The full card for the PFL’s return to Dubai is now set with lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov defending his title in the main event against 2025 tournament champion Alfie Davis.
The card takes place at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai on Feb. 7 with the event airing on the ESPN Unlimited app with the event starting at 9 a.m. ET for the prelims and 12 p.m. ET for the main card.
In addition to the lightweight title fight, a new PFL welterweight champion is set to be crowned at the same event with Ramazan Kuramagomedov taking on Shamil Musaev in the co-main event. Both fighters enter the contest with undefeated records so somebody is going to walk out with a title and the other leaves with the first loss on their record.
Former PFL featherweight tournament champion Jesus Pinedo is also back in action on the card as he takes on undefeated prospect Salamat Isbulaev.
Welterweights Magomed Umalatov and Abdoul “Lazy King” Abdouraguimov are also set to meet on the main card with the opening bout taking place in the heavyweight division with undefeated Pouya Rahmani facing Karl Williams.
Here’s the full card for PFL Dubai including the main card and prelims on Feb. 7
Okay, so look. Marquette isn’t going to shoot 61% on three-pointers every single game for the rest of the year.
BUT
Sunday against Villanova was the second time this season that Marquette has connected on over 60% of their three-point attempts, and the second time in Big East competition, too. The Golden Eagles have hit at least 33% of their long range shots in all but two games this year — big surprise, the two are Minnesota and UConn — and they’ve hit at least 38% in eight of their 15 games.
At this point, it’s surprising when the shots aren’t going down for the Golden Eagles.
But Marquette has to be able to do more than hit shots if they want to win ball games. 6-for-17 (35%) shooting wasn’t enough to beat St. John’s, same against Gonzaga in Florida earlier this season. To be quite honest about it: Marquette’s defense isn’t quite as tough as it was last season. The Golden Eagles finished the year at #30 in BartTorvik’s defensive efficiency rankings a year ago, and now midway through Cara Consuegra’s second season in charge, Marquette is hanging out in the mid-50s. Teams are shooting it just a little too well against MU, especially inside the arc.
If Marquette can find a way to recapture some of that defensive magic and pair it with this great shooting — four players attempting at least two three-pointers per game AND shooting over 37%! — then maybe they can really get something cooking over the next 14 games heading into the postseason.
Hey, side note: What do you think the odds are that Halle Vice puts up a fourth straight double-double? It would be her fifth in the last six games, too. I don’t think Marquette needs her to do that to win, but I think it would be very helpful, right?
Big East Game #7: vs Creighton Bluejays (7-8, 3-3 Big East)
Date: Thursday, January 8, 2026 Time: 7pm Central Location: Al McGuire Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Television: truTV, with Cindy Brunson, Christy Winters-Scott, and Chelsea Sherrod calling the action Streaming:truTV.com/WatchtruTV or HBO Max Live Stats:Stat Broadcast Bluesky Updates: @AnonymousEagle
Marquette is 14-19 all time against Creighton. The Bluejays have won four of the last five meetings between the two teams, including last year in Omaha.
There’s at least a little evidence to suggest that Creighton has stabilized the direction of their season since Kiani Lockett suffered what is now officially a season ending knee injury back in November. Things didn’t start well for the Jays, losing by 16 to South Dakota State in the opener, by 34 to Nebraska, and then by one at home to Northern Iowa in the game where Lockett suffered her injury. After that, they lost on the road by nine to UNLV as well.
But since then, things have gotten a little bit better. Not in terms of record necessarily, as the Bluejays have gone just 6-4 in the interim, but in terms of computer numbers. Their Game Scores as calculated by BartTorvik.com are trending much better, with none of the games scoring as poorly as the losses to SDSU or Nebraska. Their rankings on Torvik bottomed out at #108 after the UNLV game, but they’re up to #88 as I type this on Wednesday morning. After the UNLV game, Creighton dipped as low as #110 over at Her Hoop Stats, but they’re up to #69 now. The NET debuted on November 30th, not long after the UNLV game, and the Jays were #186 at the time. Now? #95. Not great, obviously, but again: Much improved over the past five weeks.
