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Latest On Broadcast Package Carried By ESPN

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Back in February, Major League Baseball and ESPN opted out of the final three years of their contract together. That deal is still in place through 2025, with ESPN carrying this year’s rights to Sunday Night Baseball, the Home Run Derby and the Wild Card round of the playoffs, but the rights for those events are up for grabs for the 2026-28 seasons. In May, it was reported that NBC had made an offer on that package.

Now it appears that the package may be split up and sold in separate parts, per Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Nothing is finalized yet but Marchand reports that the league is in negotiations with several different broadcasters about the pieces that ESPN is currently carrying. He says that NBC/Peacock and Apple TV+ are the frontrunners for Sunday Night Baseball and the playoff games, while Netflix seems likely to get the Derby. ESPN, meanwhile, could stay in the baseball broadcast business by picking up some weekday games. Marchand adds that ESPN has interest in MLB.TV but doesn’t indicate if that interest is reciprocal. John Ourand of Puck also reports that Netflix is hoping to acquire the Japanese rights for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

Breaking up broadcast rights into pieces is nothing new for the league. They have had deals with many broadcasters over the years and currently have deals in place with ESPN, Fox, ABC, TBS, Apple and Roku. Peacock/NBC had the rights to the early Sunday game not too long ago, before Roku took over that slot.

MLB was set to receive about $550MM annually from the ESPN deal. ESPN was looking to renegotiate, pointing out that Apple is only playing $85MM for its Friday night rights while Roku is only forking over $10MM annually. The ESPN package has more appeal. Like Apple and Roku, they get one game per week, but there’s only one game on Sunday nights while Apple/Roku have competition from the other contests. The Derby and the playoff games obviously make the package more valuable. Still, ESPN didn’t feel the price gap was appropriate. Per the May reporting linked above, ESPN was willing to pay about $200MM per year but not more.

MLB evidently felt it could beat that $200MM and perhaps may do so by splitting up the package into pieces. Time will tell if they can succeed. As mentioned, these deals are still being negotiated and Marchand doesn’t provide any specifics about the numbers being discussed.

One thing that has been consistent in stories about broadcast deals is that MLB doesn’t want to sign anything beyond 2028. Multiple reports have indicated that the league’s various broadcast deals expire after the 2028 season. As various clubs saw their regional deals collapse with Diamond Sports Group, now known as Main Street Sports, some re-signed but always on short-term deals. It seems the league hopes to be able to market a very large package, or packages, of broadcast components to various companies for the 2029 season and beyond. Marchand reports that the current negotiations are consistent with that approach, with nothing beyond 2028 being discussed.

There are many moving parts and it’s a notable situation to monitor going forward. Broadcast revenue is naturally a huge part of the game’s economic landscape and there could be many twists and turns in the coming years. The baseball world is expecting a lockout in the 2026-27 offseason, once the current collective bargaining agreement expires. Many believe that commissioner Rob Manfred and the owners would like to push the MLB Players Association to get a salary cap. A staredown between the league and the union could lead to cancelled games in 2027.

Manfred and the owners would have to balance their desire for that cap against their leverage in these deals. MLB has seen an uptick in popularity lately, including increased viewership ratings, often attributed to pace-of-play rule changes such as the pitch clock. Having that momentum would help the league in negotiations with broadcasters but a lengthy work stoppage and missed games would almost certainly hurt baseball’s popularity and cut into the league’s leverage in broadcast negotiations.

Braves Release Jackson Stephens To Sign With CPBL Team, Sign Anderson Pilar To Minor League Deal

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1:00pm: MLBTR has learned that Stephens was released to sign with a team in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League.

12:49pm: Right-hander Jackson Stephens has been released by the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. On the flip side, the Braves have signed right-hander Anderson Pilar to a minor league deal and he’s been assigned to Gwinnett.

Stephens, 31, signed a minor league deal with Atlanta in the offseason. He’s actually been putting up good numbers in the minors in a swing role. He has logged 49 Triple-A frames this year over four starts and 18 relief appearances. He has a 2.57 earned run average, 22.2% strikeout rate, 7.9% walk rate and 41.5% ground ball rate.

