Padres pin 1B hopes on Castellanos, Sheets, Andújar & France

The Padres are hoping guys that have never played 1B can figure it out, SDSU's tourney hopes are dwindling, UCLA coach ejects his own player, Winter Olympics recap, and more!

This morning’s newsletter is brought to you by A Hill of Beans Coffee Roasters, a local Padres fan who is obsessed with roasting fantastic coffee in small batches in his garage.

They didn’t buy this spot with advertising money, but they did reach out and send me a free bag of coffee and my first few sips of it were so great that I’m having a hard time thinking about anything else that I was going to write about here.

Now, onto the links!

San Diego State Aztecs

SDSU’s NCAA Tournament path narrows following 10-point loss to Grand Canyon - San Diego Union-Tribune
The Mountain West tournament is three weeks away in Las Vegas, where the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament will be decided.

That might be San Diego State’s best, and perhaps only, way to get there.

The Aztecs suffered the loss that a team sitting smack on the bubble absolutely can’t afford at this juncture of the season, 73-63 against Grand Canyon at Viejas Arena on Tuesday night.

San Diego State lowers season-ticket prices for 2026 football season - San Diego Union-Tribune
San Diego State is addressing attendance issues for football games, lowering 2026 season-ticket prices 4% to 12% for most seats and as much as 35% on some seats for the six-game home schedule at Snapdragon Stadium.

Another significant change: the “stadium excellence gift” charge has been eliminated. The charge, which helped pay for the $310 million stadium, ranged from $100 to $1,500 depending on the ticket package.

San Diego Padres

Padres would love to see Walker Buehler in brown and gold during 2026 season - San Diego Union-Tribune
The 31-year-old right-hander is being given an opportunity to make the starting rotation, one of a group of what is likely five pitchers vying for what is almost certainly one available spot at the start of the season.

Buehler smiled when asked if he has thought about being on the other side of the Padres-Dodgers rivalry.

“Not yet,” he said. “We’ll make the team first, and then try and get back into that.”

Nick Castellanos eager for fresh start with Padres after messy Phillies exit - The Athletic
Castellanos played third base early in his career, but as he nears his 34th birthday, he has never played first base professionally. After well-documented struggles in right field, the two-time All-Star spent part of his winter training at first base. He already figured he would not return to Philadelphia for the final year of a $100 million contract.

“I had a good idea,” Castellanos said Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Padres happened to need more power in their lineup and more depth at first base, designated hitter and both outfield corners. In San Diego, depending on his learning curve at first base, Castellanos could see time at all four spots.

Notebook: Padres continue to make it work with creative, inexpensive contracts; Ty France’s chance - San Diego Union-Tribune
In addition to the left-handed-hitting Gavin Sheets, the Padres are having right-handed-hitting Miguel Andujar and Nick Castellanos work at first base this spring. France is also a right-handed hitter.

While France has played all but three games at first base over the past four seasons, he was a jack of all trades in the infield at the start of his career with the Padres. And he has brought multiple gloves with him to the Peoria Sports Complex.

MLB insiders predict the players most likely to get traded in 2026 spring training - The Athletic
Once upon a time, in this very land we live in, Jim Edmonds got traded during spring training. Josh Donaldson once got traded during spring training. Dylan Cease once got traded during spring training. Craig Kimbrel even got traded twice during spring training.

So it happens! It just doesn’t happen much.

Impact of Preller’s extension at Padres camp - MLB.com
On Monday, chairman John Seidler addressed the drawn-out process. In short, he said, the extension took a while to get done because -- as you’d expect -- Preller was busy.

“It’s taken so long, in part, because our schedules have been incompatible,” Seidler said. “I’m an old-fashioned guy, I prefer to have discussions like that in person. With A.J.’s travel to Japan and to the East Coast, we’ve really only been in-person four times since the end of the season. And the fourth and final discussion was yesterday, where we came to an agreement.”

What would MLB look like with a salary cap? Explaining the wide-ranging, game-changing effects - The Athletic
If MLB gets its way, contracts like the 15-year, $765 million deal Juan Soto signed with the New York Mets could never be given out again.

MLB is eyeing a NHL-style “hard cap,” a source said, which would create firm limits in three areas: club payroll, individual contract length and individual player salary.

But caps can take different forms. MLB could initially propose a max number of years for individual contracts and then relent, for example.

The NBA has what is referred to as a “soft cap,” where the limit on team payroll has some flexibility — but when the dust settles, everything still falls in line with the overall split.

2026 Winter Olympics

Want more curling? A new pro league is set to launch after the Winter Olympics - Yahoo Sports
It happens every Winter Olympics, the curling renaissance. For two-plus weeks in February, Americans south of Canadian border states remember that curling exists. Riding a wave of patriotic fever and a strong belief that they too could be Olympic-level curlers, Americans fall in love with the sport … right up until the torch goes out.