This season was always going to be a slightly weird one for Creighton given how many incredibly important seniors they lost from last year, and throwing in the extra wrench of losing Lockett early on could have really sent things into a tailspin. That hasn’t happened to them, so full credit and marks for moving the needle in a positive direction as the season goes along. They’ve even had a bit of an extra level of difficulty thrown in lately, as freshman Ava Zediker, who is leading the team in scoring and is tops in assists with Lockett out, has missed the last two games. One was a 10 point loss at Villanova — could have happened with her — and an 8 point home win against Butler back on Sunday. That was a big battle back game for Creighton, as they were down 10 in the second quarter, but flipped the led by halftime and went up nine very quickly in the third quarter.
If Zediker remains out, then Neleigh Gessert becomes Creighton’s leading scorer, although there’s a little bit of a question about that. For example: She put up 25 points against Villanova but just five against Butler even though her minutes in her first two starts of the season were essentially the same. The catch? Gessert went 7-for-10 behind the arc against the Wildcats but 0-for-3 against the Bulldogs. She’s a 40% shooter on the year averaging nearly eight attempts per game even though she had been coming off the bench, so clearly Gessert needs to be defended carefully, but she’s been on far ends of the spectrum the last two times out.
The other catch to defending Neleigh Gessert? Her twin sister Norah. She’s only a 30% three-point shooter this season on less than three attempts per game in about 18 minutes a night, and she got her first two starts in the last two games as well. This is Marquette’s first time seeing Creighton this season, and thus the first time trying to figure out how to defend the two freshman look-alike six-footers with deeply varying shooting stats.
Big Picture: This Creighton team is a step back from what we’ve seen from Jim Flanery’s squads the past several years. They don’t have the high efficiency offense, and they don’t have the “good enough for that offense” defense on the other end, either. The issue on offense isn’t the three-point shooting, they’re still hitting those and they’re still taking a ton of them. The Bluejays don’t have two-point scoring this time around, so if MU can force them into bad looks from deep and limit them to just once chance — CU doesn’t get on the offensive glass much anyway — then things should work out okay.
• TV/Radio: Big Ten Network/Spartan Sports Network radio, including WJIM 1240-AM and WMMQ 94.9-FM; SiriusXM Ch. 195 (MSU broadcast), 372 (Northwestern broadcast)
• Records/Rankings: MSU is 13-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big Ten, and enters the week ranked No. 12 in the Associated Press poll and No. 13 USA TODAY Coaches poll, No. 12 in the NET rankings used by the NCAA tournament selection committee, and No. 12 per the college basketball analytics site Kenpom.com. Northwestern is 8-6 overall and 0-3 in the Big Ten, and unranked in both major polls. The Wildcats are No. 82 in the NET rankings and No. 61 per Kenpom.
• Betting line: MSU -11.5
• Coaches:Michigan State — Tom Izzo is 750-304 in his 31st season as a head coach, all with the Spartans. Northwestern — Chris Collins is 202-196 in his 13th season as a head coach, all with the Wildcats.
• Series: MSU leads 96-42 all-time and won the only meeting last season, in Evanston.
Projected lineups
MSU
C (15) Carson Cooper (6-11) 9.7
PF (0) Jaxon Kohler (6-9) 14.2
SF (55) Coen Carr (6-5) 11.9
SG (99) Divine Ugochukwu (6-3) 5.5
PG (1) Jeremy Fears Jr. (6-2) 11.9
Northwestern
C (22) Arrinten Page (6-11) 15.0
F (2) Nick Martinelli (6-7) 23.0
F (44) Angelo Ciaravino (6-6) 6.9
G (11) Jordan Clayton (6-2) 2.9
G (4) Jayden Reid (5-10) 11.6
• MSU update: The Spartans play their third Big Ten game in seven days and their second in front of the Alumni Izzone. After an 80-51 win over USC on Monday night, MSU is the No. 2 team in the country in defensive efficiency, per Kenpom. The Spartans are also the second-best defensive rebounding team in the country and are No. 12 in offensive rebounding. They’re also No. 2 nationally in assist-to-made-basket percentage at 69.7%. Jeremy Fears Jr. remains No. 2 in the country in assists at 9.0 per game. Jaxon Kohler is No. 2 in the Big Ten in 3-point shooting percentage at 53.7%.
