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CBS Sports | Mike Axisa: The Yankees just had the best month of their season in August, led by their star, Aaron Judge. It sounds silly to say that the best player on the most historic MLB franchise has flown under the radar this year, but he has. In 2021, Judge owns the lowest strikeout (25.6 percent) and swing-and-miss (11.8 percent) rates of his career, and sports a .296 batting average with 30 homers. This is easily one of the slugger’s best seasons of his career.
MLB.com | Bryan Hoch: Who better to snap a losing streak than the American League Cy Young favorite? Gerrit Cole absolutely mowed through the Los Angeles Angels lineup en route to a 4-1 New York victory. Cole hurled seven innings, allowing just one run on four hits, but also struck out an MLB-high 15 (!) batters without issuing a walk. A truly dominant performance from Cole, who dazzled just 15 miles from his hometown ... while driving his old car to the game, to boot.
MLB Trade Rumors | Anthony Franco: We know MLB service time has been a bit controversial, thanks to front office tendencies to manipulate call-up dates. In order to take action against it, the league made a proposal that included an offer to make players eligible for free agency at 29.5 years of age. It also involved a $1 billion pool (which would be tied to revenues in future seasons) that would be dispersed in an unspecified manner to replace the current arbitration system. Under this proposal, there might be less incentive for clubs to keep prospects down for an extended period past the time they’re deemed ready to play at the Major League level.
On the other hand? Well ...
The league that won't pay out players over 30 proposed that teams control players up to 29.5. Incredible scenes.
— Chork (@cdgoldstein) September 2, 2021
The talks clearly have a long way to go.