As Sarah Hunter left the Kingston Park pitch with a tearful smile, an era of English rugby ended.

The North Shields-born number eight fell in love with it, but was forced to switch codes because of a lack of other girls playing at her age.

Hunter then fell into the sport in which she would become an England legend.

At one time, she sold programmes at Kingston Park to watch her beloved Newcastle Falcons play.

On Saturday, the 37-year-old was front and centre on those programmes and the most frequent recipient of the home crowd's adoring screams in the 58-7 win over Scotland in the Women's Six Nations.

Having made her 141st appearance, Hunter finished as England's most-capped player - male or female - and the most-capped women's international in the world.

The journey took her from amateur to professional, via one World Cup win and 10 Six Nations titles.

The titles matter, but it is her part in the exponential growth of women's rugby that makes Hunter particularly proud.

"We want to win tournaments but sport is more than that, especially with where women's sport is now," she said.

"It's about the legacy we want to leave and how, as individuals, we can drive that to inspire that next generation.

"We've just scratched the surface of the women's game. I'll hand the baton on to this group of Red Roses, then they'll have a responsibility to move the game forward."

England head coach Simon Middleton described Hunter as "the face of the Red Roses for the last 10 years".

"Because she's been such an incredible leader and diplomat for the game, we shouldn't forget what an unbelievable player she's been," he added.

"She never trains or plays poorly. She gives everything she's got to every session and everything she does.

"She is England's greatest player, without a shadow of a doubt. Men's, women's, I can't see how anyone can say there has been a better player."

For the most part, Hunter has done it all with a smile on her face and kindness for anyone she encounters.

That kindness was repaid in Newcastle. Hunter was able to finish her career in her home city - the stands packed with family members and nine-year-old niece Isabella escorting her onto the pitch.

There were tears before the match, then when she left the field, and during the many post-match interviews that followed.

Not just from Hunter, but all those in the game that have grown to love and respect her.

There were ear-piercing screams when she took to the field and a standing ovation when she left.

As ever, Hunter remained her authentic, thoughtful self.

There was a laugh shared with Loughborough team-mate Rachel Malcolm after the Scotland captain put in a particularly heavy tackle on her England counterpart.

There was a reassuring hand on the shoulder of scrum-half Lucy Packer - 14 years her junior and making her first foray into a game that looks so different to when Hunter started.

Her first cap, also won against Scotland, came in front of a few hundred people, mostly family and friends, she said.

Fittingly, this last one was at a sold-out Kingston Park as England - professional for four years now - showed just how far investment can take you as they battered newly-contracted Scotland in search of a fifth successive Women's Six Nations title.

When she did leave the field, Hunter refused to be in the spotlight alone.

Hugging Marlie Packer, who will now take on the captaincy, Hunter showed her appreciation for the crowd as mum Janet watched on in tears.

"I wanted to make sure I thanked people for coming," she said of the moment on BBC Two.

"I just wanted to bottle it, savour the moment you'll never get again. This crowd was insane tonight. It was just to show that I've seen them and I recognise them."

Looking around the ground, it seemed there were enough tears to fill the River Tyne - and Middleton admitted one or two escaped his eyes too.

"Anyone who has been in here today is quite privileged to have been at one of the iconic moments in sport," he said of Hunter's pitch exit.

Team-mate and fellow World Cup-winner Emily Scarratt said the crowd's response "will stay with me for a very long time".

"I'm feeling emotional," Scarratt added on BBC Two.

"She played so well too. She got a turnover before she came off and carried the ball well. It is an amazing way to go out still being that good at your craft. She is an absolute professional how she goes about her work."

Although Hunter missed out on a second World Cup win with England after narrowly losing the final to New Zealand in November, the result against Scotland meant she finished at the top of her game.

She returned to the pitch after the final whistle and was presented with roses, before being hoisted onto the shoulders of front row players Sarah Bern and Amy Cokayne and carried across the field.

