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Georgia Tech has agreed to a new two-year deal with offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, sources told ESPN, which will put him near the top of the ACC in assistant coach pay and among the country’s top 10 highest-paid offensive coordinators.

Faulkner has agreed to a two-year deal at $1.5 million per season, per sources, the largest salary for an assistant coach in Georgia Tech history. New defensive coordinator Blake Gideon will make $1 million this season, marking the first time both coordinators will earn seven-figure salaries in program history.

The contract is indicative of a continued investment in football at Georgia Tech, as Brent Key enters his third season as full-time head coach. That tenure has coincided with a significant uptick in spending on staffing, a commitment that shows the program alignment all the way up to the office of school president Ángel Cabrera.

Tech has gone 7-6 in each of the past two years, the first back-to-back bowl seasons at the school since 2014.

Faulkner’s hire as offensive coordinator has revved up the Yellow Jacket offense after taking over a unit ranked No. 124 in scoring offense during the 2022 season. The Yellow Jackets’ scoring improved in 2023 by nearly two touchdowns per game while leaping to No. 42 nationally in scoring offense. Tech has been ranked in the top 2 in rushing offense in the ACC in each of the past two years.

Tech’s offensive outlook is promising for 2025, as they return quarterback Haynes King, who broke the ACC record for completion percentage in 2024 at 72.9%. King threw for 2,114 yards, 14 touchdowns and just two interceptions last year. Star tailback Jamal Haynes also returns after rushing for 2,003 yards and 16 touchdowns over the past two years.

Faulkner has fostered a reputation as a top playcaller, and there was a strong market for his services last season. Tech notched two wins against top-10 programs last season, beating No. 10 Florida State in Dublin and No. 4 Miami later in the year. They famously took No. 6 Georgia to the brink before losing an eight-overtime thriller. In 2023, Tech had top-20 wins over Miami and North Carolina.

Faulkner is a veteran coach who has coordinator stops at Valdosta State, Murray State, Middle Tennessee, Arkansas State and Southern Miss. He worked as a quality control coach at Georgia prior to taking the job at Tech.

Faulkner’s son, Harrison, is a quarterback recruit in the class of 2026 and is verbally committed to Georgia Southern. He was the Georgia 4A State Offensive Player of the Year in 2024 after leading North Oconee to the state championship.

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Sources: Yankees get 3B in Rockies’ McMahon

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Sources: Yankees get 3B in Rockies' McMahon

NEW YORK — The Yankees are acquiring third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Rockies in exchange for minor league pitchers Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz, sources confirmed to ESPN on Friday.

The Yankees will assume the remainder of 30-year-old McMahon’s contract, which includes approximately $4.5 million for the remainder of 2025 and $32 million over the next two seasons.

An All-Star last season, McMahon was batting .217 with 16 home runs and a .717 OPS in 100 games for Colorado in 2025. He hit home runs in the first two games after the All-Star break and another on Tuesday and is on pace to keep his four-year 20-homer streak alive.

While the production has resulted in a 92 OPS+, which suggests McMahon has been 8% worse than the average major league hitter this season, he still represents a significant offensive upgrade at third base for New York.

The Yankees have had Oswald Peraza, one of the worst hitters in the majors, manning third base nearly every day since the club decided to release DJ LeMahieu, another former Rockies player, earlier this month and move Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base. Peraza, while a strong defender, is slashing .147/.208/.237 in 69 games this season. His 24 wRC+ ranks last among the 310 hitters with at least 160 plate appearances this season.

Defensively, McMahon is a Gold Glove-caliber third baseman whose four Outs Above Average is third in the majors this season. He joins a Yankees club that has been marred by sloppy defense, most recently on Wednesday when it committed four errors in a defensive meltdown against the first-place Toronto Blue Jays.

Herring, 22, has recorded a 1.71 ERA in 89⅓ innings across 16 starts between Low- and High-A this season. He was a sixth-round pick out of LSU in the 2024 draft.

Grosz, an 11th-round pick in 2023, had a 4.14 ERA in 87 innings over 16 games (15 starts) for High-A Hudson Valley this season.

With third base addressed, the Yankees will continue to seek to acquire pitchers to bolster both their rotation and bullpen.

MLB.com first reported on the Yankees trading for McMahon.

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Mets trade for reliever in Orioles left-hander Soto

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Mets trade for reliever in Orioles left-hander Soto

The Mets acquired left-handed reliever Gregory Soto from the Orioles on Friday in exchange for two minor leaguers in what could be the first of multiple moves by New York to bolster its bullpen before the trade deadline Thursday.

The trade, which sent Class A right-hander Wellington Aracena and Double-A right-hander Cameron Foster to Baltimore, gives the Mets a hard-throwing left-hander to complement the club’s only lefty on the roster, Brooks Raley, who returned from Tommy John surgery last week.

Soto, who is 30 and was an All-Star with the Detroit Tigers in 2021 and 2022, has posted a 3.96 ERA with a 27.5% strikeout rate in 45 appearances this season. The Mets will be his fourth team since the 2022 season.

On Monday, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns plainly signaled that upgrading the bullpen for the stretch run is his top priority.

The need is clear. Injuries and overuse have depleted a relief corps that led the majors in bullpen ERA through May 31. Since June 1, the group has posted 4.52 ERA, good for 23rd in the majors.

Aracena, 20, is 1-1 with a 2.38 ERA in 17 games for St. Lucie. The Orioles said he is one of two pitchers in the minors this season to have thrown at least 60 innings without surrendering a home run.

Foster, 26, is 5-2 with two saves and a 2.97 ERA while pitching at the Double-A and Triple-A levels.

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Fenway concession workers strike for Sox series

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Fenway concession workers strike for Sox series

BOSTON — Hundreds of Aramark workers at Fenway Park are on strike and planning to stay out for all of a homestand between the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Dodgers starting Friday night.

Concession workers had set a deadline of noon Friday for Aramark and Fenway Park to reach an agreement with the Local 26 chapter of the Massachusetts and Rhode Island hotel, casino, airport and food services workers union.

The union went on strike at noon asking for “living wages, guardrails on technology and R-E-S-P-E-C-T!”

With the Red Sox and Dodgers scheduled to start at 7:10 p.m. EDT, union officials had a request for fans attending this homestand with food and beer workers on strike.

“We’re asking you to NOT buy concessions inside the ballpark,” Local 26 wrote on social media. “Tailgate before the games!”

Union workers walked the picket line wearing green T-shirts declaring “FENWAY WORKERS ON STRIKE.” They carried signs in the shape of a baseball proclaiming Local 26.

The Red Sox go out of town Monday with a game that night at Minnesota.

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