The Spartans should be as close to fully healthy as they’ve been since Thanksgiving. Sophomore guard Divine Ugochukwu returned Monday after missing a game with an illness. And freshman forward Cam Ward said Tuesday that his injured wrist, which he revealed was a bit more than a sprain, finally has full range of motion again and he’s regaining increasing confidence in his game.
• Northwestern update: The Wildcats are coming off an 84-78 home loss to Minnesota, the sort of defeat they have to avoid if they have any hope of making an NCAA tournament push. Winning at MSU on Thursday night would go a long way toward making up for some of their slip-ups during an 8-6 start. Northwestern’s best wins are at DePaul (108 in Kenpom) and a neutral site game against South Carolina (68). The Wildcats’ losses are to Oklahoma State (58), at Wisconsin (42), Ohio State (37) at home, Butler (56) in Indianapolis and then to the Gophers (91). This is largely a new team from a year ago, outside of one giant piece: forward Nick Martinelli, who, at 23.0 points per game, is one-tenth of a point behind the national scoring lead.
• Matchup analysis: The Wildcats have some good talent and should have a higher floor than they’ve shown this season. Martinelli is a chore to defend, a good player downhill, relentless and crafty and a capable shooter all the way out beyond the 3-point arc, where he shoots 50%. He spends most of his minutes at power forward for Northwestern. I think we’ll see a mix of Jaxon Kohler, Coen Carr and Cam Ward defending him. Overall, Northwestern has really struggled to shoot from the perimeter, hitting less than 32% of 3-point tries. It’s the Wildcats’ most debilitating weakness. They hit 6 of 23 in the loss to the Gophers and were also badly out-rebounded. That’s going to be a problem for them in this game. They’re nationally in the bottom quarter of teams in terms of defensive rebounding, meaning the Spartans are likely to feast on the offensive glass.
Northwestern does make teams work offensively. Opponents average 19 seconds per possession against the Wildcats, which is the most in the nation. South Florida transfer Jayden Reid can be a good point guard. He’s quick, is a decent finisher at the rim and is a more capable outside shooter than the 28% he’s been making this season. Freshman forward Tre Singleton, who’s been starting, was a terrific get for Chris Collins. He’s a powerful young player who’s flashed with some promising performances this season.
• Prediction: Northwestern has been a tricky team for MSU in recent years and Martinelli is worthy of respect. But other than the Wildcats’ potential ability to slow the Spartans’ break, I like this matchup for MSU. Plus, after Monday, MSU is now not only 10-1 against the point spread in its last 11 games in front of the Alumni Izzone, but the Spartans have averaged to win those games by 11 points more than the spread (That stat courtesy of Steve Beckman.). MSU might want to kick the students out and invite the alums back for the Jan. 30 game against Michigan.
The WWE flag billows in the wind. – Adam McCullough/Shutterstock
As “NXT” stars such as Je’Von Evans, Oba Femi, and Trick Williams move on from the Performance Center to the main roster, WWE is now forced to scout for the company’s next big faces. WWE tryouts are fast-approaching, it seems that the professional wrestling conglomerate is sourcing their next hottest stars from a variety of backgrounds.
According to PWInsider Elite, WWE is set to host sometime during the week of January 12. While the list of attendees is undoubtedly short, some confirmed names include Akron, Ohio’s Joshua Hillen. Hillen, a former United States Marine, recently won the title of America’s Strongest Veteran in Las Vegas in October. According to InkFreeNews, Hillen took first place in the Trump Weights Axle Clean and Press, the Keg Carry Over Bar, and the Sandbag Throw events — three of the competition’s five listed events. Hillen, 5’7″, began competing in strongman competitions eight years ago.