Atlanta has needed plenty of arms at the big league level this year, which each of Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Grant Holmes, Spencer Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver and Joe Jiménez missing significant time. Despite the need for innings, they haven’t given Stephens the call. With his decent numbers, it’s possible he opted out his minor league pact.

Whether he triggered some kind of opt-out or this is a straight release, the result is the same. He’ll head out to the open market and assess his opportunities. He has 132 1/3 innings of major league experience with a 4.15 ERA, 19.4% strikeout rate, 9% walk rate and 40.4% ground ball rate.

As for Pilar, it’s not a surprise that Atlanta has scooped him up. They took him from the Marlins in the Rule 5 draft back in December. He came into camp with the club but couldn’t make the most of the opportunity. He tossed 5 2/3 spring innings, allowing nine earned runs on ten hits and six walks while striking out ten.

Atlanta returned him to the Marlins prior to Opening Day. He’s having a decent but not spectacular season. He tossed 44 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.26 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate and 6.7% walk rate. His .311 batting average on balls in play and 62.3% strand rate are a bit to the unfortunate side. His 3.11 FIP is more than a full run better than his ERA. The Marlins released him earlier this week and Atlanta has quickly pounced on him. This time, they aren’t bound by the Rule 5 restrictions and don’t even need to give Pilar a roster spot.

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images

Cubs Release Jon Berti

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Today: The Cubs released Berti today, according to his transaction log on MLB.com. Presumably, the veteran infielder cleared waivers and, considering he has enough service time to reject an outright with forfeiting any salary, the club chose just to grant him his release instead. He is now a free agent.

August 12: The Cubs announced today that catcher Miguel Amaya and right-hander Javier Assad have both been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. In corresponding active roster moves, the Cubs have optioned right-hander Nate Pearson to Triple-A and designated infielder Jon Berti for assignment. The 40-man roster had one vacancy, with Berti’s DFA clearing another.

Berti, 35, signed with the Cubs in the offseason. He has long been a scrappy and versatile utility player in the bigs, playing almost every position on the diamond while stealing bases and often producing offense around league average.

The Cubs came into the year with some uncertainty at third base and they threw a few things at the wall there. They traded Isaac Paredes to the Astros as part of the Kyle Tucker deal, opening a path for prospect Matt Shaw to earn the job. Just in case Shaw didn’t hit the ground running, they had some backup plans. They acquired Vidal Bruján, took Gage Workman in the Rule 5 draft, in addition to signing Justin Turner and Berti.

Most of those moves didn’t work out well, including Berti. He has hit just .210/.262/.230 in his 107 plate appearances this year. He hung around the roster as Shaw and other guys struggled. Workman was jettisoned long ago. More recently, Shaw has started to click and the Cubs also added Willi Castro ahead of the deadline. That bumped out Bruján a couple of weeks back and now Berti loses his roster spot as well.

With the trade deadline having passed, the Cubs will have to put Berti on waivers. Given his struggles and his salary, he won’t be claimed. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. It’s possible the Cubs skip that formality and simply release him.

At that point, any club could sign Berti and would only have to pay him the prorated portion of the $760K league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Cubs pay. It’s possible he garners interest at that point from a club looking to bolster its bench. Berti came into this year with 97 steals, a .259/.337/.366 line and 95 wRC+ while playing everywhere except catcher and first base.

Without Berti, the Cubs are going with a three-catcher setup. While Amaya has been on the IL, Carson Kelly has been the primary backstop, backed up by Reese McGuire. No one in that trio can be optioned to the minors, so the Cubs are keeping all three of them, at least for now.

Assad’s return seemingly shuffles the rotation a bit. Assad is listed as tonight’s probable starter. Ben Brown was previously in that spot, so it seems he will slide back into a long relief role. Assad posted a 3.73 earned run average over 29 starts for the Cubs last year. He hasn’t been able to build on that here in 2025, as he suffered an oblique strain during spring training and then re-aggravated that strain during the season. He’ll be making his season debut north of the border tonight as the Cubs are in Toronto to face the Blue Jays.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Should Trevor Story Trigger His Opt-Out?

