Baseball Wiretap

Tarik Skubal said the stress of his arbitration battle with the Detroit Tigers may have subconsciously influenced his decision to delay addressing elbow discomfort earlier this year. Skubal, a back-to-back Cy Young Award winner entering a contract year, first noticed something wrong in January.

"I knew something was wrong," said Skubal. "I didn't know what was wrong."

Reflecting on the situation, Skubal acknowledged he might have handled things differently in hindsight.

"If I could go back, I probably should have got an MRI in January and hammered it out to where I was done with it in the offseason," said Skubal. "But there were also other factors in play. I was going through arbitration. The decision by the organization to take me to court, I think that probably had some impact subconsciously."

The Tigers had filed to pay Skubal $19 million for the 2026 season, while his agent, Scott Boras, sought $32 million. A three-person arbitration panel ultimately sided with Skubal, awarding him a record salary for a player with fewer than six years of service time.

Skubal addressed the broader scrutiny that has followed him throughout the season, from the arbitration process to his injury recovery and now speculation surrounding the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

"I understand where I'm at in my career," said Skubal. "I understand how public everything that's happened in my career has been. The fans want to engage. There's some clickbait-y headlines that the media has to write. That's the media's job. I get it. Do I agree with all of them? No. But I get it."

Despite the challenges of the past six months, Skubal said he has come to terms with the situation and feels physically recovered.

"It happened," said Skubal. "It is what it is. I feel good. I feel healthy now."

Tigers catcher Jake Rogers described the tradeoffs that come with Skubal's rising profile in the sport.

"When you're put on a pedestal," said Rogers, "there's good and bad that comes with it."

Skubal said he welcomes the added scrutiny and expectations that come with his standing in the game.

"I want to have those expectations on me," said Skubal. "It's a privilege. Not everybody that plays this game gets to wear that burden."

Athletics rookie Joshua Kuroda-Grauer underwent emergency surgery Monday night to repair a ruptured testicle, hours after fouling a ball directly off himself during the team's 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Kuroda-Grauer managed to remain in the game for another half-inning before eventually being replaced.

The incident occurred in the fifth inning, when Kuroda-Grauer crumpled to the ground after clean contact from a foul ball, prompting immediate attention from a trainer and manager Mark Kotsay. He eventually stood back up, took a few practice swings and completed his at-bat with a single.

A's play-by-play announcer Chris Caray captured the moment in a call that later went viral.

"It looks like he will come up with no balls and one strike," said Caray.

Kuroda-Grauer returned to third base for the following half-inning before being replaced in the bottom of the sixth. He finished the night 2-for-3 with his first career home run, alongside the injury. Kotsay marveled at his rookie's toughness afterward.

"I think he might be the only player in history to (rupture) a testicle, stay in the game, get a hit and play another half inning of defense," said Kotsay.

Kuroda-Grauer, a 2024 third-round pick out of Rutgers, is listed as resting comfortably following surgery, according to a team release. The injury adds to a recent run of similar incidents across baseball. Last month, Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. left an at-bat early after a foul ball struck him in the same area, though in that case the ball ricocheted off the ground first.

Kuroda-Grauer's situation also echoes past incidents involving Adrian Beltre, who took a comparable injury in 2009 and played through an extra-innings game, ultimately scoring the winning run. Beltre described the aftermath in past comments.

"When I look down, after the game, it wasn't a pretty sight," said Beltre. "My testicle got the size of a grapefruit. Thank God it didn't really damage anything. It took me two weeks. It was a tear. A lot of blood inside, but it didn't damage anything."

The MLB Players Association submitted its proposal for the domestic draft Tuesday, presenting a plan that sharply contrasts with the league's own proposal from last month. The union's plan comes 33 days after MLB proposed cutting the draft from 20 to 12 rounds, reducing signing bonuses by more than $150 million and eliminating high school players from eligibility.

The MLBPA's proposal maintains draft eligibility for high school and junior college players while also allowing four-year university players to enter after their sophomore seasons regardless of age. Under current rules, college sophomores are only eligible if they turn 21 by Aug. 1 of their draft year.

The union also wants to preserve a system where signing bonus pools grow alongside industry revenue, which reached $358.7 million in 2026, up from $350.4 million the previous year. Under the proposal, teams designated as small-market under the collective bargaining agreement could add $2 million to their bonus pool in one draft over the next five years, along with an additional $1 million for making the playoffs the prior season.

The MLBPA's plan preserves competitive balance picks, which allow low-revenue and small-market teams to receive additional selections between the first and second rounds or the second and third rounds. The union also proposed loosening penalties for teams that exceed their bonus pools. Under the current agreement, teams face a 75 percent tax and loss of a first-round pick for exceeding their pool by more than 5 percent, with penalties rising to a 100 percent tax and loss of first- and second-round picks beyond 10 percent. The MLBPA's proposal would allow teams to exceed their pools by up to 15 percent without losing a pick, with a first-round pick only forfeited beyond 20 percent overage.

