Sports
Rafael Devers and Alex Bregman Highlight Boston Red Sox Defensive Dilemma
The Boston Red Sox signed a third baseman who is about five times better defensively than their incumbent.
But they’re likely to continue starting the player who is one of the poorest at the position in the majors.
Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. Mark it on your scorecard as “complete nonsense.”
How the Red Sox handle having Alex Bregman join the team as Rafael Devers insists he’s not changing positions is one of the bigger storylines to watch during spring training.
Boston manager Alex Cora has to walk a fine line with Devers before eventually securing a resolution.
Bregman won a Gold Glove for his play at third base last season for the Houston Astros. Devers led American League third basemen in errors for the seventh straight season.
He led all major league third basemen in errors in five of those seasons.
The position is known as the hot corner, and it certainly has proven to be too hot for Devers to handle.
And it’s not just the horrific number of errors but also those other balls that get past Devers for hits—plays that Bregman would easily field. Bregman has led the AL or tied for the AL lead in assists in each of the past three seasons.
If putting the best team on the field is the priority, then Devers must be told that his potent bat remains valued, but it’s time for a better defensive player to man third base.
Bregman has made 81 errors in 995 career games as a third baseman. Devers has committed 141 in 955 games.
I’ll say what the starting pitchers are muttering under their breath but can’t say out loud: “Please, Alex Cora, put Bregman at third base. All those plays that don’t get made cause extra pitches and wear and tear on our arms.”
You have to respect how Bregman is handling the situation.
He could have arrived at spring training with a big ego to match his big new contract. He could have insisted during negotiations that he wouldn’t sign with the Red Sox unless he was going to be the third baseman.
Instead, he’s acting like a true professional who owns two World Series rings.
“It’s an honor to be Raffy’s teammate,” Bregman told reporters. “We’ve just been keeping our head down, getting to work.
“I’ll play anywhere. I truly mean it. Wherever A.C. tells me to play, I’ll be ready to play.”
For now, it looks like Bregman could start the season as Boston’s second baseman.
He has made nine career appearances at second base with only two starts. He made one start as a rookie in 2016 and another in 2018.
I don’t doubt that Bregman can adjust and play second base, but it’s highly unlikely that he’ll make the same impact there that he does at third.
Of course, baseball is full of instances where good players changed positions during their careers.
Robin Yount moved from shortstop to the outfield. Pete Rose went from second base to the outfield. Alex Rodriguez shifted from shortstop to third base due to Derek Jeter’s presence in the Bronx.
More recently, Fernando Tatis Jr. was moved from shortstop to right field. Jose Altuve is currently transitioning from second base to left field.
Sometimes, position changes are complete nightmares. When the San Diego Padres had an aging Willie McCovey at first base, they moved up-and-comer Mike Ivie to third base before the 1975 season. That experiment quickly ended when Ivie made 17 errors in 61 games.
Devers makes his impact with his hitting. The three-time All-Star has 200 homers and a .511 slugging percentage in eight seasons. He has hit more than 30 homers three times.
The Red Sox can’t make a legitimate playoff push without his offensive prowess. But their postseason hopes improve if he’s only at third base part of the time.
So rotate Bregman between third and second, find Devers some games at third, and figure out how to get him to understand that the team is better if he’s not using his glove as much as in past seasons.
Sports
Mammoth aim to continue ascent vs. struggling Blackhawks
Feb 27, 2026; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Mammoth left wing Lawson Crouse (67) scores a goal against Minnesota Wild goaltender Jesper Wallstedt (30) and defenseman Quinn Hughes (43) during the second period at Delta Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images The Utah Mammoth, winners of three of their last four games, are battling to remain in a playoff position as they prepare to host the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon.
The Mammoth, in the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, defeated the Minnesota Wild 5-2 on Friday in Salt Lake City as Lawson Crouse scored two goals and Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists.
“I think we’re obviously a really fast team and can make a lot of plays, but I think that’s the biggest thing for us is sticking to our identity as much as we can,” Keller said.