James Karnik, a 27-year old basketball player from Canada, will also join Hillen at WWE tryouts this coming week. Karnik proudly displays his experience on both Canadian and Czech basketball teams in his Instagram bio, and was most recently seen averaging 12 points and 7 rebounds per game in Eurocup. Karnik, 6’9″, played for the Vancouver Bandits for the 2022, 2024, and 2025 season.
Hillen and Karnik do not have any professional wrestling experience, but it is not uncommon to see strongmen, powerlifters, and professional athletes make the jump to WWE, as was the case with recent “NXT” Superstars Jordynne Grace, a known powerlifter, Lash Legend, a former WNBA player, and, perhaps most famously, Bron Breakker, a former NFL fullback. WWE have their eyes on several blossoming collegiate athletes through their WWE NIL (Next in Line) program.
PWInsider Elite is currently in the process of confirming more names as WWE tryouts quickly approach.
Burris, a rising redshirt sophomore, is the son of former FAMU offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Henry Burris, a Canadian Football League Hall of Famer.
Henry Burris announced on Wednesday via X/Twitter that he wouldn’t be returning to FAMU next season after working with the now-dismissed head coach James Colzie III’s staff for the past two seasons.
Grateful for my time at Florida A&M and the opportunity to work with an incredible group of young men and coaches.
Thankful for the relationships, lessons, and memories.
“Grateful for my time at Florida A&M and the opportunity to work with an incredible group of young men and coaches,” Henry Burris tweeted.
“Thankful for the relationships, lessons, and memories. Wishing the Rattlers continued success.”
Henry Burris was appointed acting head coach after FAMU relieved Colzie of his duties on Dec. 8, 2025. FAMU went 12-12 during Colzie’s two-year tenure, including going 5-7 in 2025, the program’s first losing season since 2017.
FAMU hired Gray, a former record-setting quarterback for the Rattlers, away from NCAA Division II Historically Black College and University Albany State on Dec. 23, 2025.
Armand Burris was one of the Rattlers’ reliable catchers last season, notching 17 receptions for 222 yards and scoring two touchdowns after being a reserve in 2024.
The Rattlers have also netted some outside transfer portal commitments, such as Albany State quarterback Isaiah Knowles, who won the 2024 and 2025 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year.
Florida A&M football NCAA Transfer Portal
Who’s Coming?
Since Quinn Gray hire on Dec. 23, 2025
Isaiah Knowles, Quarterback, Albany State
Corey ‘Deuce’ Petty, Wide Receiver, Albany State
Xavier Herndon, Tight End, Albany State
Terrell James, Defensive Lineman, East Mississippi Community College
Who’s Leaving?
Tyler Jefferson, Quarterback
RJ Johnson III, Quarterback
Jett Peddy, Quarterback
Ja’Cory Jordan, Wide Receiver
Goldie Lawrence, Wide Receiver
Jalen ‘Speedy’ Rogers, Wide Receiver
Kenari Wilcher, Wide Receiver
Miles Campbell, Tight End
Andrew Ritter, Tight End
David Gardner, Offensive Lineman
Landon Bolding, Defensive Lineman
Davion Westmoreland, Defensive End
Ah’Mare Lee, Cornerback
Daniel Porto, Kicker
Jack Carson-Wentz, Long Snapper
Gerald Thomas, III is a multi-time award-winning journalist for his coverage of the Florida A&M Rattlers at the Tallahassee Democrat.
While it is still 29 days until the Feb. 5 NBA Trade deadline — and big trades tend to happen closer to that date — there is a lot of smoke and clearly some fire around a Trae Young trade to the Washington Wizards.
Washington is Young’s preferred destination, reports Shams Charania of ESPN. That is new and it matters. Young is a fan favorite and has been the face of the franchise in Atlanta for more than seven years, the team will want to do right by him. The Hawks front office and Young’s agents have been collaborating to find Young a new team, and now the Wizards are the clear frontrunners. The fact that CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert — two players expected to be sent to Atlanta in a trade — are sitting out the Wizards game on Wednesday feels like a little more than a coincidence.