Reflecting on her record-breaking career, Hunter joked she "just wanted to get a second cap" and not be "a one-cap wonder".

"To finish on your terms, not many people get to do it and I've done it the best way I could have imagined," Hunter added.

"I've played in a brilliant game with a brilliant team in my home city where it all began. It is the perfect ending to the career that I've had."

AUSTIN, Texas – World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler rallied to keep his title defense alive at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and third-ranked Rory McIlroy held off a late charge by Lucas Herbert to advance to the quarterfinals.

Scheffler defeated J.T. Poston, 1 up, in what was the morning’s most contested match that included just four holes halved and a best-ball score of 11 under par.

“Too many mental errors is what I would say,” said Scheffler, who will play Jason Day in his quarterfinal match. “I've done a great job over the years in this tournament of staying patient and not trying to force things. I got down, and J.T. is such a fantastic player and putter that he put the pressure on me today and I let it get the best of me, but I was able to finish strong and come out on top.”

The McIlroy-Herbert match was equally eventful with just a single bogey made by either player. The Northern Irishman took a 1-up lead with a birdie at the first and led the entire way for a 2-up victory.

“If you look at the stats over the last three days, Lucas probably played some of the best golf of everyone, so I knew I was in for a tough game,” said McIlroy, who will face Xander Schauffele in the afternoon. “I got off to a really good start, but every time I hit it in close, he'd answer me with a birdie. It was one of those games where it was really back and forth.”

Schauffele beat J.J. Spaun, 3 and 2, to advance but that wasn’t even the morning’s biggest blowout. Kurt Kitayama trounced Andrew Putnam, 6 and 5, and has not played the 18th hole in a match this week. Cameron Young was almost as dominant with his 5-and-4 victory over Billy Horschel and he will play Kitayama in the quarterfinals.

Patrick Cantlay, the fourth-seeded player at the Match Play, lost to Sam Burns, 2 and 1, who will play Mackenzie Hughes, the highest seeded player remaining (50th) who beat Max Homa, 3 and 2, in the Sweet 16.

Day ended Matt Kuchar’s pursuit of history with a 1-up victory. Kuchar tied Tiger Woods on Friday for the all-time victories record in this event (36) but will have to share that mark with this being the final WGC-Match Play.

New Bayern Munich coach Thomas Tuchel acknowledged Saturday he faces a challenging start to his new job after his surprise hiring Friday to replace Julian Nagelsmann.

Tuchel goes straight into crucial games, starting with German title rivals -- and Tuchel's former club -- Borussia Dortmund on April 1 (stream live on ESPN+ at 12:30 p.m. ET).

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

"The challenge can't be any greater," Tuchel said.

Ten days later, Bayern play Manchester City in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

There will be little time to rest or practice new tactics, with many Bayern players currently away with their national teams and then seven games in the first 22 days of April.

"I was relatively naive in the first conversation [with Bayern]. In the first 30 seconds I didn't know what we were discussing or what it was about," Tuchel said.

Once it became clear Bayern wanted him to take charge immediately, "it occurred to me that it actually begins right away with Dortmund with an international break beforehand."

Bayern against Dortmund is "the" game in German soccer, he added.

Tuchel said the move came as a surprise and that as recently as Tuesday he had no contact with Bayern. He imagined his next job would be outside of Germany, he added, but that he had been following Bayern's season with interest.

Tuchel hasn't worked in Germany since 2017. When he left, the only major trophy he'd won was the German Cup with Dortmund. He returns having won two French titles at Paris Saint-Germain and the Champions League and Club World Cup with Chelsea.

Bayern can still win three titles this season -- the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the Champions League.

Consistency is a concern after Bayern chief executive Oliver Kahn highlighted that as a reason for getting rid of Nagelsmann.

Bayern are likely to be looking for Tuchel to get the best out of players like Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry, whose form has dropped off this season, and Sadio Mane, who has rarely been at his best in an injury-disrupted season since joining from Liverpool.

Sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic said the club backed Nagelsmann as concerns grew over the team's performance but decided on a change at a meeting Monday, a day after a loss to Bayer Leverkusen cost Bayern the Bundesliga lead.

"When you see that this curve of performance is going down, you're forced to react," he said, when asked if Bayern had reacted to the possibility Tuchel might take a job elsewhere. "Fortunately, there was a top option on the market and it happened quickly."

It's been almost two months since the U.S. Soccer Federation announced that Earnie Stewart and Brian McBride were resigning their positions as sporting director and men's team general manager, respectively. The consulting firm Sportsology was brought in to lead the search and analyze the structure of the USSF's sporting department.

And since then? Barely a peep. A sense of urgency has been difficult to spot, though that is due to the close-to-the-vest approach of USSF president Cindy Parlow Cone and CEO JT Batson. Following last weekend's USSF Annual General Meeting, Cone and Batson said the Federation remains "on track" to hire the sporting director -- a role that oversees both the men and women's teams -- by the start of the Women's World Cup, which kicks off on July 20.

Interviews are ongoing, though neither Batson nor Cone provided details on the number of people interviewed or the particulars of the process. Multiple sources told ESPN that the interview process has reached "the second stage" with in-person interviews about to be scheduled.

"We've been very pleased with the people who've raised their hand, and the conversations we've had to date," Batson told reporters last weekend. "Some of the feedback is we're a very unique organization. We have more national teams than anyone else in the world. And so it's an awesome opportunity, but it's, it's one that requires a level of sophistication...it's exciting, but also a lot of work. So it's been great conversations. We've learned a lot so far from the process. It's been a global search. We've been interviewing people from all around the world. We're excited about the traction we've made thus far."

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

The difficulty in filling the sporting director vacancy lies with the wide range of constituencies that must be dealt with. There's a need for familiarity with the U.S. soccer landscape, especially given the demands of overseeing the various youth national teams. There's also a need for interacting with international contacts, the better to finagle the release of players during international windows. Then there's MLS and the NWSL, entities whose goals aren't always in alignment with the respective senior national teams.

But arguably the top reason for the USSF to wrap up the search before the self-imposed deadline of late July would be to hire a new permanent coach for the men's team. Anthony Hudson has served as interim coach after Gregg Berhalter's contract expired on Dec. 31, 2022. Berhalter remains eligible as a candidate after an independent investigation found that both he and his wife, Rosalind, accurately portrayed the nature of a 1992 domestic incident.

Summer is when most of the high-profile managerial candidates will be available, but Cone said earlier this year that given the July deadline for a sporting director, it might not be until September until a new USMNT manager is hired. Waiting that long would be a mistake. One would expect that the top candidates will have long been snapped up by then.

About the most notable aspect of the sporting director search thus far is the list of people who have turned it down. It almost reads like a Who's Who of MLS sporting directors, albeit an incomplete one. The list includes Sporting Kansas City's Peter Vermes (who is also the team's coach), the Philadelphia Union's Ernst Tanner and Nashville SC's Mike Jacobs. The reason? It wasn't considered an upgrade from where they are now.

"The reality is that the job that most appeals to me, intrigues me, and most excites me is the one that I have," Jacobs told The Tennessean.

Fox Sports reported that another candidate is former U.S. international (and current USSF Board member) Oguchi Onyewu, who has also worked as a sporting director for Orlando City's reserve side and as Secretary General of Belgian second-tier side Royal Excelsior Virton. Onyewu checks some of the boxes for the vacant role, but it's unclear how he stacks up against whoever the remaining candidates.

One aspect that Batson and Cone did elaborate on was that the remit of the sporting director is being streamlined. Gone are responsibilities involving coaching education, referee development, and overseeing grassroots and amateur adult programs. Those aspects will be handled by a new position that will report directly to Batson. The sporting director will remain in charge of the USSF's national teams -- all 27 of them, including youth -- and will set out the technical vision and still oversee talent identification.

