George Lombard Jr.'s MLB debut was electric as the Yankees top prospect smashed a home run for his first hit and helped the team to a 2-0 win over the Cardinals on Tuesday night.
But what was more eye-opening was Lombard's defense.
That aspect of the shortstop's game was always considered major league ready, and Lombard showcased it, making every play hit to him and making some difficult plays seem routine.
"A great first night for him. The home run was great, the defense was tremendous," manager Aaron Boone said of Lombard's debut. "That play in the hole that he and Jazz turned was a pretty special turn. You see how fluid he is, how physical he is. Certainly a night to remember for him and his family, too."
The play Boone is referring to happened in the second inning. In a scoreless tie and the Cardinals looking to stack hits together, Blaze Jordan laced a grounder into the hole between short and third base. Lombard ranged to his left, scooped the ball up and fired to Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second in one fell swoop. Chisholm would complete the inning-ending double play.

#jazz #chisholm #home #first

Justin Boone is a two-time winner of the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award (2019, 2025) and has nine top-10 finishes in the competition. Below you can see his fantasy tight end rankings for the 2026 season for full PPR formats.
Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season
Boone will be updating these rankings throughout NFL training camps, preseason and leading up to the start of the regular season. He'll also be making updates when big news or injuries happen in August.
Top 300 Overall
Running Back

#season #fantasy #rankings

Justin Boone is a two-time winner of the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award (2019, 2025) and has nine top-10 finishes in the competition. Below you can see his fantasy running back rankings for the 2026 season for full PPR formats.
Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season
Boone will be updating these rankings throughout NFL training camps, preseason and leading up to the start of the regular season. He'll also be making updates when big news or injuries happen in August.
Top 300 Overall
Running Back

#season #boone

Justin Boone is a two-time winner of the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award (2019, 2025) and has nine top-10 finishes in the competition. Below you can see his fantasy rankings for the 2026 season for full PPR formats.
Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season
Boone will be updating these rankings throughout NFL training camps, preseason and leading up to the start of the regular season. He'll also be making updates when big news or injuries happen in August.
Top 300 Overall
Running Back

#justin

Asia Boone knows what it feels like to kill the engine mid-flight; she knows what it's like to splash a contested 3 in a hard-fought SEC game.
With over 40 flight hours logged and simulated emergency landings already under her belt, the San Diego native has a different definition of pressure than most people her age, and that's helped her on the court in more ways than one.
Boone was raised by Navy veterans, and that has helped her handle high-pressure situations on the court. She is currently working through Aerovision to earn her pilot's license. So, when the dial spins or the plane starts losing altitude, Boone is who you want in the ******* pit. She's also who you want taking clutch shots.
Compared to keeping an aircraft in the sky, taking a heavily contested 3-pointer in the Southeastern Conference is a walk in the park.
That ice-in-the-veins mentality is only part of what makes Boone special. In her first year at Kentucky after transferring from Liberty, where she was the 2024 CUSA Freshman of the Year, Boone established herself as one of the most lethal perimeter threats in the SEC.

#boone #like #helped #court

New Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said Monday that he's optimistic that Aaron Judge will return to baseball this season but acknowledged the chance that he might not.
Cashman discussed Judge while speaking with reporters at the conclusion of Monday's MLB trade deadline.
Judge has been sidelined with a stress fracture in his upper right rib since June 1. Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters Sunday that Judge is "doing well," but remained without a timeline to undergo further imaging on his injured rib.
Cashman elaborated on Judge's outlook Monday when asked about concern that Judge wouldn't play again this season.
"I think that question is a fair question on anybody's side," Cashman said per SNY audio. "Like is that possible? It's always possible that things don't go the way you want. But we currently are still very optimistic that he's gonna return."

