Connect with us

Published

on

The 2025 MLB trade deadline is almost here, with contending teams deciding what they need to add before 6 p.m. ET on Thursday.

The San Diego Padres shook up deadline day with a trade for Mason Miller and JP Sears. The Seattle Mariners made a blockbuster move ahead of deadline day with a late-night deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks for Eugenio Suarez — will Zac Gallen be next to leave the Snakes? Relievers began flying off the board Wednesday, to the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. As the deadline approaches, who among the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers will go all-in to boost their 2025 World Series hopes?

Whether your favorite club is looking to add or deal away — or stands somewhere in between — here’s the freshest intel we’re hearing, reaction to completed deals and what to know for every team as trade season unfolds.

More: Top 50 trade candidates | Trade grades | Fantasy spin | Traded prospects

Latest MLB trade deadline day buzz

Pre-deadline day deal tracker

Click here for grades for every major deal

Mariners make big move in acquiring Suarez

The Diamondbacks sent Eugenio Suarez, among the most coveted players this deadline, to the Mariners for prospects, sources tell ESPN.


Reds get RHP Zack Littell in three-way trade

In a deal that swaps prospects among the Reds, Dodgers and Rays, the Reds get a new starter in Littell, sources tell ESPN.


Astros add Urias to infield

The Houston Astros are acquiring infielder Ramon Urias from the Baltimore Orioles, sources tell ESPN.


Cubs acquire Soroka for rotation

The Chicago Cubs have acquired pitcher Michael Soroka from the Washington Nationals, sources tell ESPN.


Mets land another reliever, acquire Helsley

The New York Mets are finalizing a deal to acquire closer Ryan Helsley from the St. Louis Cardinals for shortstop Jesus Baez and right-handers Nate Dohm and Frank Elissalt, sources tell ESPN.


Phillies get Duran in deadline’s biggest deal yet

The Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to a deal to acquire closer Jhoan Duran from the Minnesota Twins for right-hander Mick Abel and catcher Eduardo Tait, sources tell ESPN.


Mariners trade for relief arm

The Seattle Mariners have acquired left-handed reliever Caleb Ferguson from the Pittsburgh Pirates, sources tell ESPN.


Mets bolster bullpen in deal with Giants

The New York Mets have acquired right-handed reliever Tyler Rogers from the San Francisco Giants, a source confirms to ESPN.


Reds get Hayes for hot corner

The Cincinnati Reds have acquired third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes from the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for reliever Taylor Rogers and prospect Sammy Stafura, sources tell ESPN.


Braves add veteran to pen

The Atlanta Braves acquired RHP Tyler Kinley from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for minor league RHP Austin Smith.


Angels and Nationals swap pitchers

The Los Angeles Angels are acquiring relievers Luis Garcia and Andrew Chafin in a trade with the Washington Nationals, with left-hander Jake Eder one player heading back to the Nationals in the deal, sources tell ESPN.


Yankees add outfielder in deal with White Sox

The New York Yankees have acquired outfielder Austin Slater in a trade with the Chicago White Sox, sources tell ESPN.


Blue Jays get bullpen boost in deal with Orioles

The Toronto Blue Jays are acquiring right-handed reliever Seranthony Dominguez from the Baltimore Orioles for right-handed pitching prospect Juaron Watts-Brown, a source tells ESPN.


Rays deal catcher to Brewers, get one from Marlins

The Milwaukee Brewers acquired catcher Danny Jansen from the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays are also acquired catcher Nick Fortes from the Miami Marlins.


Tigers bolster pitching staff

The Detroit Tigers receive RHP Chris Paddack and RHP Randy Dobnak from the Minnesota Twins for C/1B Enrique Jimenez.


Braves add veteran rotation arm

The Atlanta Braves acquired veteran starting pitcher Erick Fedde from the St. Louis Cardinals for a player to be named later or cash.


Yankees make another deal for infield depth

The New York Yankees acquired utility man Amed Rosario from the Washington Nationals for two minor leaguers.


Royals get outfielder in trade with D-backs

The Kansas City Royals acquired veteran outfielder Randal Grichuk from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for right-hander Andrew Hoffmann.


Yankees land infielder McMahon in deal with Rockies

The New York Yankees are acquiring third baseman Ryan McMahon in a trade with the Colorado Rockies.


Mets get bullpen help from O’s

The New York Mets have acquired left-handed reliever Gregory Soto from the Baltimore Orioles.