A trade of Young to Washington for McCollum and Kispert works under the cap.
What to watch is the draft picks attached to this trade. While the instinct for many would be to say Washington needs to add draft picks to this deal — they are getting a 27-year-old three-time All-Star in his prime, a guy who has averaged 25.2 points and 9.8 assists a game for his career — the opposite is true, league sources told NBC Sports. Washington can argue that they are sending out the expiring contract of McCollum to take on one more year of Young, who has a $48.9 million player option for next season, which he is expected to pick up. Washington will want to be compensated for taking on that extra salary, even though it has the cap space to do so, as Josh Robbins of The Athletic discussed on The Athletic NBA Daily podcast. There could be an exchange of draft picks, but don’t expect the Wizards to send out better picks than they take back in the deal, which has been their modus operandi in the Jordan Poole trade and others.
The other thing to watch for is a contract extension. Young wants to be on a team where he has the ball in his hands and somewhere he could sign a longer-term extension (he’s not a max player anymore, not in the world of NBA tax aprons, but he still would command considerably more than an average starter). Washington can put the ball in his hands, but it will want to wait to see how he meshes with the young players the franchise sees as part of the future — Alex Sarr, Kyshawn George, Tre Johnson, Bub Carrington, Bilal Coulibaly — before it talks extension. Young would pick up his option and be playing for his next contract.
On offense, Young would be a natural fit. Sarr, who has taken a big step forward this season, averaging 17.5 points and 7.8 rebounds a game, should thrive with Young as a pick-and-roll partner. Plus, Young’s gravity and passing would get Johnson, George and others plenty of better, cleaner looks in the halfcourt. On top of all that, this is a team that wants to get out and run, and Young’s passing and style of play fit well with that.
On the other end of the court, Washington has the 29th-ranked defense in the NBA right now and Young is not going to help that.
What Young gives the Wizards is someone fans will pay to see, someone who should make their offense entertaining and will win them some games (and maybe get them in the play-in a year from now) — all without giving up anyone they see as a core part of their future. It’s low risk. And if Young clicks with the existing core, the Wizards can always extend him.
CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs are adding Edward Cabrera to their rotation, agreeing Wednesday to acquire the right-hander in a trade with the Miami Marlins in their first major offseason move.
A person familiar with the deal confirmed the move to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because it hadn’t been announced.
Chicago agreed to send outfielder Owen Caissie and infield prospects Cristian Hernandez and Edgardo De Leon to Miami for Cabrera, who went 8-7 with a 3.53 ERA in a career-high 26 starts and 137 2/3 innings last year.
Caissie, 23, could compete for a starting job with the Marlins after making his major league debut in August. Caissie, a second-round pick in the 2020 amateur draft, hit .192 in 12 games with the Cubs, but he batted .286 with 22 homers and 55 RBIs with Triple-A Iowa last season.
Cabrera is eligible for arbitration and cannot become a free agent until after the 2028 season.
The Cubs finished second in the NL Central last year with a 92-70 record. They made it to the playoffs for the first time since 2020 before they were eliminated by Milwaukee in a five-game NL Division Series.
Cabrera, who turns 28 in April, joins a deep rotation that also includes Matthew Boyd, Shota Imanaga, Cade Horton and Jameson Taillon. Colin Rea and Javier Assad are two more starting options, and Justin Steele is coming back from left elbow surgery on April 18.
The 6-foot-5 Cabrera made his major league debut with Miami in 2021. He is 25-29 with a 4.07 ERA in 87 career starts and two relief appearances.
Cabrera arrives in Chicago with some injury concerns, including recurring blisters on his right middle finger. He also was placed on the 15-day injured list on Sept. 1 with a right elbow sprain. He returned on Sept. 23 and pitched five shutout innings against the New York Mets in his final start of the season on Sept. 28.
While the addition of Cabrera strengthens Chicago’s rotation, Caissie was expected to compete for time in right field. Kyle Tucker is expected to leave the Cubs in free agency.
Miami went 79-83 in its first season under manager Clayton McCullough, a 17-game improvement from its last-place finish in 2024. Sandy Alcantara and Eury Pérez lead the team’s rotation.
