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Houston continues “to engage in discussions with teams and monitor the market for a No. 3 starter,” according to The Athletic, and it has shown some level of interest in Diamondbacks left-hander Robbie Ray, MLB.com reported Monday. “We’re having the conversations we need to have,” Houston general manager Jeff Luhnow told The Athletic earlier this week. “We’ve targeted players that we like, and we’re hopeful that we get one or more of them....

They’ve been awesome in the postseason. They’ve exceeded every expectation, with their run all the way to Game 7 of the World Series in 2014 and their World Series championship in 2015. But, wow. Their 2016 playoff prospects just don’t look very good. MORE: Sporting News ranks every MLB manager, 1-30 They enter play on Tuesday with a record that’s two games under .500. They’re 8.5 games behind the Indians in the American League Central, in fourth place behind the Tigers and White Sox (being behind a White Sox team that’s been mostly a disaster might be the most damning truth about K....

MORE: White Sox want five top prospects for Chris Sale, report says

Most of the discussion has centered around pitching. Will the Royals trade Wade Davis? Are the White Sox going to trade Scissorhands Sale? Will anyone meet the Yankees’ asking price on Andrew Miller? But lots of World Series contenders are interested in adding offense, too, so we thought we’d take a look at the best bats available on the trade market. Some of the possible destinations are connected to actual rumors, and some are just speculation based on need (mystery teams are fun)....

New York is exploring a three-team trade which would send Syndergaard to the Padres and help get Marcus Stroman of the Blue Jays, according to The Athletic. Such a trade would land players from the Padres which would then be sent to Toronto in the deal for Stroman. The Athletic suggests Cal Quantrill, who is a native of Canada, may be a logical target for the Blue Jays. Several reports have indicated in recent days the Mets are determined to trade Syndergaard, who has two years left on his deal after this season is done....

Moments like this are hard to swallow, but a lot of times they’re necessary. Selling now can help build a better team later. But what hurts even worse than a team selling is an organization wallowing in obscurity and failing to win a title because of it. Or worse, failing to even make the postseason. There are several teams this year that are on the bubble coming into the last week before the trade deadline and we think we know who should sell....

Free agent position players started rolling off the board after the Cubs signed Ben Zobrist yet some of the biggest names in one of the deepest classes remain. Let’s look at the top five remaining questions surrounding the offseason: MORE: Winter meetings winners and losers Who’s willing to pay up for Japanese ace Kenta Maeda? Maeda, 28, rocked a 2.09 ERA, 1.01 WHIP, and 175:41 K:BB ratio in 206 1/3 innings with Japan’s Hiroshima Carp last season....

For anyone trying to make that case, Exhibit A would be the stunning events at Citi Field on Friday, when the Mets rallied for four runs in the ninth inning to shock the Nationals, 7-6. Trailing by three runs entering the bottom of the ninth, Todd Frazier launched a towering, three-run homer just inside the left-field foul pole off Nationals closer Sean Doolittle to tie the game. After a couple of Mets reached base, Michael Conforto hit a two-out, line-drive single off Doolittle for the walk-off hit....

That’s tough to top. This will suffice for the moment: It is a beautiful Monday, and Schweinsteiger is on the field at the University of Illinois-Chicago for his first training session as captain of the Major League Soccer All-Star team that will take on 2017 Champions League winner Real Madrid at Soldier Field (8:30 p.m. ET Wednesday; FS1, TSN, TVA). And his delight is obvious. MORE: All-Star Game rosters, TV info...

International media company MP & Silva offered the league the chance to quadruple its current annual media right haul, but MLS rejected the offer. Get Milan at 6/1 to win Serie A The offer was a 10-year deal starting in 2023, after the expiration of the league’s current deal with ESPN, Fox, and Univision. In a statement provided to ESPN, league spokesman Dan Courtemanche explained that MLS contractually was not even allowed to negotiate with MP & Silva before discussing a renewal with its current media partners....