Mariners start trade season with deal for Naylor

The Seattle Mariners have acquired first baseman Josh Naylor from the Arizona Diamondbacks for left-hander Brandyn Garcia and right-hander Ashton Izzi.

Previous deadline buzz

July 31

After boosting bullpen, Mets looking to shore up lineup: After acquiring three rental relievers in five days, the Mets remain interested in adding an impact bat before today’s deadline. Two possibilities are Chicago White Sox center fielder Luis Robert Jr. and Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Brandon Lowe, sources told ESPN. The Mets prefer to upgrade in center field, and Robert, though having another down year, turns 28 next week and has star potential. Lowe, meanwhile, is a two-time All-Star who has played both corner outfield spots over his eight-year career but hasn’t played the outfield since 2022. — Jorge Castillo


Arizona has more to do after dealing Suarez to Mariners: The D-backs parted ways with their biggest trade asset Wednesday night, trading Eugenio Suarez to the Mariners. And now, with the deadline hours away, the focus shifts to their two front-line starting pitchers, Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, both of whom are eligible for free agency at season’s end. Kelly is expected to be traded Wednesday, sources said. Whether Gallen gets moved, though, remains to be seen.

The Yankees, Astros, Red Sox, Cubs and Blue Jays are among the contenders who could be in the market for a high-end rental starter. Kelly, a 36-year-old with a 3.22 ERA in 128⅔ innings, can fit all those teams.

But with Gallen, it’s unclear at this point whether the D-backs can net the type of return that would justify being able to extend him the qualifying offer over the offseason, whereby the D-backs would either (A) keep him on a one-year contract or (B) get draft pick compensation between Round 1 and Competitive Balance Round A (assuming the D-backs remain a revenue-sharing recipient and Gallen signs for at least $50 million). — Alden Gonzalez


Why relievers could be the talk of deadline day: The amount given up for relievers by the Mets and Phillies stunned rival executives, and the assumption within the industry is that this will embolden the potential off-loaders in the last hours before the trade deadline. There continues to be surprise in rival front offices that the Rockies aren’t taking advantage of this dynamic, because they have high-end relievers to offer and other teams think they could make a killing. The Tigers, Mariners, Dodgers, Yankees, Rangers, Blue Jays are among the contenders still looking for impact relievers in their bullpen — and at some point on Thursday, the teams dealing away players might outnumber the number looking to add.

Among the relievers who could be in play: David Bednar, Pirates; Mason Miller, A’s; Griffin Jax, Twins; Pete Fairbanks, Rays; Danny Coulombe, Twins; Kenley Jansen, Angels; Raisel Iglesias, Braves— Buster Olney


July 30

Angels switching to add mode: Small sample size can matter this time of year: The Los Angeles Angels had prepped for the possibility of trading away players (Taylor Ward, etc.), but after their win Tuesday night, they moved into add mode. They could still deal one or two players — notably closer Kenley Jansen — but the Angels want to make a push. — Buster Olney


A couple of Twins could be on the move soon: The market is picking up for Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran, with many throughout the industry expecting him to be moved at some point Wednesday.

The Philadelphia Phillies have been heavily involved. But the Seattle Mariners are still looking for ways to aggressively augment their roster (even after trading for lefty reliever Caleb Ferguson), either by adding another late-game option such as Duran, upgrading at third base or both. The New York Yankees also are expected to be in the mix, as are the Los Angeles Dodgers, though it seems as if the reigning World Series champions prefer Minnesota teammate Griffin Jax over Duran at this point.

The Twins theoretically could pair Duran with super-utility man Willi Castro, who also is expected to be moved Wednesday. — Alden Gonzalez


Where Astros, Twins Correa talks stand: While the Houston Astros have interest in Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa and there has been dialogue on a potential trade, the sides are far apart at the moment and no deal is close, sources tell ESPN. — Jeff Passan


Why Mets, Mariners are among teams to watch: As deadline day nears, Seattle and New York are two contenders with the potential to go big before 6 p.m. Thursday arrives. Read more: Buster Olney and Jeff Passan’s latest trade deadline intel


July 29

AL East leaders linked to Kwan, but pitching’s the priority: The first-place Toronto Blue Jays have recently been linked to Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, who seems more likely to be traded in the wake of Emmanuel Clase‘s sudden absence — but Toronto’s priority remains pitching, sources with knowledge of the team’s thinking said.

