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We’ve all heard rumors about New York’s sky-high asking price for left-handed relief star Andrew Miller for months now, and we all saw the haul the Yankees got for their other left-handed relief star, Aroldis Chapman, in their recent trade with the Cubs. Still, this was a bit surprising. Lucas Giolito, you probably know, is the Nationals’ top prospect. Both Baseball America and MLB.com says he’s the No. 4 prospect in all of baseball....

REPORTED BY: Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi, Fox Sports. MORE: Eight MLB players who will be traded this year | Showalter can see Davis saga dragging into March DETAILS: Colorado, already flush with left-handed-hitting outfielders, brought another one, free agent Gerardo Parra, into the fold on Tuesday. It was a curious move perceived as a precursor to a deal that could net the Rockies long-coveted pitching talent capable of taming sluggers within the confines of Coors Field....

Both could draw a nice haul for Cincinnati. Chapman, 27, had 33 saves and a 1.63 ERA amid constant trade rumors in 2015. Bruce, 28, hit 26 home runs and drove in 87 runs last season. MORE: Ben Zobrist’s potential destinations | 2015 Gold Glove Award winners “We’re in a tough division (the NL Central),” Walt Jocketty, Reds president of baseball operations, said, via Fox Sports. “We’ve got to be realistic about it....

This new report echoes what Heyman stated last week. He said New York has made any and every prospect available in a deal for the man they call “Thor.” Per Heyman on last week’s edition of the “Big Time Baseball” Podcast: Heyman went on to say he believes the Mets would want Gleyber Torres in return for Syndergaard and he does not think the Yankees would do that. Torres has reportedly been made “unavailable” in trades....

Washington came away with a 7-2 win over the Phillies at Nationals Park on Monday. The victory moved the Nationals 1/2-game in front of the idle Brewers, who have won four in a row and pulled even in the standings one day earlier. The Nationals scored a run in each of the first three innings and then added two more in the fifth to pull away. Adam Eaton finished 3 for 4 with a home run and two runs scored while shortstop Trea Turner also scored three times in the victory....

Back when the 2017 season began, the one team most people would have put their money on pulling off the U.S. Open Cup-MLS Cup double was FC Dallas. Last year’s Supporters’ Shield winner came into 2017 with the highest expectations in the league. The Hoops made a run to the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals, and there was even talk of a potential treble. That’s how good FC Dallas looked, and how much promise Oscar Pareja’s squad showed....

Below, you will find two of the best bets for today’s slate of MLB games. Bet #1: Toronto Blue Jays -1.5 (-120) vs. the Baltimore Orioles The Toronto Blue Jays will host the Baltimore Orioles in the final game of this four-game series. The Blue Jays have won two out of the first three games, including an emotional walk-off win last night. This season, the Blue Jays have a very good 20-11 record when playing at home in Canada....

Sing-a-song, it’s Vogelsong! Let’s take advantage of Ryan Vogelsong’s spot start today and take the Tigers behind Shane Greene, who comes off a spectacular spring where he allowed only four runs in 19.1 innings with 23 strikeouts and only four walks — opponents hit only .225 off him. All those numbers are very similar to what we saw out of Greene last April when he allowed only one run between winning his first three starts....

There was as much intrigue about the No. 1 pick in the draft this year as there has been in recent memory. As many as a dozen names were thrown about for this pick, including Brendan Rodgers, Dillon Tate, Tyler Stephenson and Tyler Jay. MORE: Five worst MLB Draft misses for each franchise | Best picks, 1-50 Swanson, though, was always seen as the safe choice, and that’s not a knock on Swanson....

Join DAZN to watch ‘ChangeUp,’ a new MLB live whiparound show Position players dominated the top of the draft, making up nine of the first 10 selections. Nick Lodolo (Reds) was the lone pitcher taken in the top 10. In truth, it will be difficult to judge how teams do in this draft for several years. After all, players from the 2016 MLB Draft are only just now starting to arrive at the big league level....

