Feb 13, 2019; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks logo is seen during the first day of spring training workouts at Salt River Fields. Mandatory Credit: Rob Schumacher/The Republic via USA TODAY NETWORK
The Arizona Diamondbacks made a move on Thursday to fortify their bullpen.
The Diamondbacks acquired relief pitcher A.J. Puk in a trade with the Miami Marlins. Arizona is sending Andrew Pintar and Deyvison De Los Santos back to Miami as part of the deal.
Puk is 4-8 with a 4.30 ERA this season, but his stats don’t tell the full story on him.
The 29-year-old began the season as a starter and was tagged with 14 earned runs in just 4 starts. Since then he has been mustard and hasn’t allowed a run in his last 13 appearances. During that span, Puk has allowed just 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 22.
AJ Puk since transitioning back to the bullpen this year:
Jul 28, 2021; Orchard Park, NY, United States; Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane on the field after practice at the Buffalo Bills Training Facility. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports
Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane did not take a recent diss at Josh Allen sitting down.
ESPN reporter Jeremy Fowler published an article earlier this month that ranked the top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL. The list was decided via votes from various NFL executives, coaches, and scouts. The identities of the voters were kept anonymous.
The Bills QB ranked third on the list behind Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow. Allen’s section in the piece also included a quote from a “veteran NFL executive” who called the 28-year-old “one of the more overrated players in the NFL.”
On Wednesday, Beane held a press conference after the Bills’ first training camp practice at St. John Fisher University in Pittsford, N.Y. The Bills GM was unsurprisingly asked about the “overrated” comments targeting Allen.
“It’s frustrating. You try to ignore this stuff,” said Beane. “Josh is going into Year 7 and there’s still the naysayers. I don’t get it. If I was going to use ‘rated,’ I would say ‘underrated’ before I would say ‘overrated.’
“And I know I’m biased. He’s our guy and we love him every single day. I know people love these rankings of whoever, but if you don’t put your name to it and make comments like that? Like, who is this executive? ‘Executive’ is a loose term.’ … I wish the writer wouldn’t include comments like that … There’s idiots everywhere.”
Beane added that the negative takes surrounding Allen have persisted ever since the QB was drafted in 2018. But for Beane, and likely every Bills fan out there, Allen’s positives far outweigh the negatives.
Allen has two career Pro Bowl nods and has finished top-5 in the NFL MVP race in three of the past four seasons.
Beane has never been afraid to give a spicy soundbite when it comes to defending Allen. Earlier this year, Beane went viral on social media for his quote about trading for Allen back in 2018.
Apr 23, 2022; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans coach Lincoln Riley during the spring game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Lincoln Riley believes life for USC is about to get more difficult now that the team has joined the Big Ten. The change has him thinking about adapting Nick Saban’s schedule model.
Riley spoke with reporters on Wednesday at Big Ten Media Days at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. The USC head coach talked about his desire to follow what Saban did at Alabama by scheduling some easier non-conference opponents.
“‘Bama was ahead of the curve for years, I thought, on how they scheduled in the non-conference,” Riley said, via On3. “They would occasionally hit the marquee non-conference game, they’d play two other not-very-good teams, they’d play one late so they got essentially a little bit of a bye week there late in the season. They didn’t schedule for their fans – they scheduled to win championships.
“My hope is we can do the best thing, schedule to win championships that includes a rivalry game for all that comes with that and all that it means. But if you get in the positions, you’ve got to make a decision on what the priority is.”
Saban desired to play a schedule featuring 10 SEC games and two Power 5 non-conference opponents. But there were two problems: one is that other schools didn’t want to play Alabama, knowing it was a likely loss. Two, the College Football Playoff rewarded teams with the fewest losses, which incentivized playing an easier non-conference schedule.
USC has a stout non-conference schedule in 2024 featuring games against LSU and Notre Dame. They also have conference road games at Michigan and Washington. But Riley’s comments could foreshadow some bad news about USC’s rivalry with Notre Dame.
Jun 11, 2024; Pinehurst, North Carolina, USA; Bryson DeChambeau speaks to the media during a press conference at the U.S. Open golf tournament at Pinehurst No. 2. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
Bryson DeChambeau issued a clarification this week regarding the video he made with Donald Trump.