Hernandez, 22, batted .252 with seven homers and 53 RBIs for High A South Bend last year. De Leon, 18, played for the Cubs’ team in the Arizona Complex League in 2025, hitting .276 with five homers and 15 RBIs in 43 games.
Also Wednesday, the Cubs claimed left-hander Ryan Rolison off waivers from the Chicago White Sox. Rolison made his big league debut with Colorado in May.
Edward Cabrera turned in the best season of his career in 2025, posting a 3.53 ERA and a walk rate of just 8.3%. (Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/Getty Images)
Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins via Getty Images
In an offseason that has seen contenders such as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays already make big moves, the Chicago Cubs have taken a different approach. After winning 92 games last season, the Cubs have mostly been quiet this winter.
But the team finally made a big addition Wednesday, when the Cubs finalized a trade with the Miami Marlins to land starting pitcher Edward Cabrera, the teams announced. In exchange, Chicago is sending outfield prospect Owen Caissie, infielder Christian Hernandez and third baseman Edgardo De Leon to Miami.
Cabrera, 27, turned in the best season of his career in 2025, posting a 3.53 ERA over a career-high 137 2/3 innings.
Today, we acquired OF Owen Caissie, INF Cristian Hernández, and INF Edgardo De Leon in a trade with the Chicago Cubs for RHP Edward Cabrera. pic.twitter.com/ydUuq2kkgp
For years, Cabrera was viewed as a high-upside pitcher with significant flaws. While he didn’t completely eliminate those flaws in 2025, he made major strides improving his control, which led to a career season. Cabrera cut his walk rate down to 8.3%; his previous career low was 11.3%.
That improvement was spurred by a change in his pitch mix. Cabrera relied far less on his four-seam fastball, which — despite its solid velocity — routinely got hit hard and too often landed out of the strike zone. Instead, Cabrera upped his percentage of breaking balls, which have always graded out well by pitch metrics. He also prioritized using a sinker, and while the pitch wasn’t effective, he controlled it well, which allowed him to more consistently get ahead of batters.
While it was an encouraging change, Cabrera still struggled to stay healthy in 2025. Although he threw a career-high 137 2/3 innings, he missed time due to elbow issues later in the year. He was able to return to action after missing some time and pitched fairly well down the stretch. Still, injuries have been a consistent issue for Cabrera since he broke into the majors in 2022. He has never pitched more than 26 games in a season in the majors, and he hasn’t thrown more than 150 innings in a season — including his minor-league starts — since 2019.
The acquisition comes with risk but also significant team control. Cabrera is arbitration-eligible through the 2028 MLB season and won’t be a free agent until 2029.
It’s arguably the most significant move the Cubs have made this offseason. The team made waves in November when it declined an option on starter Shota Imanaga. The pitcher later returned after the team offered him a one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer.
In addition to Cabrera and Imanaga, the Cubs’ rotation should also feature 2025 All-Star Matthew Boyd, promising youngster Cade Horton and veteran Jameson Taillon — at least until Justin Steele is able to return from Tommy John surgery.
That’s not a perfect rotation, but it should be good enough to keep the team in contention, especially if Boyd and Taillon can continue to age gracefully and Imanaga bounces back after a rocky second season in the majors.
With the rotation seemingly set, the Cubs can now turn their attention to the lineup, where the team is looking to replace Kyle Tucker. On paper, the Cubs’ offense has plenty of talent even without the star outfielder, but one more big move could push the Cubs from a good team to a legitimate World Series contender.
Edward Cabrera turned in the best season of his career in 2025, posting a 3.53 ERA and a walk rate of just 8.3%. (Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins/Getty Images)
Jasen Vinlove/Miami Marlins via Getty Images
In an offseason that has seen contenders such as the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays already make big moves, the Chicago Cubs have taken a different approach. After winning 92 games last season, the Cubs have mostly been quiet this winter.
