons.
Toronto general manager Brad Treliving has stayed busy this week, re-signing John Tavares and Matthew Knies while trading for Utah forward Matias Maccelli earlier Monday.
Roy, 28, is a center who is entering Year 4 of a five-year deal that pays him $3 million annually.
Ahead of the Marner trade, the Golden Knights created cap space by sending defenseman Nicolas Hague to the Nashville Predators on Monday.
The deal makes Marner the highest-paid player on Vegas, however, center Jack Eichel ($10 million AAV) is entering the final year of his contract and is eligible to sign an extension this summer. The Golden Knights might not be done this offseason. According to sources, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is expected to go on long-term injured reserve, which could create more flexibility.
Sign-and-trades ahead of free agency are becoming a trend for NHL teams that know they will not sign their coveted player; last season, the Carolina Hurricanes dealt Jake Guentzel‘s rights to the Tampa Bay Lightning before he signed a seven-year deal.
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Ryan S. Clark
Hours after re-signing Aaron Ekblad, the Florida Panthers kept another integral piece of their Stanley Cup team by re-signing Brad Marchand to a six-year contract extension, sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.
Marchand’s deal has an average annual value of $5.25 million, sources told Kaplan.
Coming to terms with Ekblad on an eight-year extension worth $6.1 million annually left the Panthers with what PuckPedia projected to be $4.9 million in salary cap space.
There was the possibility that Marchand, 37, could have left the Panthers for a more lucrative offer elsewhere considering there were teams that had more than enough cap space to sign him.
Instead? Marchand, who arrived ahead of the NHL trade deadline from the Boston Bruins, appears as if he will remain in South Florida for the rest of his career.
Acquiring defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks and then adding Marchand were two decisions made by Panthers general manager Bill Zito with the intent of seeing the Panthers win a second consecutive Stanley Cup as part of a run that now has included three straight Cup Final appearances.
Marchand, who was a pending UFA entering the final day before free agency begins Tuesday, used the 2025 postseason to further cement why the Panthers and other teams throughout the NHL would still seek his services. He scored 10 goals and finished with 20 points in 23 playoff games.
For all the contributions he made, his greatest came during the Cup Final series against the Edmonton Oilers.
Marchand, who previously won a Cup with the Bruins back in 2011, opened the series with a goal in the first three games. That includes the two goals he scored in the Panthers’ 5-4 double-overtime win to tie the series with his second being the game-winning salvo.
He scored two more goals in a 5-2 win in Game 5 that allowed the Panthers to take a 3-1 series lead before returning to Sunrise, Florida, where they closed out the series with an emphatic 5-1 win.
Capturing a consecutive title created questions about whether the Panthers can win a third in a row. But there was the understanding that it might be difficult given there was only so much salary cap space to re-sign Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett, Ekblad and Marchand.
Knowing there was a chance they could lose one, or more, of them, Zito laid the foundation to retain the trio. He began by signing Bennett to an eight-year contract worth $8 million annually on June 27 before using Monday to sign Ekblad and Marchand.
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Ryan S. Clark
Ivan Provorov decided to forgo free agency, with the veteran defenseman finalizing a seven-year extension Monday worth $8.5 million annually to remain with the Columbus Blue Jackets, sources told ESPN, confirming earlier reports.
With free agency slated to start Tuesday, the 28-year-old was one of the most notable defenseman who had a chance to hit the open market.
Provorov’s decision to stay with the Blue Jackets comes shortly after it was reported that Aaron Ekblad also avoided free agency by agreeing to an eight-year extension to remain with the Florida Panthers. That now leaves players such as Vladislav Gavrikov, Ryan Lindgren, and Dmitry Orlov among the more prominent pending UFAs who could be available should they fail to strike a deal with their current teams.
Retaining Provorov comes months after a season that witnessed the Blue Jackets shed the title of being a rebuilding franchise to one that could challenge for the playoffs in 2025-26.
Four consecutive seasons without the playoffs created the idea that the 2024-25 campaign could be another challenging one. But a six-game winning streak in January saw Columbus post a 22-17-6 record to create the belief that a turnaround could be in order.
The Jackets closed the season with another six-game winning streak but fell short of the final Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot, which went to the Montreal Canadiens by two points.
Provorov would finish with seven goals and 33 points in 82 games while his 23 minutes, 21 seconds in average ice time was second behind Norris Trophy finalist Zach Werenski.
Re-signing Provorov comes in an offseason that saw the Blue Jackets also strengthen their bottom-six forward corps by adding Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche.
PuckPedia projects that the Blue Jackets now have $20.957 million in cap space ahead of free agency.
TSN was first to report news of Provorov’s decision.
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