MASATAKA YOSHIDA DOES NOT want to be the American League Rookie of the Year, and his reasoning is simple: He doesn't view himself as a rookie.

The Boston Red Sox outfielder spent the first seven years of his professional baseball career in Japan, where he was a Japan Series champion and a four-time NPB All-Star, plus the winner of two Pacific League batting titles and five Pacific League Best Nine Awards. All that, plus his recent World Baseball Classic title, make him feel overqualified for MLB rookie honors, even if he's a leading contender in Las Vegas.

"I am a little bit older," Yoshida, 29, said through interpreter Kei Wakabayashi.

When Yoshida signed a five-year, $90 million contract with the Red Sox this past offseason, many around baseball questioned the value of the contract, with one executive telling ESPN's Kiley McDaniel that Yoshida was worth less than half of what Boston paid. There was skepticism Yoshida could adjust to MLB velocity, that the slugger would be reduced to a slap hitter in America, despite this year's Japanese World Baseball Classic team throwing more 100 mph-plus pitches than any other team in the tournament.

While Japanese pitchers -- such as Shohei Ohtani, Yu Darvish and Masahiro Tanaka -- have a track record of success transitioning to the major leagues, Japanese hitters do not. While Ohtani, Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui stand out as exceptions, the list of NPB hitters who failed to make an impact -- from Kosuke Fukudome to Kaz Matsui to Yoshi Tsutsugo -- outnumber the success stories.

The Red Sox offered him one of the biggest contracts of chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom's four-year tenure anyway, confident Yoshida could adjust to MLB pitching.

"It was part of our due diligence process, trying to poke as many holes in his offensive game as we could," Bloom said. "The conversation about velocity was more narrative than reality."

So far, they've been proved right. After Yoshida struggled through the season's first two weeks, he quickly adjusted to become one of the team's most consistent hitters. Through 61 games, Yoshida is hitting .309/.383/.479 with seven homers, 17 doubles and 36 RBIs.

Of the 19 Japanese hitters to make the transition to the majors, only six have posted a career OPS above league average. Yoshida's 131 OPS+, albeit in a small sample, is the second highest ever, trailing only Ohtani.

And the criticism that vice president of scouting development and integration Gus Quattlebaum -- who scouted Yoshida in Japan -- expected has largely died down.

"We knew this would not be conventional and there would be backlash," Quattlebaum said. "He was always one of our top targets in our mind."

Brotherly Love. pic.twitter.com/mhV3YX2CYy

— Red Sox (@RedSox) May 6, 2023

"HARPER-SAN! Harper-san! Harper-san!"

When longtime major league outfielder Adam Jones arrived in Japan to play for the Orix Buffaloes in 2020, it didn't take long for him to find out which one of his teammates was being hailed by a familiar baseball surname. It was Yoshida, a Bryce Harper superfan who named his French bulldog after the Philadelphia Phillies slugger and included the initials "BH" in his Instagram username. And as soon as Jones started hitting in the same batting practice group as Yoshida, he started to envision a bright future for him someday in the United States.

"I just knew this guy was going to the major leagues," said Jones, who now hosts a podcast for The Baltimore Banner and lives with his family in Barcelona, Spain. "You can just tell by his presence, his attitude, his approach. You could tell by how many questions he asked every time a major league game was on."

Those questions: What did the ball look like coming out of CC Sabathia's hand? How did it feel to face Clayton Kershaw? What was it like to experience major league velocity from guys like Max Scherzer? Jones explained to Yoshida how the culture of Major League Baseball differed from the NPB, how many pitchers attacked the zone versus trying to locate on its periphery. While walking past the batting cages, Jones would often see Yoshida facing high-velocity pitches, as he would in the majors. Yoshida would watch videos of Jones earlier in his career and come back with questions about specific at-bats.

"Everyone wants to watch Mike Trout, but he was watching every hitter, every pitcher," Jones said.