#judge #manager

After a wild afternoon of transactions at the MLB trade deadline, there was a baseball game to play in New York and the Cardinals showed up like they had something to prove as they knocked Cam Schlittler, a Cy Young candidate, out of the game after just a few innings and Alec Burleson was a big reason why. The problem is that baseball games still last 9 innings which means the Cardinals bullpen will almost always become a factor for better or worse. Fortunately, the St. Louis bats would save the day.
When is the last time that we've been able to share that the St. Louis Cardinals scored in the first four innings of a game? That happened Monday night and was concurrent with Michael McGreevy having a very positive bounce-back outing (for 4 innings). The result was a Cardinals romp in the Big Apple, but it didn't look like it would go the St. Louis way for awhile.
It started in the top of the 1st inning when JJ Wetherholt drew a leadoff walk. Two batters later, he was able to leisurely cross the plate after Alec Burleson jumped on a Cam Schlittler 97 mph four-seam fastball and deposited it into the short right-field porch in Yankee Stadium giving the Cardinals an immediate 2-0 lead.
The Cardinals started the top of the 2nd inning the way they started the top of the 1st with a walk by Nathan Church. José Fermín then found a 96 mph four-seam fastball to his liking and hammered it for a RBI double scoring Church and upping the Cardinals lead to 3-0.
The top of the 3rd inning was profitable for St. Louis, as well. Iván Herrera drew a leadoff walk and then stole second. Three batters later, Nathan Church singled to left scoring Herrera giving the Cardinals an unexpected 4-0 lead. Schlittler would only last 3 innings before he was removed from the game by Yankees manager Aaron Boone.

#cardinals #louis #innings #four

The MLB trade deadline keeps sending shockwaves through the league, and the Yankees just made the biggest splash. New York secured Luis García Jr. from the Nationals to fix a lineup that has struggled without its stars. This deal brings a massive offensive boost right when the team needs it most. The Yankees are clearly buying now, and García is the centerpiece of that strategy.
Manager Aaron Boone knows the roster needs depth, especially with Aaron Judge, Cody Bellinger, and Giancarlo Stanton out. García Jr. leads the National League with a .560 slugging percentage, a stat that screams power for the short porch in right field. He will not just fill a hole; he will change how the offense attacks every pitcher. This acquisition is a direct response to the team's lackluster production this season.
ESPN's Jeff Passan broke the news that the Yankees sent a package of four prospects to Washington for the infielder. MLB.According to reports, the roster features pitchers Ben Grable, Yovanny Cruz, Jack Cebert, and Jake Bird. That is a heavy price in young arms, but the return on a hitter with García's current form makes sense. The Nationals will get these four players to help their future, while the Yankees get immediate help for their playoff push.
Somerset teammates saw Jack Cebert say farewell during a match versus the Richmond Flying Squirrels, signaling his departure from the system. In 104 games this season, García Jr. has hit 23 home runs, a career high, along with 20 doubles and five triples. He is batting .283 with an .873 OPS, proving he can drive the ball consistently. A wRC+ of 134 proves he ranks among the National League's top hitters currently.
García doesn't walk much, sporting only a 4.While his walk rate sits at 3 percent, he maintains a high enough hit frequency to reach base adequately. This season's 93 games at first base have caused a logjam involving Ben Rice and Paul Goldschmidt. He also played 129 games at second base last season, where Jazz Chisholm Jr. currently sits. Jack Curry of YES Network observed that García should mainly fill first base or DH roles against right-handers to boost his effectiveness.

#garc #games

No loss is a good one, but this one is annoying because the things the team is normally good at, they weren't so good at. We accept the Yankees' lineup is going to struggle to score, but we expect the bullpen to get the outs after a big night from the starter. Two of those three things happened today — the Yankees struggled to score, and the starter had a big night. Handed a slim 2-1 lead late, the New York bullpen collapsed in the late innings, and the Cubs tied up this series, with 5-2 your final score.
We had about one inning of worry about Max Fried tonight. He was a little scattershot in the first, with Pete Crow-Armstrong working his was back from 0-2 into an eight-pitch leadoff walk, before a pair of spiked curveballs allowed the NL MVP frontrunner to scamper home and put the Cubs up 1-0. Just like earlier this week against the White Sox, we had to contend with the fact the Yankee co-ace would labor his way through the opening frame.
And then, he was pretty well academic. Fried allowed just two hits and didn't walk a batter after PCA in the first, freezing out the league's second-best offense and taking advantage of heavy winds blowing in off Lake Michigan. Neither team had the best day at the plate but Fried had a slightly higher degree of difficulty — for as good as he was against Pittsburgh I would argue this outing is more impressive.
At 73 pitches through five innings, many of us ***** umed Fried's day was done, but an in-depth discussion with
Ali Sánchez while the Yankees batted had me wondering if they'd let the lefty face PCA one more time. Sure enough, Aaron Boone rolled the dice against one of the better players in all of baseball, and Fried rewarded his skipper's confidence.
View Link

