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New York was expected to be sellers at the deadline but instead acquired Marcus Stroman and held onto Zack Wheeler, who is set to be a free agent after the season. Mets general manager Brodie Van Wagenen discussed the team’s moves when he met with reporters Wednesday. “Our focus at the trade deadline … is to win now and win in the future,” Van Wagenen said, via The Athletic. “We evaluated a lot of different opportunities, but we wanted to make sure we only considered moves that improved our club and kept us on mission....

The impacts were undeniable, with either a push toward October or actual World Series performance: Justin Verlander in Houston (2017), Nathan Eovaldi in Boston (2018), Johnny Cueto and Ben Zobrist in Kansas City (2015), Jake Peavy in San Francisco (2014) and Aroldis Chapman in Chicago (2016). MORE: Here’s how to watch ‘ChangeUp,’ an MLB whiparound show, for free on DAZN So it’s understandable if fan bases with high expectations are more than a bit steamed now that the only trade deadline of the 2019 season has come and gone and their favorite teams did next to nothing....

With the Washington Nationals reportedly interested, the D-backs could soon find themselves playing king of the Hill. That’s because the New York Yankees also have mounting interest. Earlier this week, reports said the Toronto Blue Jays were in the mix as well. It appears Hill’s value is increasing. Off to a slow start to the season, Hill came out of the All-Star break with a vengeance. He seems more relaxed at the plate and is not trying so hard to pull the ball, according to the Arizona Republic....

Even if they somehow got to 78 wins by the end of September, that would probably leave them at least 20 games out of even the second wild-card spot — that’s how good the top of the American League is this season. So what should the Rangers do with the rest of their season? Compete, of course. Play spoiler, if possible, sure. FAGAN: The greatest pitching performance you’ve never heard of...

MORE: Worst in-season trades for every AL franchiseTHE DETAILS: Bautista, 35 will be a free agent at the end of the season, but the Blue Jays slugger hopes to stay with the club that took a chance on him in 2008. The two sides tabled extension talks that were rumored in the five-year, $150 million range. It’s also worth noting Bautista owns 10-and-5 rights, meaning he can veto any trade....

According to the Boston Globe, one such team doing so is Philadelphia, which is listening to offers for starting pitcher Jeremy Hellickson. MORE: MLB ump-turned-hero Steve Palermo dead at 67 Hellickson, the AL Rookie of the Year in 2011 with the Rays, bounced back in 2016 in his first year in Philly after a three-year rut. Last season, he went 12-10 with a 3.71 ERA and 154 strikeouts in 189 innings pitched....

With the Dodgers’ 10-6 win over the Rockies and the Diamondbacks’ 15-8 win over the Red Sox on Friday, both teams keep on tacking on franchise records. With Arizona’s 15 runs on Friday, it has now scored 56 runs through eight games this season while doing so with 19 home runs. Both of those are franchise bests. MORE: Watch ‘ChangeUp,’ a new MLB live whiparound show on DAZN As amazing as those numbers are, with Max Muncy’s home run in the fourth inning of Los Angeles’ win, the Dodgers extended their franchise record for consecutive games to start a season with a homer to eight....

The Mets pitcher mowed down quite a few Rockies batters in New York’s 5-3 victory over Colorado. The 28-year-old recorded 10 strikeouts through six innings of work at Citi Field. But Matz wasn’t the only member of the Mets to shine, as Pete Alonso and Carlos Gomez each notched home runs on the night. Colorado’s Jon Gray was no slouch though and totaled eight strikeouts of his own. His team’s failure to get extra-base hits just left them short-handed....

MORE: Nine absurd MLB.TV blackout restrictions In the past MLB.TV users could only purchase a leaguewide subscription giving them access to all 30 teams’ out-of-market games but will now have the option to watch only their favorite team’s games. The new option is only available for out-of-market customers, meaning fans will still have to deal with MLB’s blackout restrictions. It’s unclear how much the new streaming option will cost customers....