All of that work meant Yoshida was prepared when the Red Sox scouts arrived. When Quattlebaum made his first trip to Japan to see Yoshida in person in September 2021, he brought with him the team's manager of baseball analytics, Dan Meyer. Meyer was tasked with putting together a statistics model to project Yoshida's performance in MLB. While watching Yoshida play for the Buffaloes, the speed of the fastballs impressed Meyer.

"It was way more than he was expecting," Quattlebaum said.

Meyer wasn't the only one to notice this. Dating to 2019, the Red Sox had been scouting Yoshida -- mostly through video because of COVID pandemic travel restrictions. Several members of the front office had found the conventional wisdom that the NPB couldn't stack up to MLB's velocity to be flawed.

They saw that the gap between Japanese and MLB velocity is shrinking. In 2014, the average NPB fastball sat around 88 mph, while MLB clocked in at a tick under 92. In 2022, according to FanGraphs, the average NPB fastball was 90.8 mph, while MLB's was 93.6. In the World Baseball Classic, Team Japan averaged the third-highest velocity (94.9 mph) of any staff, behind only Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

Jones acknowledges a difference between facing pitchers in Japan versus the United States -- particularly against left-handers, who throw harder in MLB. But, Jones says, the evolution of pitching in Japan -- plus modern technology -- has hitters better prepared.

"You can work on velocity no matter where you are and you don't have to necessarily face it all the time from a pitcher," Jones said. "Japanese pitchers are throwing harder as a group and as a league. With technology and with video, you can simulate all of it."

While there's a wider range of pitching talent in Japan, the variance in pitching styles also can help a team better scout hitters. Red Sox hitting coach Peter Fatse spent parts of the past three years watching tape of Yoshida, and he could tell the lefty had a fundamentally sound swing, regardless of who he was facing. Yoshida's swing looked the same against a pitcher who maxed out in the high 80s or threw fireballs that exceeded 100 mph.

"[Yoshida] covered such a wide range and spectrum of pitchers," Fatse said. "Whether it was a breaking ball, a splitter, his mechanics never really broke down. It told me he didn't have to cheat to create space and cut the distance between the bat and the ball. It made my eyes light up."

When Yoshida first arrived at the Red Sox's spring training camp in February, Boston set him up with a Traject pitching machine, which replicates the exact speed, spin and trajectory of any pitcher in the majors. While the coaching staff wanted to ease Yoshida into higher velocity pitching by starting at 88 mph, the outfielder immediately wanted to crank things up.

And so the coaching staff turned the settings to replicate Ohtani.

"It was immediately a laser to left, laser up the middle," Quattlebaum said. "That was why we signed him."

WHEN YOSHIDA GOT to spring training, he immediately opened the eyes of his teammates, but not just because of his bat.

"My honest first impression was that he was smaller than I thought he was," said Red Sox designated hitter Justin Turner.

While Yoshida is listed at 5-foot-8, his height more closely skews toward 5-6, with his cleats adding an inch. His stature only added excitement once he stepped into the batter's box, driving balls to all fields during batting practice.

Even before his first MLB at-bat, Yoshida had begun to silence critics. During the World Baseball Classic, he displayed his keen sense of the strike zone and his high-octane bat, knocking in 13 runs -- a WBC tournament record -- including a game-tying three-run homer in the seventh inning of the semifinal round against Mexico, setting Japan up for its championship matchup against the United States.

"You see him go play in the World Baseball Classic and you're like, man this guy just hits," Turner said. "The ball jumps off his bat, hits the ball hard, all parts of the field. He hits fastballs, splits, curveballs, doesn't matter. It's just consistency. Every at-bat is a good at-bat."

While Yoshida hit just .167/.310/.250 with one homer through his first 13 MLB games, he's tallied a .346/.404/.537 batting line in the 48 games since. And his transition has extended beyond adjusting to MLB velocity. While grabbing dinner with Cora in May, Yoshida and the skipper broke down the differences in the styles of baseball, everything from the rising velocity in the NPB -- where seeing 99 mph is no longer an anomaly -- to the use of the splitters instead of changeups. But one observation from Yoshida surprised Cora.

