‘Off-kilter’ MSU routed in 1st game without Tucker
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Tom VanHaaren, ESPN Staff Writer
In its first game since head coach Mel Tucker was suspended, Michigan State suffered a devastating 41-7 loss at home to Washington.
Interim head coach Harlon Barnett took over on Sunday after Tucker was suspended amid an ongoing investigation into claims that he sexually harassed sexual assault awareness speaker Brenda Tracy.
Barnett said the suspension was abrupt and the week was different than what anyone in the program has had to deal with, but he believes that the team did everything right in moving forward to focus on the game against Washington.
“There were a lot of different things that came about, but it’s gonna all settle down this week,” Barnett told reporters after the game. “I got some things in my mind I want to do as far as me coaching and try to normalize us again. Whereas this past week we were off kilter a little bit.”
The Spartans defense gave up 713 yards of offense to Washington, a record for any Michigan State team. Barnett said he didn’t realize it was a record, but he’s going to remember it and remember everything that took place in this game without excuses for what distractions may or may not have been out there this week for his team.
He recognized the difficulty of the week, but believed his team prepared as best they could for a strong opponent in Washington. He didn’t want to focus much on the past or what had happened with Tucker, but rather how he can galvanize the team moving forward and get back some normalcy for the players on the team.
“We are a week away from what happened,” Barnett said. “So, those guys, that’s out of their system, we played the game, played a really great team. And so, I think they’re ready to go and understand that all of our goals are still in front of us, so that’s a good thing.”
Senior offensive lineman J.D. Duplain said the players bought in to Barnett, who has been with the Michigan State program for a total of 15 seasons throughout his career, and there was no hesitation that they would trust him the rest of the way.
“Our team bought in to Coach Barnett, we trust him fully,” Duplain said. “We had good unity going into this weekend, guys were bought in. I think everyone was mission focused, we just made too many mistakes and we’re going to go back and watch film, we’re going to learn from it because the best teams, they learn from games like this.”
Senior receiver Tre Mosley echoed Duplain, saying the players were bought in and did what they could to limit distractions without their head coach. Mosley also echoed Barnett’s sentiment that they don’t want to focus on the past and that they’re ready to move forward as a team and with Barnett at the helm.
“The first day when it came out, it was a shock to everyone, but after that we did a great job moving on because we had an opponent to get ready for,” Mosley said. “We couldn’t live in the past or start to cry, because Washington didn’t care what was going on with us in our program. So, we had to go out there and prepare for this game.”
Despite the loss, Duplain and Mosley both said the team is eager to get back to work and try to fix the issues as the team is now 2-1 on the season with Maryland next on the schedule.
With or without Tucker, Michigan State is moving forward and despite being thrust into the role, Barnett is ready to take the head coaching duties head on now that he has more time to prepare the team for its next opponent.
“There are ups and downs, there are valleys you hit as well as the mountain tops,” Barnett said. “This is a valley moment. The good thing about it is you can always come back from a valley moment if you truly believe and trust and then start to work on the things that need to be worked on.
“So, valley moment right now, but we’ll get back up to the mountain.”
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
The San Diego Padres have acquired second baseman Luis Arraez in a trade with the Miami Marlins for reliever Woo-Suk Go and prospects Dillon Head, Jakob Marsee and Nathan Martorella, the teams announced Saturday.
The Padres also received nearly $7.9 million in cash considerations, leaving them responsible only for the major league minimum salary for Arraez.
The transaction represents the first significant move for the Marlins since Peter Bendix took over as the team’s president of baseball operations in November after Kim Ng departed. It marks the beginning of the Marlins’ teardown of an underachieving roster that has produced the third-worst record in the majors at 9-25 with a minus-61 run differential after reaching the postseason in 2023.
On the other side, it’s another aggressive deal for A.J. Preller, the leader of the Padres’ front office since 2014. Arraez, one of the sport’s best contact hitters, will give the Padres a needed left-handed-hitting weapon after Juan Soto was sent to the New York Yankees in December. San Diego is 17-18 with a plus-6 run differential.
