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The reeling New York Mets are sending right-handed starter Christian Scott and third baseman Brett Baty to Triple-A, sources told ESPN on Friday, further changing their roster a day after designating reliever Jorge Lopez for assignment following his ejection and subsequent glove-fling into the stands.

Scott had been something of a bright spot for the 23-33 Mets, who are 15½ games behind first-place Philadelphia in the National League East. In five starts, the 24-year-old posted a 3.90 ERA and struck out 25 while walking six in 27⅔ innings. He is expected to return to the big leagues soon, as the stint in the minor leagues aligns with an upcoming stretch in which the Mets have extra days off due to their games in London and also helps keep Scott’s season-long innings total in check.

Baty, 24, was sent down for the second consecutive season after struggling to stand out given full-time reps at third. The Mets recently called up slugging prospect Mark Vientos, who has taken a share of Baty’s at-bats at third base and made the most of them, hitting .295/.354/.591 with three home runs in 14 games. On the season, Baty is hitting .225/.304/.325, and he was pinch hit for by Pete Alonso in Thursday’s 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks after going 0-for-1 with a walk and groundout into a double play.

The victory over defending NL champion Arizona was at least some solace in the wake of a nightmare stretch for the Mets. On Wednesday morning, they placed struggling closer Edwin Diaz on the injured list with a shoulder impingement. During the game, Alonso was hit in the hand by a pitch, though later imaging showed no injury. Then came the Lopez incident that led to the Mets removing him from the roster.

After being ejected by third-base umpire Ramon De Jesus for objecting to a check-swing call, Lopez chucked his glove into the stands. Following a 45-minute players-only meeting, Lopez said he did not regret his actions. He later posted on Instagram that he had been misquoted by some media that reported he said the Mets were “looking [like] the worst team probably in the whole f—ing MLB.” Lopez confirmed that he had said he was “looking [like] the worst teammate probably in the whole f—ing MLB.”

“I apologize to my teammates, coaches, fans and the front office,” Lopez said in a later Instagram post. “I felt I let them down [Wednesday], both on and off the field.”

The Mets designated Lopez for assignment on Thursday, giving them seven days to trade or release him. Lopez, who signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Mets in December, is tied for the second-most appearances in Major League Baseball with 28 and has a 3.76 ERA in 26⅓ innings pitched.

“We have standards here,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters. “When you’re not playing well, guys will show emotions. There’s frustrations, but there’s a fine line and [Wednesday] went over that line.”

The episode encapsulated the Mets’ season. While they entered 2024 aware of the difficulty in securing a playoff spot, they didn’t expect another $300 million mess like last season, when they went 75-87 after fielding the most expensive roster in MLB history. This incarnation of the Mets lost expected Opening Day starter Kodai Senga to an arm injury after dealing co-aces Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander at the trade deadline last year, saw young catcher Francisco Alvarez hit the injured list April 21 with a thumb injury, and went downhill from there.

The most recent stretch was the most brutal. Since starting 19-20, the Mets have gone 4-13 and been outscored 99-62. On the season, the Mets have allowed the 23rd-most runs in MLB and scored the 11th fewest.

Along with free agent signings Luis Severino and Sean Manaea, Scott had helped the Mets cobble together a rotation that had performed relatively well. Scott’s best start came in his debut, when he threw 6⅔ innings of one-run ball. He allowed three runs over six innings in his second start, four to the Miami Marlins in four innings of his third start and finished with a pair of two-run outings, the first for six innings and another Thursday for five.

Scott, a reliever at the University of Florida, had slowly been transitioned to a starter by the Mets. Last year, he set a career high with 87⅔ innings after throwing 58⅔ in his first full season in 2022. Scott is expected to work on his sweeper when he is at Triple-A and could stay fresh with short outings.