No team has ever exceeded its bonus pool by more than 5 percent under the current system, but the union believes greater flexibility would help teams compete for young talent that might otherwise choose college programs offering NIL compensation or pursue other sports like basketball or football. To further incentivize signing such players, the proposal would allow small-market teams to sign up to two picks before the third round to major league contracts, removing that pick's slot value from the team's bonus pool, a practice permitted before bonus pools were introduced in 2012.

The MLBPA also proposed moving the draft from July to June and allowing teams to trade picks in the first 10 rounds up until two hours before the draft begins.

MLB's June 18 proposal called for a 12-round, hard-slot domestic draft with bonus pools totaling $200 million in 2027, along with a similarly structured international draft, as part of a broader labor package that includes a proposed salary cap and floor at the major league level. The MLBPA has not yet submitted a formal proposal addressing international amateur players born outside the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Brody Bumila, the 18-year-old third-round pick of the Texas Rangers, announced Tuesday that he will require Tommy John surgery to repair damage to the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow. The procedure will likely keep him off the mound until at least late 2027.

Bumila, selected 89th overall after graduating high school this year, previously underwent internal-brace surgery on the same UCL in 2025. He informed MLB teams before the draft that additional damage to the ligament would require a further procedure.

The 6-foot-9, 255-pound right-hander had been viewed as a potential first-round talent after posting a 6-0 record with a 1.10 ERA and 106 strikeouts across 44⅓ innings at Bishop Feehan High School in Attleboro, Massachusetts. Bumila addressed the situation in an interview with WBZ-TV in Boston last week.

"I just think you've got to just keep going, not stop. If you think you can achieve your goal, you can achieve it," said Bumila. "I think it just puts a bigger chip on my shoulder to a sense that all the other 29 MLB teams, everyone had an opportunity to take me and they didn't."

The Rangers announced Tuesday that they had signed their top three picks from this year's draft. Bumila agreed to a $2.75 million bonus, left-hander Gio Rojas signed for $4.6 million after being selected 16th overall, and infielder Connor Comeau signed for $2.5 million as the 54th overall pick.

Bumila, who had previously committed to the University of Texas, explained his decision to turn professional despite the injury uncertainty.

"College would be amazing to go to, but every kid's dream is to be a professional baseball player not a college baseball player," said Bumila. "And I got a dollar sum I would consider life changing."

ESPN has laid off longtime broadcaster Karl Ravech on Tuesday as part of its first round of layoffs following the completion of its NFL Network acquisition, according to sources briefed on the moves. Ravech had been one of the network's most prominent on-air voices for more than three decades.

ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro addressed the broader layoffs in an internal memo Tuesday.

"We have made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN," said Pitaro. "While most of the job impacts are tied to the acquisition, we will also notify colleagues in other parts of the company today that their positions have been impacted."

Ravech, 61, joined ESPN in 1993 and served as the network's lead play-by-play voice for Major League Baseball coverage, hosted "Baseball Tonight," called college basketball and worked for years as a "SportsCenter" anchor. He called Monday's Phillies-Dodgers game in Philadelphia, just before news of his dismissal emerged.

When reached by phone Tuesday morning, before Pitaro's memo was sent, Ravech said he had not yet been informed of the decision.

Ravech's departure came alongside similar moves affecting other longtime ESPN personalities, including "SportsCenter" anchor David Lloyd and injury analyst Stephania Bell. NFL analyst Ryan Clark was also let go Monday as part of the same round of cuts. ESPN declined further comment on the layoffs.

Colorado Rockies general manager Josh Byrnes orchestrated a trade with his former team Monday, sending right-hander Seth Halvorsen to the Los Angeles Dodgers for two minor league players.

Halvorsen is eligible to come off the 15-day injured list after being placed on it earlier this month with inflammation in his right shoulder. He is 0-1 with a 4.74 ERA across 21 appearances this season.

As part of the deal, Colorado picked up right-handed pitcher Nick Frasso and outfielder Landyn Vidourek from the Dodgers.

The Detroit Tigers understand the stakes ahead of MLB's Aug. 3 trade deadline as they must keep winning to retain All-Star pitcher Tarik Skubal. Manager A.J. Hinch addressed the pressure surrounding the team's late-July stretch before Monday's game against the Chicago Cubs.

"We've been playing Game 7 since May," said Hinch. "We know what's ahead. We know what the conversation around our team is. Tarik is in the news every single day because someone has a dream trade to make up, yet we have a game to win that night."

Skubal has posted a 2.97 ERA across seven starts since returning from a six-week elbow injury that coincided with a rough stretch for Detroit in May. The Tigers entered Monday 4.5 games back in the American League wild-card race, with six teams currently ahead of them in that chase.

Hinch said the team has embraced the ongoing trade speculation rather than letting it become a distraction.

"We're taking it with open arms, that it's part of our identity," said Hinch. "We've got to block out all the news of what's ahead the next few weeks and get to winning games."

Detroit may actually have a stronger path through the AL Central than the wild card, despite sitting 6.5 games behind the division-leading Chicago White Sox. FanGraphs gave the Tigers a 16 percent chance of winning the division entering Monday, notably higher than their wild-card odds, aided by the fact that Detroit has played the fewest games against divisional opponents so far this season.