DeChambeau has created a series on YouTube called “Break 50” where he plays a round of golf hitting from the red tees, which are located much closer to the hole than the standard black tees where pros hit from. Chambeau’s challenge is to achieve a score below 50 for his round. During his round, Chambeau is accompanied by someone famous.
In the past, DeChambeau has recorded episodes with the likes of Sergio Garcia and Paige Spiranac. This week though he released his most popular episode: his special guest was Trump.
Since being released on Tuesday, the episode of DeChambeau with Trump has been viewed over 7 million times at the time this story was published.
The timing of the video’s publishing raised numerous questions from viewers, such as why the Republican presidential nominee did not have a bandage or anything by his ear. DeChambeau explained to his viewers the reason: the video was recorded in early July, before Trump was shot during a July 13 political rally in Butler, Pa.
“To confirm and clear any speculation, the Break 50 video with @realDonaldTrump was filmed during the first week of July, before I traveled overseas and prior to the incident that occurred in Butler, PA,” DeChambeau wrote in a post on X.
To confirm and clear any speculation, the Break 50 video with @realDonaldTrump was filmed during the first week of July, before I traveled overseas and prior to the incident that occurred in Butler, PA.
DeChambeau also made clear that recording the video with Trump was not a political statement. He said that he invited both Trump and Joe Biden to appear on the program with him and only Trump accepted. President Joe Biden was still the Democratic presidential nominee at the time of the invitation.
“To be clear, this is about golf and giving back to our nation’s veterans, not politics. A few weeks ago I reached out to both parties’ presidential campaigns and @realDonaldTrump was down for the challenge. It is an incredible honor to be able to enjoy a round of golf with any sitting or former president, and all have an open invitation to join me for a round of Break 50 anytime,” DeChambeau wrote.
To be clear, this is about golf and giving back to our nation's veterans, not politics. A few weeks ago I reached out to both parties’ presidential campaigns and @realDonaldTrump was down for the challenge. It is an incredible honor to be able to enjoy a round of golf with any…
May 14, 2024; Cumberland, Georgia, USA; Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Jameson Taillon (50) pitches against the Atlanta Braves during the first inning at Truist Park. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
The Chicago Cubs plan to be sellers at the upcoming trade deadline, and one of their players who is drawing attention is pitcher Jameson Taillon.
Taillon is in the second year of a four-year, $68 million contract he signed with the Cubs in December 2022. The 32-year-old is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career and has gone 7-5 with a 2.96 ERA and 1.15 WHIP over 17 starts.
On Thursday, The Athletic reported that the Houson Astros have shown interest in a trade for Taillon. Houston has several pitchers who are injured. Jose Urquidy, Cristian Javier and J.P. France are all out for the season, while Justin Verlander, Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia are working their way back from injuries.
In short, the Astros could really use a durable arm, which is exactly what Taillon has been. Taillon has made at least 29 starts in each of the last three seasons.
In addition to Houston, the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have also been mentioned as AL teams with interest in acquiring Taillon.
Taillon has 10 teams in his no-trade clause, meaning he could dictate where he goes to an extent. What makes him an attractive addition beyond just his strong pitching this season is that he is signed for two more seasons.
Kiyan Anthony has narrowed down his college list to a clear top six.
Kiyan, the 17-year-old son of retired 10-time NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony, announced in a post to social media on Thursday the six finalists for his college commitment. They are Auburn, Syracuse, Florida State, Ohio State, USC, and Rutgers.
A consensus four-star recruit in the class of 2025, Kiyan is a 6-foot-5 shooting guard who is heading into his senior year at Long Island Lutheran High School in Brookville, N.Y. Kiyan revealed earlier this month that he will be making his official college choice around October or November.
It is worth noting that Carmelo famously attended Syracuse and helped lead them to the 2003 national championship. That said, Kiyan has been visiting around in recent months and even had a photoshoot with one of the other schools on his top-six list. As such, Syracuse might not necessarily be a foregone conclusion for him at this point.