#good #Cubs #things #night

The Daniel Boone Little League 12U All-Stars will represent Missouri in the Little League Baseball Midwest Region Tournament after winning the state championship with a 6-0 victory over Webb City in Columbia.
The Columbia-based team completed a 3-0 run through the state tournament, according to a community announcement. Daniel Boone allowed only one run across three games and outscored opponents 30-1 on its way to the ***** le.
The state championship sends Daniel Boone to Whitestown, Indiana, for the Midwest Region Tournament, scheduled for Aug. 7-14. The regional winner advances to the Little League Baseball World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.
It marks the first time a Daniel Boone baseball team has reached the regional tournament since 2021. The appearance comes after the Daniel Boone Softball All-Stars also advanced to a regional tournament earlier this summer. Daniel Boone's most recent trip to the Little League Baseball World Series came in 2006.
"These kids earned every bit of this — three games, one run allowed and a state championship," said Jeremy Bexten, manager of the DBLL 12U All-Stars. "Now they get to wear Daniel Boone across their chests and represent the entire state of Missouri on a national stage. We are thrilled for them. This is a group that has worked for this since they were little kids on these fields, and our whole community is going to be behind them every inning."

#state #stars

Digital advertising spending in 2026 is expected to expand unevenly. According to the IAB's 2026 Outlook Study, overall US ad spend is projected to grow by 9.5% this year, with social media advertising growing 14.6%, well outperforming the broader industry. However, growth is not evenly spread across advertiser sizes, with larger consumer firms lowering marketing expenditure as one of the fastest ways to maintain profitability amid wary consumers and narrowing margins.
That's the backdrop in which Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) is placing a significant bet: while the biggest social platforms compete for the same narrowing pool of massive brand advertisers, Reddit is slowly opening the door to small and medium-sized businesses that couldn't previously manage the cost of creating a personalized ad campaign.
That shift became clear when Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) released a beta version of Reddit Community Intelligence on July 10, an AI-powered, free-form ad generator that provides advertisers with AI-generated creative recommendations customized to certain communities instead of forcing them to start from scratch. The tool is deliberately designed to make campaign creation easier for advertisers targeting community-specific audiences, which have traditionally found platform advertising too resource-intensive to bother with.
Wall Street research desks realized the structural significance of the self-service shift. On July 13, Citizens ***** yst Andrew Boone confirmed his Market Outperform rating and $240 price target for Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT), citing automated self-service technologies as a key revenue driver. Boone emphasized that lowering friction for smaller advertisers enables Reddit to capture previously untapped performance budgets, resulting in long-term, lower-funnel revenue streams.
Crucially, Reddit's advertising momentum was accelerating even before the Community Intelligence tool shipped. On July 10, Jefferies, drawing on conversations with agencies, added that Reddit, Inc. (NYSE:RDDT) continued to gain share in social media advertising through the second quarter. Agencies said that this was due to the platform's large and growing audience, growing reach, and more personalized targeting, a read that preceded the Community Intelligence launch and shows the platform was already winning before the tool even shipped.

