After the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers were both fined six figures for “overt” tanking, NBA commissioner Adam Silver told reporters two days later during All-Star Weekend in Inglewood, California, that the league’s observed worse tanking behavior this season than it’s seen in recent memory.

That’s what led to those hefty fines, Silver said at the podium Saturday. 

Silver was later asked if more severe punishments, such as taking away draft picks, could be levied in response to purposeful losing.

“There is talk about every possible remedy now to stop this behavior,” Silver emphasized.

For now, he believes the fines will send a message. Exposed for their nefarious roster management in recent games, the Jazz were slapped with a $500,000 fine, and the Pacers had to pay $100,000.

“We’re going to be looking more closely at the totality of all the circumstances this season in terms of teams’ behavior and very intentionally wanted teams to be on notice,” Silver said. 

Silver, who was clear that he won’t tolerate teams prioritizing draft position over winning in his statement on Thursday, explained Saturday that he feels the problem is rooted in the structure of the draft.

“The incentives are not necessarily matched here,” he said. “I think that the tradition in sports, where the worst-performing team receives the first pick from their partners — when any economist comes and looks at our system, they always point out you have the incentives backwards there.”

Silver, who took over for the late David Stern in 2014, was especially candid about his league’s lottery, which has been reworked over the years but, in its current form, determines the order of selection for the first four picks in the draft, whereas the remaining 10 spots in the top 14 are filled out by the other lottery-eligible teams in reverse order of their regular-season records.

Each team that misses the playoffs is eligible for the lottery and assigned odds. Teams that finish with worst regular-season records have higher odds to land the No. 1 pick than their more successful counterparts, but the teams with the three-worst records all have the same chance to collect the top selection. There’s no guarantee that an egregiously bad record will earn a top-three pick, as evidenced last season when the Jazz clocked out with a league-worst 17 wins but ended up with the fifth pick. Conversely, the Dallas Mavericks, who took part in the play-in tournament, won the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes despite just a 1.8% chance to do so.

There’s a randomness that comes with the ping-pong-ball selection process, and it often begs the question if the draft is even setting the league up for the parity it desires.

“It’s something that we’ve been spending a lot of time on with our competition committee, outside consultants, advanced analytics,” Silver said Saturday. 

“The issue is, if teams are manipulating their performance in order to get higher draft picks, even in a lottery, then the question becomes, ‘Even if teams were rewarded for draft picks purely according to the predicted odds of the lottery, are they really the worst-performing teams?’ 

“And my sense is, talking to GMs and coaches around the league, there’s probably even more parity than reflected in our records. And that goes to the incentive issue. It’s not clear to me, for example, that the 30th-performing team is that much measurably worse than the 22nd-performing team, particularly if you have incentive to perform poorly to get a better draft pick. So it’s a bit of a conundrum.”

There’s clear competition for at least the top-four picks in this year’s draft. Kansas’ Darryn Peterson, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa, Duke’s Cameron Boozer and UNC’s Caleb Wilson could all help move the needle for star-needy teams looking to right the ship, after all.

That competition manifests in tanking. The Jazz and Pacers were called out for it, except other teams are participating as well. The Brooklyn Nets, Washington Wizards, and Sacramento Kings also mounted fewer than 20 wins by the All-Star break.

“The All-Star [Game’s] 75 years old, the league is 80 years old. It’s time to take a fresh look at this and to see whether that’s an antiquated way of going about doing it,” Silver said of the draft.

“Ultimately we need a system to fairly distribute players. I think it’s in the player’s interest, as well as the teams’, that you have a level of parity around the league. There’s only so many jobs in so many cities, but we got to look at some fresh thinking here.”

Silver added: “What we’re doing, what we’re seeing right now is not working. There’s no question about it.”

Aspiration-Kawhi Leonard scandal

Notably, Silver was also asked Saturday about the Aspiration-Kawhi Leonard scandal, which centers around their owner, Steve Ballmer, and the Los Angeles Clippers, who are hosting this year’s All-Star Weekend at the Intuit Dome.

Ballmer was sued by 11 investors in Aspiration, a green banking company that filed for bankruptcy in March 2025. Ballmer allegedly used what was essentially a $28 million no-show marketing deal between Leonard and Aspiration to circumvent the NBA’s salary cap rules and pay the now-seven-time All-Star forward more, according to a report from journalist and podcast host Pablo Torre.

Ballmer has insisted the company “conned” him, and his attorneys have been seeking to dismiss the suit, per a Jan. 16 ESPN report. 

