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The Pittsburgh Pirates have placed the struggling Colin Holderman on the 15-day injured list with a right wrist sprain. To take his place on the roster, the Pirates selected the contract of Ben Heller from Triple-A Indianapolis.
In 44 appearances out of the bullpen this season, Holderman has gone 3-5 with a 3.21 ERA with 47 saves in 42 innings.
After a hot start to the season, Holderman has struggled of late. He has been scored upon in each of his last five appearances and has been tagged for nine earned runs in total on nine hits in 4.1 innings. He took the loss on Wednesday against the Padres after allowing three runs to score in the top of the 10th.
Dating back to June 23, Holderman has a 7.63 ERA in 16 appearances after posting a remarkable 0.68 ERA in 28 appearances up to that point.
Heller had a brief stint with the Pirates in early June and was roughed up in a pair of appearances. He allowed a total of 12 runs (11 earned) to score on nine hits in two innings pitched.
In 30 appearances with Triple-A Indianapolis, Heller went 2-3 with a 3.55 ERA and four saves. He struck out 63 batters, walked 13 and allowed 22 hits in 37 innings pitched.
In order to get Heller back on the 40-man roster, the Pirates designated outfielder Edward Olivares for assignment. Olivares appeared in 55 games to begin the season with the Pirates and slashed a lowly .224/.291/.333 with four doubles, five home runs and 23 RBIs in 55 games.
Additionally, right-handed pitcher Jared Jones (right lat strain) and outfielder Joshua Palacios (left hamstring strain) will both begin rehab assignments with Indianapolis on Thursday. Jones has been out since leaving his start against the Cardinals on July 3 after five innings. Palacios was placed on the 10-day injured list on July 31.
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George Springer's status for Game 6 is becoming more clear
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Cowboys WR George Pickens has telling response to question about contract
George Pickens is having an outstanding first season with the Dallas Cowboys, and the career-best pace has come at a time when he is preparing for potential free agency. Is it possible the star wide receiver could sign an extension before he gets to that point? Pickens says that is up to his boss. Pickens, who was drafted in the second round by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2022, is in the final season of his rookie contract. He was asked on Thursday if he would consider signing a new deal with the Cowboys before he becomes a free agent after the season. He had a noteworthy response. "That’s kinda up to what (Jerry Jones) wants to do. All I can do is perform at my best," Pickens said. George Pickens has earned No. 1 wideout money Pickens has 685 receiving yards through the first eight weeks of the season, which ranks third in the NFL. His six touchdown catches are already the most of his four-year career. CeeDee Lamb missed several games this season with an ankle injury, and Pickens showed during that time that he is more than capable of being the featured wideout in a quality offense. That should go a long way toward setting his market, whether he re-signs with the Cowboys or becomes a free agent. With Lamb making an average of $34M per year, the Cowboys probably cannot afford to keep Pickens. For now, the 24-year-old is at least giving off the impression that he is open to the possibility. He also suggested recently that money is not the most important thing to him with his next contract, which could keep Dallas in the running.
Charles Barkley knows the real problem with LeBron James
LeBron James may be out due to sciatica, but Charles Barkley is not buying it. He thinks he knows what is really going on with the Los Angeles Lakers star. Barkley was goofing around during “Inside the NBA” on ESPN Wednesday and talked about the Lakers, who had several players out for their game at the Minnesota Timberwolves. James was listed as out due to sciatica, which is a nerve issue. Barkley thinks the sciatica injury is a cover for something else. “First of all, LeBron doesn’t have a sciatica. They just put ‘old.’ O-L-D, with an extra ‘D,’ too,” Barkley joked. An update on James’ condition came out this week, saying that the Lakers forward could return in a few weeks. The Lakers have seemed to suggest that there is no urgency to rush James into action. However, Luka Doncic also getting hurt recently may have changed things for the team. For now, the Lakers are 3-2 and have been relying on Austin Reaves to do plenty of scoring. He is averaging 34.2 points per game this season. James is 40 years old and entering his 23rd NBA season. He’s allowed to have “old” or sciatica as an injury issue. As Barkley knows and often says, Father Time is undefeated.
Steelers' Massive Communication Issues Point Directly To 2 Men
The Pittsburgh Steelers have had constant issues with the defense, but the single biggest one is the miscommunication. That has been an issue for at least two seasons now, and possibly more. That should most likely be priority number one for the team, as that could potentially solve some of the issues with the secondary and linebackers. Once that gets fixed, then it will be easier to see which players are at fault for their on-field performance, as there are currently no answers for what is going on each week. While making an appearance on 93.7 The Fan, insider Ray Fittipaldo explained where all the blame goes for the miscommunications in this scenario. "It's been going on for years," Fittipaldo said. "A lot of people said, 'Oh, Minkah [Fitzpatrick]'s the problem.' Minkah's not here; Minkah's not the problem. 'Oh, Cam Sutton's the problem last year.' Cam Sutton's not here. Every team has some problems relaying the signals, but it's an ongoing issue here. Mike Tomlin and Teryl Austin are the coaches. They're the ones that need to accept the full blame here, but I'm sure it's on the players too." Sure, the players are part of the question, but like Fittipaldo said, the ones that run this unit need to take some blame and they need to be the first ones to take action to finally stop this problem for good. Head Coach Mike Tomlin and Defensive Coordinator Teryl Austin combine to do most things for this unit, so they need to be more accountable in the eyes of many fans. Tomlin's defense is known to be one of the more difficult ones to learn in the NFL, especially for newcomers. When the Steelers overhauled their defense in 2025, they had to teach so many players his complicated schemes in a very short period of time, and it has not worked well. His unit needs more stability for this defense to have any chance of working. Meanwhile, Austin has not done particularly well with calling this complicated gameplan, and he knows it. The problem is that he's not calling his defense, so it's a bit harder for him to adjust on the fly when he has to stay within his head coach's scheme and guidelines. Even if it's difficult, he still has to do it. He needs to find some way to make life easier on his players and get them in the right spots. That's a coordinator's job. Unfortunately, the Steelers made their defense even older from a player age perspective, so the most likely scenario is that everything gets overhauled again in the near future. On top of that, Austin's contract expires at season's end. With how bad his unit has been, he may be let go. If all that truly does happen and the miscommunications remain, it becomes even more obvious that Tomlin is the main issue here. Austin has not been great either, but he is merely a symptom of the problem, not the primary cause. There is not a Minkah Fitzpatrick to trade away anymore. There's just a bunch of veterans that could get cut and/or retire at season's end. Steelers Fixed One Communication Issue, But It's Not Enough So far, it seems like linebacker Patrick Queen has been much better at barking out the signals to his teammates on the field. He struggled to pick up on the plays in his first season in Pittsburgh, and it ended in disaster. Obviously, there are more issues with miscommunications, but Queen is not part of it anymore. He has done his job well so far.
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