The Blue Jays could use a top-end starter to complement a rotation fronted by Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman, with controllable arms such as Edward Cabrera and Mitch Keller making the most sense. But Toronto would also like to upgrade its bullpen — a unit that has lost Yimi Garcia, Paxton Schultz and Nick Sandlin to the injured list in recent weeks.

The Blue Jays entered this season with baseball’s 24th-ranked farm system, according to ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. It would be difficult to envision them filling needs at the top of their rotation and in the back of their bullpen, while also adding an impact bat. The team might ultimately lean on the boost it should receive from Alejandro Kirk, Daulton Varsho, Andres Gimenez and, it hopes, Anthony Santander returning from injury. — Alden Gonzalez


Robert trade talk heats up: NL East rivals are vying for outfielder Luis Robert Jr. of the White Sox, with Chicago apparently resolute in the stance that it’ll either receive a trade return the equivalent of what Robert’s potential is or hang on to him beyond the deadline. The White Sox hold a $20 million option on Robert next season, and they have tons of payroll flexibility moving forward, meaning that there really is no financial stress in the decision; Chicago doesn’t have to dump the contract.

A lot of Robert’s career has been filled with injuries or underwhelming performance, but he has always been viewed as a superstar talent. Luisangel Acuna and Mark Vientos are among the names who have come up in conversations with the Mets, and the Phillies have a farm system loaded with pitching. The Padres have also inquired about Robert. — Buster Olney


Braves moving Ozuna? Possibly to Padres? With little more than 48 hours to go before the deadline, there is movement developing around Marcell Ozuna, who has the power to reject any trade proposal. At least one team has had internal conversations about trying to work out a deal for the slugger.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Padres emerge as a possible landing spot for Ozuna. San Diego has some of baseball’s worst DH production this year — wRC+ of 82, which ranks 28th — and presumably, the prospect-strapped Padres wouldn’t have to give up much to get him. — Olney


Cards looking to deal Helsley: For a lot of this season, rival executives weren’t sure if the Cardinals would trade players at the deadline, because their perception was the organization wanted to have as good of a season as possible in John Mozeliak’s last year running baseball operations. They weren’t sure if closer Ryan Helsley, a free-agent-to-be, would be dealt. As recently as a few days ago, it was still unclear to some teams whether Helsley would be moved.

But on Tuesday morning, multiple executives said the Cardinals are exchanging names and appear devoted to moving Helsley, though the offers for him might not be as robust as they had hoped. Helsley’s strikeout rate is down this season, he has given up a higher percentage of homers, and his ERA has climbed. “He’s not having the lights-out season we’ve seen from him before,” one evaluator said. The Tigers, Mets, Yankees, Mariners, Dodgers, Phillies and Blue Jays are among the contenders looking for relief help. — Olney


Ouch! HBP has teams concerned about Suarez: At the very least, Eugenio Suarez getting hit by a pitch Monday night has concerned some rival evaluators who have talked about dealing for him. “If you pay a price like that, you’re going to want to feel good about what you’re getting,” one staffer said. And generally, hand/wrist injuries linger for hitters. — Olney


Reds eye Suarez, but there’s a backup plan: The Cincinnati Reds are among the teams that have been in contact with the Diamondbacks about Eugenio Suarez, but if Arizona finds a deal elsewhere, the Reds might pivot to another third baseman on the market — Gio Urshela of the A’s, Isiah Kiner-Falefa of the Pirates, one of the Mets’ infielders (Brett Baty, Luisangel Acuna, Mark Vientos), etc. — Olney


Want one of these aces? It’s gonna cost ya: There are a number of contenders looking for a frontline starting pitcher — Mets, Cubs, Red Sox, etc. — but the cost on two of the most prominent starters, the Twins’ Joe Ryan and the Padres’ Dylan Cease, remain extremely high in the minds of some evaluators. — Olney


Are the Rays adding or subtracting? Even they don’t know: The market is still stalled somewhat by teams deciding what they want to do. Tampa Bay is at the top of that list. The Rays have pitchers — both starters and relievers — that teams want. But being just on the outside of the wild-card race is causing some hesitation for the Rays. — Jesse Rogers

Then again … Other teams think Tampa Bay, which slumped through a brutal July, has joined the Diamondbacks as one of the primary subtractors in the market. Following the trade of Danny Jansen to Milwaukee, other names include starting pitcher Zack Littell (“He’s going to be traded,” one evaluator said), relief pitchers Garrett Cleavinger and Pete Fairbanks, and position players Yandy Diaz and Josh Lowe. But one rival executive says they believe Diaz will have to be pried away from the Rays, given his $12 million option for next season. — Olney