"The tempo of the pitchers there, there's more slide steps and the windups are quicker, so you have to be on time there," Cora said. "Here, you have more time to gather, to see it and go. I found that very intriguing. I had never thought about it. He has way more time to get back, land and then go."

The Red Sox have also made a consistent effort to make Yoshida feel welcome. With the Buffaloes, Yoshida earned the nickname "Macho Man" after he chose the Village People song as his walk-up. After the team made a ballpark video of him curling dumbbells set to the tune, the moniker stuck -- and led to a signature home run celebration, lifting inflatable dumbbells When manager Alex Cora learned of the celebration, he ordered a set of inflatable dumbbells to Boston featuring the team's logo, Yoshida's name and his number.

Despite that, Yoshida admits the transition off the field is weighing on him. His wife, Yurika, and their two daughters -- a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old -- have not yet visited him in the United States, and the language barrier continues to be a struggle. He's working on improving through English classes and spending time with his teammates. He's still searching for a favorite Japanese restaurant in Boston, but spends a lot of time with Wakabayashi trying out places around the city. There are those with a similar experience willing to help, too. Daisuke Matsuzaka -- who came from Japan to pitch eight years in the majors, most of them with the Red Sox, and still lives in the Boston area -- has reached out.

"I haven't gotten any specific advice yet," Yoshida said. "He told me whatever you want to ask, let me know."

He has already accomplished some dreams. Before the Red Sox faced off against the Phillies in May, Yoshida met Harper, who gave him a signed game-used bat from last year's National League Championship Series with the inscription, "To Masataka, MVP2X, GU: NLCS bat" in addition to another painted bat featuring a caricature of Harper's face and a pair of signed green cleats.

"Obviously, that's going to be my treasure," Yoshida said at the time about his Harper memorabilia.

And while Yoshida has made it through the first 2½ months as a Rookie of the Year favorite, Jones has no doubt he will be a big factor in Boston's lineup for years to come. Jones has seen the hours Yoshida spends working on hitting high velocity, asking about facing MLB pitchers, all building toward this exact opportunity.

"He's a perfectionist," Jones said. "He's the Japanese Juan Soto, making every adjustment that he needs. All of it is possible because he wants to be that good -- and he is that good."

LAS VEGAS -- Vegas Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy played and coached in three established professional sports cities before arriving in Las Vegas.

After the Golden Knights hoisted the Stanley Cup in the team's sixth NHL season - and Cassidy's first as their coach - Sin City has become a two-time titlist in less than a year after. The Las Vegas Aces won the WNBA championship last fall.

"Vegas has become a market just like all the other major ones now, slowly but surely," Cassidy said Friday. "You gotta build some history to do that. And to build history you gotta win championships. So good for the Aces and good for us to get championships."

Cassidy played in Chicago and coached in Washington and Boston before being hired as the third coach of the Golden Knights.

When he was drafted to play for the Blackhawks in 1983, the franchise was 58 years old - Cassidy's current age. His next two stops also had decades of pro sports history.

Then came Las Vegas, which not too long ago wasn't even allowed to advertise its city as a tourist attraction during Super Bowl commercials.

Cassidy's first thought after he took the Vegas job: "You think of the strip, right? I'm not the only guy to ever say that."

But then he moved here and started seeing communities and neighborhoods, families and youth hockey teams - anything and everything but Las Vegas Boulevard.

Exactly one year after his introductory news conference, he spoke with a bit of pride about his new place in Las Vegas' professional sports landscape.

"It's obviously taking off," Cassidy said. "It's kind of nice to be part of the infancy of this. I mean, I might look back when I'm 85 years old and say, 'I was there when it all started.' Which would be kind of cool."

General manager Kelly McCrimmon and president of hockey operations George McPhee, who have been with the Knights since their inception, have watched as the WNBA and NFL followed the NHL's move to Las Vegas.

"In a sense, pro sports are now part of the identity of our city," McCrimmon said. "You look at those things that no one can ever take away from, you will always have the pride that comes from being the first one. The pride that comes with being 'Vegas Born.'"