Baty, at one point a top-25 prospect in all of baseball, has struggled to square the ball up this season despite well-above-average bat speed. The power potential he showed in the minor leagues hasn’t translated at the major league level, as he hit .212/.275/.323 over 386 plate appearances last season. His third-base defense is considered superior to Vientos, who himself had been optioned at the end of April after hitting a home run. But Vientos’ power — with at-bats coming in an even split between left- and right-handed pitchers — won him the job for now.

“This is a tough one. There’s no easy solution here,” Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns said this week. “I do think we have two players who deserve to be in the big leagues, and that’s why they’re both here right now.

“I’ve also been consistent that this present roster construction cannot last in perpetuity. At some point, we’re going to have to get slightly more conventional. But we have two guys who I think have demonstrated that they really deserve to be in the big leagues.”

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Source: Marlins tab Dodgers’ McCullough manager

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Source: Marlins tab Dodgers' McCullough manager

The Miami Marlins are hiring former Los Angeles Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough as their new manager, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN on Sunday.

McCullough, 44, spent the last four seasons on Dave Roberts’ coaching staff in L.A., the last of which ended in a championship. He succeeds Skip Schumaker, who was not brought back at the end of his contract and has since joined the Texas Rangers‘ front office as a senior advisor to president of baseball operations Chris Young.

A career minor league catcher, McCullough managed in the Toronto Blue Jays‘ minor league system from 2007 to 2014, with six of those seasons finishing with winning records. He was then was hired by the Dodgers as their minor league field coordinator, at which point he worked under current Marlins assistant general manager Gabe Kapler.

The Dodgers promoted McCullough to their major league coaching staff in 2021, inserting him as their first-base coach while having him work with outfielders and placing him in charge of their baserunning program. In 2024, McCullough played a big part in helping Shohei Ohtani evolve as a basestealer, paving the way for the first 50/50 season in baseball history.

McCullough was one of three primary candidates for the Marlins’ managing job, along with Will Venable and Craig Albernaz. Venable was named manager of the Chicago White Sox and Albernaz pulled out of the race, opting to remain the Cleveland Guardians‘ bench coach.

The Marlins interviewed McCullough over videoconference while the Dodgers navigated a World Series run in October. He met with staff members at the team’s spring training complex in Jupiter, Florida, last week and then again at loanDepot Park in Miami on Friday.

McCullough is the first managerial hire by president of baseball operations Peter Bendix, who took over baseball operations last offseason. He will inherit a franchise once again in transition.

The Marlins surprisingly made the playoffs in 2023, getting swept in the wild-card round, then lost 100 games in 2024, a season that saw Bendix trade away established veterans such as Luis Arraez, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Tanner Scott, A.J. Puk and Trevor Rogers, among others.

Bendix’s goal is to build an infrastructure that will lead to sustained winning despite not possessing the revenue streams of some of the bigger-market teams in the National League East, similar to what he helped produce with the Tampa Bay Rays. That process, Bendix has acknowledged, will take time.

McCullough, who has experience developing young players but has also been around a championship culture, will help lead it.

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Reds honor Rose with stadium visitation for fans

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Reds honor Rose with stadium visitation for fans

CINCINNATI — Thousands of fans streamed into Great American Ball Park despite steady rain Sunday to pay respects to Pete Rose, baseball’s career hits leader who died Sept. 30 at the age of 83.

The 14-hour visitation, in honor of Rose’s jersey number, was arranged by the Cincinnati Reds with cooperation from Rose’s daughters, Fawn and Kara, who exchanged hugs, stories and even some tears with fans.

“We wanted to do something like this,” said Rick Walls, executive director of the Reds Hall of Fame. “You could see from the turnout, it means a lot to the people here. It’s a moving experience.”

Rose, known as “Charlie Hustle” for his unbridled passion for the game, was the engine behind Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine” clubs that won back-to-back World Series titles in 1975 and 1976.

A 17-time All-Star, the switch-hitting Rose played on three World Series winners. He was the National League MVP in 1973 and World Series MVP two years later. He holds the major league record for games played (3,562) and plate appearances (15,890). But no milestone approached his 4,256 hits, surpassing his hero Ty Cobb’s 4,191.