On Thursday’s episode of ESPN’s “Mike and Mike,” Manfred said MLB has been “talking a lot internally” about potential limitations on relief pitchers during games. “You know the problem with relief pitchers is that they’re so good,” Manfred said on the program. “I’ve got nothing against relief pitchers, but they do two things to the game; the pitching changes themselves slow the game down and our relief pitchers have become so dominant at the back end that they actually rob action out of the end of the game, the last few innings of the game....

The 29-year-old third baseman and right fielder, who was a free agent in the offseason, will soon head up north to undergo his physical and complete the final formalities of his deal. Anderson, 29, hit .222/.311/.346 with eight homers and one stolen base over 98 games with Miami last season while splitting time between third base and right field while out in the field. He became a free agent last November when the Miami Marlins opted to non-tender the arbitration-eligible hitter....

Kenta Maeda, the Japanese right-hander who has received comparisons to countrymen Hiroki Kuroda and Masahiro Tanaka, will be posted by the Hiroshima Carp, according to multiple reports. It’s expected that the posting fee will be set at the maximum of $20 million, Baseball America reported. MORE: Judging hot stove rumors | If Giants can’t land Greinke, Leake, Samardzija reportedly Plan B Maeda, who will turn 28 in April, is widely considered one of the best pitchers in Japan....

All four of these stars have been brand ambassadors for the popular Dairy Queen ice cream and fast food. Since working with DC, however, something unfortunate has happened to all of them. Whether it be injuries, poor performance, or even suspension, nothing good has happened. Can it be just a coincidence? Which players are affected by the Dairy Queen curse? Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox and Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies have both had great starts to the season....

But on Monday, they did the impossible. MLB left me feeling embarrassed to be a baseball fan. Rob Manfred’s five-day pivot from being “100 percent certain” there will be baseball in 2020 to his “not confident” comments Monday opened my eyes. To make matters worse, Manfred’s quote came after players all over the Twittersphere started using the “When and Where” hashtag to simply ask owners, well, when and where they’re playing in 2020....

With the College World Series and the draft combine wrapped up, all that is left now between these players and the beginning of their professional careers is the wait to hear which teams will call them. It’s always a nearly impossible exercise to guess exactly which teams will be taking which players on draft day, but we’re taking our final shot at predicting where these players will land in the first round of the draft....

The Cubs continued the Tigers’ season-long woes with a 12-3 rout of Detroit on Wednesday night. Chicago chased Tigers starter Shane Greene after just three innings, racking up five runs and seven hits en route to a 15-hit night. Catcher Miguel Montero and left fielder Chris Coghlan led the way with three hits apiece. MORE: Pedro says Mets ‘playing with fire’ by sticking with Harvey | Phils reportedly talking with Jays, Cubs about Papelbon...

Mike Napoli has officially awoken from a near two-month slumber with the bat. After starting the season with a .162 average and just two home runs, the Red Sox slugger has hit six home runs and has 10 RBIs in his last seven games. Meanwhile, Justin Upton did some damage of his own Sunday with a grand slam against the Dodgers. He finished the game with two hits and six RBIs....

This year, the Major League Baseball playoffs began with four best-of-three Wild Card Series. The three wild-card teams plus the lowest-seeded division winner in each league faced off to determine who would go on to the Division Series to face the league’s Nos. 1 and 2 seeds. MLB previously had two wild-card teams in each league face off in a single-elimination game, though it did feature a wild-card series in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign....

The official release went out at noon ET on Tuesday, a lengthy missive that explained what MLB sees as the problem — and it is an issue — while largely avoiding responsibility for creating the problem. But that’s a topic for a different column. In this release, the punishment for a first-time offender was specified: 10 days, with subsequent violations subjected to “progressive discipline.” Starting pitchers will have more than one mandatory check per game, with mandatory checks on relief pitchers after an inning or when they exit the field (whichever happens first), to reduce in-game delays....