#rddt #advertising #growing

As fantasy draft season heats up, the Yahoo Fantasy staff completed its latest 15-round, 12-team, half-PPR, 1QB mock draft. Matt Harmon and Justin Boone go round by round, breaking down the best picks, biggest reaches and most interesting values from the Yahoo fantasy staff mock draft 2.0.
(3:10) Fantasy Fallout: Ricky Pearsall injury update
(11:30) Fantasy Fallout: Panthers rookie WR out for season
(15:45) Round 1 takeaways: James Cook selected 1.07
(21:30) Round 2 takeaways: Stacked, you can't go wrong

#fantasy #matt

The Yankees overcame Max Fried's season-low-tying start of three innings with four-run frames in the fourth and eighth to take Monday's series-opening game at the American League East-leading Chicago White Sox, a 9-4 win, rebounding from Sunday's 11-4 loss at the Philadelphia Phillies.
Fried's second start back from injury mirrored his season-worst outing May 13 at the Baltimore Orioles, a 7-0 loss, in which he allowed three runs on five hits in three innings. This time, Fried -- after returning from a two-month absence due to a left elbow bone bruise with one hit in five innings during last Wednesday's 5-3 10-inning loss against the Pittsburgh Pirates -- also allowed three runs on five hits and exited following three frames. Pulled after 39 strikes on 66 pitches while fanning four and walking two, Fried (4-3, 3.23 ERA) fell victim to a three-run first inning in which he started slow, allowing four of his five hits. Fortunately for Fried, the Yankees' bullpen and offense picked him up, but this was a step back from how he looked in his debut last week.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. was chief among New York's reinforcements, tying the game with a two-run double in the fourth inning that scored Paul Goldschmidt and Jasson Domínguez. Chisholm subsequently stole third base and scored when Spencer Jones grounded out to second with one out. When the Yankees led the White Sox (55-50) by a run in the eight inning, Chisholm's RBI single to score Domínguez padded the 6-4 lead and eventually break the game open. Chisholm's 2-for-4, two-RBI effort from the sixth spot in the order was the type of performance that New York needed to avoid a series-opening dud as he brought his slash line to .226/.299/.414 with 45 RBI and 29 steals through 99 games this season.
Between Chisholm's highlights, Ben Rice's go-ahead RBI single in the seventh inning with two outs to score Amed Rosario gave the Yankees the much-needed push after the White Sox tied the game at 4-4 with one out in the fifth. Rice, whose 2-for-4 evening included a leadoff walk that sparked New York's fourth inning, need to be the guy in this lineup without Aaron Judge and met the moment as the second-batting designated hitter Monday. Through 101 games, Rice is slashing .275/.363/.585 with 73 RBI.
With Cody Bellinger out for the next month and change due to a Grade 2 left hamstring strain, Max Schuemann's second start in left field saw him also lead off but underwhelm. Schuemann's two-game glimpse is an 0-for-7 sample size after Monday's 0-for-5 result out of the No. 1 spot in the order, which only adds to questions for Aaron Boone and the Yankees with the MLB trade deadline around the corner.

#game

The New York Yankees have been without Giancarlo Stanton since they placed him on the injured list with a calf strain in April.
Earlier this week, Aaron Boone was asked about when Stanton could return, and he said there was "no timeline" for his return, per Yankees insider Bryan Hoch. Many ****** umed this meant Stanton wasn't close and that the Yankees would be without him for the year. However, Boone later appeared on "Talkin Yanks" to say that he did not mean for people to think Stanton would not be back just because there is no timeline.
On Wednesday, Boone was asked to clarify once again where things stand with Stanton.
"He's in his running progression now," Boone told reporters on Wednesday. "I don't have a timeline. I don't know when he gets to the end of that and what we do to get him back, but feel like he's moving in a good direction. I just don't know if that's a couple weeks from now, a few weeks from now, whatever it is, but he's getting much closer."
Looking for the perfect gift for a baseball player in your life? Check out our brand new baseball lifestyle brand!

#return

NEW YORK (AP) — While the Yankees still are missing Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole and Max Fried pitched together in New York's rotation for first time and their numbers add to the injured captain's 99.
Displaying $542 million worth of aces, the Yankees sent the pair to the mound in a doubleheader against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Cole didn't get a decision in Wednesday's opening 5-3, 10-inning loss, striking out 11 — his highest total in three years — while allowing three runs over seven innings. Fried came off the injured list for the night game and pitched five innings of one-hit ball in a 2-0 win.
“I think you saw a master class today,” fellow Yankees pitcher Will Warren said.
New York manager Aaron Boone had long envisioned Cole (No. 45) and Fried (54) following each other to the mound.

