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9:10 AM ET, February 4, 2025

Ballbug

 Top News: 
Evan Petzold / Detroit Free Press:
Alex Bregman watch: Detroit Tigers still in mix despite signing Jack Flaherty  —  The window is open for the Detroit Tigers to make a run for the World Series while reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal remains under contract for the next two seasons, but free-agent third baseman Alex Bregman could be the final piece of the puzzle.
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Jason Beck / MLB.com:
Flaherty agrees to return to Tigers' rotation  —  DETROIT — What would the 2024 Tigers' playoff run have looked like with Jack Flaherty in their rotation?  —  They can't replay the Trade Deadline.  But on Sunday night, they did the next-best thing by bringing Flaherty back for another try.
David Schoenfield / ESPN:
MLB 2025 free agency: Alex Bregman's strengths, concerns, best fits  —  Alex Bregman has been one of the best players in baseball since his first full season with the Houston Astros in 2017, helping them to eight consecutive trips to the playoffs and two World Series titles.
Discussion: AZ Snake Pit and NESN.com
Eric Stephen / True Blue LA:
Jack Flaherty returns to the Tigers
New York Times:
MLB fires umpire Pat Hoberg for sharing betting accounts with pro poker player who bet on baseball  —  Major League Baseball has fired umpire Pat Hoberg after he shared sports betting accounts with a professional poker player who bet on baseball.  —  In a news release, the league said it found …
RELATED:
Jesse Rogers / ESPN:
MLB fires umpire Pat Hoberg for shared betting accounts  —  Following a lengthy appeals process, Major League Baseball on Monday has fired umpire Pat Hoberg for “sharing” legal sports betting accounts with a friend who bet on baseball and for intentionally deleting messages key to the investigation into his conduct.
New York Times:
Inside the top-secret trade negotiations that made Luka Dončić a Laker  —  The Los Angeles Lakers walked away from the most stunning trade of the century with an unexpected bonus.  The Lakers now employ 25-year-old Luka Dončić, and they didn't even have to part …
RELATED:
George Vecsey / New York Times:
Fay Vincent, Baseball Commissioner in a Stormy Era, Dies at 86  —  He presided in a period of union strife, the emergence of steroid use, the banning of Pete Rose and an earthquake that rattled a World Series.  —  Fay Vincent, a lawyer who presided over Major League Baseball …
RELATED:
Adam J. Morris / Lone Star Ball:
Former MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent has died
Chris Cotillo / masslive.com:
Sam Kennedy: Red Sox have taken ‘aggressive approach,’ still have ‘ability to add’ to roster  —  BOSTON — In November, Red Sox president/CEO Sam Kennedy said there was an “extreme urgency” within the organization to have an aggressive offseason and get back to competing for an American League East title in 2025.
Associated Press:
Former Baltimore Orioles infielder Rich Dauer dies at 72  —  Rich Dauer, an infielder who played a decade in the major leagues and won a World Series as a player with Baltimore and as a coach with Houston, has died.  He was 72.  —  The Orioles announced Dauer's death Monday.
Peter Abraham / The Boston Globe:
Could a difference of opinion explain why the Red Sox haven't signed a hitter?  And other thoughts.  —  This story originally appeared in the Globe's Sunday Baseball Notes.  Read the rest here.  —  Agents representing prominent free-agent hitters have been hearing the same thing …
Discussion: Yahoo Sports and masslive.com
D.J. Short / NBCSports.com:
2024-25 MLB Free Agent Tracker: Top players, latest Hot Stove signings; Bregman, Alonso lead best available  —  The MLB Hot Stove is in full swing, and you can track all of the activity from the 2024-25 MLB offseason in our handy free agent tracker.  —  The list, which is based …
Discussion: Yahoo Sports
Jonathan Judge / Baseball Prospectus:
PECOTA 2025: An Introduction  —  PECOTA is back for 2025, and as usual, we have improvements to announce.  This season the improvements are notable both for where we chose and chose not to make them.  —  Pitchers  —  Although we think PECOTA already does a fine job projecting pitchers, it is about to become even better.
Associated Press:
Thousands pay tribute to late Rickey Henderson in Oakland  —  OAKLAND, Calif. — When Ken Griffey Jr.'s baseball-star father struggled to get through to the talented teen, Rickey Henderson somehow could.  —  The younger Griffey, who considers himself fortunate to have roamed …
 
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 More News: 
Brad Townsend / Dallas Morning News:
Mavs GM Nico Harrison on stunning Luka Doncic trade: 'It's my job to make tough decisions'
Jeff Sanders / San Diego Union-Tribune:
Padres notes: Dylan Cease talks trade rumors, roster developments, Yu Darvish still there for Roki Sasaki
Discussion: MLB Trade Rumors and MLB.com
 Earlier Picks: 
Alden Gonzalez / ESPN:
Could Albert Pujols become an MLB manager someday?
Discussion: Forbes and The Good Phight
 

 
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Angela Andaloro / People:
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Joe Otterson / Variety:
‘Taylor Lautner: Werewolf Hunter’ TV Series in Development at Amazon MGM Studios (EXCLUSIVE)

Brianne Tracy / People:
Naya Rivera's Ex Ryan Dorsey Speaks Out for the First Time About the Glee Star's Tragic Death and Raising Their Son Alone (Exclusive)

 
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