Former White Sox legend Andruw Jones makes it to the Hall of Fame on his ninth ballot. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images
It’s a tale of sustained excellence, peak brilliance and overdue redemption: Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones each surpassed the 75% needed for election by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday, while Jeff Kent was formally awarded his place in Cooperstown this winter by the Contemporary Era Committee. The trio will headline the Hall of Fame Class of 2026.
Kent was announced as a Hall of Fame inductee in December, finally receiving long-overdue recognition for his sterling work at second base. His 377 homers are the most all-time at second base, while his 1,518 RBI and eight 100-RBI seasons are unmatched for a player at Kent’s position. Kent was a five-time All-Star and four-time Silver Slugger Award winner who slashed .290/.356/.500 with 55.4 WAR over 17 seasons. Simply put, Kent was a generational talent who did things at second base that most didn’t think were possible.
Beltrán, meanwhile, fell just short of Cooperstown last year in his third trip on the BBWAA ballot, receiving 70.3% of the vote. But the writers have spoken this year, elevating Beltrán to the HOF with 84.2% of the vote. Beltrán appeared in 20 seasons and 2,586 games over his career, slashing .279/.350/.486 with 2,725 hits, 435 home runs, 312 stolen bases and 70 WAR. His counting numbers are all the more impressive considering he’s one of only five players in AL/NL history to post 500 doubles, 400 homers and 300 steals. Beltrán was a nine-time All-Star and won three Gold Gloves, as well as earning American League Rookie of the Year honors in 1999. What sets Beltrán apart from others, though? His resume in October. Beltrán was a different beast during postseason play, slashing .307/.412/.609 with a 1.021 OPS, which ranks among the best postseason performances ever.
Unfortunately for Beltrán, his career wasn’t all sunshine and roses as he was named in the report on the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal and admitted to using text messages to share scouting information during his tenure with Houston. After apologizing to MLB, he stepped away from baseball for several years. As time went on, it seems the writers, at least this year, decided to overlook his role in the scandal and accept his apology. Today, he serves as the Mets’ special assistant to the president of baseball operations, David Stearns.
The eventual election of Jones is just one of the many reasons that Hall of Fame voting can change drastically over time. He surpassed the 75% mark this year in his ninth year on the ballot, eventually landing at 78.4%. It wasn’t always pretty for Jones, who came alarmingly close to falling off the ballot in his first year of eligibility after recording just 7.3% of the vote. But each year, Jones gained steam as voters began to understand the value of his elite defense at a premium position, combined with plus power at the plate. During his best years, Jones was one of the best center fielders the game has ever seen, winning Gold Gloves for 10 straight seasons while also hammering 434 home runs over his career. Prior to this year, only eight center fielders were enshrined in Cooperstown; with the election of Beltrán and Jones, that number now sits at 10.
A deeper dive into Jones’ prime reveals just how good he was. At age 19, Jones homered twice in his first two career World Series at-bats. He hit seven 30-homer seasons, led MLB with 51 homers in 2005, and was a five-time All-Star. Unfortunately, injuries cut into Jones’ career after age 30 and prevented him from adding even more to his eye-popping stats. Jones spent one lone season in 2010 in Chicago, where he posted a 120 OPS+ and put up a 1.9 WAR across 107 games for the White Sox. His career was also not without issue, as an off-field arrest for domestic violence in 2012 may have stalled his early ballot progression to the HOF.
Finally, reaching career highs on Monday was former White Sox southpaw Mark Buehrle, who saw his vote total jump from 11.4% in 2025 to 20% in 2026. It’s a steady increase over the course of his six years on the ballot, and one that could continue to trend upwards as seasons pass. Buehrle has one of the best pitching hallmarks of all time, tossing at least 200 innings in 14 straight seasons. Only seven Modern Era pitchers were able to reach that milestone at least once, and six of those pitchers are already in the Hall of Fame. Buehrle won 214 games, logged over 3,200 innings since the start of the 21st century, had elite defensive metrics earning him three Gold Gloves, and had signature moments, including a perfect game, a no-hitter, and an ALCS complete game. Hopefully, his case will only grow stronger with time, and the momentum eventually works in Buehrle’s favor.
There are two new members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and both of them are ex-Yankees. On Tuesday night, the BBWAA released the results of this year’s Hall of Fame ballot: Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones have been elected as part of the class of 2026. The pair will be enshrined in Cooperstown alongside Eras Committee pick Jeff Kent on July 26th.
The pair were born just one day apart in April of 1977 and have now been elected to the Hall of Fame on the same day. Only two center fielders had been elected to Cooperstown in the last 45 years, so to induct a pair in on the same day is a relative bonanza.