Yankees seeking relief — and lots of it: The Yankees continue to look for relief help. They have resources deployed throughout the league in search of bullpen arms. If there is a closer or setup man available, New York is scouting him. Think Ryan Helsley and work down from there. — Rogers


Speaking of relievers: Other teams believe the Colorado Rockies could do very well in the current market if they dealt their best relievers — Seth Halvorsen, Jake Bird and Jimmy Herget. But some of those same teams view the current cost to make those deals as unreachable, and they wonder if the Rockies will bend as the deadline gets closer. — Olney


Rangers ready to rock at the deadline: The Texas Rangers have won nine of 11 and rival executives report that the Rangers are aggressively looking to upgrade their bullpen before the trade deadline. — Olney

Continue Reading

Sports

‘We had no choice’: Why Delaware felt the pressure to finally jump to FBS

Published

on

By

'We had no choice': Why Delaware felt the pressure to finally jump to FBS

NEWARK, Del. — Russ Crook has a shirt he likes to wear to Delaware football road games. He’s a lifelong fan and the current president of the Blue Hen Touchdown Club, but he knows the jokes, so he picked up the shirt a few years back when he saw it at the historic National 5 & 10 store on Main Street. It’s gray with a map of the state across the chest and the ubiquitous punchline delivered succinctly: “Dela-where?”

Yes, the state is small, though Rhode Island gets the acclaim that comes with being the country’s smallest. In popular culture, Delaware often translates as something of a non-place — cue the “Wayne’s World” GIF — and it’s widely appreciated by outsiders as little more than a 28-mile stretch of I-95 between Maryland and Pennsylvania that hardly warrants mentioning.

It’s a harmless enough stereotype, but Cook is hopeful this football season can start to change some perceptions. After all, in 2025, Delaware — the football program — hits the big time. Or, Conference USA, at least.

“Delaware’s a small state, but the university has 24,000 students,” Crook said. “Many big-time schools are smaller than we are. There’s no reason we can’t do this.”

When the Blue Hens kick off against Delaware State on Aug. 28, they will be, for the first time, an FBS football team, joining Missouri State as first-year members of Conference USA — the 135th and 136th FBS programs.

Longtime Hens fans might not have believed the move was possible even a few years ago, as much for the school’s ethos as the state’s stature. The university’s leadership had spent decades holding firm in the belief that the Hens were best positioned as a big fish in the relatively small ponds of Division II and, later, FCS.

And yet, just as the rest of the college sports world is reeling from an onslaught of change — revenue sharing, the transfer portal, NIL and conference realignment — Delaware decided it was time to join the party.

“Us and Delaware are probably making this move at one of the more difficult times to make the move in history,” said Missouri State AD Patrick Ransdell.

All of which begs the question: Why now?

Many of Delaware’s historic rivals — UMass, App State, Georgia Southern, Old Dominion, James Madison — had already made the leap to FBS, and the Hens’ previous conference, the Colonial, was reeling. Economic conditions at the FCS level made life challenging for administration. The NCAA was making moves to curb future transitions from FCS to FBS, and the school felt its window to make a move was closing.

“We had no choice,” Crook said.

And so, ready or not, the Hens are about to embark on a new era — a chance to prove themselves at a higher level and, perhaps, provide Delaware with a reputation that’s more than a punchline.

“We talk about doing things for the 302 all the time,” interim athletic director Jordan Skolnick said, referencing the area code that serves the entirety of the state. “We want everyone in the state of Delaware to feel the pride in us being successful, and we want people to realize how incredible this place is. It’s not just a place you drive through on 95.”


BACK WHEN MIKE Brey was coaching Delaware’s men’s basketball team to back-to-back tournament appearances in the 1990s, he would often swing by the football offices to talk shop with the Hens’ legendary football coach Tubby Raymond, who won 300 games utilizing a three-back offensive formation dubbed the wing-T. Brey recalls pestering him once about the new spread schemes being run at conference rival New Hampshire by a young coordinator named Chip Kelly. Raymond was a beloved figure at Delaware, and he had helped mentor Brey as a head coach, but he was notoriously old-school.

Raymond huffed, dismissing the tempo offense as “grass basketball,” all style and finesse without the fundamental elements of the game he had coached for decades. The mindset was often pervasive at UD.