The primary voting phase for the 2019 MLB All-Star Game is over and the finalists were revealed Friday, which included the top three vote-getters at each position and nine outfielders for both the American and National League. Now, starting Wednesday, the next phase will begin and voters will choose the starting lineup for the AL and NL teams. Voting will end at 4 p.m. ET on Thursday. The winners will be announced later that night during the Google MLB All-Star Election Night at 7 p....

MLB has released the ballots, off of which 32 players from each league will be selected. Each team will have at least one representative. You can check out the full results below ahead of the 2022 All-Star break. How does the MLB All-Star voting process work? The first step of MLB All-Star voting is with the fans. MLB has already posted its ballot online, which fans will be able to select one player at every position in each league (plus two additional outfielders)....

Pitching in this one is Bryce Elder for the Braves and Cory Abbott for the Nationals. Abbot is making just his ninth career start, but he has looked great this season. He’s allowed twelve runs in his last five starts, and while those aren’t Cy Young numbers, they are stellar given his experience. Nationals fans should be excited to see how he progresses next season. While this is a great meeting of two young pitchers, that’s not what gives Washington the edge in this one....

With that in mind, we decided to take at look took a look at mock drafts and scouting reports from some of the top experts in the field to identify the top prospects in this year's draft. MLB DRAFT 2014: Houston has top pick; full draft order The mocks we looked at were from Baseball America's John Manuel, MLB.com's Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo and Bleacher Report's Mike Rosenbaum. Here's what we found out: Carlos Rodon, LHP, N....

How wanted? Reports indicate six teams are interested in signing Yoon, a 27-year-old free agent. Just where he might land is as big an issue as what he might do for an MLB club. He was a starter, winning MVP honors in the Korean league in 2011, before a shoulder problem limited him to relief work in 2013. Teams will want to make sure he's healthy, which is why he might come at a relatively low price....

This year’s free agent crop is solid, especially for teams looking for starting pitching (and isn’t everyone always looking for starting pitching?). There are elite starting pitchers available, back-of-the-rotation guys available and even several roll-the-dice options, too. MORE: Five potential landing spots for Gerrit Cole So let’s take a look at this year’s group. We tried to include players with opt-outs who will exercise those clauses (Hello, World Series MVP Stephen Strasburg) and we left off guys who aren’t likely to exercise those clauses (Hello, Jason Heyward)....

From time to time throughout the offseason, we’ll update this list to add signings, and offer a comment or two about those signings. FOSTER: Why MLB can’t afford a work stoppage now A quick note on Eric Thames, who signed a three-year, $16 million deal with the Brewers : Because he played in Korea the past couple seasons, he wasn’t on the MLBPA free-agent list, so he’s not on this ranking....

The Houston Astros will be without Jeremey Pena for at least the next 10 days, which will hamper the team and the young players’ bid for Rookie of the Year. The Los Angeles Angels have finally returned to winning, but the return to form hit another hurdle after Anthony Rendon left the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers early with a wrist injury. Let’s break down the timetables for the return from these injuries and what they mean going forward for their respective teams....

Try to dress it up however you want. The weather was suboptimal Thursday. The teams aren't as good as they were at the inception of interleague play. The finale of the four-game, split-stadium set featured two pitchers, Jacob deGrom and Chase Whitley, making their major league debuts. Tickets are too expensive. Whatever. New York is a metropolitan area of more than 22 million people, and a game between its two teams sold 40,133 tickets, one night after an attendance figure of 35,577 that was lower than the draw for a Friday game in April against the Reds....

Thursday’s MLB schedule was light with just nine games, but the Braves and Padres provided plenty of drama in the first action of the day. MORE: Mets manager seeks out Smoltz for Harvey advice | Red Sox pitcher yells at manager in dugout First, there was the brouhaha after Padres outfielder Matt Kemp was hit by a Julio Teheran fastball. Then the Padres got a two-run single from Yangervis Solarte in the top of the 11th to go ahead 6-4....