Ken Rosenthal

5 days ago | nytimes.com | Levi Weaver |Ken Rosenthal

"To be fair, that's not quite the full-chest 'no way' we got from Devers this spring. It's also not an offer to do it. All we know is: It's not happening."From my latest notes column:It's almost as if Max Fried is a different pitcher. By design. What impressed Yankees coach Matt Blake most about the left-hander, from the first time they spoke via Zoom during free agency, was his openness to new ideas.

5 days ago | nytimes.com | Ken Rosenthal

It's almost as if Max Fried is a different pitcher. By design. What impressed New York Yankees coach Matt Blake most about the left-hander, from the first time they spoke via Zoom during free agency, was his openness to new ideas. The number of adjustments the Yankees suggested to Fried might be perceived as excessive for a successful pitcher joining a new organization on an eight-year, $218 million contract. But Fried, according to Blake, essentially said, "Keep going. What do you got?

6 days ago | thestate.com | Ken Rosenthal

Pete Crow-Armstrong was 9 when his father, Matt, threw down the gauntlet. Not about school. Not about sports. About the Chicago Cubs. Matt Armstrong grew up a Cubs fan in Naperville, Illinois. Both he and his wife, Ashley Crow, were actors, raising Pete, their only child, in Southern California. Armstrong sensed that the Cubs, after hiring Theo Epstein as president of baseball operations and Jed Hoyer as general manager, soon would be on the rise.

6 days ago | nytimes.com | Levi Weaver |Ken Rosenthal

The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic's MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox. To be fair, I did tell you to watch Padres-Yankees. Plus: We learn what's been wrong with William Contreras in Milwaukee, and Mookie Betts is working on bat speed (while the Dodgers training staff is just working on getting some pitchers healthy). I'm Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal.

6 days ago | nytimes.com | Ken Rosenthal

Talking to Mookie Betts, I almost wanted to pull an Allen Iverson. "Bat speed? You're worried about bat speed?"An eight-time All-Star, seven-time Silver Slugger and three-time World Series champion is about the last player you would expect to fret, especially when he is still an elite performer. In April, The Athletic grouped Betts with five others in Tier 1 on its list of the top 100 position players in baseball. ESPN ranked Betts third among all players, MLB Network fifth.