#york

NEW YORK – Heading into Wednesday's long doubleheader day of live coverage, manager Aaron Boone provided an update on Giancarlo Stanton.
But the short answer is, the Yankees still don't know when he'll return to their lineup.
On the injured list since April 25, with two separate right calf strains (he was injured again in early June), the slugging DH is a couple of weeks into a running program.
Stanton is also hitting indoors off the Trajekt machine that simulates MLB pitchers, but he is not running the bases as yet.
"I don't have a timeline, I don't know when he gets to the end of that and what we do to get him back,'' Boone said before Wednesday's day-night doubleheader opener against the Pirates.

#aaron

Justin Boone is a two-time winner of the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award (2019, 2025) and has nine top-10 finishes in the competition. Below you can see his fantasy rankings for the 2026 season.
[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season]
2026 Fantasy Rankings
Quarterbacks
Running Backs

#fantasy #expert #below

Justin Boone is a two-time winner of the FantasyPros Most Accurate Expert Award (2019, 2025) and has nine top-10 finishes in the competition. Below you can see his fantasy rankings for the 2026 season.
[Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season]
2026 Fantasy Rankings
Quarterbacks
Running Backs

#fantasy

The MLB All-Star break ends tomorrow, and teams will head into the final stretch of the season. The break gave some injured players a chance to rest and hopefully get back on the field for the back half of the season fully healthy. This is our MLB injury report for pitchers coming out of the All-Star break.
The Miz is dealing with arm fatigue, and it is not awesome. He was scratched from his final start before the All-Star break and will not pitch in the first series coming off of the break. It is not clear if he will be ready to pitch next week or not. Fantasy owners need to monitor this situation and prepare as if he could miss another start.
Ohtani was not able to make his final start before the MLB All-Star Game due to knee inflammation and was held out of the Summer Classic. It's not clear if he will be available as a pitcher coming out of the break. He's not on the IL, so it would be a surprise if he doesn't at least DH, but we will have to keep an eye on him.
Fried has been sidelined with an elbow injury, but head coach Aaron Boone has said that they expect him to begin his rehab ******* ignment this week. Fantasy owners should be getting Fried back sooner rather than later.
Rodon is scheduled to throw every day this week as he works to recover from his elbow inflammation fully.

Wrote about the best of us, and wrote about … the rest of us.
The best of us? Indiana's state championship basketball team from Special Olympics Boone County, who went to Minnesota last month and won bronze at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games.
The rest of us? Those of us arguing about politics, if our goal is to hurt – not help. Those of us who are part of this wall of sound where everyone's shouting and ***** ody's listening, and using all that noise as cover for cruelty.
Now then, my job is to have opinions and share them, so I'll keep at it, hoping to make a small difference for good even knowing some people see me as something entirely different. My goal is to help, not hurt – not to insult folks who disagree, but to invite them to see things another way. I fall short, at times. I'm sure of it.
Columns about Special Olympics, the culture wars around Fever star Caitlin Clark, and President Trump's phone to call to FIFA president Gianni Infantino? All in the same week? Makes for an interesting Mailbagg™.

Wrote about the best of us, and wrote about … the rest of us.
The best of us? Indiana's state championship basketball team from Special Olympics Boone County, who went to Minnesota last month and won bronze at the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games.
The rest of us? Those of us arguing about politics, if our goal is to hurt – not help. Those of us who are part of this wall of sound where everyone's shouting and ***** ody's listening, and using all that noise as cover for cruelty.
Now then, my job is to have opinions and share them, so I'll keep at it, hoping to make a small difference for good even knowing some people see me as something entirely different. My goal is to help, not hurt – not to insult folks who disagree, but to invite them to see things another way. I fall short, at times. I'm sure of it.
Columns about Special Olympics, the culture wars around Fever star Caitlin Clark, and President Trump's phone to call to FIFA president Gianni Infantino? All in the same week? Makes for an interesting Mailbagg™.