There is also a question of how much money the USSF is willing to pay in order to attract a top coaching candidate. According to documents published by the USSF, Gregg Berhalter's income for the 2022 fiscal year was $1.6 million. A top candidate is expected to require multiples of that number. While Batson stopped short of saying money was no object, the Board of Directors does appear to be giving him some wiggle room.

- O'Hanlon: Why it doesn't matter who coaches the USMNT

"We have very clear support from our board around having it be a global market and understanding that anything's on the table with regards to who the right person is to lead our men's national team program," he said. "Obviously, you want to be smart with regards to how you spend money, but there's costs and there's also opportunities for revenue. So as we think about our men's national team program, we want to make sure we have the best person leading our men's national team going forward. It'll be a global market. We're not starting with any restrictions in that regard."

It also remains to be seen if the GM position, previously held by McBride, will be kept. Batson said discussions about this shift started in Qatar when Stewart was in charge. They continued with the help of consultants Sportsology.

And what of Sportsology? It's an organization that has had a hand in shaping the technical side of several MLS teams, including LAFC, FC Cincinnati and the Chicago Fire. Opinions as to their effectiveness vary as wildly as the fortunes of the abovementioned teams. One source spoke positively as to Sportsology's impact with LAFC, though what was described sounded like the consultancy's contribution was on a more ad hoc basis. Inter Miami CF sporting director Chris Henderson has raved about the help Sportsology provided in building out the organization's sporting department. Another industry insider referred to the company as peddling "snake oil."

As for Sportsology's impact on the USSF, sources told ESPN that the company's work is pretty much done. Sportsology did make recommendations to changes in terms of the management structure on the sporting side. As for the sporting director search, the firm did some work with initial outreach, supplied a list of candidates, but has now stepped away from that process, with the USSF taking over all of the interview responsibilities. Multiple sources indicated that Batson and Cone are leading the interview process but that people outside of both USSF and Sportsology are also participating.

Sportsology also provided a list of managerial candidates, even though it's clear the sporting director will be hired first and have considerable say in that hiring. Sportsology's presence seems incongruent with some of Batson's and Cone's public statements. Both Batson and Cone have lauded the existing structure and staff on the sporting side.

"Over the prior 'x' years, by virtue of building out an actual sporting department, we have a real department, we have a bench, we have leadership, we have a team that's really impressive," Batson said. "One of the big things is that reduces our key person risk."

If that's the case, why bring in Sportsology in the first place? It provides cover for the USSF on multiple fronts. Searches on the executive side in the past have been rife with allegations of conflict of interest. Former CCO Jay Berhalter's involvement in the hiring of Stewart as GM, when his brother Gregg was a candidate for the USMNT manager's job -- and eventually landed it -- is but one example.

Another is that Sportsology's overseas contacts would help cast a wider net in terms of potential candidates. But with the Federation mum on the list of interviewees, it's impossible to know if that actually came to pass.

It wouldn't be the first time that Sportsology's suggestions weren't taken on. The firm was used by the San Jose Earthquakes after the firing of Jesse Fioranelli as sporting director in 2021, but the organization ultimately elected to hire from within.

But at this stage, it's the Federation's show. The coming months will determine if it receives positive reviews.

BOSTON -- Garnet Hathaway scored the tiebreaking goal late in the second period and the NHL-best Boston Bruins wrapped up first place in the Atlantic Division with their sixth straight victory, 2-1 over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.

The win was the Bruins' 56th and moves them one behind the club record set in 1970-71. It also keeps them on pace to set the NHL record for victories in a regular season with 10 games left. The Detroit Red Wings won 62 in 1995-96 and Tampa Bay matched the record in its final regular-season game (at TD Garden in Boston) in 2018-19.

Patrice Bergeron added a power-play goal for the Bruins, and Linus Ullmark made 26 saves, raising his record to 36-5-1.