Beltrán topped balloting in this cycle, receiving 84.2 percent of the vote in his fourth year on the ballot. It’s a jump of almost 13 percentage points from last year, when Beltrán narrowly missed out on election.
Beltrán played 20 seasons in the big leagues with the Royals, Astros, Mets, Giants, Cardinals, Yankees, and Rangers, slashing .279/.350/.486 with 435 home runs, 1,587 RBIs, 312 stolen bases, a 118 wRC+, and 67.4 fWAR. He was a nine-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glover, two-time Silver Slugger, the 1999 AL Rookie of the Year, and the 2013 Roberto Clemente Award winner. He hit the fourth-most home runs of any switch-hitter in league history behind only Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, and Chipper Jones, and is one of only eight players in MLB history with at least 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases alongside Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, Andre Dawson, Barry Bonds, Steve Finley, Reggie Sanders, and Alex Rodriguez.
Beltrán played two-and-a-half seasons for the Yankees in his late-thirties and was one of their more productive hitters upon signing with them in the mid-2010s before being traded to the Rangers for a trio of prospects at the 2016 Trade Deadline. He would go on to win his lone World Series ring a year later with the Astros (dispatching his old teammates in a seven-game ALCS), but was named as one of the architects of their 2017 sign-stealing scandal, which was one of the principal factors in not being elected to the Hall in his first three years of eligibility. Nonetheless, Beltrán becomes the sixth player from Puerto Rico to be elected to Cooperstown.
Jones sneaks in with 78.4 percent of the vote, representing just over a 12 percentage point increase from his vote share last year. It was Jones’ ninth year on the ballot, his penultimate year of eligibility.
Jones becomes the first player born in Curaçao to be elected to the Hall of Fame. He was considered one of the all-time great defensive center fielders in MLB history, his 126.4 UZR ranking him second all-time behind Ichiro Suzuki and his 150 total zone runs ranking him fifth all-time behind Clemente, Mays, Barry Bonds, and Jesse Barfield. He blended that defense with prodigious power — he is one of only four players in history with at least 10 Gold Gloves and 400 home runs, joining Mays, Ken Griffey Jr., and Mike Schmidt.
In his 17 big league seasons, Jones played for the Braves, Dodgers, Rangers, White Sox, and Yankees, making five All-Star appearances. He slashed .254/.337/.486 with 434 home runs, 1,289 RBIs, 152 stolen bases, a 111 wRC+ and 67 fWAR. His career is bookended by encounters with the Yankees. As a rookie in 1996, he became the youngest player in MLB history to homer in the World Series at just 19 years old, breaking the record set by Mickey Mantle when he hit home runs in his first two at-bats of Game 1 of the 1996 World Series. He played the final two seasons of his big league career with the Yankees in 2011 and 2012 before a two-season swan song in Japan with the NPB’s Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, where he was teammates with future Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka.
Andy Pettitte experienced one of the biggest jumps in vote share, going from 27.9-percent of the vote last year to 48.5-percent of the vote in this cycle. It’s an encouraging sign for Pettitte in his eighth year on the ballot — if he can experience similar jumps in his final two years of eligibility there is a real chance he could be elected. There will always be questions of the effect his admission to using HGH will have on future voting, but the all-time postseason wins leader is certainly trending in the right direction.
As for other former Yankees on the ballot, Alex Rodriguez remained relatively stagnant, going from 37.1-percent of the vote last year to 40-percent in this, his fifth year of eligibility. Bobby Abreu experienced a nice jump from 19.5-percent last year to 30.8-percent this year, but with only three more years on the ballot, he will need to be handed even bigger boosts in future voting cycles to have a shot. Edwin Encarnación received just six votes (1.4-percent) in his first year on the ballot and will therefore fall off the ballot as he comes up short of the five-percent threshold needed to maintain eligibility.
Congratulations again to Beltrán and Jones on this fantastic achievement. The full voting can be found below.
The Hornets come into this game with the fourth-best net rating over the past two weeks. That’s partially juiced by a 55-point win over the Utah Jazz. But it’s also a reflection of how good they’re playing right now. The offense has been good all season, but they’ve taken another step forward with LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Kon Kneuppel.
The Cavs’ defense will have its hands full trying to slow down Charlotte’s dynamic offense.
