Mets GM tells Mike Francesa the team would need to be ‘very creative’ to have a shot at Manny Machado or Bryce Harper  —  The Mets have not made offers to Manny Machado or Bryce Harper.  —  Brodie Van Wagenen told Mike Francesa on his WFAN radio show Wednesday that the Mets had not yet made an offer “to the two big boys.”

Who's up next for the Yankees after free-agent target Patrick Corbin takes the Nationals money?  —  The best man may have worn a Yankees cap at Patrick Corbin's wedding last month, but the next time Corbin takes a big-league mound, he'll be wearing the red hat of the Washington Nationals.

LATEST EPISODE … PAST EPISODES  —  NFL Week 13 fastest 2 minutes.  (2:20-8:57) Mike McCarthy fired and we broke the news, not to brag.  Recapping NFL Sunday, the Chargers big win, AFC WC cluster fuck, Done Chain, Texans are still winning, Chase Daniel is Chase Daniel …

What would happen if baseball killed the shift?  Support for the idea is building inside the game  —  What if baseball banned The Shift?  —  We don't ask that question because we're looking for clicks.  We don't even ask it because we're trying to get invited to the potentially epic End of the Shift party at Matt Carpenter's house.

MLB players concerned about rebuilding teams, attendance drop  —  NEW YORK — Baseball players are concerned the Seattle Mariners have become yet another rebuilding team and might be joined by others following a season of steep attendance drops among clubs that faded early and never contended for the playoffs.

Mel Stottlemyre Jr. hired as Marlins pitching coach  —  MIAMI — Former Seattle Mariners pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. has been hired as pitching coach for the Miami Marlins.  —  Also joining manager Don Mattingly's staff is former Kansas City Royals manager Trey Hillman, who will be first base and infield coach.

Cardinals Acquire Paul Goldschmidt  —  The offseason's latest blockbuster trade doesn't involve the exceptionally active Mariners nor any of the five teams in the hyper-aggressive National League East.  Rather, both the Cardinals and Diamondbacks have announced that first baseman Paul Goldschmidt …

Rick Sutcliffe gets contract extension from ESPN: ‘A terrific analyst who is as dialed into the game as anyone’  —  Chicago Tribune  —  Rick Sutcliffe, a Cy Young winner with the 1984 division champion Cubs who joined ESPN as a baseball analyst in 1998, has agreed to a multiyear contract extension …

David Ortiz: J.D. Martinez not getting credit he deserves  —  CAP CANA, Dominican Republic — Sitting in a golf cart at the 11th Annual David Ortiz Golf Classic, the function's host got increasingly animated as he spoke.  —  For David Ortiz, the topic of J.D. Martinez hits home.

DeWitts have fond memories of President Bush  —  It was early in the morning after one of those playoff games that went late into the night when Cardinals Chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. heard his phone buzz to life and opted to ignore it.  —  It had to be 2005, or maybe 2004 …