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Shortstop Trevor Story can opt out of his deal with the Red Sox after this season. For much of his Boston tenure, that opt-out has been an afterthought. Lately, he has been on fire and made it seem like a legitimate possibility once again.

Rob Bradford of the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast asked Story about his upcoming decision. Story spoke of his love of playing in Boston, which sort of points against him opting out, but he also acknowledged that there's a "business side of it" as well.

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Angels Outright Scott Kingery

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The Angels announced that infielder Scott Kingery has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Salt Lake. He had been designated for assignment earlier this week when righty Shaun Anderson was selected to the roster.

Kingery has the right to reject this assignment but likely won’t. Players with at least three years of major league service time have the right to reject outright assignments in favor of electing free agency. However, they need five years of service to do so while keep their remaining salary commitments intact. Kingery is in that three-to-five window. He and the Angels avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a $770K salary. There’s a little under $200K still to be paid out, so he would have to walk away from that money to hit the open market.

Once a notable prospect with the Phillies, he signed a $24MM extension with them back in 2018. At the time, that was a record for a player who had not yet made his major league debut. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to give the Phils the return they were expecting. He hit just .229/.280/.387 in 1,127 plate appearances for the Phillies. He was often passed through waivers as that extension ran its course, with no other club wanting to take it on.

That deal was done when the Angels brought him aboard and gave him a 40-man spot to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency. They agreed to the aforementioned arbitration salary and then passed him through waivers prior to Opening Day. Due to the aforementioned conditions, Kingery accepted an outright assignment in March, sticking around as a non-roster depth player who could slot in at multiple defensive positions.

He was added back to the 40-man in May but has largely been on optional assignment. He got into 14 games for the Halos and took 27 plate appearances. He produced a .160/.222/.200 batting line in those and now has a .228/.279/.382 line for his career. In Triple-A this year, he has a .256/.317/.424 line. In the hitter-friendly environment of the Pacific Coast League, that translates to a 78 wRC+, indicating he’s been about 22% below league average.

Assuming he accepts this assignment and rejoins the Bees, he’ll look to play his way back to the majors. If not added back to the 40-man by season’s end, he’ll be able to elect minor league free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are removed from a 40-man during a season.

Photo courtesy of David Richard, Imagn Images

Orioles Outright Houston Roth

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The Orioles announced that right-hander Houston Roth has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. He had been designated for assignment earlier this week when the O’s claimed Daniel Johnson and selected right-hander José Espada.

Roth, 27, was selected to Baltimore’s roster on July 29th. As part of their deadline selloff, the O’s had already sent out Gregory Soto and Seranthony Domínguez at that time. Andrew Kittredge was also traded a couple of days later.

That allowed Roth to stick on the big league roster for a few days but he was optioned back to the minors before getting into a game. A week after being optioned, he was bumped off the 40-man and no club grabbed him off waivers. This is his first outright and he has less than three years of service time, so he doesn’t have the right to reject the assignment.

In his minor league career, he has often been able to get strikeouts but has also given out walks at a notable pace. This year, he has thrown 39 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with 2.08 earned run average, 26.1% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images

Endy Rodríguez Undergoes Ulnar Nerve Transposition Surgery

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The Pirates informed reporters today, including Alex Stumpf of MLB.com, that catcher/first baseman Endy Rodríguez has undergone ulnar nerve transposition surgery. Stumpf says Rodríguez is expected to be ready for spring training, so he seems to be done for 2025.

It’s another unfortunate twist for Rodríguez’s career. He was one of the top prospects in baseball ahead of his debut. When he got up to the show in 2023, he didn’t hit much but his defensive grades were strong. Since he had been a good hitter throughout his minor league career, it was hoped he could be the club’s long-term catcher.