With the playoffs on the horizon, the league's best team and the team that has advanced to the past three Stanley Cup Finals played a rough-and-tumble game with some early fireworks.

Lightning winger Pat Maroon and Hathaway had to be separated before the opening puck drop. And that eventually didn't matter, as they dropped their gloves anyway, just nine seconds into the game. The scrum started when Tampa Bay center Ross Colton, who got a double minor for roughing, went after Boston center Jakub Lauko.

"That'll get you excited for playoff hockey, yeah," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said as he walked into his postgame news conference.

Montgomery also noted that he and Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper exchanged glances from across the benches after the early scrum.

"I looked at him before the game started," Montgomery said. "I have a lot of respect for him. He's a great coach. I wish I had his wit."

Victor Hedman had a short-handed score for the Lightning, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 shots. Tampa Bay has lost four straight.

Hathaway, positioned in front of the net, batted the rebound of Matt Grzelcyk's shot from the left point out of the air and into the net before Vasilevskiy could control it with 2:28 left in the period.

Ullmark stopped Anthony Cirelli's backhander on a partial breakaway with about seven minutes left.

With Maroon in the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct for something he did on the bench, Bergeron was credited with his 27th goal when Brad Marchand's pass hit his skate before caroming into the net off Hedman's skate 6:46 into the opening period.

Hedman beat Ullmark with a slap shot from the top of the left circle for his goal just under three minutes later.

The Bruins killed off a two-man power-play advantage midway into the second, holding the Lightning to one shot on goal. Then, Tampa had just one shot before the second penalty expired.

Boston played without forward A.J. Greer, who was serving a one-game suspension for cross-checking Montreal's Mike Hoffman in the face in Thursday's 4-2 victory over the Canadiens. Greer could be back in the lineup when the Bruins take on the Carolina Hurricanes Sunday.

"I loved our effort," Montgomery said, adding that a division title secured with 10 games left in the regular season was "tremendous."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told ESPN on Saturday that he will meet with his league's men's basketball coaches and athletic directors as soon as the season ends to discuss ways to be more "proactive" and "aggressive" in changing the narrative surrounding the conference.

The ACC got only five bids this season to the men's NCAA tournament, a big disappointment to Phillips and to those inside his league. He remains steadfast in his belief that Clemson and North Carolina should have made the tournament.

Although conferences such as the Big Ten and SEC got more bids (eight each), the ACC remains standing with Miami advancing to the Elite Eight.

"We have to portray ourselves in a different way, and maybe it's our scheduling, maybe it's our providing information back to the committee, but we're going to be aggressive in how we look at it -- but we're also going to be proactive," Phillips said. "We feel the narrative hasn't been quite right the last two years. We're going to try to do something about that in the offseason.

"I get it, I've been on the men's selection committee. I've been on the women's committee. It's a hard assignment, and so we're going to try to make it easier for them from an ACC standpoint to make sure we're structured and set up in a way where we will have more teams in the tournament in the future based on merit."

The same thing happened to the ACC last season, when the league also received five bids. This is the first time since the league expanded to 15 teams in 2013 that it has gone back-to-back seasons with only five tournament bids. Eight ACC teams made the women's tournament.

Phillips says he believes the men's basketball selection committee has become too reliant on the NET rankings to evaluate teams, rather than just evaluating teams based on the way they play.

"We're paying too much attention to the NET. I'm just not there on that," Phillips said. "It does not reward teams that play 20 conference games versus 18 or less, and so that's one of the things I'm hopeful in the future we don't spend more time on or put more credence to it. I think it deserves less. In the end, the greatest thing we have in that committee is the eye test, and I think that's been ignored. Go sit down and watch these games and watch who the best players are. I know the committee does that. I understand how that goes, but in the end, I don't feel that has really resonated the last two years with our teams."