Silver said he hasn’t come to any decisions on the matter before clarifying that the league office isn’t directly running the investigation. 

“That’s being overseen by a law firm Wachtell in New York,” he said. 

“From everything I’ve been told, the Clippers have been fully cooperative, but, as I said, I’m not involved day-to-day in the investigation. And I think, as I’ve said before, it’s enormously complex. You have a company in bankruptcy, you have thousands of documents, multiple witnesses that have needed to be interviewed.”

Silver added: “I will say, just in case anyone’s wondering, the fact that All-Star is here this weekend has had no impact on the timeline of the investigation. Our charge to the Wachtell law firm is to do the work and then come back and make recommendations to the league office, and that’s where things now stand.”

Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz has been settling in with his new team at Camelback Ranch, but in his first comments to the media since camp opened, he faced questions about his old team.

In an interview with team broadcaster Howie Rose on Friday, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen called Díaz’s decision to a sign a three-year, $69-million contract with the Dodgers “perplexing.” Though Díaz was caught off guard by the comments, he said Saturday he has no bad feelings toward the Mets or their fans.

“It’s a market and I was a free agent, so I got the chance to talk with everyone,” Díaz said. “I think the Dodgers did a great job of recruiting me, so at the end of the day, I chose to be here. I have a lot of respect for the Mets organization — players, staff, ownership — they treated me pretty good. I don’t have anything bad to say about them. But at the end of the day, I’m here, so this is a new journey for me. I’m happy to be with the Dodgers, so let’s see how it goes.”

Díaz participated in the Dodgers’ first day of official workouts Friday, throwing a clean bullpen session without any hiccups. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts likes what he has seen from the three-time MLB reliever of the year.

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“I’m very excited to get to know him more,” Roberts said. “Just a great teammate, really good person, loves baseball, a good heartbeat. You can tell he knows what he needs to do to get ready. [He’s] likable, and at the end of the day, he chose to be here, so that’s something that is of a lot of value for us. High character. I’m really looking forward to getting to know him.”

One thing that attracted Díaz to the Dodgers was the team’s culture.

“That’s how they’ve been so good,” Díaz said. “They have a really good clubhouse… They’ve got different personalities in the clubhouse. They’ve got different players from different countries, and they all get together and have fun, so that’s something good.”

Part of having a melting pot of a clubhouse means missing some key ingredients for an extended period of spring training. The Dodgers will have several players participating in the World Baseball Classic, including Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Will Smith and Díaz.

Each major leaguer competing in the WBC runs the risk of an injury that could curtail their season, something Díaz knows all too well. Moments after striking out the side to send Puerto Rico to the quarterfinals in 2023, he sustained a season-ending knee injury.

Despite that bad experience, Díaz told reporters it was a no-brainer when he was asked to compete for his country again.

“It wasn’t in my mind,” Díaz said of the injury. “I have the chance to play in front of my family in Puerto Rico. It was an easy decision.”

Díaz’s fearlessness is one trait Roberts admires in his new closer. Díaz faced Roberts’ squad in the 2024 National League Championship Series, in which the Dodgers managed only two hits off him across 51/3 innings, scoring no runs.

“He’s not scared,” Roberts said. “When he’s in the game, it’s an uncomfortable at-bat for lefties and righties, and when we did see him in the postseason, [we were] really trying to keep him out of the game, knowing that he can go one, two, even three innings. That he’s done against us in the postseason; [he’s] just a great competitor.”

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Díaz should stabilize the back end of the bullpen. Since bidding farewell to Kenley Jansen after the 2021 season, the Dodgers haven’t had a closer tally more than 25 saves in a season. Over his nine-year career, Díaz has 253 saves.

With Díaz expected to be the regular ninth-inning guy, Roberts looks forward to having more flexibility when managing his bullpen.

“It’s huge,” Roberts said. “I don’t think that there’s one way to manage a ’pen, but when you have a guy like Edwin Díaz as your closer, I do think it frees up other guys, myself included. Not having to worry about matchups for the ninth, I think that’s freeing for me and allows for getting the matchups we need in the prior innings.”

Dodgers staying cautious with Graterol

One key relief weapon Roberts hopes to have in his armory is Brusdar Graterol. The hard-throwing right-hander underwent surgery on the labrum in his right shoulder shortly after the 2024 World Series and hasn’t pitched in a game since.

Roberts provided an update on Graterol’s recovery Saturday.