McCrimmon mentioned the mass shooting at a music festival on Oct. 1, 2017 - the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history - and the Golden Knights' debut just nine days later.

"Some of those things will never change," he said. "I expect we'll be overwhelmed tomorrow when we see the support that will be there for the parade. George talks about it all the time. (Owner) Bill (Foley) talks about it all the time, we want to be part of the community, we want our players to be part of the community."

Added McPhee: "Yes, it's great to have your name on a Stanley Cup. Yes, it's great to get a Stanley Cup ring, but the experience with this group of players, that experience is amazing and rewarding, but the uplift that you give to a city is really what matters."

LOS ANGELES – Harris English is no stranger to success at the U.S. Open. 

In 2020 at the pandemic-delayed Winged Foot championship, he finished fourth and a year later he went one better at Torrey Pines for a third-place showing.

Despite that success, and a solid spring on the PGA Tour that included a runner-up showing at Bay Hill and a tie for third at Quail Hollow Club, rounds of 67-66 were still a jolt of encouragement following hip surgery in 2022 and a lengthy recovery process.

“It was a learning curve for both of us and took a little longer than we thought but the confidence has definitely returned,” English’s swing coach Justin Parsons said.

Parsons explained that English had been trending in the right direction and his comfort level at Los Angeles Country Club and U.S. Open-style golf was evident Friday when he scorched his second nine with five birdies and no bogeys.

“I've played good at some good hard golf courses this year. Bay Hill and Quail Hollow are some of the toughest tests on the PGA Tour and those are my best finishes this year. And played good at Riviera out here in February,” English said.

English had surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right hip in early ’22 and returned to the Tour in June at the Memorial but failed to post a top-10 finish the rest of the year. This year has been a different story and his play through two rounds on the North Course is proof that he’s finally “out of the weeds from the injury,” Parsons said.

LOS ANGELES – Justin Thomas said Friday that he’s at the “lowest I’ve felt” after nearly finishing last here at the U.S. Open.

Thomas, who carded rounds of 73-81 and was tied for 152nd in the 156-man field, said after the round that it was “humiliating and embarrassing” to miss the cut by 12 shots in the year’s third major.

It was also a surprise. 

Thomas has been mired in a slump over the past few months but thought that he’d turned a corner in recent weeks. After an encouraging week of practice at home following the Memorial, Thomas said he showed up at Los Angeles Country Club – a venue that he believed fit his style of play well – and could “100% win this golf tournament.”

“I was playing the best I’ve played in a really long time this week, so funny game, man,” Thomas said. “It can leave you speechless, both good and bad, and right now it's unfortunate. But once I’m able to reflect and figure out what I can learn and get better from, it’ll end up good. But it sucks right now.”

Thomas hasn’t won anywhere since the PGA 13 months ago – a rare drought for one of the game’s most consistent performers over the past half-decade. In his last 10 starts he hasn’t finished better than 10th, his world ranking dropping this year from eighth to 16th.

Thomas’ typically elite ball-striking has let him down this year, but never worse than at LACC, where he ranked last in the field in strokes gained: off the tee. He hit only 11 of 26 fairways, resulting in him finding just half of the greens in regulation. His putter was also cold, taking 64 putts across the two rounds.

“It’s all pretty shi--y when you shoot 14 over,” he said.

Thomas is expected to play next week at the Travelers Championship, another designated event on the PGA Tour schedule. He is also committed to play in the Scottish Open the week before the year’s final major, at Royal Liverpool.

“I’ll figure it out,” he said. “I have another major left. If I go win the British Open, nobody even remembers that I’ve missed the cut by a zillion here, so I’ve just got to find a way to get better and learn from this, and if I can, I don’t have to look at this week as a total failure.”

LOS ANGELES — Rickie Fowler was flamboyant as ever Friday in the U.S. Open, not so much with his attire as a golf game so wildly entertaining that he made only four pars in his 2-under 68 that gave him a share of the 36-hole record and a one-shot lead going into the weekend.

