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Outfielder Juan Soto, pitchers Corbin Burnes, Walker Buehler and Max Fried, and first baseman Pete Alonso were among 136 players who became free agents Thursday morning.

Third baseman Alex Bregman, outfielder Anthony Santander and shortstop Willy Adames also went free.

There were 64 more players with pending option decisions who could become free agents by Monday, the fifth day after the World Series.

Teams and players can start discussing contract terms at 5:01 p.m. ET Monday, after the deadline for teams to make $21.05 million qualifying offers to eligible free agents.

Pitcher Justin Verlander became a free agent after he failed to pitch 140 innings this year, the amount that would have triggered his ability to exercise a $35 million conditional player option. If he had exercised the option, the New York Mets would have been obligated to give an additional $17.5 million to Houston as part of last year’s trade that sent the three-time Cy Young Award winner back to the Astros.

Among those with pending club options are Atlanta Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna ($16 million) and New York Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo ($17 million) and reliever Luke Weaver ($2.5 million).

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole can opt out of his contract, but the team can void the opt out by adding a $36 million salary for 2029.

Those with player options include pitchers Blake Snell of San Francisco ($30 million, of which $15 million would be deferred), Nick Martinez of Cincinnati ($12 million), Sean Manaea of the Mets ($13.5 million), Nathan Eovaldi of Texas ($20 million) and Michael Wacha of Kansas City ($16 million), along with Chicago Cubs first baseman/outfielder Cody Bellinger ($27.5 million).

Jordan Montgomery of the Arizona Diamondbacks exercised his $22.5 million player option for 2025.

Snell and Flaherty are ineligible for the qualifying offers. A free agent can be made a qualifying offer only if he has been with the same team continuously since Opening Day and has never received a qualifying offer before.

Qualifying offers began after the 2012 season, and only 13 of 131 offers have been accepted.

ORIOLES: Burnes, the Cy Young Award winner, and Santander were among the eight players from the Baltimore Orioles to enter free agency Thursday.

The right-handed Burnes, 30, was 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA in 32 games in his first season with the Orioles after being traded by the Milwaukee Brewers, with whom he won the National League Cy Young Award in 2021.

Santander, also 30, hit .235 in 2024 but had 44 home runs and drove in 102 runs.

Also taking the step were right-hander Brooks Kriske, left-handed pitcher John Means, catcher James McCann and outfielder Austin Slater. Outfielder Daniel Johnson and right-handed pitcher Burch Smith chose free agency instead of accepting an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.

RED SOX: Right-handed pitcher Lucas Giolito exercised his $19 million player option for the 2025 season, the Boston Red Sox announced.

The move was expected after Giolito, 30, had surgery in March on his pitching elbow. The internal brace repair to his ulnar collateral ligament kept him from playing in his first season with the Red Sox after signing a two-year, $38.5 million offseason contract with Boston that included a player option for 2025.

An All-Star in 2019 for the Chicago White Sox, when he also finished sixth in American League Cy Young Award voting, Giolito has struggled in recent seasons, delivering a 4.90 ERA in 2022 and a 4.88 mark last season when he went 8-15 while pitching for the White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Guardians.

In eight major league seasons, Giolito is 61-62 in 180 appearances (178 starts) and has a 4.43 ERA with 1,077 strikeouts in 1,013⅔ innings.

WHITE SOX: The White Sox declined to exercise their 2025 option on infielder Yoan Moncada, who will receive a $5 million buyout and become a free agent. He signed a five-year, $70 million contract extension after the 2019 season.

The White Sox acquired Moncada, now 29, in December 2016 as part of the trade that sent left-hander Chris Sale to the Red Sox. Injuries limited him to 92 games in 2023 and 12 games in 2024.

With the White Sox, he appeared in 739 games with a .254 batting average, 93 homers and 338 RBIs.

The White Sox also declined their option on catcher Max Stassi. Stassi’s option was for $7.5 million, and he gets a $500,000 buyout. Stassi, 33, missed the entire season with a hip injury and last played in the majors with the Angels in 2022.

CARDINALS: The St. Louis Cardinals declined the options on right-handed pitchers Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn and Keynan Middleton.

Gibson, 37, was 8-8 with a 4.24 ERA after signing with the Cardinals last November. He earned $12 million last season and had an option for the same amount in 2025. He will receive a $1 million buyout.

Lynn, 37, signed a one-year, $10 million contract for 2024 with an $11 million option for 2025. He was 7-4 with a 3.84 ERA.

Middleton, 31, underwent season-ending flexor repair surgery on his right forearm in June and didn’t pitch all season. He last pitched in 2023 with the White Sox and New York Yankees, finishing 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA and two saves in 51 relief appearances.

BREWERS: Pitcher Wade Miley‘s $12 million mutual option for 2025 with the Brewers has been declined, making the veteran left-hander a free agent. He gets a $1.5 million buyout.

Miley, who turns 38 on Nov. 13, made two starts this season before undergoing Tommy John surgery. He posted an 0-1 record and a 6.43 ERA. That followed an impressive 2023 season in which he went 9-4 with a 3.14 ERA in 23 starts.

He owns a 108-99 career record with a 4.06 ERA and 1,361 strikeouts with eight teams since 2011.

The Associated Press and Field Level Media contributed to this report.