“He’s in the picture, but I do think that coming back from the shoulder, it’s going to take some time,” Roberts said. “He’s in the bucket of, we’re going to slow-play him. I think yesterday he threw off the mound, and the velocity is not near where it’s going to be, so I think that it’s a slow progression. I just don’t know where that puts us, but it’s a slow process.”

Staff writer Anthony Solorzano contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

The San Diego Padres, who have been relatively quiet throughout the offseason, made a lot of noise Saturday with signings of Nick Castellanos, Griffin Canning and now, German Marquez. According to reports, the right-hander joins the Padres on a one-year deal.

Marquez has spent his entire 10-year major league career with the Colorado Rockies pitching his home games at Coors Field under former manager Bud Black, who is now a member of the front office in San Diego. Marquez has a career 4.67 ERA and has thrown more than 1,100 innings. His best season came in 2018 when he made 33 starts and finished with a 3.77 ERA over 196.0 innings.

Marquez had a difficult 2025 season, returning from a stress reaction in his elbow that he suffered in 2024. He posted a 3-16 record with a 6.70 ERA over 126.1 innings with 83 strikeouts last season. Marquez was diagnosed with biceps tendonitis in July of the 2025 season, which caused him to miss additional time. He missed much of the 2023 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May of that year. Durability and health are questions for Marquez heading into 2026, making him a buy-low candidate who could add depth to the San Diego rotation if he can remain on the field.

Griffin Canning has found a new baseball home, as the veteran right-handed starting pitcher has agreed to a one-year deal with the San Diego Padres, per Robert Murray of FanSided. 

The 2026 campaign will mark his seventh season in the majors, as Canning is coming off an outstanding year on the hill for the New York Mets. The 29-year-old posted a 7-3 record with a 3.77 ERA in 16 starts. Unfortunately, his season was cut short after rupturing his Achilles tendon during a late June start.

Despite the disappointment, Canning put up terrific statistical numbers. He struck out 70 batters in 76.1 innings pitched and posted a 21.3% strikeout rate, which was his best mark since the 2023 season (25.9%) with the Los Angeles Angels.

He was once regarded as the Angels’ top starting pitching prospect. His best season with the ball club came in 2020, as Canning authored a 2-3 mark with a 3.99 ERA in 11 starts. 

The Angels traded the right-hander to the Atlanta Braves for Jorge Soler. He signed with the Mets as a free agent before the start of the 2025 season.

Canning will compete for the fifth starter’s role with the Friars this spring.

I have been rightly accused of being over optimistic about the St. Louis Cardinals and I want to be clear this is not something I share with the intention of inferring that the upcoming 2026 season will turn out this way. However, if you’re looking for just a tiny glimmer of hope that the upcoming season may not be the catastrophe that it’s projected to be, take a look back 41 years to the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals team.

I know what nearly all of the projections say about the upcoming St. Louis Cardinals 2026 season and I’m not debating their potential accuracy. What I think is worth a look, though, is what the “experts” thought would happen to the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals team that one of my friends reminded me of. Spoiler Alert: they nearly won the World Series if not for a missed call at first base.

Many have forgotten that the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals were predicted to finish in last place in their division. The reasons for those low projections were based on reasonable questions. Future Hall of Fame closer Bruce Sutter left the Cardinals for the Atlanta Braves which meant the St. Louis bullpen had a hole in it. Many pundits didn’t see a clear dominant starter on the roster. On February 1, 1985, the St. Louis Cardinals traded for Jack Clark from the San Francisco Giants which was viewed as risky due to his past injury issues. There was also a bombshell report from The Washington Post that 11 St. Louis Cardinals in the early 1980’s that were heavy users of cocaine. To say the 1985 Cardinals had challenges was an understatement. Oh, and Whitey Herzog was in the middle of a rebuild after the Cardinals missed the playoffs in 1983 and 1984 after winning the 1982 World Series. Sound somewhat familiar?

There are some big differences between that 1985 St. Louis Cardinals team and the state of the 2026 squad. First, the St. Louis Cardinals were carrying momentum from the previous season. The team closed out the 1984 campaign on a 37-25 run. Whitey Herzog was also actively adding pieces to the roster with the intention of building a winner meant to contend as soon as possible. The “rebuild” of 1985 was of the major league roster and not prospects in the farm system. Also, the 1985 team were only 3 years out from winning the World Series while the current Cardinals squad has not seen a World Series banner since 2011.