Cavs injury report: Darius Garland – OUT (toe), Sam Merrill – OUT (hand), Max Strus – OUT (foot), Chris Livingston – OUT (G League), Luke Travers – OUT (G League)
Hornets injury report: PJ Hall – OUT (G League), Liam McNeeley – OUT (G League), Mason Plumlee – OUT (groin), Antoni Reeves – OUT (G League), Tidjane Salaun – PROBABLE (achilles), KJ Simpson – OUT (hip)
Cavs expectedstarting lineup: Donovan Mitchell, Jaylon Tyson, Dean Wade, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen
Hornets expected starting lineup: LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Kon Knueppel, Miles Bridges, Moussa Diabate
With the 2025 season now concluded, we’ll keep track of every transaction by the Dodgers for the entire offseason here, beginning with the advent of free agency on November 2 until the start of spring training.
For more information on Dodgers transactions during the 2025 season, click here.
Note: On a mobile device, this table will show up best in landscape mode.
No.
Pitchers (24)
Bat/throw
2026 age
Service
Options (used)
43
Anthony Banda
L/L
32
4.135
0 (’17-18,’20)
78
Ben Casparius
R/R
27
1.016
2 (2024)
3
Edwin Díaz
R/R
32
9.121
n/a
86
Jack Dreyer
R/L
27
1.000
3 (none)
65
Paul Gervase
R/R
26
0.021
2 (2025)
31
Tyler Glasnow
L/R
32
8.158
n/a
48
Brusdar Graterol
R/R
27
5.167
2 (2021)
60
Edgardo Henriquez
R/R
24
0.164
2 (2025)
63
Kyle Hurt
R/R
28
1.099
2 (2024)
61
Will Klein
R/R
26
0.081
2 (2024)
96
Landon Knack
L/R
28
0.119
2 (2024)
Ronan Kopp
L/L
23
0.000
3 (none)
28
Bobby Miller
R/R
27
1.119
1 (2024-25)
77
River Ryan
R/R
27
1.070
3 (none)
11
Roki Sasaki
R/R
24
1.000
3 (none)
66
Tanner Scott
R/L
31
7.059
n/a
80
Emmet Sheehan
R/R
26
2.080
2 (2023)
7
Blake Snell
L/L
33
9.072
n/a
41
Brock Stewart
R/R
34
4.093
0 (2016-19)
35
Gavin Stone
R/R
27
2.034
2 (2023)
49
Blake Treinen
R/R
38
11.065
n/a
51
Alex Vesia
L/L
30
5.078
1 (2021,’23)
70
Justin Wrobleski
L/L
25
0.150
2 (2024)
18
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
R/R
27
2.000
n/a
No.
Two-way players (1)
Bat/throw
2026 age
Service
Options (used)
17
Shohei Ohtani
L/R
31
8.000
n/a
No.
Catchers (2)
Bat/throw
2026 age
Service
Options (used)
68
Dalton Rushing
L/R
25
0.138
3 (none)
16
Will Smith
R/R
31
6.090
3 (none)
No.
Infielders (6)
Bat/throw
2026 age
Service
Options (used)
50
Mookie Betts
R/R
33
11.070
n/a
76
Alex Freeland
S/R
24
0.038
2 (2025)
5
Freddie Freeman
L/R
36
15.033
n/a
Andy Ibáñez
R/R
33
3.133
0 (’21-22, ’25)
13
Max Muncy
L/R
36
9.027
n/a
72
Miguel Rojas
R/R
37
11.043
n/a
No.
Outfielders (5)
Bat/throw
2026 age
Service
Options (used)
12
Alex Call
R/R
31
2.161
2 (2024)
37
Teoscar Hernández
R/R
33
8.097
n/a
44
Andy Pages
R/R
25
1.155
1 (2023-24)
Michael Siani
L/L
26
1.063
1 (2023, 2025)
Kyle Tucker
L/R
29
6.079
n/a
No.
Infielder/outfielders (3)
Bat/throw
2026 age
Service
Options (used)
25
Tommy Edman
S/R
31
6.114
n/a
6
Hyeseong Kim
L/R
27
0.149
2 (2025)
Ryan Ward
L/R
28
0.000
3 (none)
Age is as of June 30, 2026
Click on the dates below for more detailed information on each transaction:
January 15: Kyle Tucker agreed to terms for four years, $240 million (not yet official).
January 20: Ryan Fitzgerald cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
January 13: Andy Ibáñez signed for one-year, $1.2 million. Ryan Fitzgerald was designated for assignment.
January 9: Ryan Fitzgerald was claimed off waivers from Twins.
January 8: Anthony Banda signed one-year deal for $1.625 million, avoiding salary arbitration.
January 8: Alex Call signed one-year deal for $1.6 million, avoiding salary arbitration.
January 8: Brock Stewart signed one-year deal for $1.3 million, avoiding salary arbitration.
January 7: Brusdar Graterol signed one-year deal for $2.8 million, avoiding salary arbitration.
December 30: Esteury Ruiz was traded to Marlins for minor league pitcher Adriano Marrero.
