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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Major League Baseball’s move to slice two seconds off the pitch clock with runners on base is too much, too soon, according to players’ association head Tony Clark.

The clock is shortening this season to 18 seconds from 20 with men on base and will stay at 15 seconds with no one on.

“That’s a conversation that should have warranted a much longer dialogue than what we had,” Clark said Saturday. “We voiced those concerns, players voiced those concerns, and yet, the push through of the change to the pitch clock still happened.”

MLB introduced a new rules package last season — including a pitch clock and bigger bases — that cut average game times by 24 minutes to 2 hours, 40 minutes, the quickest games have been played since 1984. The clock, adopted over the objection of player representatives on the competition committee, was considered a huge success, and the sport drew more than 70 million fans to ballparks for the first time since 2017.

“We just had the biggest adjustment this league has ever seen in regards to length of game and how the game was affected by including a clock,” Clark said. “Rather than give us another year to adjust and adapt to it, why are we adjusting again, and what are the ramifications going to be?”

Clark’s main concern is that pitchers have less time between pitches to recover, particularly when maximum effort and pitch velocity are so important.

“When fatigue happens, you’re more susceptible to injury,” Clark said. “We’re seeing a lot of injuries, and we’re seeing them in a way that simply can’t remove the question of whether or not shortening recovery time is in anyone’s best interest.”

FREE AGENCY

There are several high-profile free agents who remain available, including two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, former MVP Cody Bellinger, six-time All-Star J.D. Martinez and four-time Gold Glove third baseman Matt Chapman.

“If teams want to improve, there are a lot of players across the spectrum who can help teams finish as the last team,” Clark said.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said this month that the league would prefer a free agent signing period, ideally in December, that ended with a deadline. An MLB proposal in 2019 was dismissed by the union.

Clark, who played in the majors from 1995 to 2009, prefers the flexibility of the current rules, which place no deadlines on reaching free agent deals.

“A deadline, in all likelihood, is going to do more damage to players in those conversations than the other way around,” Clark said.

A’S SITUATION

The Oakland Athletics still don’t know where they are playing after the 2024 season as the franchise prepares for a planned move to Las Vegas.

The A’s have met with Oakland city officials about extending the club’s lease beyond 2024, but nothing is certain. A new ballpark in Las Vegas is not expected to be ready until 2028.

Options include staying at the Coliseum or playing in another city, like Sacramento or Salt Lake City.

“I’ve been pretty consistent in that it needed to happen yesterday,” Clark said. “The players on those teams, the fans in that market, and potentially in other markets, the longer this conversation goes on, the more detrimental in the grand scheme of things.

“Whether it’s Sacramento, whether it’s Salt Lake, whether it’s somewhere else, decisions need to be made sooner rather than later.”

2028 OLYMPICS

Clark said many MLB players are excited about the prospect of playing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics but that the “devil is in the proverbial details” when it comes to making it happen.

Several stars, including Bryce Harper, have expressed a desire to play in Los Angeles.

“There’s a lot of dialogue there,” Clark said. “We haven’t received anything formally. We’ve had conversations with some folks. But the players that we’ve heard from — at least as of right now — are intrigued by the idea.”

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Reds’ Miley denies wrongdoing in Skaggs case

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Reds' Miley denies wrongdoing in Skaggs case

Cincinnati Reds left-hander Wade Miley said Friday that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing, one day after reports stated a deposition from a lawsuit alleged he supplied Tyler Skaggs with drugs when both players were with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The deposition is part of a motion for summary judgment filed by the Los Angeles Angels, requesting a lawsuit from the Skaggs family be dismissed.

The deposition from Ryan Hamill, Skaggs’ agent, contains testimony that he was concerned in 2013 about Skaggs’ drug use. Hamill said he and Skaggs’ family confronted Skaggs about his drug use. Skaggs was then in his second season as a teammate of Miley with the Diamondbacks.

“He came clean,” Hamill testified. “He said he had been using — I believe it was Percocets — and he said he got them through Wade Miley.”

Skaggs died on July 1, 2019, at age 27 in a Dallas-area hotel. The autopsy found fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system.

Miley briefly addressed the issue before Friday’s road game against the Detroit Tigers.

“I hate what happened to Tyler, it sucks. My thoughts are with his family and his friends,” Miley said. “But I’m not going to sit here and talk about things that someone might have said about me or whatnot. I was never a witness for any of this. I was never accused of any wrongdoing.”

Former Angels communications director Eric Kay is serving a 22-year prison sentence in Texas after being found guilty on two charges of providing drugs related on Skaggs’ overdose.

The Athletic reported that the criminal proceedings against Kay included a recorded phone conversation in which Kay told his mother that Miley was a drug source to Skaggs.

Asked if Major League Baseball has contacted him regarding the allegations, Miley said, “I’d rather just focus on the Cincinnati Reds right now and baseball and what I have to do moving forward. I’ve got to get ready for a game on Sunday.”

Miley was mentioned in Kay’s criminal case, but he was never charged with a crime.

Skaggs was traded to the Angels after the 2013 season. He went 28-38 with a 4.41 ERA in 96 career starts.

Miley, 38, is with his eighth big league team and attempting to revive his career after Tommy John surgery in 2024.

Miley has a career 109-99 mark with a 4.09 ERA in 319 games (311 starts) since making his major league debut in 2011. This is his second go-round with the Reds. He was with the team in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, going 12-10 with a 3.55 ERA in 177⅓ innings over 34 starts (32 innings).

The Skaggs family is suing the Angels, contending that high-level team officials, as well as other employees, knew Kay was a drug user and should have known he was Skaggs’ source.

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Belmont Stakes to remain at Saratoga in 2026

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Belmont Stakes to remain at Saratoga in 2026

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — The Belmont Stakes is set to be run at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York for a third consecutive year in 2026.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York Racing Association announced Friday that it will be the third and last time the Triple Crown finale is held there before returning to Belmont Park on Long Island in 2027.

“Saratoga has served our fans and stakeholders extremely well as the temporary home of the Belmont Stakes during the construction of a new Belmont Park on Long Island,” NYRA president and CEO David O’Rourke said. “Belmont Park will always be the home of the Belmont Stakes and we look forward to its return to the newly reimagined Belmont in 2027.”

It was confirmation of an expected extension of the race’s stay at Saratoga while Belmont Park undergoes nearly a half-billion dollar renovation project. It is on track to reopen in September 2026, with the Breeders’ Cup returning to New York at Belmont Park in the fall of 2027.

The Belmont will again be run at 1 1/4 miles instead of its traditional 1-1/2 mile distance that has been known as the “test of the champion.” That has been the case the past two years, as well, because of the configuration of the main dirt track.

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Rays get former top prospect Whitley from Astros

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Rays get former top prospect Whitley from Astros

The Tampa Bay Rays acquired right-hander Forrest Whitley from the Houston Astros in exchange for cash considerations Friday.

Whitley, once a top-10 prospect in baseball, was designated for assignment by the Astros on Sunday.

Houston selected him with the No. 17 pick of the 2016 MLB draft out of high school in San Antonio and gave him a $3.148 million signing bonus, but he failed to reach expectations.

Now 27, he didn’t debut in Houston until the 2024 season and made three relief appearances, giving up no earned runs in 3⅓ innings.

This season, Whitley appeared in five games for Houston, with opponents scoring 10 earned runs on nine hits and six walks in 7⅓ innings. He has no decisions with a 12.27 ERA.

In 117 minor league appearances (65 starts) he had a 17-20 record with a 4.75 ERA over 306⅔ innings. He struck out 421 batters and walked 160.

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