“It was in the bricks there,” said Brey, who went on to a 23-year stint coaching at Notre Dame. “Tubby had his kingdom, and nobody was telling him what to do. It was, ‘Leave us alone. We’re good. We’ve got the wing-T.'”

Brey’s contract in those days technically referred to him as a member of the physical education department, and he and his staff had to teach classes during the offseason on basketball skills. Despite Raymond’s retirement in 2001 and an FCS national title in 2003, not much changed. By 2016, when Skolnick arrived to work in the athletic department, a number of coaches were still considered part-time employees, and several programs had to source their own equipment.

But change was brewing.

Old rivals such as App State, Georgia Southern and JMU had left FCS without missing a beat. Delaware had often punched above its weight and churned out genuine stars such as Rich Gannon and Joe Flacco, but the chasm between the haves and have-nots in football was growing. It was clear the Hens needed to invest, though the goal then was to take advantage of the power vacuum among east coast FCS schools.

“I think a lot of people wondered if we’d missed the window,” Skolnick said. “But at that time, the goal was to win as many FCS national championships as we can and resource our teams to be able to compete.”

Delaware football did compete, earning a spot in the FCS playoffs in four of the past six seasons, but another national title eluded the program, and by 2022, with rival James Madison moving up to the Sun Belt, then-AD Chrissi Rawak began to test the waters of a jump to FBS.

The school partnered with consultants who studied the economics of a move, both for the athletic department, which stood to see a $3 to $4 million increase in annual revenue, and for the state, which could enjoy a 50% uptick in economic impact from football alone. Meanwhile, Delaware looked at each FCS school that had made the leap up to FBS in the past 10 years to see how the Hens might stack up. What did Skolnick say the school found? Programs that had already been investing, had a solid recruiting footprint and were committed to football had success.

“We started to check a lot of boxes,” Skolnick said.

There were concerns, of course. The landscape of college football was roiling, and the expense of running a successful program seemed to grow by the day. But the opportunity to generate more revenue was obvious.

In the playoff era, 10 schools have made the leap from FCS to FBS, and nearly all have tasted some level of success. Overall, the group has posted a .548 winning percentage at the FBS level, and seven of the 10 have had seasons with double-digit wins. James Madison, who went from an FCS championship to the Sun Belt in 2022, is 28-9 at the FBS level and enters the 2025 season with legitimate playoff aspirations.

That success, however, is the result of a decades-in-the-making plan, said former JMU athletic director Jeff Bourne. The Dukes kicked the tires on an FBS move as early as 2012 but held steady as the program grew its infrastructure and, when the time came to make a move in 2022, it was ready.

“Before we made that decision, we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could support it financially,” Bourne said. “You had to have the fan base and donor base grow, have our facilities in a place so we could recruit. Looking at it from a broad perspective, it made our move not only prudent but ultimately helped us be successful.”

Off the field, the move has proved equally fortuitous. In JMU’s final year at the FCS level, the athletic department had 4,600 total donors, according to the school. For the 2025 fiscal year, JMU had nearly 11,000. The Dukes have sold out season tickets for three straight years, and high-profile games, including two bowl appearances, have been a boon for admissions.

So, when Conference USA approached Delaware with a formal invitation to join in November 2023, the choice seemed obvious.

“It was pretty clear that, as a flagship institution in our state, we wanted to be aligned with schools that look like us,” Skolnick said. “We want to align our athletic aspirations with our academic ones. Academically we’re one of the best public institutions in the country. Athletically, we’ve had all these incredible moments of success — but they’re moments. They’re spread out. So we felt like this was an opportunity to bring all of it together in a way that will show people — the best way to give people a lens into how special Delaware is, is for our athletic teams to be really successful and create more visibility.”

Brey remembers reading the news of Delaware’s decision to make the jump, and he couldn’t help but think back to his conversations with Raymond nearly 30 years ago. This had been a long time coming, he thought, and yet it still seemed hard to believe.

“I was shocked,” Brey said. “Little old Delaware is finally going for it.”


THERE ARE AMPLE lessons Delaware and Missouri State administrators have learned in the past few months as they’ve worked to ramp up staffing and budgets and add scholarship players for the transition. But if there’s one piece of advice Skolnick would share with other schools considering a similar process, it’s this: Find a time machine.