Despite the five bids last year, the ACC had three teams advance to the Elite Eight and two make it to the Final Four -- a fact Phillips points to when discussing the way the narrative about the conference doesn't fit the results. "At the end of the day, what do you do when you get that opportunity? I'm very proud of how we've done in the ACC," Phillips said.

Pitt coach Jeff Capel made headlines in February when he questioned why the ACC was not getting the same respect as other conferences, igniting a debate about whether the depth and competitiveness within the league was hurting the conference overall. At the time, Capel said, "I definitely think that it's unfair and it's untrue what people say about our league or what's been said about our league. I think our league is really good."

Pitt was one of the five teams that made it into the tournament, but the Panthers were a part of the First Four. They ended up winning two tournament games -- including the First Four game against Mississippi State -- before losing to Xavier.

Phillips also noted that the transfer portal has affected rosters in a way that did not have to be considered even five years ago and that that has a huge effect on early nonconference games.

"So much is put into that early season," Phillips said. "The rosters aren't the same as they've been in the past. Teams don't look the same in November, December as they do in February and March, so this idea the conference cannibalizes each other, we're going to have to really look at the nonconference. I'm not sure you can take as much merit from a game in November as you can late in the year. There's a process going on for us as conferences and individual schools and with the committee.

"This new day of college basketball is really present, and the influx of roster changes really does differentiate between a team that's returning seven or eight in the fall versus somebody that has seven or eight new players that's going to look quite different at the end of the year."

Phillips said he would also like to get input from North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham, who is on the men's basketball selection committee.

"I don't want to wait until next fall," Phillips said. "This needs to be done as soon as the season's over so that we can get on it. We have to do more as well as a conference; we're going to look at how we're scheduling nonconference and some of the metrics. I'd like to get some thoughts from a few others, too, so we'll have a nice think tank session over this."

SAN FRANCISCO -- Gary Payton II is considered probable for the Golden State Warriors' game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday, coach Steve Kerr said.

Payton scrimmaged on Friday and was a full participant at the team's light practice Saturday afternoon. He will warm up on Sunday with the intent to play. The final decision will come before tipoff.

"I'm starting to feel like myself," Payton said. "I missed a lot of games this year so I'm just ready to get back out on the court with the guys and wrap this up for the homestretch."

Payton has been out since Feb. 8 -- when he was on the Portland Trail Blazers -- and has played in just 15 games this season due to a right adductor injury stemming from an offseason procedure.

Payton was acquired from the Trail Blazers at the trade deadline in a deal that was initially held up after the Warriors raised concerns about his physical exam. After deciding to move forward with the deal, the Warriors determined Payton would be reevaluated in one month.

On Saturday, he said he's feeling the best he has felt all year.

"At the beginning of the year, working through the little pains and bumps and bruises from the offseason, I feel pretty good," Payton said. "Every day getting my body right, a little maintenance, fine-tuning, we had a little extra time to do all of that and get [my body] where it needs to be."

Payton's reintegration with the Warriors comes with just seven games remaining in their regular-season schedule. And while his familiarity with the team, and its familiarity with him, will lead to a smoother transition in some ways -- Payton said it will be like riding a bike -- Kerr expects there to be a reacclimation period.

"I don't think anything is seamless in the NBA especially at this stage late in the year," Kerr said.

He later said: "It would be one thing if he had been with us all year. It's a much easier transition. But the fact that he hasn't been here all season, there are a number of guys on our team who really haven't played with him. It takes some time to find combinations and patterns."

However, the team does know how it wants Payton to impact the game. The Warriors feel that he is one of the best defenders to fit into their scheme, and his point-of-attack defense can help bolster an area they've struggled with this season. His defensive presence will also ease the pain of Andrew Wiggins' absence.

"He's so good on the ball, but he's also good off the ball and playing in the passing lanes," Kerr said. "Felt like last year we got out a lot more in transition off steals than we have this year, and Gary is also a great finisher in transition. And we're either last or near the bottom in transition points per possession this year, which should not be the case."

