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• Effectively Wild Episode 2298: The 2025 Preseason Predictions Game

Ben Lindbergh, Meg Rowley, and FanGraphs authors Michael Baumann and Ben Clemens play “College Baseball Player or Musician Who’s Performing at Sea.Hear.Now 2025” (4:53), and then explain the third annual preseason predictions game (11:53) and make 10 bold predictions apiece (18:57) about baseball in 2025, to be voted on by listeners. Audio intro: The Gagnés, “Effective...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Is Mookie Betts trading strike-outs for strikes?

Photo by John E. Moore III/Getty Images (It’s a very clever joke because he bought a bowling league franchise.) It’s not mystery that baseball players, being athletes, are often fond of more than one sport. Plenty of baseball players were on multiple teams in high school and college, lots of guys play golf (some, like Justin Verlander were actually semi-pro, at least according to his old T...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Tokyo story

Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images The Dodgers take Japan, but Mookie Betts isn’t feeling so good. Some season previews. Everyone is looking for healthy pitching. And other MLB news. Good morning. I’m now convinced the Hanshin Tigers are the best team in baseball. The big news that came out of Tokyo last night is that Dodgers star Mookie Betts will miss both games against the Cubs with a...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Down goes Cole

Photo by Brandon Sloter/Getty Images The Yankees ace needs Tommy John surgery. And other news from around MLB. Good morning. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will miss the entire 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Max Fried says he’s “ready to step up” in Cole’s absence. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said the team needs to add pitching, but “very little is available.” Bus...2025
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• Royals Rumblings - News for March 12, 2025

Photo by Jeff Dean/Getty Images Wake me up when spring training ends. Royals Data Dugout reveals their second roster projection ahead of Opening Day, with southpaw Kris Bubic winning the final rotation spot. It’s the fifth spot where questions and competition remain. Even though Daniel Lynch has been the best pitcher in camp, at least in game action, I’m still giving the nod to Bubic h...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Rays being sold, and A’s getting bold?

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images Things are getting interesting! Hello friends! Lots of little news bites to jump into today, but a couple of interesting ones to look out for in today’s links. For starters, the Oakland... er, Sacramento... er... Las Vegas A’s are getting themselves geared up for the future, not just with contract extensions and deals, but also a new uniform patch that promo...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Is Mookie Betts trading strike-outs for strikes?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Tokyo story
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Down goes Cole
2025

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• Royals Rumblings - News for March 12, 2025
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Rays being sold, and A’s getting bold?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Spring Training stories

Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Injuries, excitement, sneaky showcases... Spring Training has it all. We’re finally into spring training in a real way, with actual gameplay and so much is going on. Pitchers are getting fired up about ABS... and ABS might also be proving some players have been lying about their height. Three Twins players had a scary near-miss, meanwh...2025
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• Outside The Confines: What’s gone wrong in Toronto?

Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images The Mets have pitching issues. The Blue Jays have trouble with their first baseman. A look ahead to the next labor battle. And other news from around MLB. Good morning. The Mets have shut down left-hander Sean Manaea indefinitely with an oblique strain. Ben Clemens notes that it’s mid-February and the Mets already need more pitching with injuries to Manae...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Free the hair!

Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images The Yankees’ most old-fashioned policy has ended Start spreading the news! The Yankees are changing one of their silliest and longest-standing rules about player grooming: they will now allow players to have “well-groomed” beards. On the face it it (pun very much intended) this is not massive news, but considering how set in their ways the Yankees have b...2025
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• White Sox news and notes: Chicago inks veteran Michael A. Taylor

Is there anything more beautiful than a brand new baseball? | John E. Moore III/Getty Images Pitchers and catchers report, the injury bug has bitten, the Ballers have new threads, and things can always get worse There’s a lot to cover here in this week’s news and notes. Spring training has finally arrived, the Sox made a last-minute acquisition, there’s already an injury to report, Kannap...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Let’s stay together

Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images Pete Alonso returns to Flushing. The Dodgers are the new bad guys. And other news from around MLB. Good morning. Here’s what sealed the deal between the Mets and Pete Alonso. The Mets re-signed free agent first baseman Pete Alonso to a two-year, $54 million deal with an opt out after one season. Jake Mintz writes that in the staring contest between Al...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Free the hair!
2025

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• Cub Tracks’ best paw forward
Photo by Matt Dirksen/Getty Images All the #Cubs, #MLB, and #MiLB news you can use, four days a week. Clark is looking for a Clark bar and a Clark station, on Clark St. Welcome to today’s edition of Cub Tracks news and notes™, a greatest-hits collection of Chicago-style beat writers and bloggers, ground from #Cubs, #MiLB, and #MLB baseball, overheated, steeped in writers’ tears, and then c...2023
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2025
"(The Athletic subscription required) Michael Baumann wants to know what the heck happened to Brett Baty."