Los Angeles Country Club tried to fight back after a record opening day of low scores, and help arrived in the form of a blazing sun and just enough wind to keep the toughest test in golf from turning into a festival of birdies.

Fowler still did his part, making birdies on half of the holes he has played over two rounds. What mattered was leading a major at the halfway point for the first time, and growing confidence that his three-year slump is well behind him.

He was at 10-under 130, tying the U.S. Open record set by Martin Kaymer in 2014 at Pinehurst No. 2. Fowler led by one shot over Wyndham Clark (67), with Rory McIlroy (67) and Xander Schauffele (70) two shots behind.

“Yes, I’m in the lead, but we’re only halfway there,” Fowler said. “Being in the lead is nice, but it really means nothing right now. I’m looking forward to continuing to challenge myself and go out there and try and execute the best I can.”

He started with three straight birdies, all of them from about 6 feet. The two bogeys he made on the front nine were followed by birdies. He started the back nine with two bogeys, only to answer with a 25-foot birdie putt. Back and forth it went, all round, until he finished with a beauty of an approach to 8 feet on the 17th, the hardest hole of the round.

Schauffele, who matched Fowler’s record-breaking 62 on Thursday, had a wild ride of his own.

He was tied for the lead at one point early on the back nine, approaching a few holes that could yield birdies. They produced bogeys instead, both times with a wedge in hand on the par-5 14th and the 115-yard 15th hole.

He birdied the final two holes to stay very much in the game.

“Just leaking some oil,” Schauffele said. “I bogeyed two holes I was supposed to have good birdie looks on. But I’m happy with how I finished.”

Clark, who last month broke through with his first PGA Tour title against an elite field at Quail Hollow, started strong with a bold flop shot that set up a birdie and a 40-foot birdie putt on the back nine, and then he held it together over his final nine holes.

Closing fast was McIlroy, without a major in nine years, overcoming a rugged start with four birdies on his last five holes. He was at 132, the sixth time he has been 8 under or lower going into the weekend at a major. He won three of those previous five times.

“I felt like coming into this week that was going to be a key for me if I could put the ball in play. You can play from there and create some scoring opportunities,” McIlroy said. “That’s really my game plan over the next couple days. Put the ball in play off the tee, and I think I’ll be just fine from there.”

Not to be overlooked was Dustin Johnson, the two-time major champion who made a quadruple-bogey 8 on his second hole with six bad shots, one penalty and a tap-in. The man with golf’s shortest memory rebounded quickly and still shot 70, leaving him four shots behind and very much in the mix going into a weekend.

The North course wasn’t tricky — USGA setup man John Bodenhamer said it would not be as “stupid hard” as it could be — and instead relied on maximum length. That included a pair of par 3s nearly reaching 300 yards.

“I think there was maybe five or six tees that were put back, and then not only that, a lot of times they had a back tee, they had a back pin,” Clark said. “So it was playing pretty long.”

Clark’s two big moments came on the par-5 14th that played 605 yards with a front right pin tucked behind a massive bunker complex. He was all the way to the left in the sticky, gnarly collar of another bunker and sent his shot skyward, over a corner of the sand to the tiny section of green, and then made a 12-footer for birdie.

The other was on the 16th from 40 feet, a putt he misread in the practice round and got right with a scorecard in hand.

McIlroy didn’t envision such low scoring, including his opening 65, which he attributed to cloud cover, condensation and receptive greens.

“The conditions now, it’s a little brighter, sunnier, a little bit of breeze. It’s got the potential to get a little firmer and faster over the next couple days, which will make the scores go up a little bit,” McIlroy said. “We’ll see what it’s like at the end of the week.

“Yes, the course has played maybe a little easier than everyone thought it would, but wouldn’t be surprised on Saturday, Sunday to see it bite back,” McIlroy said. “It should be tough. It should be just as much of a mental grind out there as a physical one.”