December 12: Edwin Díaz signed for three years, $69 million.
December 12: Michael Siani was claimed off waivers from Braves.
December 4: Miguel Rojas agreed to terms for one year, $5.5 million
November 21: Evan Phillips and Nick Frasso were not tendered contracts, making them free agents.
November 18: Ronan Kopp was added to the 40-man roster
November 16: Robinson Ortiz was traded to the Mariners for minor league pitcher Tyler Gough.
November 12: Ben Rortvedt was claimed off waivers by the Reds. Tony Gonsolin cleared waivers and elected free agency.
November 6: Max Muncy’s $10 million club option for 2026 was exercised.
November 6: Alex Vesia’s $3.65 million club option for 2026 was exercised.
November 6: Justin Dean was claimed off outright waivers by the Giants.
November 6: Tony Gonsolin was designated for assignment, Ryan Ward and Robinson Ortiz were added to the 40-man roster. Michael Grove was sent outright to the minors.
November 2: Clayton Kershaw, Kiké Hernández, Miguel Rojas, Michael Conforto, Kirby Yates, Michael Kopech, and Andrew Heaney are free agents.
Just a month ago, the Knicks were 18-7 and celebrating winning the NBA Cup (but not by putting up a banner). A couple of weeks ago, Knicks owner James Dolan was proclaiming, “We want to get to the Finals. And we should win the Finals” on New York radio. The team improved to 23-9 at one point.
That seems like a lifetime ago.
New York has gone 2-9 since that high-water mark, having lost four straight and getting booed by its own fans on Monday when shorthanded Dallas blew them out at home. The Knicks have looked like a team searching for an identity.
The NBA Showtime crew discuss what the Knicks have to do to get back on track. pic.twitter.com/fFCzq9FbnL
That led newly-minted All-Star starter and team captain Jalen Brunson to call a team-only meeting, reports Ramona Shelburn at ESPN. Brunson’s message was “that the Knicks needed to find answers for their poor play in January among themselves, rather than look to the coaching staff for solutions.”
Players haven’t fully bought into their roles under head coach Mike Brown. Those reasons are cited often when you talk to people about the Knicks’ flaws. Now, these issues aren’t unique to this year’s team. They existed to a degree in the locker room last season. But the Knicks coaching change hasn’t rooted them out.
The firing of Tom Thibodeau and hiring of Brown was never going to cure all that ailed the Knicks. But the move definitely raised the stakes for New York.
Brown has opened up the offense, and it’s a little better this season, but the defense has been a little worse, and with that, these Knicks are worse than a year ago. Not connecting with his players is partially on Brown, but there is plenty of blame to go around for how this team looks lost, both for the players and the front office.
For example, Karl-Anthony Towns isn’t playing poorly — 21 points and 11.6 rebounds a game, he should still be an All-Star reserve — but his counting stats and, more importantly, his efficiency are well off from last season. His true shooting percentage fell from 63 a season ago to 59.9 this season, and his efficiency across the board is down. Is that on Towns, Brown for pushing Towns out of his comfort zone, or both?
The front office went out looking for depth this summer and added Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele, neither of whom has added all that much to the team.
Brown, however, is the key variable. ESPN’s Shelburne was on NBA Today and discussed how Brown’s recent postgame hug of Draymond Green, who had picked up a technical foul for tripping Towns that night, did not sit well with players.
“From what I understand, that did not land well with a lot of folks there in New York, in that locker room or even in the organization. While you can understand why he might have a bond with Draymond Green, I don’t think that landed well, especially in the middle of a losing streak.”
Brown spent six seasons as Steve Kerr’s right-hand man in Golden State, so he has a relationship with Green forged over multiple title runs. Still, life can be about timing and perception, and Brown missed on both in this case.
While Knicks fans will point to the upcoming NBA trade deadline as a chance to shake things up, the team is hard-capped at the second apron and just $148,353 below that number — they have limited flexibility to really shake things up. Unless the Knicks want to shake up their core, the moves will be on the fringes.
Which means Brunson is right — the answers need to come from inside the locker room. And the Knicks need to come up with that answer fast, as New York has slipped to fourth in the East and is just 1.5 games above the play-in. This is a team that reached the Easter Conference Finals for the first time in 25 years last season, but they fired coach Tom Thibodeau, believing a new voice (and someone who would trust and develop the bench) could deliver more. There were logical reasons to make the move. That said, whatever you think of Thibodeau, his teams had a clear identity.
