Top News:
Apple:
Apple and Major League Baseball to offer “Friday Night Baseball” — Fans can tune in to two games on Friday nights during the regular season, available only on Apple TV+ — CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple and Major League Baseball (MLB) today announced “Friday Night Baseball,” …
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Jeff Passan / ESPN:
Sources: MLB to cancel another week of games if deal not reached by Tuesday night — Major League Baseball plans to cancel another week of regular-season games if it can't agree to a new collective bargaining agreement with the MLB Players Association by Tuesday night, adding another layer …
Ken Rosenthal / MLB - The Athletic:
MLB willing to increase luxury tax if players move in other areas, people with knowledge of league's thinking said — Major League Baseball is willing to increase the first competitive-balance tax threshold from $220 million if the Players Association makes moves in other areas, people with knowledge of the league's thinking say.
Discussion:
The Athletic, FanGraphs Baseball, Bleacher Nation, Deadspin, Camden Chat, Bless You Boys, True Blue LA and baseballmusings.com
John Ourand / Sports Business Journal:
MLB, Apple link up for “Friday Night Baseball” — MLB made its Apple deal official today with a comprehensive rights agreement that includes a weekly “Friday Night Baseball” doubleheader on Apple TV+. Apple CEO Tim Cook made the announcement during an online presentation today.
Discussion:
BoSox Injection, Bleacher Nation and Sports Illustrated
Associated Press:
Apple, MLB announce ‘Friday Night Baseball’ package — CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple will enter the live sports coverage arena with “Friday Night Baseball.” — Apple and Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that Apple TV+ will carry a weekly doubleheader on Friday nights in eight countries when the regular season begins.
Discussion:
Boston.com, Sportico, Forbes and baseballmusings.com
The Athletic:
MLB points to Tuesday as deadline for 162-game schedule, full pay, service time: Sources — Major League Baseball is pointing to a new deadline for players, sources told The Athletic: If a deal is not reached by Tuesday, then MLB has told the union the owners are likely to be unwilling to play …
Discussion:
MLB - The Athletic, Associated Press, Sportsnet.ca, True Blue LA, MLB Baseball News … and Bleed Cubbie Blue
Bob Nightengale / USA Today:
MLB gives the players union a Tuesday night deadline to accept a new deal as talks gain urgency
Discussion:
Associated Press
Jesse Rogers / ESPN:
Sources: New MLBPA proposal includes $5M reduction in pre-arbitration pool
Discussion:
Deadspin, New York Post, MLB Baseball News … and baseballmusings.com
Bob Nightengale / USA Today:
‘We are deadlocked’: MLB could cancel another week of games soon as talks show little progress
Discussion:
MLB Baseball News …, MLB Trade Rumors and DRaysBay
Jesse Rogers / ESPN:
Max Scherzer floats ‘ghost win’ playoff proposal with MLB labor talks set to resume Sunday
Discussion:
The Athletic, Bleed Cubbie Blue, Amazin' Avenue and baseballmusings.com
David Furones / Sun-Sentinel:
Dolphins place franchise tag on tight end Mike Gesicki, keeping standout pass catcher in Miami for another year — The Miami Dolphins are hanging onto the top pass-catching tight end slated for free agency this offseason, securing him in Miami for at least another year.
Discussion:
Associated Press
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Omar Kelly / Sun-Sentinel:
Dolphins putting franchise tag on Mike Gesicki is merely a Band-Aid — The past three times the Miami Dolphins used the franchise or transition tag, the player they slapped it on ended up playing elsewhere that very same season. — Pro Bowl receiver Jarvis Landry got traded to Cleveland …
Pat Leonard / New York Daily News:
Aaron Rodgers is coming back to the Packers — Aaron Rodgers isn't dragging out the drama this time. — He's staying with the Green Bay Packers, and he's making big money doing it. — So maybe he hasn't been canceled after all. — Rodgers, 38, officially has decided to return to the Packers …
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Dan Wiederer / Chicago Tribune:
What happens to the NFC North — and the Chicago Bears — if QB Aaron Rodgers leaves the Green Bay Packers? — During Super Bowl week last month in Los Angeles, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur scheduled an important business lunch. Over the course of three seasons …
Discussion:
Associated Press and Mercury News
Alden Gonzalez / ESPN:
MLB players frustrated by league's deadlines, but ‘solid in where they stand’ — MESA, Ariz. — The pop of leather and the crack of wood reverberated through Bell Bank Park, a sprawling sports and entertainment facility outfitted with turf baseball fields and an expansive weight room.
Discussion:
Chicago Tribune and NBCSports.com
Peter King / ProFootballTalk:
FMIA: A Peek Inside The Journal Of Aidan Hutchinson, And What We Learned At NFL Scouting Combine — INDIANAPOLIS — “I don't know why I did it,” Aidan Hutchinson said Saturday night after his NFL Scouting Combine workout, sitting in his room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, a few long spirals from Lucas Oil Stadium.
Discussion:
Sports Illustrated, Toro Times, Pride Of Detroit, The Big Lead, Lions Wire, DraftKings Nation and CBS Boston
Ken Rosenthal / MLB - The Athletic:
How was baseball's luxury tax supposed to work? Rob Manfred, Gene Orza weigh in — A club executive was on the line, voicing an objection. Media members, he said, were unfairly characterizing a critical element of baseball's labor negotiations. Nowhere in any previous collective-bargaining agreement …
Discussion:
FanGraphs Baseball and baseballmusings.com
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Matthew Roberson / New York Daily News:
Four MLB owners opposed increasing the luxury tax at all: reports
Discussion:
Sportico, Sportsnet.ca and Pinstripe Alley