Payton's presence will also "eat into some minutes of other players," Kerr said. He didn't specify where exactly Payton's minutes will come from but said "a lot" of players will be impacted by it.

"So the biggest thing for our group is just to understand that it's all hands on deck," Kerr said. "What I've learned is on teams that are successful, everybody is able to sort of submit themselves to the group for the greater good, which is not easy to do. We're all human, human nature is to want to do well and to perform and to put ourselves in a great position, but it's not always easy to be able to understand the bigger picture."

Payton will be under a minutes restriction when he returns, but what the restriction will look like hasn't been determined yet.

You can't win a fantasy baseball championship without taking some chances.

Whether it's a player's injury history, inexperience, year-over-year inconsistency or a skill set or advanced metrics that don't match his raw statistics, many factors can attract us to certain players, as well as scare us away from them entirely. Deciphering these, in order to make our best estimates on their seasonal expectations, can be critical to our draft preparation. After all, known commodities can provide a strong base from which to build our fantasy teams, but it's the players with the widest ranges of potential outcomes who can provide us the most profit potential.

Fortunately, this column is to help you on this risk/reward research quest. Listed below are 10 of the players I see as having some of the widest ranges of potential 2023 outcomes. What might be in store for each? Let's take a look.

Jacob deGrom, SP, Texas Rangers

The good: From 2020 to '22, he has averaged 21 quality starts, a 2.05 ERA and 291 strikeouts per 162 team games while on the active roster. In the history of baseball, only six pitchers have had a season in which they met or exceeded all three of those numbers, and not one of them had a WHIP as low as deGrom's 0.73 in his 162-game, prorated time span.

The bad: He has been on the active roster for only 51% of his team's games during that time.

Take the chance? Well, deGrom's 2023 spring training has followed this same peaks-and-valleys pattern, as he experienced side soreness in its opening days then was absolutely brilliant in his first Cactus League appearance this past Sunday. This seems an inescapable pattern, and there's always the chance the forearm issues he battled throughout 2021 might resurface. He is so good when healthy, though, that I default to "yes, absolutely." He also has reasonable ADPs of 27th overall in National Fantasy Baseball Championship leagues over the past 10 days and 22nd overall in ESPN standard points-based leagues.

Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins

The good: From 2020 to '22, he has slugged .576 while averaging 51 home runs, 93 RBIs and 110 runs scored per 162 games played. Aaron Judge (2017, 2022) and Giancarlo Stanton (2017) are the only players who have met or exceeded all of those thresholds in any of the past 15 seasons.

The bad: He has played in exactly 50% of Twins games over that time.

Take the chance? No, but that's also because it's tough to trust a player whose team has kept him in metaphorical bubble wrap all spring, and presumably will limit him to DH duty to begin the regular season (while also probably hampering his freedom on the base paths). Buxton's answer here hinges entirely on his asking price in your specific league, as I have shares in some places where it was reasonable. One sign that it generally won't be reasonable is that he's going roughly 40 spots earlier than my ranking in ESPN standard points-based leagues.

Fernando Tatis Jr., SS, San Diego Padres

The good: Through his four-year, big league career to date, he has batted .292/.369/.596 while averaging 48 home runs, 116 RBIs, 31 stolen bases and 125 runs scored per 162 games played. The only player in history to reach all of those thresholds in a single season was Larry Walker (1997), who did it as a member of the Colorado Rockies.

The bad: Tatis has played in exactly 50% of Padres games since the date of his big league debut in 2019.

Take the chance? He wouldn't even be on here if not for his 80-game suspension for violating the league's PED policy, a penalty that ended his 2022 before it began, will cost him an additional 20 games at the start of 2023, and has cast some doubt among fantasy managers about the legitimacy of his above numbers. Nevertheless, Tatis is a dynamic talent -- a five-category standout -- who has looked outstanding in recent spring action. He has that deGrom-esque, so-good-when-healthy skill set that warrants an easy "yes."