Shortly after the World Series ended in November, eligible BBWAA writers around the country (including one of our own) began to receive their ballots to determine the 2026 class for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, and they had until the end of 2025 to mail them in. Former San Francisco Giants second baseman and MVP Jeff Kent was voted in by the Hall’s separate Eras Committee in December, and he won’t be alone on the podium in Cooperstown during the 2026 induction ceremonies this summer.
Joe Buck will receive the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting and longtime Cleveland writer Paul Hoynes will be honored with the newly-renamed Platinum Pen Award. As just revealed in a Tuesday night announcement on MLB Network by Hall of Fame president Josh Rawitch, they’ll all be joined by the newest BBWAA inductees: Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones.
Purely by the numbers, Beltrán was always an excellent candidate for Cooperstown, as the switch-hitting center fielder finished his 20-year career in 2017 with 435 homers, 312 stolen bases, 2,725 hits, and 67.4 fWAR. He follows the legendary footsteps of Roberto Clemente in becoming the sixth Puerto Rican to make the Hall of Fame, joining first baseman Orlando Cepeda, second baseman Roberto Alomar, catcher Iván Rodríguez, and DH Edgar Martinez (born in New York but raised by his grandparents in Puerto Rico).
A second-round prep pick by the Kansas City Royals in the 1995 MLB Draft, he zoomed through the minors and became a near-unanimous pick for 1999 AL Rookie of the Year. He largely toiled in anonymity on some bad Royals teams until the contending Houston Astros traded for him in June 2004, just before he made the first of nine career All-Star appearances with a 30/30 season. Beltrán excelled down the stretch as Houston won a Wild Card spot and then seized the national spotlight with a postseason for the ages. Even though the Astros didn’t make the World Series and got eliminated by the St. Louis Cardinals in a seven-game NLCS, Beltrán tied a then-playoff record with 8 homers in 12 games, hitting a hellacious .435/.536/1.022. He certainly did his part.
A coveted free agent that offseason, Beltrán signed a seven-year, $119 million contract with the New York Mets and had the best season of his career in 2006. He hit a new high with 41 homers, won his first of three consecutive Gold Gloves in center, and finished fourth for NL MVP as the Mets at last toppled the Atlanta Braves to the NL East. Beltrán’s bat was electric again come October with a .978 OPS, but the only at-bat that most fans remembered was the one that ended the Mets’ run in Game 7 of the NLCS, as Beltrán struck out looking against the Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright with the bases loaded and the winning run in scoring position.
Thanks to some late-season collapses in Queens, it would be several years before Beltrán got another crack at a title. He joined those same Cardinals in free agency following the 2011 campaign, kept hitting in October, and made his first World Series appearance in 2013 when the Cards took down the up-and-coming Los Angeles Dodgers for the pennant after Beltrán walked off Game 1. The Boston Red Sox won in six games, so despite Beltrán’s .982 career playoff OPS for St. Louis, he had to make a return trip to Houston to finally win it all.
Signed at age 40 by the Astros to be a DH and team leader after stints with the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers, Beltrán’s production finally faltered. But his teammates pushed him over the finish line with a seven-game over the Dodgers. Beltrán rode off into the sunset as a World Series champion and was so well-respected that the Yankees interviewed him for their open managerial job less than a month after his career ended. He didn’t get it, but the Mets hired him as their skipper on November 2019.
Beltrán’s post-career momentum came to screeching halt that same offseason, when news broke of the Astros’ 2017 sign-stealing scandal. The 23 then-active players who participated in the scandal were controversially granted immunity to help MLB’s investigation, and that contingent notably excluded the now-retired Beltrán. Indeed, he was the one named player in MLB’s final report, released in January 2020, specifically noted among a general group of players who “discussed that the team could improve on decoding opposing teams’ signs and communicating the signs to the batter.”
Beltrán was fired by the Mets before the team even reported for spring training, and the man who was onceconsidered a near-lock for the Hall of Fame appeared on less than half of all 389 ballots during his first year of eligibility in 2023. Since then, however, the BBWAA’s collective stance has softened on Beltrán, and he garnered 57.1 percent in 2024 before missing induction in 2025 by only 19 votes. Now, he is a Hall of Famer, appearing on 84.2 percent of ballots.
This will be a big year for defensively superb center fielders with power who were born in the Caribbean in late April 1977. Andruw Jones was in fact born just one day before Beltrán, though at the time, no one from Curaçao had ever played in the majors. If Hensley Meulens opened the door in 1989, Jones fully broke it down seven years later (All-Stars like Kenley Jansen, Andrelton Simmons, Jurickson Profar, and Ozzie Albies would follow). A preternaturally gifted prospect ranked No. 1 overall by Baseball America in 1996, Jones was only 19 when he made his MLB debut for the defending champion Braves that August. Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox was impressed enough by the teenager that he put him on the playoff roster, and the presence of the DH in Game 1 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium encouraged Cox to give Jones a start in the outfield.