But the team finally made a big addition Wednesday, when the Cubs finalized a trade with the Miami Marlins to land starting pitcher Edward Cabrera, the teams announced. In exchange, Chicago is sending outfield prospect Owen Caissie, infielder Christian Hernandez and third baseman Edgardo De Leon to Miami.
Cabrera, 27, turned in the best season of his career in 2025, posting a 3.53 ERA over a career-high 137 2/3 innings.
Today, we acquired OF Owen Caissie, INF Cristian Hernández, and INF Edgardo De Leon in a trade with the Chicago Cubs for RHP Edward Cabrera. pic.twitter.com/ydUuq2kkgp
For years, Cabrera was viewed as a high-upside pitcher with significant flaws. While he didn’t completely eliminate those flaws in 2025, he made major strides improving his control, which led to a career season. Cabrera cut his walk rate down to 8.3%; his previous career low was 11.3%.
That improvement was spurred by a change in his pitch mix. Cabrera relied far less on his four-seam fastball, which — despite its solid velocity — routinely got hit hard and too often landed out of the strike zone. Instead, Cabrera upped his percentage of breaking balls, which have always graded out well by pitch metrics. He also prioritized using a sinker, and while the pitch wasn’t effective, he controlled it well, which allowed him to more consistently get ahead of batters.
While it was an encouraging change, Cabrera still struggled to stay healthy in 2025. Although he threw a career-high 137 2/3 innings, he missed time due to elbow issues later in the year. He was able to return to action after missing some time and pitched fairly well down the stretch. Still, injuries have been a consistent issue for Cabrera since he broke into the majors in 2022. He has never pitched more than 26 games in a season in the majors, and he hasn’t thrown more than 150 innings in a season — including his minor-league starts — since 2019.
The acquisition comes with risk but also significant team control. Cabrera is arbitration-eligible through the 2028 MLB season and won’t be a free agent until 2029.
It’s arguably the most significant move the Cubs have made this offseason. The team made waves in November when it declined an option on starter Shota Imanaga. The pitcher later returned after the team offered him a one-year, $22.025 million qualifying offer.
In addition to Cabrera and Imanaga, the Cubs’ rotation should also feature 2025 All-Star Matthew Boyd, promising youngster Cade Horton and veteran Jameson Taillon — at least until Justin Steele is able to return from Tommy John surgery.
That’s not a perfect rotation, but it should be good enough to keep the team in contention, especially if Boyd and Taillon can continue to age gracefully and Imanaga bounces back after a rocky second season in the majors.
With the rotation seemingly set, the Cubs can now turn their attention to the lineup, where the team is looking to replace Kyle Tucker. On paper, the Cubs’ offense has plenty of talent even without the star outfielder, but one more big move could push the Cubs from a good team to a legitimate World Series contender.
In two weeks, the National Baseball Hall of Fame will announce its Class of 2026. We already know one member of the class, and we have a pretty good idea about two others. After that, it’s hazy at best.
The past couple of years have had some fairly obvious first-ballot inductees in Ichiro Suzuki (2025) and Adrian Beltré (2024). There are no such players this year. Instead, any inductees will be benefiting from the slow drift of BBWAA votes, through which a player such as Billy Wagner can go from 10.5% voting in his first ballot in 2016 to a triumphant 82.5% in his final year of eligibility last year.
That’s where the Hall of Fame Ballot Tracker comes in. The helpful spreadsheet is run by the team of Ryan Thibodaux, Anthony Calamis and Adam Dore, who track every publicly available BBWAA ballot (and some privately indulged ones). As of Wednesday, 140 ballots had been tracked out of an estimated total of 424, enough that we can get a pretty solid idea of which way the wind is blowing.
As a reminder, players need to receive at least 75% of the BBWAA vote to be inducted into the Hall. They get 10 years on the ballot to get there but automatically fall off if they ever receive less than 5% of the vote. After that, they can still get in through the Hall’s Era Committees if they don’t make it via BBWAA.
Here’s how all 27 players on the ballot are doing so far, with numbers as of Wednesday.