McIlroy had his share of mistakes on the back nine with errant shots off the tee, including the 297-yard 11th hole, the second-longest par 3 for a U.S. Open. But he had a 30 on the front nine for the second straight day by taking advantage of the scoring holes and ending his round with a tee shot on the par-3 ninth to 3 feet.

Harris English also shot 30 on the front nine to finish off his 66, leaving him at 7-under 133.

“They can get them as firm and fast as they want and put those pins in some tough spots. It’s going to be fun,” English said. “The rough is still going to be penal. I think everybody is going to get the U.S. Open they’ve been wanting to see.”

On an opening day that featured two 62s (Fowler and Schauffele), the low round belonged to Min Woo Lee, whose 65 left him tied with Johnson at 6-under 134.

Scottie Scheffler was among those five behind.

All of them are chasing Fowler, who is thrilled to be back in this position again. The real test starts Saturday, for Fowler and the rest of the field wondering when a typical U.S. Open will finally arrive.

LOS ANGELES – Jon Rahm said laying up every day would produce the best scoring average. Collin Morikawa agreed with him, but after one practice shot was convinced going for it might be the better strategy. Patrick Cantlay thought the hole’s location should decide the strategy.

Competitors at this year’s U.S. Open and golf-course aficionados around the world all had different opinions about the drivable, par-4 sixth hole at Los Angeles Country Club. A downhiller that sits at 320 yards is one of the property’s signature holes, presenting a variety of ways to make birdie or bogey. It feels similar to No. 10 at Riviera, which has turned into an auto-drive for most players on the PGA Tour, but there was no available data to support that play heading into Thursday.

What do the numbers say after two days?

Players were torn for a reason.

By the thinnest of margins, laying up has produced better results. Golfers who have opted for the left side of the fairway with hopes of hitting a wedge close to the narrowest green on the property are averaging 3.64 strokes at the sixth. Going for the green or bailing out slightly right with hopes of an easy chip, is yielding a 3.76 scoring average.

Additionally, laying up has produced a 47.5 birdie percentage, compared to 35.9 percent when going for it.

Is there a wrong answer to the question of No. 6? Coming into Friday, both options presented an identical 3.73 average score. It’s been the easiest hole through two rounds at a U.S. Open that’s receiving criticism for its low scores.

Laying up has also been the more popular strategy, but again, not by much. The hole has been played 312 times, with 58 percent of the field trying to put a wedge in their hands for the second shot. Golfers are typically sticking with the same strategy. Only 27 players opted for a change from round-to-round

The decision-making process could become even more difficult this weekend. The USGA still hasn’t utilized the far right pin that would seemingly be most favorable to a layup, as longtime caddie John Wood pointed out in pre-tournament coverage. But, more difficult conditions are on the horizon.

“I think when the greens get really firm, you’re going to start seeing guys go for it more because it could get really difficult to hold the green, even with a wedge, on the second shot,” U.S. Open leader Rickie Fowler said after his Wednesday practice round.

Maybe Fowler is right, or maybe players will see the slight advantage laying up is presenting. Morikawa has already changed his mind, laying up in both rounds after claiming he would hit driver in his Tuesday press conference.

The decision could be the difference between winning the U.S. Open and going home empty-handed. Or, maybe the strategy pales in importance to execution.

We will find out this weekend.

The third round of the 123rd U.S. Open will be contested Saturday at Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, California. NBC will have coverage, beginning at 1 p.m. ET, with Peacock showcasing featured groups, featured holes and U.S. Open All Access (click here for streams and times).

Here's a look at tee times and pairings (all times ET; a = amateur):

LAS VEGAS -- Reappointed U.S. men's national team coach Gregg Berhalter admitted "there's work to do" in terms of repairing his relationship with midfielder Gio Reyna.

The relationship between Berhalter and the Reyna family was at the heart of a messy affair that led to Berhalter's contract being allowed to expire at the end of 2022. With Berhalter officially reassuming his post on Friday, one of his most important tasks will be rebuilding the connection with Reyna, who remains one of the most talented players on the U.S. roster.