PHILADELPHIA — Does anybody want to pitch anymore in the MLB All-Star Game?
Already facing the massive absence of megastars Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge, the league’s midseason showcase set for Tuesday at Citizens Bank Park is grappling with an accelerating run of top pitchers also not competing.
Among the latest developments:
Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler, the current odds leader to win the American League Cy Young Award, will not play in the game after a 99-pitch outing on Saturday against the Nationals. Tuesday would have normally been a side throw day before his next start, allowing a short stint in the All-Star Game. Yankees manager Aaron Boone, however, said Schlittler’s current health will not permit that to happen. “Just feels like, on his recovery day, to go back out there throwing 100 miles an hour is something that he felt a little apprehensive about,” Boone said.
Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski, the current odds leader to win the National League Cy Young Award and an all-star last year after just five appearances, was scratched Sunday from his final Brewers start before the break. “It [stinks] to miss a start and the All-Star Game, but I know it’s the right thing to do in this situation,” Misiorowski said. “My arm is a little tired.”

The New York Yankees head into the MLB All-Star break with one of the better pitching staffs in Major League Baseball, and it could soon get even stronger. Despite opening the season without Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon, and later losing last year’s ace, Max Fried, to the injured list, the Yankees have remained one of baseball’s top teams on the mound. Rodón also returned to the injured list a couple of weeks ago, creating even more uncertainty. Now, however, there is finally some encouraging news.
RELATED: Yankees announce surprising Cam Schlittler news immediately before MLB All-Star break
According to reporter Gary Phillips, manager Aaron Boone said Max Fried’s live batting practice session on Saturday went extremely well. The next step in Fried’s recovery is expected to be a minor league rehab ***** ignment, which Boone indicated could begin as soon as Friday.
That’s a significant development for the Yankees, who have eagerly awaited the return of one of their top starters. If Fried gets through his rehab outing without any setbacks, he could be back in the major league rotation before long.
The update on Carlos Rodón wasn’t quite as advanced, but it was still positive. Boone said Rodón has strung together several productive throwing sessions and is expected to throw almost every day during the All-Star break.

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez will start for the National League in the MLB All-Star game on Tuesday, MLB Network's Jon Heyman reports.
Sanchez will get the start in his home stadium with the All-Star game being held at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park.
A starter for the American League has not yet been announced or reported. Yankees pitcher Cam Schittler was believed to be a candidate to start, but New York manager Aaron Boone announced Sunday that he won't pitch in Tuesday's All-Star game.
This story will be updated.

How Yankees could have 'no choice' but to make bold Aaron Boone decision after 2026 season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The New York Yankees are having a bit of a rough stretch right now, as they've faltered a little bit in the AL East, and the loss of Aaron Judge has been impacting the team in a big way recently.
Currently at 53-42 ahead of their last game before the MLB All-Star break, the Yankees are 4.0 games back on the AL East ***** le, and 6.5 games up on the AL Wild Card field. While things aren't ideal, they're still a likely postseason team.
But, as USA Today's Bob Nightengale highlighted, if the Yankees' playoff bid isn't successful, or things go south again this postseason, Aaron Boone's job might not be safe, as Brian Cashman might have "no choice" but to change things after this year.
"Yet, if the Yankees don't win the AL East this year, if the Yankees don't play deep into October, or if somehow the Yankees miss the playoffs altogether, Cashman might have no choice but to make a change for only the fourth time in 30 years," Nightengale writes.