Oneil Cruz, SS, Pittsburgh Pirates

The good: Statcast had Cruz with a 15.5% barrel rate and 29.9 feet-per-second sprint speed last season, which placed him in the 96th and 98th percentiles across the league. He joined Buxton, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Julio Rodriguez and Mike Trout as the only players with at least as many batted balls in play last season who also finished in the 90th percentile or better in both departments.

The bad: His 35.8% miss rate on swings ranked in the fifth percentile and 35.1% strikeout rate ranked in the second percentile among players who came to the plate at least as many times as he did in 2021-22 combined.

Take the chance? Yes! Cruz might be the least experienced name on this list, and his fantasy managers must remember to be patient through his cold spells, such as his 1-for-14, six-strikeout stretch since I published that linked sleepers column. The only reason to hesitate is the asking price, currently a generous 59th overall in NFBC and 88th overall in ESPN points-based leagues, both of which are a tad high for my tastes. Still, Cruz is one of the very few players in the game with the natural skills to join the 30/30 club, one that has added only five new members over the past 10 seasons after there were 49 instances of a 30/30 campaign in the previous 26 years.

Giancarlo Stanton, OF, New York Yankees

The good: He's the king of Statcast hard contact, as in the system's eight seasons, his 93.9 mph average exit velocity ranks second best, his 17.6% barrel rate ranks fifth best and his 50.9% hard-hit rate ranks fifth best. Stanton has averaged 40 home runs per 162 games played in his five years with the Yankees.

The bad: He has made six trips to the injured list across the past four seasons alone, totaling 223 missed Yankees games.

Take the chance? The Yankees' lack of outfield depth, coupled with an overcrowded infield that demands the flexibility of the DH role, probably will press Stanton into a repeat (or more) of his 38 outfield appearances in 2022. That will put him at increased risk of future IL stints, and then there's that career-worst .211 batting average with which to contend. He'll be the cheapest of these first five, but not enough so to be worth the chance.

Other risk/reward quick takes

Tyler Glasnow, SP, Tampa Bay Rays: An oblique strain that threatens to sideline him into May is just the latest of a litany of injuries, and bear in mind that he hasn't exceeded 111⅔ innings in any of his past five seasons. I'm not a big believer in players fitting that description who are beginning the new season hurt, and Glasnow's No. 153 overall NFBC ADP represents a pretty hefty price tag.

Tyler O'Neill, OF, St. Louis Cardinals: A 2021 breakthrough performer, he struggled with injuries on three separate occasions last season, and yet, he's still going within the top 100 overall in NFBC leagues. O'Neill is one of the more underrated speedsters in the game, with exceptional power metrics in 2021, but he's a player who would be much more attractive a pick if he slid two to three rounds beyond his current ADP.

Anthony Rendon, 3B, Los Angeles Angels: He's having a stellar spring training, will serve as the cleanup man behind a loaded top three of the Angels' lineup and, perhaps most importantly, is going outside the top 180 overall picks in both roto and points-based leagues. Rendon, now 32 years old, is at a stage of his career when injuries are a mounting concern, but he's looking like a good rebound candidate for the price.

Luis Robert, OF, Chicago White Sox: My biggest concern with him is his precipitous drop in Statcast sprint speed, which explains his zero stolen bases from last June 13 forward. Robert needs to recapture some of those lost steals, but what appeals to me are his underrated contact metrics. He's the player on this list for whom I could most go in either direction, but his current ADP is leaning slightly too generous.

Chris Sale, SP, Boston Red Sox: He has had two good spring outings and one mediocre one, with the key takeaway that he's seemingly healthy and throwing with decent velocity. The level of caution with which the Red Sox treated him last season casts concerns that he might not be afforded more than 140 innings in 2023, but for the current price -- 122nd overall in NFBC and 134th in ESPN points-based leagues -- he looks like a potentially profitable pitcher.