Martinez scored a hat trick at Mercedes-Benz Stadium as Atlanta equaled the largest margin of victory in MLS history. It took just 73 seconds for Martinez to open the scoring, the Venezuela international finishing powerfully from an angle. New England was reduced to 10 men in the 16th minute as midfielder Xavier Kouassi was shown a straight red card. The Revs’ outing would get much worse, Martinez scoring two penalties – both times after handballs – and Antonio Delamea Mlinar seeing red for giving away the second spot kick....

Sure, the Tigers (22-22) are playing well and Verlander (3-4, 4.58 ERA) has looked sensational over his past three starts allowing only four runs combined while striking out 27, but the Tigers lost two of those starts. In one of them (at home vs. Texas on May 8), Verlander didn’t allow a run over seven innings and the bullpen allowed seven runs in the eighth and Detroit eventually lost 8-3....

Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is willing to at least test the waters, especially after witnessing Canadian fans pack Rogers Centre in Toronto this season with an average of 41,880 fans and invade Safeco Field in Seattle when the Jays and Mariners played in September. MORE: Eight fateful franchise relocations Before baseball returns to Quebec, though, a number of things need to happen. Manfred told reporters Tuesday the first one is settling on a new collective bargaining agreement to replace the one that is set to expire in December....

You’ve probably read a couple of articles grading the draft, and you’ve read scouting reports on the guys your team took in the first couple of rounds. Maybe you’re really excited. Maybe you wonder what that particular front office was thinking during those three draft days. MLB DRAFT 2018: Picks, top prospects from Rounds 1-10 But right now, it’s all speculation. You probably know this. You need a spot of patience....

They’re kinda ridiculous in the NFL and NBA, and in those sports the draft picks will contribute immediately so there’s at least the opportunity to justify grades by guessing how the picks will fit into the new team’s current structure. But they’re especially ridiculous in baseball, when all but a handful of players are at least two years away from making their big-league debuts. How can anyone possibly pass judgment on how a team performed when it picked a high school player who won’t fit into his new franchise’s big-league mix until years down the road?...

Amsinger then made a prediction, albeit a random one, that ended up coming true. (Watch the video here) MORE: ASG photos | Jeter praise | Wainwright’s struggles Trout: Now we’re playing great ball, and we’re trying to catch the A’s. Amsinger: It’s going to be awesome, man, when you drive in Derek Jeter in his final All-Star Game tonight. That’s going to be so cool. Trout: That would be sick....

Chicago has waited an awfully long time to be excited about the Cubs again, but it appears that wait is finally going to be rewarded. The Cubs beat the Giants 8-6 on Saturday for their third win in a row and ninth in their last 10 games. The young and energetic squad is comprised of a multitude of top prospects and pitchers that are starting to hit their strides....

What a day for Mets outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis. The 27-year-old utility outfielder entered Sunday’s game with zero home runs on the season, but changed that in a big way with three long shots in a win against the Diamondbacks. The performance came seemingly out of nowhere, as Nieuwenhuis had only hit 13 home runs in his three-and-a-half-year career. He managed only three homers in each of his previous two seasons, for goodness sake....

“You stick around long enough,” White said. “You’ll see some s—.” MORE: Biggest moments from Game 5 | Five takeaways | Dumbest unwritten rules White was referring to the top of the seventh, which included one of the strangest plays anyone had ever seen that gave the Rangers the lead on the Blue Jays in the winner-take-all contest, followed by a delay while fans hurled full beers and assorted garbage from the stands....

Los Angeles is out in front 1-0 in the NLDS for the third straight year and fourth time in the last six seasons. Of the four series the Dodgers started 1-0, they have gone on to win all four. Now the Nationals will have to fight back with Stephen Strasburg in Game 2 on Friday. MLB playoffs 2019: Three takeaways from Dodgers’ Game 1 NLDS win over Nationals First inning nerves cost Patrick Corbin, Nationals There’s no way around it, Patrick Corbin’s nerves very well may have cost the Nationals Game 1....