But going into 2024, he required surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament and flexor tendon, which wiped out that entire season. He got back on the field here in 2025 but this season has also been significantly marred by injuries. A laceration on his right index finger put him on the injured list in mid-April. He was reinstated from the IL in late May but was back on the shelf again about a week later due to elbow inflammation. He was pretty quickly transferred to the 60-day IL, suggesting the Pirates knew he was in for a long absence. Today’s news confirms that. Due to all those injury issues, Rodríguez only played 18 big league games this year. Since he missed all of 2024, it’s been close to two lost years.

That’s less than ideal for Rodríguez personally but it also means the Bucs will go into 2026 with question marks behind the plate again. As of a few years ago, they had two of the top catching prospects in baseball. In addition to Rodríguez, they also had Henry Davis, taken first overall in 2021.

While Rodríguez has been mostly out of action, Davis hasn’t delivered on his promise. Davis currently has a .183/.271/.298 batting line in 579 big league plate appearances, including a .169/.247/.281 showing here in 2025. With Rodríguez out last year, the Bucs acquired Joey Bart in April. That looked like a masterstroke when Bart hit 13 home runs in just 282 plate appearances last year. But here in 2025, he has just two homers in 256 trips to the plate. His glovework isn’t highly rated, so the offensive drop-off hurts his value.

The Pirates have a great pitching staff but the lineup is lacking, with clear issues on the infield and behind the plate. Ideally, Rodríguez would have taken over the job this year and cemented himself as the man for the job. Instead, it’s more time rehabbing from surgery and more question marks.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Diamondbacks Release Jeff Brigham

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The Diamondbacks have released right-hander Jeff Brigham, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He had been designated for assignment by the Diamondbacks on Monday, so this doesn’t impact the club’s 40-man roster count.

Brigham, 33, signed a minor league deal with the Snakes in the offseason. He was selected to the big league roster at the end of May but only made four appearances for the big league club before being optioned back down to Triple-A Reno. After rejoining the Aces, he bounced on and off the minor league injured list. He was on the shelf from June 17th to July 25th, then landed back on the IL July 29th.

At the time of his DFA this week, he was still on the IL. Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers. Since the trade deadline has passed, that left release waivers as the only option for the Diamondbacks.

It’s unclear what Brigham’s current health status is. He now has a 4.85 earned run average in 120 2/3 career big league innings. He has struck out 23.8% of batters faced while giving out walks to 10.7% of opponents.

Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Baek-Ho Kang Planning To Pursue MLB Opportunities

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Korean utility player Baek-Ho Kang has hired Paragon Sports to represent him as he plans to pursue major league opportunities, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Heyman adds that Kang will be a full free agent, not subject to the posting system.

Kang just turned 26 at the end of July. Despite his young age, he is currently in his eighth season with the KT Wiz of Korea’s KBO League. Kang debuted way back in 2018 when he was just 18 years old.

He has some good seasons under his belt, though his earlier campaigns were stronger than his more recent ones. From 2018 to 2021, he got into at least 116 games each season and stepped to the plate at least 505 times. He hit 81 home runs over that span while producing a combined .325/.408/.521 line and 145 wRC+. He won Rookie of the Year honors in 2018 and was an All-Star from 2018 to 2020.

Since then, his work has declined in both quality and quantity. Per his scouting report on The Board at FanGraphs, he “broke his toe falling down a flight of stairs before the 2022 season started, then partially tore his hamstring just a few weeks after he returned. A bout with anxiety shelved him for a month in 2023, and his season ended with an oblique tear.”

In 2022, he only got into 62 games and slashed .245/.312/.371 for a wRC+ of 86. Since then, he’s been an above-average hitter but not to his previous level. Over the 2023-25 seasons, he has a combined .276/.353/.456 line and 114 wRC+. He only got into 71 contests in 2023. He got that up to 144 last year but has only appeared in 62 games so far this year. He hit 26 home runs last year but his .289 batting average and .360 on-base percentage weren’t up to his previous level.