Atlanta reaped the benefits when Jones immediately homered off Andy Pettitte to become the youngest player to homer in a Fall Classic, surpassing no less a luminary than New York’s own Mickey Mantle. He went yard in his second at-bat too, joining 1972 Oakland A’s catcher Gene Tenace as the only players in MLB history to do so.
Jones’ 1.250 OPS on the game’s greatest stage went for naught as the Yankees came back to win in six games. He would never be a World Series champion (losing another to New York in 1999), but for the next decade, there was no better center fielder in baseball than the prodigy in Atlanta.
From 1997-2007, Jones led the Braves’ offense alongside another Jones and hit .263/.343/.498 with 363 homers, a 114 wRC+, and 64.2 fWAR — a figure that trailed only Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez. The only center fielder within even 15 fWAR of Jones in that span was Jim Edmonds (50.7). Jones made five All-Star teams and narrowly lost the NL MVP to Albert Pujols in 2005, the last of Atlanta’s 14 consecutive division titles and a year that saw him clobber 51 homers to set a then-Braves record. His potent bat helped him reach 434 career homers (a top-50 in MLB history at the time his career ended), but what made Jones stand out was his glove. Jones has a legitimate case as the best defensive center fielder to ever play the game, and he won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves from 1998-2007.
The primary on-field issue with Jones’ Hall of Fame case was that his career was basically over after that stretch. His bat had dipped a bit in 2007, and he was both out of shape and absolutely horrible for the Dodgers upon signing with LA for his age-31 season in 2008. He found some success in a reduced bat-first role for three different teams from 2009-12, and he even a 132 wRC+ with in 77 games for the Yankees in 2011. The next year, though, he stumbled to an 89 wRC+, failed to make the playoff roster, and in a legitimately alarming off-field incident, Jones was arrested on Christmas Day 2012 for domestic violence against his wife. They later divorced, and plenty of voters who might’ve taken up his statistical Hall of Fame case understandably passed on voting for him. After two seasons in Japan with the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, he was done. Jones was only 35 at the time of his last career MLB game.
Jones debuted on a very crowded Hall of Fame ballot in 2018 and failed to garner even eight percent of the BBWAA vote during his first two years. As the top of the classes thinned out and more former teammates and rivals began to ardently make the case for Jones, he took big jumps in voting share, and his largest leap yet in 2023 brought him up from 41.4 percent to 58.1. He garnered just under two-thirds of the vote in 2025, and now in his penultimate year on the ballot, he has passed the three-fourths hurdle at 78.4 percent and joined former Atlanta teammates Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, and Fred McGriff in Cooperstown.
The next-closest Hall of Fame candidate from this year’s crop was a man beloved by the City of Philadelphia, Chase Utley, at 59.1 percent. A somewhat-late start to his career led to a case that’s not as strong on counting stats, but like Jones, he was among baseball’s elite at his peak and he still accumulated 61.5 fWAR, one of just 17 second basemen in MLB history to do so. A remarkable 43.6 of that total came from 2005-2010, when he hit .298/.388/.523 with 162 homers and a 136 wRC+ as the Phillies won it all in 2008 and nearly repeated in 2009. Utley will be in great position to make it to Cooperstown in 2027, when the only players seemingly worthy of consideration who will be joining the ballot are Buster Posey and Jon Lester.
One of Utley’s teammates from those Philly teams debuted on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot: Cole Hamels (23.8 percent). The 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP was a durable, productive southpaw and four-time All-Star from 2006-19 before a sudden onset of injuries ended his career. He easily fared the best of the newcomer candidates. Hamels had a strong debut, and two other pitching holdovers made great gains as well in Andy Pettitte (48.5 percent) and Félix Hernández (46.1 percent). Starting pitcher standards have changed in recent years with how MLB teams have used starters as the century has progressed, so they’re longer look; given that, Mark Buehrle (20 percent) probably should have come closer to their percentages, but he will remain on the ballot next year anyway. So will Bobby Abreu, Dustin Pedroia, Jimmy Rollins, David Wright, Omar Vizquel, Francisco Rodríguez, and Torii Hunter, who all cleared that five-percent threshold.
Finally, there’s the matter of Alex Rodriguez (40 percent) and Manny Ramirez (38.8 percent). Both are obvious Hall of Famers by the numbers, but they also both have two long PED suspensions on their records. Although a high number of voters are willing to look past that (if not only because MLB already doled out the agreed-upon punishment and the man who looked the other way on PEDs for so long, commissioner Bud Selig, has a Hall of Fame plaque), they’ve never come particularly close to winning over even 50 percent. A-Rod will continue to hang around on the ballot next year. This will be the last for Manny, however, as this is his last year of BBWAA eligibility. Given how others with PED ties have fared on Eras Committees, it’s hard to envision a future where Manny or A-Rod get their days in the sun.