“It’s really amazing — that guy is a baller,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said about Arraez after the Padres’ win Friday night. “He’s probably the closest to Tony Gwynn right now, so looking forward to seeing him in our lineup. … The guy’s a pure hitter, and I can’t wait for him to help us.”
Miami is paying San Diego $7,898,602 of the $8,491,398 remaining for the final 149 days of Arraez’s $10.6 million salary. That left his cost to the Padres at $592,796 — exactly a prorated share of the $740,000 minimum.
Arraez, 27, was the Marlins’ best player, an All-Star and batting champion each of the past two seasons. This season, he is batting .299 with a .719 OPS in 33 games, all started at second base. He also has extensive experience at first base.
“When a guy like that is taken out of the lineup or potentially traded, you feel it, because he’s such a good kid and one of the leaders in that clubhouse,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said, “so there’s definitely a shock value.”
Arraez is expected to start games as the Padres’ designated hitter, but the club plans to cycle through the DH spot. Jake Cronenworth, Xander Bogaerts and Manny Machado could also get at-bats there. Bogaerts has been the club’s starting second baseman.
Go spent seven seasons in the Korean Baseball Organization before signing a two-year deal with a mutual option worth $4.5 million guaranteed during the offseason. The 25-year-old right-hander appeared in 10 games for Double-A San Antonio, posting a 4.38 ERA across 12⅓ innings after failing to make the Padres’ bullpen out of spring training.
Head was the Padres’ first-round pick (25th overall) last year out of high school. The 19-year-old center fielder is batting .237 with a .683 OPS and three stolen bases in 21 games in low-Class A.
Martorella is batting .294 with an .820 OPS in 23 games in San Antonio. The Padres selected the 23-year-old first baseman in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. Marsee, a 22-year-old outfielder, has spent the season in San Antonio batting .185 with two home runs. He was a sixth-round pick in 2022 out of Central Michigan.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole threw off a mound Saturday morning for the first time since being shut down in mid-March, checking off another box in his road back from an elbow injury.
Cole took the mound in the Yankees’ bullpen at 10:40 a.m., hours before New York took on the Detroit Tigers at Yankee Stadium. He said he threw 15 pitches, 13 for strikes and all fastballs. He said the pitches averaged 89 mph.
“It was exciting,” Cole said. “This was a good day for me. I was fired up.”
Cole, 33, started the season on the 60-day injured list after being diagnosed with nerve irritation and edema in his pitching elbow following one spring training outing. The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner is eligible to come off the injured list May 27, but the Yankees have declined to share a timetable for Cole’s return.
On a scale from 1 to 10 — 10 being game ready — Cole reported he is “somewhere between 1 and 5.” He said how his body responds over the next 48 hours will decide when he throws off a mound again.
Cole’s injury was a significant blow to a club with championship-or-bust aspirations, but the Yankees’ starting rotation has been one of the best in the majors and a primary reason for the team’s 21-13 start. The rotation’s 3.43 ERA through Friday ranked ninth in the majors. Its 183⅔ innings pitched ranked fourth.
Luis Gil, Cole’s rotation replacement, logged the best start of his young career Wednesday, holding the explosive Baltimore Orioles scoreless on two hits over a career-high 6⅓ innings. Gil, 25, has recorded a 3.19 ERA in 31 innings across six starts despite leading the American League with 20 walks.
Earlier this week, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said neither the team’s nor the rotation’s success will impact Cole’s timeline. Asked whether the overall success has made his absence more “palatable,” Cole was unsure.
“I don’t really have anything unpalatable to compare it to,” Cole said. “You know what I’m saying? So I’m just kind of like, just like everybody else, just glad we’re playing well.”
Also on Saturday, the Yankees reinstated infielder Jon Berti from the 10-day injured list and designated former first-round pick Taylor Trammell for assignment.
Berti, 34, has been out of the Yankees’ lineup since April 10 with a left groin strain. The Yankees had selected Trammell off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers on April 18, and he collected 1 hit, 1 walk and 2 runs in five games with New York.
Field Level Media contributed to this report.
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