"We're not naive that we need to win more games in order for us to maintain our trajectory," said Hinch.

Without a sufficient turnaround, Detroit risks a multiteam pursuit of Skubal that could net the Tigers a top-five prospect from a rival organization, an outcome the front office hopes to avoid. Getting healthier at the right moment could help that effort. Infielder Gleyber Torres was activated from the injured list Monday, and infielder/outfielder Javier Baez is set to begin a rehab assignment with Class-A Lakeland on Tuesday as he works back from an ankle injury.

Hinch indicated Torres would be brought back gradually.

"I'll ease him back in," said Hinch. "He may not play every single day for the next 10 days but a big boost for us."

Carlos Beltran said the New York Mets reached out to him about their managerial vacancy after firing Carlos Mendoza last month, though he ultimately declined to pursue the role at this time. Beltran addressed the conversation during a Zoom call with reporters Monday, days before his Hall of Fame induction in Cooperstown.

"Yes, I had conversations with a few people within the organization, and I don't know, I just didn't feel it was the right thing for me to do," said Beltran. "And I have to tell you that, having the opportunity to manage, I would say that that's probably in my bucket list."

Beltran currently serves as special assistant to Mets baseball operations president David Stearns, a role he said he values because of his close working relationship with the organization's decision-makers. Stearns has said interim manager Andy Green will return to his position as farm director after this season, potentially leaving the managerial job open again in the future.

Beltran stopped short of saying the timing was right for him to take on that role now.

"I understand that my name has been mentioned about being a manager and all that, and I'm proud of that," said Beltran. "But at the same time, I don't know, man, I've got to think deeply about what my next step is going to be."

Beltran previously served as Mets manager briefly in November 2019 before being fired the following January after MLB's investigation into the Houston Astros' sign-stealing scheme named him as the only player in its report. Beltran played for Houston's 2017 championship team but had already retired by the time of the investigation.

Beltran expressed continued frustration with how the situation unfolded.

"I feel like when you dig deep into the case and you dig deep into who I was as a player and how I behaved as a player throughout my career, I don't know, it created some red flags on the process," said Beltran. "It created red flags on the investigation. I gotta be honest, I gotta tell you how I feel, because sometimes it's hard for me to believe that I ended up in that position (as) the only player mentioned in the report."

Beltran noted that as a retired player at the time, he lacked union representation during the investigation, unlike active players and executives such as former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow, manager A.J. Hinch and coach Alex Cora, all of whom faced suspensions.

"They're going to allow Carlos Beltran to manage the Mets?" said Beltran. "I mean, that's impossible. So, you know, I feel like mentioning Carlos Beltran in the report, that was my suspension and that's how I feel."

Beltran also pushed back on the idea that he was solely responsible for the sign-stealing scheme, describing it as a collective effort within the organization.

"I know that as a team we got together to do what we did, but I've got to tell you that this was not like one player's idea," said Beltran. "This was a team being together, from top to bottom, to do something that we felt was going to help us win."

The Baltimore Orioles have agreed to a five-year, $90 million extension with right-handed starter Kyle Bradish. 

Bradish, 29, emerged as a potential star in 2023, finishing fourth in American League Cy Young voting during his second major-league season. Injuries limited him to just 14 combined starts over the following two seasons, but he has rebounded this year with a 3.61 ERA across 19 starts, leading Baltimore's pitching staff with 1.7 bWAR.

The extension follows a similar move by the Cincinnati Reds, who recently signed All-Star Chase Burns to a seven-year, $105 million deal. Baltimore has now locked up two starting pitchers to long-term extensions this year, having signed right-hander Shane Baz to a five-year, $68 million contract in March.

Bradish's new deal buys out two years of arbitration and keeps him under team control through the 2031 season. The Orioles entered Saturday at 47-51, sitting two games back of the Boston Red Sox for the American League's third wild-card spot.

The Minnesota Twins have agreed to terms with catcher Vahn Lackey, the No. 3 overall pick in last weekend's MLB draft.

The projected slot value for the third pick this year was $9.74 million. Lackey becomes Minnesota's highest draft selection since taking Royce Lewis first overall in 2017, a pick that carried a franchise-record $6.725 million signing bonus at the time.

Lackey batted .397 with a .519 on-base percentage and .772 slugging percentage across 283 plate appearances for Georgia Tech this past season. Twins assistant general manager and scouting director Sean Johnson praised the catcher's all-around game.

"He's hard to take your eyes off when you see him play," said Johnson. "He can really throw. He's athletic. He blocks. He does all the little things that you want to see a catcher do. He can take charge on the field. You can't take your eyes off him when he's out there. His presence is really good. All the things you want to see, the intangibles, he has them."

Lackey marks the highest catcher drafted by Minnesota since selecting Hall of Famer Joe Mauer first overall in 2001. He climbed draft boards significantly after a breakout junior season, improving his home run total from six as a sophomore to 20 as a junior after focusing on adding launch angle to his swing.