“It’s hard to do, and I think we’ve got better as the year’s gone on, and the good teams are the most consistent. Even when you don’t feel your best, you find a way. I think we’re showing steps in the right direction, and we’ve got to be more consistent.”
Logan Cooley and Barrett Hayton also scored while Jack McBain, Nick Schmaltz and defenseman Mikhail Sergechev each had two assists.
“They’re hungry, they want to go at it and they stay on top of their opponent,” Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said of the top line of Crouse, Keller and Schmaltz. “You saw today, the goal of (Keller) is a turnover caused by a lot of pressure on one of the best defensemen in the world (the Wild’s Quinn Hughes). That shows how good they can be when they have that aggression.”
Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves for Utah to win three of his last four outings. Vejmelka is 28-15-2 with a 2.60 goals-against average and .902 save percentage.
“They’re a great hockey team,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “They skate really well. They’re really skilled.”
The Blackhawks lost their third straight game on Saturday night, a 3-1 decision to the host Colorado Avalanche.
Chicago has lost eight of its last nine games (1-6-2).
“We need more depth scoring, for sure. We were close to having a lot of chances, and we just didn’t handle the puck great,” Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said after the game. “Like we could have had probably three or four 3-on-1s, and we just kind of mishandled them.
“So I thought there was opportunities for offense there that we just weren’t able to take advantage of.”
Connor Bedard scored Chicago’s lone goal to give him 25 for the season. He also has 30 assists for 55 points in 46 games.
Seven points (five goals and two assists) have come in Bedard’s last seven games.
“We got to help him, obviously. I mean, it can’t just be on Connor,” Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno said. “He’s doing his job. He’s getting scoring chances. He’s making plays.
“I mean, he could’ve had five tonight. So it’s on the rest of us to pick it up and find a way to help him out, give him some run support, and that’s just only going to make our team better, right? I think we got to figure out how to get more than one goal here and make it count.”
Spencer Knight stopped 32 shots for Chicago in taking his third consecutive loss. He is 16-18-7 with a 2.62 GAA and .908 save percentage.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Hawks try again, this time against Blazers, to reach elusive .500 mark
Feb 26, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Corey Kispert (24) goes to the basket between Washington Wizards guard Sharife Cooper (13) and forward Anthony Gill (16) during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images The Atlanta Hawks will try to get to the .500 mark for the first time since December when they complete a five-game homestand by hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on Sunday.
Atlanta has won three straight games, including a pair of wire-to-wire victories over woeful Washington. The Hawks haven’t had a .500 record since Dec. 21 when they were 15-15. Since then, they’ve been within a game of break-even three times and failed to win.
Portland is coming off a 109-93 loss to Charlotte on Saturday afternoon. The Blazers are 1-1 on their five-game road trip and 6-4 over their past 10 games.
Atlanta and Portland are in similar places as far as the playoffs, with both fighting to avoid participating in the play-in tournament. The Hawks are tied with Charlotte for ninth in the Eastern Conference, two games behind No. 8 Miami. The Trail Blazers are No. 9 in the Western Conference, 2 1/2 games behind No. 8 Golden State.
“It’s not out of the question,” Atlanta’s Corey Kispert said. “We play these games for a reason. We’re going to let it rip, no matter who’s on the other side.”
The Hawks played without their two leading scorers on Thursday against Washington — Jalen Johnson (left hip flexor) and Nickeil Alexander-Walker (sprained ankle). Both are listed as questionable for Sunday.
But the team’s new faces came out strong in the 126-96 win over the Wizards on Thursday. Kispert scored a career-high 33 points. CJ McCollum scored 25 and is averaging 18.6 points per game since Atlanta acquired him and Kispert in a trade with Washington. Jonathan Kuminga, who has played only two games since returning from a knee bruise, produced 27 and 17 points.
“It feels like even since I’ve been here we’ve kind of had a new team every couple of days,” Kispert said. “And now, with the roster set, we’re finally ready to go. We’re putting the pedal to the metal. We’re going to win some games. This is a really good group of guys, guys that want to win and play the right way.”