Delaware announced its intention to jump to FBS in November 2023. Just weeks earlier, the NCAA, in an effort to stem the tide of FCS departures, made changes to the requirements for moving up that, among other things, increased the cost of doing so from $5,000 to $5 million, and Delaware would be the first team to pay it.

That was not a budget line the Blue Hens had accounted for, meaning the school had to raise funds to cover that cost on a tight timeline.

“We had six months to do it,” Skolnick said. “Fortunately, we had people who were really excited about this transition.”

Ransdell took over as AD at Missouri State in August of 2024, just months after the Bears announced their plans to move to Conference USA, and he inherited a budget that wasn’t remotely ready for FBS competition.

“We had to change some things, do some more investing,” he said. “We weren’t really prepared to be an FBS program with the budget I inherited.”

In other words, the buzzword at both schools is the same as it is everywhere in 2025: revenue.

But if budgets have to be stretched with a move up to FBS, there are benefits, too.

Ransdell said Missouri State has sold more season tickets than any year since 2016, buoyed by a home game against SMU on Sept. 13.

Delaware had faced hurdles selling tickets in recent years, thanks in part to a slate of games against opponents its fans hardly recognized. That has changed already, with ample buzz around future home dates with old rivals UConn, Temple and Coastal Carolina. Crook said membership in the booster club is up 10-15% after years of steady declines. This season, Delaware travels to Colorado, and Crook said a caravan of Blue Hens fans will tag along.

On the recruiting trail, Delaware coach Ryan Carty said the conversations are completely different than they were a year ago, and the Hens have been able to add a host of new talent. The Hens’ roster includes 14 transfers from Power 4 programs this year, including Delaware native Noah Matthews, who arrived from Kentucky.

When Matthews was being recruited out of Woodbridge High School, about an hour’s drive down Route 1 through the middle of the state, he never heard from Delaware. It’s not that his home-state school didn’t want him. It’s that, no one on staff believed the Hens had a shot to land a guy with offers in the SEC.

Four years later though, Matthews is back home, and there’s nowhere he would rather be.

“I wanted to come back and show people, this is what Delaware does,” Matthews said. “We can play big-time football, too. After this year, they’ll know exactly who we are.”

For all the hurdles to get their respective programs in a place to compete at the FBS level, the costs are worth it, Ransdell said.

Need proof? Look no further than Sacramento State, a school that has all but begged for an invitation from the Pac-12 or Mountain West, even dangling a supposedly flush NIL fund with more than $35 million raised. And yet, no doors have been opened for the Hornets.

Still, the old guard around Delaware might not be so easily swayed.

Brey has kept a beach house in Delaware since his time coaching in the state, returning the past couple of years to serve as a guest bartender at the popular beach bar The Starboard to raise money for the Blue Hens’ NIL fund. This summer, he was strolling the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach, chatting with the locals and getting a feel for how fans felt about this new era of Delaware football.

Most were excited, he said, but one — a longtime season-ticket holder — had a different perspective.

“On the first day of fall camp,” the fan told him, “we always knew we could play for a national championship in [FCS]. That’s not possible anymore.”

In other words, Delaware sold its championship aspirations for an admittedly more financially prudent place near the bottom of FBS. And who’s to say FBS football even remains viable as power players in the SEC and Big Ten move ever closer to creating “super leagues?”

“There very well could be a super league,” Bourne said. “There are signs that could happen. But I think when you look at it from the standpoint of your peer group, it’s to be competitive with them. There’s probably going to be a day where there’s a shake-up and you have some existing [power conference] schools that end up being more aligned with [Group of 6] than they are with the upper tier.”

Brey recalls his old friend Bob Hannah, the former Delaware baseball coach who had long been a progressive among the school’s traditionalists, wondering if the Hens might have been a fit in the ACC, had the school just pursued athletics growth in the 1970s and 1980s. The irony, Brey said, is these days, with even power conferences struggling to keep pace with the rapid change and financial strains of modern college sports, that doesn’t seem like such a long shot.

For Skolnick, that’s a worry for another day. Getting Delaware ready for its chance to shine on some of the sport’s biggest stages in 2025 is the priority. Delaware — the school and the state — hasn’t had many of these moments, and it’s an opportunity the Hens don’t want to miss.

“We’ve got to be ready for what we’re moving into, but everyone in college athletics is dealing with change,” Skolnick said. “That part is comforting. It’s more of an opportunity for us to do it our way. We’re too great of a historical and successful and traditional team to not be part of the conversation.”