Perhaps MLB clubs will have differing opinions on whether Kang can get back to that higher level or not. Earlier in his career, when he was showing 20-30 home run power along with strong on-base numbers, his production was somewhat analogous to Ha-Seong Kim’s KBO years. Kim hit between 19 and 30 home runs in his final six KBO seasons. In his last two, 2019 and 2020, he slashed .307/.393/.507 for a 142 wRC+.

Kim was able to parlay that into a four-year, $28MM deal and become an effective big leaguer. He didn’t do much in 2021 but was a solid player for the next three years. From 2022 to 2024, he slashed .250/.336/.385 for a 106 wRC+ while stealing 72 bases and providing strong glovework at multiple positions. He hasn’t been in good form in 2025, though he may still be getting into game shape after recovering from shoulder surgery.

Kang won’t be as appealing as Kim in terms of his glovework, though he does provide some defensive versatility. Kang has played first base, the outfield corners and a bit at the catcher position as well.

Interest from affiliated clubs likely depends on whether they think his bat can play against MLB pitching. In October of last year, it was reported that a status check was tendered on Kang. An MLB club is required to tender a status check when interested in a KBO player, so that means at least one club was curious about Kang last winter. It was reported at that time that Kang was not interested in making an MLB move but that has apparently changed now that he’s approaching free agency.

Royals Move Bailey Falter To Bullpen

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The Royals are going to be reinstating Michael Lorenzen from the 15-day injured list on Saturday, which will bump left-hander Bailey Falter to the bullpen. Manager Matt Quatraro relayed the news to Anne Rogers of MLB.com.

It’s an unfortunate development for Falter, who has been having a good season overall. He logged 113 1/3 innings over 22 starts with the Pirates, allowing 3.73 earned runs per nine. He was traded to the Royals ahead of the deadline but his first two starts with Kansas City did not go well. At Boston on August 4th, he allowed seven earned runs in four innings. His second start, hosting the Nationals on Monday, was a bit better. He only allowed two earned runs but only lasted four innings again.

In the weeks leading up to the deadline, the Royals lost Cole Ragans, Kris Bubic and Lorenzen to the IL. There was some speculation that the club would look to sell at the deadline, perhaps trading Seth Lugo, but they went in the other direction. They extended Lugo, then added Falter, Ryan Bergert, Stephen Kolek and others at the deadline.

In the past few weeks, they have had a rotation of Lugo, Michael Wacha, Noah Cameron, Bergert and Falter. While Falter’s two starts since the deadline have been subpar, Bergert’s have been quite strong. In each, he allowed two earned runs over 5 2/3 innings.

The decision to move Falter to the ’pen surely goes beyond the two most recent starts for each guy. Even when things were going good for Falter with the Bucs earlier in the year, he was probably a bit lucky. He struck out just 15.3% of batters faced with the Pirates before the trade. His .236 batting average on balls in play and 73.7% strand rate were both to the fortunate side. His 4.88 FIP and 5.13 SIERA were both more than a run higher than his ERA.

Bergert, on the other hand, has some more encouraging metrics. Between the Padres and Royals this year, he has a 2.87 ERA. There’s also some luck in there and his 11% walk rate is too high but he is punching out 23% of batters faced. Bergert has options and could have been sent down to Triple-A but it seems the Royals want to keep him in the majors as they try to push for a playoff spot.

Falter is out of options, so he can’t be easily sent to the minors. He’ll get kicked to the bullpen for now, likely in a long relief role. He can be retained for next year via arbitration, so the Royals likely want to keep him around for next year’s rotation depth.

Even next year, Falter won’t have a clear path to a rotation job. Lorenzen is an impending free agent but the Royals can pencil in Lugo, Wacha, Ragans and Bubic into four spots, with Cameron, Bergert and Kolek possibilities for the fifth slot. However, pitching injuries are fairly inevitable and the Royals might welcome the possibility of having another arm around. Falter is making $2.222MM this year, his first of four arb seasons as a Super Two player, and can be retained through 2028.

Photo courtesy of Denny Medley, Imagn Images

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