The projections of last place in 1985 were based on valid questions and uncertainties, but what the “experts” could not predict were some pleasant surprises. 1985 was the rookie season for Vince Coleman who was not expected to be an immediate star, but he proceeded to steal 110 bases. The prognosticators also didn’t foresee Willie McGee having an MVP year leading the league with a scorching .353 batting average. John Tudor became the St. Louis Cardinals ace notching 21 wins. The team that was projected to finish last instead ended the 1985 season with the best record in baseball. What followed during the playoffs were some of the most iconic St. Louis Cardinals moments including Ozzie Smith’s “go crazy” walk-off home run and Jack Clark slamming the door on the Dodgers.

To reiterate, I’m not projecting a best record in baseball kind of season for the 2026 St. Louis Cardinals. My point is that a good or even great season isn’t impossible. The roster does have young players who could surprise and have breakout years. I fully admit that the roster as it looks at the start of Spring Training has a LOT more questions than answers, but I’m not surrendering the upcoming season until we play the games. Yes, the odds say we’ll struggle, but there is precedent for the St. Louis Cardinals shocking the world. It’s happened before and it’s not impossible that it could happen again.

Chase Hampton working his way back

It wasn’t long ago that Hampton was the top pitching prospect in the Yankees system and the hype around the right-hander was at an all-time high. Unfortunately, Hampton had a flexor strain in spring training last year and underwent Tommy John surgery. That procedure took out a year of Hampton’s career as he was making waves in the minor leagues.

Now, Hampton has returned to spring training looking to show the Yankees that he is on his way back to recapturing the form that made him a top prospect.

Boone was asked about Hampton’s progression, and while vague, the Yankees skipper offered some encouraging signs.

“I don’t know his progression, so to speak. I’ve seen a couple of his bullpens now and it keeps ticking up,” he said after Saturday’s practice. “I know he is chomping at the bit for a little bit more because he is feeling really good as well. 

“Sometimes, when you’re a big prospect and you have a surgery that knocks you out, you get off that ‘word of mouth’ list as prospects are building their value. It’s important to remember how big of a year he had back in ‘24, and there’s still a lot of reason to be excited as he gets closer to being back to full bore. He looks pretty good right now.”

In 2024, Hampton made seven starts between Low/High-A and Double-A as he returned from multiple injuries. He did end his year on a high note, allowing just four hits and no runs across 5.2 innings (two starts) and striking out four batters. 

When Boone was asked if Hampton could potentially pitch in spring training games, the longtime manager didn’t want to “speak out of turn” and put a timeline on the youngster. 

Carlos Lagrange’s ‘bright future’

Usurping Hampton’s spot as the Yankees’ top pitching prospect is Lagrange. The team’s No. 2 prospect — behind only George Lombard Jr. — is a non-roster invitee this spring and has already begun impressing Boone.

The Yankees skipper was asked what he thinks when he sees Lagrange pitch, and Boone listed off what the 6-foot-7 righty brings to the table.

“Sometimes, as a hitter, I struggle sometimes when a guy was big and had that downhill tilt,” he said. “Freddy Garcia comes to mind from my era. I never liked the angle that he’s able to create. But it’s a big arm, he’s going to walk out there and throw 100 mph and the changeup is really good. It’s a hard changeup, downward action on it. A big guy like that, it’s about repeating the mechanics. I think he does a good job of that already as a young player.”

Boone continued talking about Lagrange and made an interesting comp to another big righty who came through the Yankees system.

“Think back to when Dellin [Betances]was at his best…when he was on, you can see some consistently really bad swings against him. I think Carlos has a very bright future.”

Lagrange had a solid 2025 between High-A and Double-A. He made 24 appearances (23 starts) and pitched to a 3.53 ERA while striking out 168 batters across 120.0 innings. Those numbers catapulted Lagrange to the top of the Yankees prospects list, and sits at No. 74 in all of baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. 

Paul Blackburn being built up as starter… for now

The Yankees’ bullpen is one of the few unknowns going into spring training, which means Blackburn’s role could be an evolving one in the next couple of months. 

The Yankees re-signed Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough this offseason to fill almost the same role. They both have starting and bullpen experience, and they were both used in those roles in 2025. 

Boone was asked if they plan to build Blackburn up as a starter.

“He’ll get built up. We’ll build him and then keep evaluating, middle of spring, middle of March, where we’re out,” he said. “Just depending on everything that’s happened, but we’re planning on building him, yes.”

A season ago, the Yankees picked up Blackburn in August and used him as the long man in the bullpen. He made eight relief appearances, and after a couple of shaky starts to begin his tenure in the Bronx, Blackburn allowed just two runs in his final seven regular season appearances (12.0 IP).