The Texas Rangers added an experienced catcher on Monday, signing Kyle Higashioka to two-year contract reportedly worth at least $13.5 million.
The deal also features a mutual option of $7 million for 2027, with Higashioka assured at least a $1 million buyout, according to multiple media reports.
Higashioka, 34, worked his way from a reserve role to being the San Diego Padres' starting catcher this year. In the regular season, he recorded career bests in homers (17), RBIs (45) and runs (29), with a slugging percentage of .476 while batting .220 with a .263 on-base percentage in 84 games (77 starts).
Behind the plate, he threw out 20 percent of would-be base-stealers (13 of 65), the fourth-best rate among National League catchers who started a minimum of 75 games.
He shined in the postseason, batting .263 (5-for-19) with three homers and five RBIs in seven games.
The Padres acquired Higashioka last December in the trade that sent star outfielder Juan Soto to the Yankees. Higashioka spent his first seven major league seasons with New York, hitting .210/.253/.391 with 40 homers and 121 RBIs in 923 games.
With Texas, he will vie for playing time with Jonah Heim, who hit .220/.267/.336 with 13 homers and 59 RBIs in 131 games this year (110 starts at catcher). Heim struggled after the All-Star break, batting .182/.224/.303 with five homers and 23 RBIs in 49 games (43 starts).
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Seranthony Dominguez certainly had an eventful day on Tuesday. The veteran MLB reliever began the day on the Baltimore Orioles and was with his teammates in the dugout during the first leg of a doubleheader against the Toronto Blue Jays. The O's went on to win, 16-4, at Oriole Park in Baltimore, though Dominguez did not pitch during the game. But the day took a bizarre turn when the two teams agreed to a deal in the middle of the doubleheader. The Orioles traded Dominguez to the Blue Jays in exchange for minor league pitcher Juaron Watts-Brown. That led to a strange scene where Dominguez switched clubhouses after being traded, walking across the hallway to get to the Toronto side. Things got even weirder during the second leg of the doubleheader. Dominguez got the call to pitch for the Blue Jays against his former team. He had to walk past his ex-Baltimore teammates to get to the Toronto bullpen, and then entered the game in the seventh inning to pitch. Here is the unusual spectacle that saw Dominguez pitch against the guys that he began the day as teammates with. The whole thing was so bizarre that it even looked like Dominguez received a hastily-made Blue Jays jersey with the “8” in his No. 48 apparently stuck on backwards. Dominguez, a 30-year-old in his seventh MLB season, ended up striking out two in a scoreless frame against his former team. We have certainly seen instances of MLB players getting traded in the middle of games before, but that had to be the first instance of a player starting the first half of a doubleheader on one team and then pitching in the second half for the other team.
While the Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders have garnered a lot of attention lately, there is one NFC team that has quietly been flying under the radar. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost a one-score game to the Lions in the divisional round in 2023 and followed that up with another one-score loss to QB Jayden Daniels and the Commanders last season, proving how close they have been to the ultimate prize in the two seasons with Baker Mayfield under center. In an appearance on ESPN's "Get Up" Tuesday morning, analyst and former player Ryan Clark offered high praise for Mayfield and what the Buccaneers are capable of. "Baker Mayfield is a top-10 quarterback in this league," Clark said. "Baker Mayfield is a football player. And when I say that, I know people at home are gonna be like, 'Duh, he gets paid to play football.' No, not all quarterbacks are seen as football players. Not all quarterbacks are embraced in the locker room as one of us." Clark sees the Buccaneers as a team the rest of the league should be paying attention to because of who they have returning and the close calls in the playoffs the last two seasons. "This is a team that's been on the cusp the last two years," Clark said. "Now you think about some of the pieces they've added, the confidence in their quarterback and the way that he plays, and Todd Bowles with another year to understand winning at a high level at the head coach position. This is a team you better be extremely scared of because they're stacked and they're confident." Mayfield has been sensational during his time with the Buccaneers. Although he did throw 16 interceptions, Mayfield accounted for the third-most passing yards (4,500) in the league last season and has thrown the most TD passes (69) in the last two seasons, per StatMuse. To add even more incentive for Mayfield, the team restructured his contract, which is set to expire after the 2026 season, to include $30M in guaranteed salary for that season. The Buccaneers return a lot of production on both sides of the ball, in addition to bringing in first-round draft pick Emeka Egbuka, who topped 1,000 receiving yards twice at Ohio State and accounted for 26 total TDs. While Tampa Bay allowed the 17th-most points per game (22.7) last season, it returns the majority of its defensive production. On top of that, the offseason acquisition of veteran LB and two-time Pro-Bowler Haason Reddick, who agreed to terms on a one-year deal, should be a welcomed addition for a franchise that had some question marks on defense last season. The Buccaneers are projected to have the sixth-easiest schedule in the NFL this season and have the best chance to win the NFC South for the fifth consecutive season, according to ESPN Analytics. If Mayfield can cut back on his turnovers and the defense can create more pressure on opposing QBs, the Buccaneers could be a threat in the NFC once again as they look to put their recent nail-biting losses in the postseason behind them.