Portland’s Scoot Henderson, who grew up in the north Atlanta suburbs, has played nine games since missing the first 51 games with an left hamstring injury. He got his first start on Thursday and scored 12 points in a win over the Chicago Bulls. He has impressed coach Tiago Splitter since his return.
“He’s playing freely. I don’t think he’s second-guessing anything,” Splitter said. “He is playing great on defense, great on offense right now, pushing the pace, finding teammates. We expect more from him, as far as being young and still developing, but he’s done a great job after the injury.”
Portland’s Donovan Clingan returned to the lineup on Saturday after missing a game with an illness. The center is No. 3 in the league at 11.5 rebounds per game and has averaged 12.8 over the last five games. In that stretch, he had 18 in a win against Utah on Feb. 12.
Deni Avdija, who averages a team-leading 24.4 points per game, has missed the last three games because of injury management for his lower back. Shaedon Sharpe (21.4 points) has missed the last nine games and will miss four to six more weeks with a stress reaction of the left fibula.
The Trail Blazers have won the past three meetings against Atlanta, including a 117-101 decision on Jan. 15 in Portland.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Why Tiger Woods Playing the Masters Seems Unlikely
I think I’m getting ready to turn off mobile notifications for Tiger Woods’ tweets.
I must have turned them on sometime after the car crash in 2021, when he almost lost his leg and his remaining golf career hung by a thread. Or it could have been later on in 2023, as I waited to see how he’d address the ludicrous PGA Tour-LIV “merger” that never happened.
Really, I just want to hear when Woods will try to play again. But any golf fan knows the two kinds of Woods tweets.
1. The statement announcing he’s going to have another surgery. Or 2. The promotional post, for his foundation or something else.
I got a notification this week that Woods posted, only for it to be a retweet of his apparel brand, Sun Day Red. Did you know “The Pioneer Willow applies a clean blucher construction to our highest performance technology, built from the ground up to serve the athlete first”? Riveting stuff.
He didn’t tweet the week of the Genesis Invitational, perhaps too busy with his responsibilities hosting the event. But he knows how to make a headline, to keep the hype building.
That week, at Woods’ press conference in the capacity as host, he didn’t rule out playing the Masters in two months, or playing the PGA Tour Champions now that he’s 50, or captaining the 2027 U.S. Ryder Cup team. But the more you think about it, the more you see these as empty headlines. Not ruling it out means no decision has been made one way or another.
OK. Let us know when you know, I guess!
If anyone needs a brief refresher, Woods last played at the 2024 Open Championship. He had his sixth back surgery that fall for a nerve impingement, ruptured an Achilles while ramping up his training in March and had back surgery No. 7 for a disc replacement this past October.
As recently as December, he told reporters he could only chip and putt at that point, but he’s graduated to hitting full shots now. “Yeah, I’m able to. Not well every day, but I can hit them,” Woods said this month at the Genesis.
That’s why I’m skeptical about this Masters return.
He needs to be hitting full shots well, every day, by Round 1 on April 9. If not, his record streak of 24 made cuts will be in danger. The rest of the golf world is getting younger, more fit; Woods’ last three Masters finishes — 47th, WD after making the cut on the number, 60th — are his three worst since he was 20 years old.
I’m intrigued by the idea that he could sign up for the Champions Tour just to get a couple of rounds in while being allowed to drive a cart. Honestly, he’d be near the top of the leaderboard if not lapping the field, and it would send a bunch of people scrambling to figure out just how you can watch the old guys’ circuit.
But as his body breaks down, the real struggle for Woods has been to walk the course for four rounds, and as he’s said in the past, Augusta National is no breeze in that department.
So the not-ruling-it-out declaration was a salesman’s tactic from someone who’s been around the block and who knows the golf media and fandom all too well. Someone give me a ring if he’s playing in April. Notifications — off.
Mammoth aim to continue ascent vs. struggling Blackhawks
Hawks try again, this time against Blazers, to reach elusive .500 mark
