#player-performance

#player-performance

The Angels are in agreement to bring back veteran utility player Chris Taylor, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. It's not clear whether it's an MLB deal or a minor league contract with a Spring Training invite, though the latter seems more likely. Taylor is represented by Meister Sports Management. Taylor finished the 2025 season in Orange County. He signed a big league deal after being released by the Dodgers in May. Taylor made 30 appearances for the Halos.

Lee has established himself as a key part of the Braves bullpen over his five seasons with the club. He appeared in a career-high 74 games in 2025 while posting a 78 ERA- and 78 xFIP-. Unfortunately, though, he got stung by the HR/FB bug and ended up with a 99 FIP-, such that he earned just 0.3 fWAR on the season. He struck out 76 hitters and issued just 14 walks in 68 1/3 innings.

The NFL is no stranger to innovation. Over the years, teams have adopted new strategies, technologies, and data-driven approaches to stay ahead of the competition. One of the most significant advancements in recent years is the rise of sophisticated analytics and modeling. These tools have become essential for teams seeking to improve player performance, game strategy, and overall team development.

The portent of the 2025 Atlanta Braves season being... really dumb and no fun was Jurickson Profar eating a PED suspension after the first series of the season. By the time Profar came back, his new team was more or less dead in the water as far as playoff potential. Profar also didn't really do anything to revive them - his 1.3 fWAR in 371 PAs, which was only achieved due to a fair bit of xwOBA overperformance, was basically a bog-standard rate. It was better than Alex Verdugo, but it wasn't actually good.

California held Stanford without a field goal for the final 7:41 of the game to beat the Cardinal 78-66 Saturday night, breaking a five-game losing streak in the rivalry. Cal's Chris Bell broke a 60-60 tie on a 3-pointer with 6:24 remaining to start the game-ending 18-6 run. Offensive rebounds and putbacks by DeJuan Campbell extended the lead, and a follow slam by Bell put the finishing touches on a dominant close for the Bears (15-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference).

It's hard enough to tip in a puck right from the goalie's doorstep. That sucker is small, hard, and moving well above the speed limit, and it's a genuine feat of hand-eye coordination to not just get a blade on it, but to get only just so much blade on it to not halt it but redirect it to the angle of your choosing.

"David knows how to play football," "He might not have that determination and ferocity, in his view every match is the same, he has this nice boy aura, but maybe he needs a bit more experience to be more determined. That is where he has to improve. Apart from the goal, the match is a box you need to fill with other things too, otherwise the opponents force you to scramble in defence."

The decision to trade for Michael Jerrell felt like throwing a water balloon on a house fire at the time, and that's essentially what it was. Jerrell was a healthy scratch nearly the entire season, minus one game against the Bills. According to PFF, he was the worst-performing Falcons offensive lineman this season, by at least 40 points. These grading systems are subjective, but that's a pretty wide margin.

The 41st game of the season for each NHL team has been played, and there's now been enough time for us to digest that first half of the 2025-26 campaign. So as part of this week's updated edition of the ESPN NHL Power Rankings -- led once again by the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche -- we are identifying the midseason fantasy hockey MVP for all 32 clubs, according to analysts Sean Allen (Eastern Conference teams) and Victoria Matiash (Western Conference teams). And a reminder: It's not too late to sign up for ESPN Fantasy Hockey. New leagues start every Monday, and you can sign up for free today. How we rank: A panel of ESPN hockey commentators, analysts, reporters and editors sends in a 1-32 poll based on the games through Wednesday.

Arsenal fans will be delighted to hear that Bukayo Saka is closing in on a new contract at the Emirates Stadium, as per David Ornstein. We were told a few months ago that both William Saliba and Saka would be staying 100%, and a new deal for the French centre-back was later confirmed by the club. More recently, we had further positive Saka contract updates, and now the highly-trusted Ornstein says the new five-year deal is being finalised.

The 21-year-old won just three points and served 20 double faults on her way to a 6-0, 6-0 defeat against German world No 1,026, Lorena Schaedel. Videos shared on social media showed the Egyptian struggling to serve and position herself on the court. While the practice of favouring local players when awarding wildcards is widespread, including in grand slam and WTA tournaments, Abdelkader's level of play has raised question marks about the wisdom of awarding her a place in a tournament sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).

It doesn't appear that Bellinger is on the verge of accepting a deal, however. Contract length could be a holdup. Kuty wrote that Bellinger and his representatives at the Boras Corporation were likely looking for a six- or seven-year contract. In an MLB Network appearance, Jon Morosi also suggested that Bellinger continued to seek a deal in the seven-year range. Morosi added that the Yankees unsurprisingly preferred a four- or five-year commitment.

We talked about it at the end of October and reiterated it at the beginning of November: Milan are working on Leao's contract renewal. Clearly, Milan has priorities, especially based on deadlines. Maignan, Tomori, Saelemaekers has already renewed," he said. "Milan began discussions regarding the renewal with adjustments with Rafa Leao at the beginning of October, and negotiations are ongoing. The numbers and everything need to be worked out, but Milan intends to reward Leao for what he's demonstrating on the pitch.

The newly promoted Premier League side needed to sign a quality goalkeeper, and they invested 15 million on the 28-year-old Brazilian. So far, he has not been able to live up to the expectations. His performances have been inconsistent, and he will need to improve to justify the outlay. Leeds United needed an upgrade on Ilan Meslier. Perri has shown glimpses of his quality at the English club, and it will be interesting to see if he can cut out the inconsistencies from his game.

However, it now seems that those clubs will miss out on the talented young Turkey international as he's expected to finalise a new contract with Juventus soon. That's because it seems Juve are set to agree to a big pay rise for Yildiz, bumping up his salary from 1.5m to 6m a year, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. They report of a breakthrough in contract talks, as well as mentioning the interest Yildiz has had from Arsenal, Liverpool and Bayern Munich.