The 2024 offseason expanded the $30M-per-year wide receiver club to six members. D.K. Metcalf, Ja’Marr Chase and Garrett Wilson have taken it to nine this year. Terry McLaurin is undoubtedly pushing to bump that number to 10, after seeing 2019 Day 2 classmates Metcalf and A.J. Brown land among that contingent. McLaurin reported to training camp Sunday and landed on the active/PUP list. As our Rory Parks explained, skepticism exists about how injured the Commanders’ top wide receiver really is. An ankle injury has keyed the PUP stay, but it can be safely assumed McLaurin would be ready to practice if an extension comes to pass. Nevertheless, the Commanders have been surprised by the difficulty of these talks. Using an injury to avoid practicing while negotiating — developments the Jonathan Taylor and Micah Parsons sagas brought — represents a third tactic, joining the holdout and the increasingly utilized hold-in amid extension talks. McLaurin shifted from a holdout to the injury route; no matter how he is accomplishing not practicing, the seventh-year veteran is aiming to land a lucrative third contract. His age provides a complication for Washington. McLaurin is going into an age-30 season, separating him from Brown and Metcalf. Both Ole Miss products were drafted just before McLaurin, a 2019 third-round pick, but they are each two years younger. This strengthened their cases for big-ticket third contracts. McLaurin went first to ignite the second-tier boom on the receiver market in 2022, agreeing to a three-year, $69.6M extension. That shaped the Metcalf and Deebo Samuel extensions, both of which coming in higher than McLaurin’s despite the latter’s consistency with suboptimal quarterback situations. McLaurin’s AAV has dropped to 17th at wide receiver. The Commanders are prepared to extend their top wideout, but Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline indicates the "holdup" is regarding the $30M-AAV number. Some around the league point to the team not wanting to go into that neighborhood for McLaurin, despite his five 1,000-yard seasons. Courtland Sutton and McLaurin are nearly the same age, and the Broncos’ top target signed a four-year, $92M extension. That matches where the Titans went for Calvin Ridley (now 30) in 2024. McLaurin, though, has a better resume than both and should be aiming higher. The Commanders have a Jayden Daniels rookie contract to structure another McLaurin extension around as well. Adam Peters was around for the 49ers’ 2022 Samuel extension but not Brandon Aiyuk‘s $30M-per-year deal. (The Samuel extension also did not work out for the 49ers, who proceeded with a salary dump of sorts by trading him to the Commanders.) The second-year GM taking a hardline stance with McLaurin would be an interesting route given the WR’s importance to a sudden contender. Peters confirmed talks are ongoing, with that comment coming after McLaurin expressed frustration about the negotiations. A potential gap between the pack of 20-somethings (and Tyreek Hill) north of $30M AAV and the Tee Higgins–Jaylen Waddle–D.J. Moore tier could be relevant here, and it will be interesting to see if McLaurin settles for something just south of that $30MM benchmark. Guarantees and contract structure, of course, will be important to determining the value as well. A short-term extension should be reached soon, per Pauline, but if the Commanders hold the line at or around $30M, the McLaurin matter could drag on for a while longer.
The MLB trade deadline is on Thursday, July 31, at 6 p.m. EST. The New York Yankees have already added third baseman Ryan McMahon and utility man Amed Rosario to the roster. However, it sounds like Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez has two potential targets the front office could trade for before the deadline. Martinez got the rumor mill churning again after naming Miami Marlins starting pitcher Sandy Alcantara and Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Eugenio Suarez as potential trade options for the Yankees. Martinez does question whether or not New York can afford to trade for either one of those players, but he also admits that anything could happen at this point. “Trade deadline: Alcantara and Suarez could be key additions for the Yankees, but can they afford it? Anything could happen.” Sandy Alcantara, who is 29 years old, has been involved in trade rumors for several weeks. The Yankees are not the only team linked to Alcantara, but he would make for a great addition to New York. Alcantara hasn’t had the most successful season, but a change of scenery could change that. Through 104.0 innings pitched, Alcantara owns a 6.66 ERA and 1.433 WHIP while recording 77 strikeouts. As for Eugenio Suarez, the Yankees already addressed their third base problem by acquiring McMahon from the Colorado Rockies. So, a trade for Suarez seems a bit less likely. Regardless, the 34-year-old third baseman is having a spectacular year and is one of the hottest names in the rumor mill. Through 383 at-bats, Suarez owns a .248 batting average and .321 OBP while recording 95 hits, 36 home runs, and 87 RBIs. The Yankees are in second place in the AL East with only the Toronto Blue Jays ahead of them. We’ll see if the front office has one more trick up its sleeve to potentially improve the roster. But only time will tell if New York can manage to pull off a deal that would truly benefit its World Series chances.
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