This year, curling aficionados are planning to keep the love going. Shortly after the Olympics wrap up in late February, the Rock League will launch. A collection of 60 of the world’s greatest curlers, complete with team names, the Rock League hopes to harness the expected momentum from Milan Cortina.

Amber Glenn Falls To The Cruelest Rule In Olympic Figure Skating - Forbes
U.S. Olympic figure skater Amber Glenn was a favorite for gold in the ladies’ singles competition in Milan Cortina, until she wasn’t. Though Glenn looked sharp as she opened her highly difficult short program, she committed a small but fateful error in her final jump of the night.

To a casual fan, Glenn had done nothing wrong. She completed the third and final jump in her skate, landing cleanly without a fall. But for those with an understanding of the sport’s requirements, Glenn’s mistake was devastating. It would likely cost her an Olympic medal.

JD Vance says Eileen Gu should be representing the United States at Winter Olympics - The Athletic
With her two silver medals at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Eileen Gu has become the most decorated female freestyle skier in Olympic history. The San Francisco-born Stanford University alum has won five medals (two gold, three silver) while representing China, where her mother is from.

Her choice to represent China, rather than the United States, is a decision Vice President JD Vance said he disagrees with.

Winter Olympics: In 52 gold-medal seconds, Mikaela Shiffrin rewrote her entire legacy - Yahoo Sports
According to NBC, Shiffrin’s margin of victory was the largest since 1998. She’s now the first American woman skier to win three Olympic gold medals, and has the distinction of being both the youngest and oldest American woman to win gold.

More than that, though, Shiffrin won back her legacy. One of the cruel ironies about the Olympics is that it’s better to be a one-and-done medalist than a win-a-few, lose-a-bunch multi-time Olympian. Beijing blanked Shiffrin; she didn’t even finish three of the events she entered. Milano-Cortina was a bit kinder — she at least made it down the mountain in her earlier events, though at underwhelming-for-her speeds.

Olympics Day 12: The Biggest Air - Sports!
The men’s freeski Big Air competition had the Biggest Air of all time. My favorite part was how multiple skiers landed their jumps and immediately seemed stunned by the trick they’d just performed, holding their head in their hands, as if the trick had actually been done by some extremely cool demon that momentarily possessed their bodies and stuck the landing in their place. The competitors have called it the best competition in the sport’s history, jump after jump surpassing the last for the new greatest ever.

Odds & Ends

UCLA coach Mick Cronin ejects his own player after technical foul late in blowout loss to No. 15 Michigan State - Yahoo Sports
Mick Cronin wasn’t going to let officials have the chance to eject center Steven Jamerson II on Tuesday night.

Instead, he did it himself.

The UCLA head coach threw his own player out of the Bruins’ blowout 82-59 loss at No. 15 Michigan State on Tuesday after he picked up a technical foul.

The Cracks in Adam Silver’s NBA Are Spreading Fast - The Ringer
Over the past decade, the NBA has loudly touted the metaverse, crypto, NFTs, virtual reality, augmented reality, and just about every other kind of reality. The gizmos and gimmicks rarely make it to the real world, but, well, it’s the aspiration that counts. Yet it always leaves us wondering: Is any of this actually useful? Would it improve the game? The league? Our collective experience? Our enjoyment?

Alas, if only the tech bros could make an app to solve the NBA’s tanking problem. Or player tampering. Or salary cap circumvention. Or soft-tissue injuries that sideline stars for weeks. Or load management. Or the slam dunk contest. Or League Pass glitches. Or the fractured broadcast landscape. (“Hey Siri, what freaking channel is the game on tonight?”) Or the WNBA’s labor standoff. Or, uh, how to prevent NBA players and coaches from getting entangled in the gambling industry.

Prominent basketball analyst speaks out on Kevin Durant burner scandal - Arizona Republic
The burner account in question, @gethigher77 on X, recently made negative comments about Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Sengun, current teammates of Durant on the Houston Rockets.

It also had negative posts about Kyrie Irving and Devin Booker, former teammates of Durant on the Nets and Suns, respectively.

Durant has not addressed the situation, and there is no actual proof that he is behind the account slamming past and present teammates of Durant’s.

But that hasn’t stopped speculation.

Inside Dana White and TKO’s Lobbying Effort to Reshape Boxing - Sports Politika
Ari Emanuel, Dana White, and their allies are cashing in their lobbying chips as they seek to gain support for the Muhammad Ali American Boxing Revival Act, which would fundamentally reshape boxing.