A group of Major League Baseball owners are apparently so upset with the Los Angeles Dodgers that they are going to be pushing for a salary cap in the sport in the near future.
The owners, according to The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, are “raging” after the Dodgers struck a deal to bring in Kyle Tucker in free agency this offseason. So much so, in fact, that it is now a “100% certainty” that they will push for a salary cap.
“These guys are going to go for a cap no matter what it takes,” a source told The Athletic. MLB declined to comment on the report.
The Dodgers signed Tucker to a four-year, $240 million deal last week after a single season with the Chicago Cubs. The $60 million average annual value is now the second-largest in MLB history, behind only Shohei Ohtani. Though, as Ohtani has a massive chunk of his contract deferred, Tucker’s deal is effectively the most expensive in MLB history.
The Dodgers, who have now won the World Series in back-to-back seasons, are projected to have a payroll larger than $413 million. That is actually down slightly from last season, only barely, but is still the largest payroll in the league by far. Only three other teams — the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays — are projected to be over $300 million.
On the other side of things, three teams — the Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins — are projected to have payrolls between just $100 million and just $120 million. Exactly half of the league will spend less than $200 million next season.
While it was the Dodgers and Tucker that set this group of owners off, the Mets’ recent three-year, $126 million deal with Bo Bichette added to their frustrations. Those two teams, the source said, may be the only teams who stand in the way of a salary cap.
Talk of a salary cap has been ongoing for a while in the sport, as has finding a way to fix the payroll disparity across the board. Determining a salary floor and ceiling, according to the report, are expected to be a topic at the owners meeting next month.
It would take at least eight owners to hold up a labor deal, but it’s likely that players would not be on board with a salary cap — as they have been willing to miss games to avoid such a system in the past.
The league’s current labor agreement will expire just before midnight on Dec. 1, 2026. There are still several major issues as both sides work to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement. While there is plenty of time, and an entire season, to figure that out, the salary cap issue clearly isn’t going away. The Dodgers have made sure of that.
A group of Major League Baseball owners are apparently so upset with the Los Angeles Dodgers that they are going to be pushing for a salary cap in the sport in the near future.
The owners, according to The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, are “raging” after the Dodgers struck a deal to bring in Kyle Tucker in free agency this offseason. So much so, in fact, that it is now a “100% certainty” that they will push for a salary cap.
“These guys are going to go for a cap no matter what it takes,” a source told The Athletic. MLB declined to comment on the report.
The Dodgers signed Tucker to a four-year, $240 million deal last week after a single season with the Chicago Cubs. The $60 million average annual value is now the second-largest in MLB history, behind only Shohei Ohtani. Though, as Ohtani has a massive chunk of his contract deferred, Tucker’s deal is effectively the most expensive in MLB history.
The Dodgers, who have now won the World Series in back-to-back seasons, are projected to have a payroll larger than $413 million. That is actually down slightly from last season, only barely, but is still the largest payroll in the league by far. Only three other teams — the New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays — are projected to be over $300 million.
On the other side of things, three teams — the Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins — are projected to have payrolls between just $100 million and just $120 million. Exactly half of the league will spend less than $200 million next season.
While it was the Dodgers and Tucker that set this group of owners off, the Mets’ recent three-year, $126 million deal with Bo Bichette added to their frustrations. Those two teams, the source said, may be the only teams who stand in the way of a salary cap.
Talk of a salary cap has been ongoing for a while in the sport, as has finding a way to fix the payroll disparity across the board. Determining a salary floor and ceiling, according to the report, are expected to be a topic at the owners meeting next month.
It would take at least eight owners to hold up a labor deal, but it’s likely that players would not be on board with a salary cap — as they have been willing to miss games to avoid such a system in the past.
The league’s current labor agreement will expire just before midnight on Dec. 1, 2026. There are still several major issues as both sides work to agree on a new collective bargaining agreement. While there is plenty of time, and an entire season, to figure that out, the salary cap issue clearly isn’t going away. The Dodgers have made sure of that.
Tip-off is set for 10:00 p.m. ET from Ball Arena in Denver, with the game airing on NBC.
Lakers vs Nuggets prediction
Lakers vs Nuggets best bet: LeBron James Over 12.5 rebounds + assists (-120)
LeBron James has no problem doing the little things that win basketball games.
Through nine games this month, James has beefed up his assist and rebound rates significantly, averaging 7.6 in both stat categories in January.