Carlos Beltrán (88.4% of vote, 4th year of eligibility) Andruw Jones (83.0%, 9th)
Both Beltrán and Jones are accomplished outfielders who are ahead of the pace needed to reach induction, but that doesn’t mean this is over. BBWAA voters who never reveal their ballots tend to be harsher judges than the public ones, which is how Beltrán went from 73.6% of known ballots to 70.3% in the final vote last year.
Both men also have off-field issues that could come up in voting, notably Jones’ domestic violence arrest in 2012 and Beltrán’s central role in the Astros cheating scandal. Those are obviously very different situations, but both are relevant in a world in which the character clause has become a major deciding factor in these votes.
These guys would all need miracles ranging from minor to major to reach Cooperstown this year, but they should still probably expect plaques at some point in their futures. Very few players who get a majority of votes in their first three years on the ballot end up not making it eventually.
Utley and Hernández both had Hall of Fame primes, then fell off a bit due to age and injury, but the voters don’t seem too worried about what those two did in their 30s. And for Hamels, 32% is a fine starting number in his first year on the ballot.
Who will join Jeff Kent in the 2026 Baseball Hall of Fame?
Taylor Wilhelm/Yahoo Sports
Could go either way
Andy Pettitte (55.8%, 8th) Dustin Pedroia (25.2%, 2nd) David Wright (19.7%, 3rd)
Only Hernández has gained more returning votes than Pettitte so far this cycle, and the southpaw is also doing well with first-time voters, at 70%. Those are encouraging signs. But you have to wonder how much resistance against Pettitte has calcified due to his alleged steroid use. With only two years remaining on the ballot, he needs a lot of people to come around quickly.
Pedroia and Wright are both one-team infielders who didn’t quite have Hall of Fame longevity but could ultimately get in if future voters look kindly upon them.
Staying alive
Bobby Abreu (38.8%, 7th) Jimmy Rollins (25.9%, 5th) Mark Buehrle (22.4%, 6th) Omar Vizquel (12.9%, 9th) Francisco Rodriguez (12.9%, 4th) Torii Hunter (4.8%, 6th)
It’s hard to imagine any of these guys getting the boost they need at this stage of their candidacy, but they will probably make it to the next ballot. Hunter went from 4.8% of public votes last year to 5.1% in the final count, so a similar bump would keep him in the safe zone this time around.
Vizquel remains a notable case given that he appeared to be a lock for induction at one point, after he reached 52.6% in his third year of eligibility in 2020, but domestic abuse and sexual harassment allegations have since made him a non-candidate.
Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez (47.6%, 5th)
With Bonds and Clemens both out of Hall of Fame consideration until 2031, the most controversial candidate is now Rodriguez, whose multiple steroid scandals didn’t prevent him from getting a job at Fox Sports but do appear to be a significant barrier for the Hall of Fame.
His 47.6% number is at least a significant jump from where Rodríguez has been hovering in his first four years of eligibility — from 34.3% in 2022 to 27.1% in 2025 — but his lack of progress with first-time voters (46.7% this year) means the tides are not yet turning the way he needs them to.
It’s over
Manny Ramirez (43.5%, 10th)
With no more ballots after this one, the Boston Red Sox great can start crossing his fingers that the Contemporary Era Committee doesn’t mind his PED use as much as the BBWAA clearly does.
Hello, goodbye
Ryan Braun (2.7%, 1st) Edwin Encarnacion (1.4%, 1st) Shin-Soo Choo (0.7%, 1st) Hunter Pence (0.7%, 1st) Gio Gonzalez (0%, 1st) Alex Gordon (0%, 1st) Matt Kemp (0%, 1st) Howie Kendrick (0%, 1st) Nick Markakis (0%, 1st) Daniel Murphy (0%, 1st) Rick Porcello (0%, 1st)
It is extremely difficult to make the Hall of Fame. The above players have a combined 1 MVP award, 1 Cy Young Award, 27 All-Star selections, 13 Gold Gloves, 10 Silver Sluggers and 5 World Series rings, but it looks like none of them will get a second look from voters. Braun’s admitted PED use obviously looms largest here.