Continue Reading

Sports

Raleigh hits 48th, 49th HRs to set catcher record

Published

on

By

Raleigh hits 48th, 49th HRs to set catcher record

SEATTLE — Mariners slugger Cal Raleigh hit his major league-leading 48th and 49th home runs in Sunday’s 11-4 win over the Athletics, setting a single-season record for catchers and passing Salvador Perez‘s total with the Kansas City Royals in 2021.

Raleigh’s record-breaking home run also marked his ninth multi-home run game of the season, passing Mickey Mantle (eight for the 1961 New York Yankees) for most multi-home run games by a switch-hitter in a season in major league history. The overall record is 11 multi-home run games in a season.

The switch-hitting Raleigh, batting from the right side, homered off Athletics left-handed starter Jacob Lopez in the first inning to make it 2-0 and tie Perez. Raleigh got a fastball down the middle from Lopez and sent it an estimated 448 feet, according to Statcast. It was measured as the longest home run of Raleigh’s career as a right-handed hitter.

In the second inning, Raleigh drilled a changeup from Lopez 412 feet. The longballs were Nos. 39 and 40 on the season for Raleigh while catching this year. He has nine while serving as a designated hitter.

Raleigh went 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs in the win.

Perez hit 15 home runs as a DH in 2021, and 33 at catcher.

Only four other players in big league history have hit at least 40 homers in a season while primarily playing catcher: Johnny Bench (twice), Roy Campanella, Todd Hundley and Mike Piazza (twice). Bench, Campanella and Piazza are Hall of Famers.

Raleigh launched 27 homers in 2022, then 30 in 2023 and 34 last season.

A first-time All-Star at age 28, Raleigh burst onto the national scene when he won the All-Star Home Run Derby in July. He became the first switch-hitter and first catcher to win the title. He is the second Mariners player to take the crown, after three-time winner Ken Griffey Jr.

Raleigh’s homers gave him 106 RBIs on the season. He is the first catcher with consecutive seasons of 100 RBIs since Piazza (1996-2000), and the first American League backstop to accomplish the feat since Thurman Munson (1975-77).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Continue Reading

Sports

Yanks bench Volpe for series finale vs. Red Sox

Published

on

By

Yanks bench Volpe for series finale vs. Red Sox

NEW YORK — Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe was benched Sunday night for the finale of a critical four-game series against the rival Boston Red Sox.

Volpe is mired in a 1-for-28 slump and leads the majors with 17 errors. New York started recently acquired utlityman Jose Caballero at shortstop as the team tries to prevent a four-game sweep.

Volpe is hitting .208 with 18 homers and 65 RBIs in 128 games this season. He has started 125 at shortstop and was not in the starting lineup for only the fifth time all year.

“Just scuffling a little bit offensively here over the last 10 days, (and) having Caballero,” manager Aaron Boone explained. “Cabby gives you that real utility presence that can go play anywhere.”

Volpe did not start for the second time in eight days. After going 0-for-9 in the first two games at St. Louis, he sat out the series finale last Sunday.

He went hitless in 10 at-bats over the first three games against the Red Sox. During a 12-1 loss Saturday, he had a sacrifice bunt and committed a throwing error on a grounder by David Hamilton during Boston’s seventh-run ninth inning.

Volpe, 24, batted .249 through his first 69 games. But since June 14, he is hitting .153 — and some Yankees fans have been clamoring for the team to sit him down.

Volpe won a Gold Glove as a rookie in 2023 and hit .209 with 21 homers and 60 RBIs. He batted .243 with 12 homers last season when New York won its first American League pennant since 2009.

In the postseason, Volpe batted .286, including a grand slam in Game 4 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“I think he handles it quite well,” Boone said about Volpe’s struggles. “I don’t think he’s overly affected by those things. Just a young player that works his tail off and is super competitive and is trying to find that next level in his game offensively. I think he’s mentally very tough and totally wired to handle all of the things that go with being a big leaguer in this city and being a young big leaguer that’s got a lot of expectations on him.”

Acquired from Tampa Bay at the July 31 trade deadline, the speedy Caballero was hitting .320 in 14 games with the Yankees and .235 overall entering Sunday’s game. Besides shortstop, Caballero has started at second base, third base and right field.

New York began the night six games behind first-place Toronto in the AL East and 1 1/2 back of second-place Boston. The Yankees, Red Sox and Mariners are tightly bunched in a race for the three AL wild cards.

Continue Reading

Trending