His rebounding chances have increased from 8.6 to 10.9 in that span, while LeBron’s potential assists have grown from 10.7 in the first three months to 13.6 in January.
The Los Angeles Lakers superstar has blown through his combo prop market in those nine contests, eclipsing his rebounds + assists total in seven of those games.
Meanwhile, the Denver Nuggets are walking wounded at the moment. Nikola Jokic is the most significant loss, especially when it comes to keeping opponents off the glass, as Denver has allowed nearly eight more rebounds per game since Dec. 29.
LeBron’s projections range from 12.4 rebounds + assists to 14.7 combined. My number sits closer to 14 boards + dimes for the “King”, which makes the Over 12.5 on this combo prop playable even at -145.
Lakers vs Nuggets same-game parlay
The Nuggets have run into some rotten teams lately, picking up wins over Milwaukee, New Orleans, Dallas, and Washington. Los Angeles is a step up.
James is averaging both 7.6 assists and 7.6 rebounds over the last nine games.
Luka Doncic can inflict damage from downtown, especially with the Nuggets having to help inside with an undersized interior.
Lakers vs Nuggets SGP
Lakers moneyline
LeBron James Over 12.5 rebounds + assists
Luka Doncic Over 3.5 threes
Our “from downtown” SGP: Hollywood Knights
Los Angeles is getting healthier while Denver’s lineup limps into Tuesday.
James has gone Over his rebounds + assist prop in seven of his last nine games.
Luka’s projections lean toward four makes from deep against Denver.
The Nuggets’ defense has taken a step back without Jokic, which is saying something.
Lakers vs Nuggets SGP
Lakers moneyline
LeBron James Over 12.5 rebounds + assists
Luka Doncic Over 3.5 threes
Luka Doncic Over 3.5 threes
Lakers vs Nuggets odds
Spread: Lakers -1.5 (-110) | Nuggets +1.5 (-110)
Moneyline: Lakers -125 | Nuggets +105
Over/Under: Over 227.5 (-110) | Under 227.5 (-110)
Lakers vs Nuggets betting trend to know
The Nuggets are 27-16 to the Over/Under this season. Find more NBA betting trends for Lakers vs. Nuggets.
How to watch Lakers vs Nuggets
Location
Ball Arena, Denver, CO
Date
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Tip-off
10:00 p.m. ET
TV
NBC
Lakers vs Nuggets latest injuries
Not intended for use in MA. Affiliate Disclosure: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links.
This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here
Lamar Odom was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Las Vegas over the weekend after a Nevada State Police trooper spotted the 46-year-old, two-time NBA champion driving more than 100 mph, according to KTNV 13 Action News’ Tuesday report.
Around 2:20 a.m. on Saturday, the trooper saw a black SUV speeding on Interstate 15, where the speed limit was posted at 65 mph. When the trooper pulled over the car, which also changed lanes without signaling, they found Odom and an unidentified male passenger, per KTNV, which reported that both had red, watery eyes and smelled of marijuana.
On Saturday, when Odom was searching for his registration and insurance, he tried to initiate conversation with the trooper, according 8 News Now, which cited documents it obtained Tuesday. He asked how the trooper’s night was going besides him “driving like he was ‘in Back to the Future,'” the report stated, via 8 News Now.
Lamar Odom, flanked here by Derek Fisher and Trevor Ariza at a Los Angeles Lakers at a Christmas Day game in 2023, was arrested in Las Vegas on suspicion of DUI over the weekend. (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
Allen Berezovsky via Getty Images
When Odom was asked why he was speeding — 8 News Now reported that his SUV was tracked going as fast as 106 mph — he reportedly changed his story multiple times, first noting that he was “almost home” and then later saying that he was headed to his friend’s house.
Odom reportedly followed a similar pattern when he was asked about the last time he consumed marijuana. At one point, he quickly changed his answer from he “doesn’t really smoke” to saying he “does not smoke,” according to the report 8 News Now obtained. Eventually, Odom admitted he smoked “maybe earlier today.”
The report showed that Odom failed the sobriety tests he was given and then was arrested, per 8 News Now.
As of Tuesday, Odom was no longer in custody, per The Associated Press, which cited Clark County jail records. He was booked there on charges of DUI, driving more than 41 miles per hour over the speed limit and failing to maintain travel in a street lane/improper lane change, as reported by USA Today.
Odom was part of the NBA All-Rookie first team with the Los Angeles Clippers, who drafted him No. 4 overall out of Rhode Island in 1999. He became the league’s Sixth Man of the Year with the Lakers in 2011 after helping the franchise win back-to-back titles in 2009-10.