As they prepare to broadcast NBA games again for the first time in decades, NBC will likely be turning to a household name to anchor their coverage.
Richard Deistch of The Athletic reports this week that Mike Tirico is expected to serve as NBC’s lead play-by-play voice for NBA games (citing a conversation with NBC Sports president Rick Cordella). Deitsch adds that NBC will have multiple other game teams and studio analysts as well.
The news comes after the NBA officially announced this week that they have reached an agreement with NBC (and their streaming service Peacock) to telecast NBA games beginning with the 2025-26 season and continuing through the 2035-36 season. Separate broadcast rights agreements were also reached with Amazon and ESPN/ABC (the latter of which is a renewal).
Tirico, 57, is sportscasting veteran who first rose to fame as an anchor for ESPN’s “SportsCenter” back in 1991. He remained with ESPN through 2016 (doing play-by-play work for multiple sports) and then officially joined NBC. Among Tirico’s many duties for NBC, he is the lead play-by-play announcer for “Sunday Night Football” as well as the lead primetime host for both the Summer and the Winter Olympics.
For basketball fans who grew up with the Marv Albert-Mike Fratello team anchoring the “NBA on NBC” in the 1990s and 2000s, Tirico will have big shoes to fill. But the fans will be getting a good dose of nostalgia regardless and can now look ahead to Tirico as the lead voice for 2025-26 and beyond.
Dan Campbell is quite the inspirational orator, but he may have met his match at Detroit Lions camp.
Famous wrestling figure Hulk Hogan made an appearance at Lions training camp in Allen Park, Mich. on Thursday. Hogan did what he does best and cut a promo with his “new tag team partner,” Campbell.
Campbell was wearing a hat that said “Grit” on it and seemed to be loving the action from Hogan. The Lions head coach had a big smile on the whole time.
What are you going to do when Campbell-mania comes for you, brother?
Hogan may be 70 years old, but he still hasn’t lost his touch when it comes to recording energetic promos. He can fire up just about anyone!
Nov 21, 2018; Dallas, TX, USA; A view of the team logo on the shorts of Brooklyn Nets forward Jared Dudley (6) as he warms up before the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
The Brooklyn Nets are ready to bring on the memes.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported Thursday that the Nets are signing guard Killian Hayes in free agency. Charania adds that it is a one-year deal for Hayes, who will now have a chance to compete for a roster spot with Brooklyn.
At this point in his career, Hayes, the No. 7 overall pick in the 2020 draft, is known as a bust. Hayes was selected by the Detroit Pistons over future All-Stars such as Tyrese Haliburton and Tyrese Maxey as well as other high-quality scoring guards like Devin Vassell and Immanuel Quickley.
Entering his fifth NBA season now, Hayes continues to lag far behind with career averages of 8.1 points and 5.2 assists per contest on brutal 38/28/78 shooting splits. His bad shot selection and tendency for ill-advised turnovers also make Hayes a regular target of jokes online (even last year with Detroit when Hayes had a head coach who was an irrational believer in him).
The Pistons ultimately waived Hayes in the middle of last season, and no team had picked him up since. But the Nets do not have a lot of priorities other than player development (especially after trading away Mikal Bridges last month), so they will try their luck with the 6-foot-5 point guard Hayes.
Apr 19, 2023; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Mason Miller (57) warms up before the game against the Chicago Cubs at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
All-Star closer Mason Miller has suffered an injury to one of his fingers.
The Oakland A’s announced on Thursday that they had placed Miller on the 15-day injured list retroactive to Tuesday due to a fractured left hand. MLB.com reporter Martin Gallegos initially said that Miller had broken his left pinkie finger while punching a padded table in the training room. He later clarified that Miller got hurt when he “put his hand down awkwardly on the training table while getting ready to do an exercise.”
Important clarification on Mason Miller injury: he did not pound the table out of frustration. He put his hand down awkwardly on the training table while getting ready to do an exercise. https://t.co/BrjZHl94PB
Miller has been a standout for Oakland this season. The 25-year-old reliever is 1-1 with a 2.21 ERA and 15 saves this season. He has 70 strikeouts in 40.2 innings and is known for being one of the hardest throwers in the world.