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

"I'd certainly acknowledge that there's work to do, and Gio is an important player to this team," Berhalter said at a news conference. "He's an extremely talented individual, and I have the obligation and the commitment to coach him like I coach every other player, and I want to get the best out of him.

"We want to get the best out of him, and we know that if we can unlock his talents, he's going to be a game changer for this program. So there's work to do, and part of it is working together with [sporting director] Matt [Crocker] and trying to rebuild a relationship that we know will be important moving forward."

Speaking at a leadership conference after the 2022 World Cup, Berhalter recounted how he nearly sent an unnamed player -- later identified as Reyna -- home for poor behavior.

This drew an angry response from Reyna's parents, Danielle and Claudio, both former U.S. internationals, who informed then-USSF sporting director Earnie Stewart of a domestic violence incident involving Berhalter and his now-wife Rosalind when the two were in college.

An investigation followed, with the USSF accepting Berhalter's explanation and steps he took to make amends, but he was left in limbo as he waited for the USSF to hire a new sporting director and conduct a search for a new manager. The managerial position was filled by two interim coaches, first Anthony Hudson and later B.J. Callaghan.

When asked later during Friday's availability about when he would reach out to Reyna, Berhalter said he would give the player some space ahead of Sunday's Concacaf Nations League final against Canada, as well as letting Reyna enjoy his offseason.

"With Gio, I think the most important thing for him right now is to focus on playing in a final and winning the final," he said. "I can imagine after that he wants some vacation and meeting with me is not the priority. It's for him to get rest and prepare for the upcoming season. We'll have time to do that. It is a priority, but we'll have time to do that before the September window."

Berhalter added that he had also not spoken with players who were among the last cuts from the World Cup squad, including Manchester City goalkeeper Zack Steffen and Augsburg forward Ricardo Pepi.

"I have not spoken with them and like the Gio case, I think there's a number of individuals that you want to speak with," said Berhalter. "Ideally what you have is alignment with everybody, and all we're doing is trying to be great together and it needs the relationships to be good. It needs the players to be focused on what we're doing and there's certainly be time for that in these upcoming months."

News of Berhalter's reappointment through the 2026 World Cup on home soil came after sources told ESPN this week that he was a candidate for the manager's job at Mexican giants Club América.

Berhalter confirmed that he did have talks with the Liga MX side, but it was clear his heart was set on returning as U.S. manager.

"I think it was an intriguing possibility," he said. "But one thing I told them when I got the date for this interview is I have to do this interview. I know that we have something that we're discussing, but I have to go through with this because I would regret it the rest of my life if I never gave myself the opportunity. And so thankfully they were accommodating and I got the job obviously and now I'm here."

One twist to Berhalter's return is that he won't be managing the U.S. at the upcoming Gold Cup, with current interim coach Callaghan continuing in his role.

Crocker stated that there are some strategic items that he and Berhalter will be going over, and therefore he didn't want Berhalter jumping straight back in. Those tasks were viewed as being more important than an immediate return to the coaching the team.

"It gives myself and Gregg the real great opportunity of spending some real time together, working through and piecing together the framework of that strategy for 2026 that we can then bring back to the staff and players and start to get their input," he said.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots second-year cornerback Jack Jones was arrested Friday after two firearms were found in his travel luggage at Boston's Logan Airport, according to Massachusetts state police.

Jones will be arraigned next week in East Boston District Court. His bail was set at $50,000.

"We have been notified that Jack Jones was arrested at Logan Airport earlier today. We are in the process of gathering more information and will not be commenting further at this time," a Patriots spokesman said.

Jones, 25, was charged with two counts of the following offenses, according to state police: possession of a concealed weapon in a secure area of the airport, possession of ammunition without a firearm identification card, unlawful possession of a firearm, carrying a loaded firearm and possession of a large-capacity feeding device.

Jones, a 2022 fourth-round draft choice out of Arizona State, had his rookie season end in late December because of a team suspension for an unspecified violation of club rules.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick had said in March that the suspension was in the past, and Jones was lining up with the top unit at times in spring practices.

The Patriots' offseason program officially ended Friday.