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

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Sources: Red Sox deal Devers to Giants in stunner

The San Francisco Giants are acquiring All-Star slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday evening.

The Giants are sending starter Jordan Hicks and 23-year-old lefty Kyle Harrison, among others, to Boston in exchange, sources said.

Devers, 28, is in just the second season of a 10-year, $313.5 million contract he signed to stay in Boston in January 2023, however his relationship with the team suffered a significant blow after the star third baseman was reportedly blindsided by a move to designated hitter in the spring.

Tensions flared again last month after Devers refused an offer from the team to move him to first base after starting first baseman Triston Casas was ruled out for the season with a knee injury.

It reached a point where Red Sox owner John Henry met with the disgruntled star, making a rare trip to meet the team on the road and smooth things over after Devers’ pointed comments about the request to switch positions again.

Hicks and Harrison give a pitching-starved Red Sox team more depth on their staff while Devers provides a huge boost to a middling Giants offense.

Devers has more than 200 career home runs to his name and has a .894 OPS for Boston this season.

The deal was first reported by Fansided.

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Ohtani’s pitching return might be coming soon

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Ohtani's pitching return might be coming soon

Shohei Ohtani‘s pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers might be quickly approaching.

Manager Dave Roberts told reporters Sunday that Ohtani would throw another simulated game in the coming days that could “potentially” be his last one, and a source told ESPN’s Buster Olney that Ohtani should join the Dodgers’ rotation “sooner rather than later,” potentially within the week.

Ohtani took a big step forward during his most recent simulated game at Petco Park on Tuesday, throwing 44 pitches over the course of three innings against a couple of lower-level minor league players. Ohtani’s fastball reached the mid- to upper-90s, and he exhibited good command of his off-speed pitches in what amounted to his third time facing hitters. Afterward, Roberts said there was a “north of zero” chance Ohtani could join the rotation before the All-Star break.

Because of his two-way designation, the Dodgers can carry Ohtani as an extra pitcher, which means he can throw two to three innings and have someone pitch after him as a piggyback starter. At this point, it seems that is the Dodgers’ plan.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff has again been plagued by injury, with 14 pitchers on the injured list, including four starting pitchers the team was heavily counting on for 2025 — Blake Snell, Tony Gonsolin, Roki Sasaki and Tyler Glasnow.

If Ohtani returns in July — the likely outcome at this point — he will be 22 months removed from a second repair of his ulnar collateral ligament.

The update isn’t as optimistic for Sasaki. He paused his throwing program and is set for a lengthy layoff. Sasaki has not pitched in a game since May 9 and is not part of the team’s long-term pitching plans this season.

“I think that’s what the mindset should be,” Roberts said. “Being thrust into this environment certainly was a big undertaking for him, and now you layer in the health part and the fact he’s a starting pitcher, knowing what the build-up [required to return] entails … I think that’s the prudent way to go about it.”

Sasaki, 23, went 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA in eight starts after joining the Dodgers from the Pacific League’s Chuba Lotte Marines, averaging less than 4⅓ innings per start. He walked 22 and struck out 24 in 34⅓ innings, and his fastball averaged 95.7 mph, down 3-4 mph from his average in Japan.

Roberts said Sasaki was pain free when he resumed throwing in early June, but the pitcher was shut down after feeling discomfort this past week. Sasaki recently received a cortisone injection in the shoulder; Roberts said no further scans are planned.

“I don’t think it’s pain,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if it’s discomfort, if it’s tightness, if he’s just not feeling strong, whatever the adjective you want to use. That’s more of a question for Roki, as far as the sensation he’s feeling.

“He’s just not feeling like he can ramp it up, and we’re not going to push him to do something he doesn’t feel good about right now.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

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Judge 1-for-12 as NY swept: Got to swing at strikes

BOSTON — Aaron Judge blamed himself for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone as the New York Yankees were swept in a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

“You got to swing at strikes,” Judge said after going 1-for-12 in the series, which Boston completed with a 2-0 victory on Sunday.

Judge struck out three or more times in three straight games for only the third time in his major league career.

“That usually helps any hitter when you swing at strikes,” Judge added. “Definitely some pitches off the edge or off the edge in, you know, taking some hacks just trying to make something happen.”

Judge had a tying solo homer in the opener Friday night but struck out nine times as the Yankees were swept in a series for the first time this season.

New York scored only four runs in the three games, matching its fewest in a three-game series at Fenway Park, on June 20-22, 1916 and on Sept. 28-30, 1922.

“It’s very hard,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said of facing Judge. “He’s so good at what he does. We used our fastballs in the right spots, we got some swing and misses.”

“Throughout the years we’ve been aggressive with him,” Cora added. “Sometimes he gets us, sometimes we do a good job with that. It’s always fun to compete against the best, and, to me, he’s the best in the business right now.”

Judge’s major league-leading average dipped to .378.

“I don’t think much of it,” teammate Ben Rice said. “If I could have that guy hitting every single at-bat even if he’s not at his best, I would do it. I’m sure he’ll bounce back. He’ll be all right.”

Judge faced Garrett Whitlock with two on in the eighth Sunday and bounced into an inning-ending double play.

“He’s one of the greatest hitters in the world,” Whitlock said. “It’s special to watch him play and everything. We tried to execute and had some execution this weekend.”

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