Rose was banished by Major League Baseball in 1989 for gambling on the game he loved and once embodied, undermining his achievements and Hall of Fame chances.

Despite his indiscretions away from the diamond, fans arrived as early as 4 a.m. Sunday to honor Rose, slowly passing by an urn containing his ashes and a table displaying his bright red Reds Hall of Fame induction suit jacket and other memorabilia while a highlight video of his illustrious career played on the concourse video boards.

Fans left flowers and other mementos at the Rose statue located just outside the main entrance to the ballpark.

“He was a guy you thought was going to live forever,” longtime Reds fan Bob Augspurger said. “When I heard the news, obviously it was sad. Baseball lost its greatest ambassador.”

Fawn Rose said in a statement, “We are deeply moved by the overwhelming love and support from the people of Cincinnati, the entire baseball community, and fans across the world as we mourn the loss of our beloved Dad, Grandpa, and Brother, Pete Rose.”

The Reds plan to honor Rose on “Pete Rose Day” when they play the Chicago White Sox on May 14 with first pitch planned for 7:14 p.m., also in homage to his No. 14.

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Utah AD ‘disgusted’ by refs after frantic BYU rally

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Utah AD 'disgusted' by refs after frantic BYU rally

SALT LAKE CITY — Much of the BYU football team was still on the field at Rice-Eccles Stadium celebrating a miraculous 22-21 win against rival Utah late Saturday night when Utes athletic director Mark Harlan made a surprise appearance at the postgame news conference.

In a fiery address, Harlan disparaged the officiating crew and challenged the validity of his school’s loss.

“This game was absolutely stolen from us,” Harlan said. “We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight I am not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. Very disappointed.

“I will talk to the commissioner. This was not fair to our team. I’m disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating crew tonight.”

Harlan, who does not regularly address the media after games, did not take questions following his rebuke, nor did he elaborate further with any specifics.

It’s a safe assumption, however, that Harlan’s disdain was directed toward a holding call on cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn that negated Utah’s fourth-down sack of BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff at the Cougars’ 1-yard line with 1:29 left, which appeared to have ended the game.

“Whatever decision the refs make, I don’t think they’re trying to get it wrong, so that’s just part of the game,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said. “The refs are part of the game. We were able to capitalize on that.”

Utah’s would-be sack of Retzlaff was the second time the largest crowd in Rice-Eccles history (54,383) thought the game was effectively over. Prior to the fourth-down play, BYU snapped the ball and Retzlaff was flushed out of the end zone, but Sitake had called a timeout before the snap, likely saving the game in the process.

After the Cougars were given new life with the holding call, Retzlaff hit Chase Roberts for 30 yards and Darius Lassiter for 12 yards before Hinckley Ropati ran for 14 yards to get BYU in position for Will Ferrin‘s game-winning 44-yard field goal.

Ferrin, who transferred to BYU from Boise State after the 2022 season, calmly split the uprights to add another legendary finish to a rivalry game that has had several of them.

Utah coach Kyle Whittingham was visibly upset with the officials on the field following the game but was measured in his postgame comments.

“Couldn’t get that last stop when we needed it, unfortunately,” he said. “That’s kind of been the story for several games.”

The win keeps No. 9 BYU (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) undefeated and in prime position to qualify for the College Football Playoff. With three conference games left (against Kansas, Arizona State and Houston), the Cougars lead Colorado by one game in the Big 12 standings. Four other teams — Iowa State, Kansas State, Arizona State and West Virginia — have two conference losses.

Retzlaff finished 15-of-33 for 219 yards without a touchdown pass or interception. It is BYU’s second consecutive win in the series — following a 26-17 win in 2021 — but the Cougars’ first victory in Salt Lake City since 2006.

This was the first time the rivals have played as conference opponents since 2010, after which Utah left the Mountain West for the Pac-12 and BYU went independent.

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