The way fantasy football leagues determine draft order is always different. Most leagues will let Yahoo decide for you, randomly generating the first-round order prior to the first pick. Others will decide the order prior to your draft to give you plenty of time to practice via the Yahoo mock draft lobby. League managers have also been known to come up with creative ways to decide the draft order.
Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2026 NFL season
Anyway, no matter which pick you get, you've got a chance to win. But which pick would make you feel the best going into the 2026 season? Probably the first pick, but it isn't always cut and dry. Yahoo ******* yst Scott Pianowski, Joel Smyth, Matt Harmon and Justin Boone share which pick in the first round they'd want to draft out of the most.
Full transparency, I'm also somebody who would prefer the 1.01 or 1.02 pick. Smashing an early bellcow leads to a lot of favorable fantasy paths. But I can also reasonably consider a Hero or Robust RB build later in the round, and if I land something in the 9 or 10 range I start to fixate on Jonathan Taylor. I'm not sure everybody appreciates how dominant he was in the first half of 2025, and his late slump can largely be attributed to the Daniel Jones injury. If Jones is healthy, this Colts offense could easily be a top-five unit.
There are advantages to not being slotted at the absolute end, I can use neighborhood information to play off the rosters of my opponents who pick after me in the odd rounds. I also feel I tend to draft better when I'm not on an extreme end, since my picks cluster together more and leave me more pliable to handle draft flow and positional runs.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - As the Yankees' offensive malaise deepened, Aaron Boone acknowledged the uncomfortable rinse-repeat of this 20-game slide.
Managers can shake things up to some extent, but "I'm not going to do extreme, weird things'' Boone said of his lineup decisions.
Getting back to "controlling the strike zone better'' is one way to do it, and Boone's club hasn't drawn a walk since Monday's fifth inning.
And it doesn't get any easier Thursday afternoon at Tropicana Field, with the Rays starting right-hander Drew Rasmussen and the Yankees going with a bullpen game.
Lefty and former Tampa Bay pitcher Ryan Yarbrough is likely to be a multi-inning choice for Boone as the Yanks try to salvage a split of this four-game set against the AL East-leading Rays, who own a five-game lead over Boone's club.

The New York Yankees continued their horrific slump on Wednesday, losing 3-0 to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.
The Yankees' offense continued to sputter, managing just six hits and no walks while striking out 11 times. New York's first shutout loss since May 21 came on the heels of back-to-back games with 17 strikeouts -- a Major League record.
The Yankees have now lost 11 of their last 13 games and 14 of their last 18. Over their last 20 games dating back to June 18, they have the worst record (5-15) and fewest runs (56) in baseball, averaging just 2.8 runs per game during that stretch.
New York has plummeted in the AL East standings as a result, blowing their 3.5-game lead and falling five games behind the first-place Rays.
While Aaron Boone remains publicly confident in the Yankees' offensive approach, Gerrit Cole expressed his disappointment in the team's poor play after taking the loss on Wednesday.

Anthony Volpe won a Gold Glove as a rookie, and the hope was always that he would develop into a better hitter while providing elite defense.
However, now in his fourth season, his defense has declined, and his bat is still below average. He is slashing .242/.338/.326 in 42 games this season. His defense last season hit an all-time low, and fans got a look at José Caballero at shortstop early in the year. Fans have questioned why Caballero has not gotten more opportunities at shortstop since Volpe returned and why Volpe has not played second base.
"He's been our shortstop, and he got hurt and had surgery over the winter. He's coming back, and we really haven't had — until Cabby walked in the door last year — a real competition-based thing there," Boone said before Wednesday's game, per The Athletic's Chris Kirschner. "By the way, he's been a (expletive) good shortstop. I hate to break it to everyone, but that still is real. Has he had his struggles? Sure. But he's also played really well out there in some long stretches defensively."
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Volpe's defense this year has been fine for the most part, but moving him to second base would not only make him more versatile but could be the key to fixing the Yankees' offensive woes at third base. If Volpe played second base, Jazz Chisholm Jr. could go back to playing third base.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Anthony Volpe has no idea about the origin of a story that he refused a shift to second base while rehabbing from shoulder surgery in the minors earlier this season. But the Yankees shortstop insisted the report is not only false – the club never made such a request.
"Before I got optioned (to Triple-A on May 3) I told (Aaron Boone) I'd play catcher, I'd do literally anything the team needed and that's the truth," Volpe said before Wednesday's game against the Rays at Tropicana Field.
"When I was getting ready to come back after surgery, when I could only start hitting, I was asking every night what was expected of me. What was told to me was to get ready to come back and play short.
"So for the opposite to be put out there, it's just confusing. I've never, ever felt that way."
The story originated on Tuesday's episode of the Michael Kay Show. Citing a rumor he had heard, Kay reported Volpe had turned down a request to play second for the Scranton/Wilkes Barre RailRiders.