2024
"Michael Baumann writes thinks everyone is overreacting to the late singings this winter and that a signing deadline would mostly benefit the owners."

2023
"He’s dealt with a litany of injuries through his career as FanGraphs’ Michael Baumann highlighted humorously in this write-up: (Interior doctor’s office, day."

2022
"”— Michael Baumann (@baumann_md) October 9, 2022 They've lost this fan."

2021
"In a crossover event Marvel would envy, Meg Rowley and guest co-host Michael Baumann of The Ringer discuss Games 1 and 2 of the World Series, what the loss of Charlie Morton means for Atlanta, the narrative role of the starter, how to navigate the moral conundrum that is fandom, the ever-growing length of postseason […]"

2020
"Baltimore is also adding six players to the 40-man roster in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft: infielder Rylan Bannon, outfielder Yusniel Diaz, right-handers Michael Baumann and Isaac Mattson and left-handers Zac Lowther and Alexander Wells."

2018
"The tweet in question, from The Ringer’s Michael Baumann, jokingly details a ludicrous course of treatment for Bauer, currently on the mend from a broken right fibula, including plans to “rid his body of CIA nanites."

2017
"The Orioles signed two of their top pitchers on Friday, inking second-round supplemental Draft pick Zac Lowther and third-rounder Michael Baumann."

2016
""It was a strategy born of desperation," as The Ringer's Michael Baumann noted, "but from that desperation sprung a solution that was, through 10 of the 11 wins Cleveland needed to take home a title, practically unbeatable."

2015
"However, as former Grantland writer Michael Baumann noted after Iwakuma threw a no-hitter against Baltimore in August, the right-hander's strong second half does point to big things ahead: Iwakuma is like the contrapositive of Clayton Kershaw."

• Outside The Confines: Is Mookie Betts trading strike-outs for strikes?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Tokyo story
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Down goes Cole
2025

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• Royals Rumblings - News for March 12, 2025
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Rays being sold, and A’s getting bold?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Who’s on first?

Photo by Mark Taylor/Getty Images The issues surrounding baseball stadiums. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reveals his contract demands. The decline of first base. The Mariners’ front office are criticized and other news from around MLB. Good morning. Jeff Passan looks at the issue of two major league teams playing in minor league stadiums this season. He examines what it means for the Athletics...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Spring Training stories
2025

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• Outside The Confines: What’s gone wrong in Toronto?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Calling balls and strikes

Photo by Michael Owens/MLB Photos via Getty Images ESPN and MLB decide to part ways, for now. The Robo Umps have a successful debut. Looking ahead to next year’s free agent class. And more news from around MLB. Good morning. Evan Drellich and Andrew Marchand report that MLB and ESPN have “mutually agreed” to terminate their agreement to broadcast MLB games after this year. (The Athletic ...2025
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• Outside The Confines: No deal for Vlad Jr. and the Jays

Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images The face of the franchise will become the face of free agency this fall. Happy Wednesday BCB friends! We have some interesting stories ahead for you today, chief among them being that one of baseball’s biggest extensions isn’t happening. The Toronto Blue Jays and Vladimir Guerrero Jr failed to come to an agreement on extension terms. As a result, Vlad Jr,...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Is Mookie Betts trading strike-outs for strikes?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Tokyo story
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Down goes Cole
2025

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• Royals Rumblings - News for March 12, 2025
2025

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• Outside The Confines: No deal for Vlad Jr. and the Jays
2025

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• Tuesday Rockpile: Are the Los Angeles Dodgers ruining baseball?

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images Colorado Rockies news and links for Tuesday, February 11, 2025 No MLB team has had a better offseason than the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have signed a litany of stars: Roki Sasaki; Blake Snell; Teoscar Hernández; Tanner Scott; Michael Conforto . . . There are more, but I have limited space. View this post on Instagram ...2025
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• The Dodgers aren’t the villains here

New York Mets right fielder Juan Soto poses for photos during his introductory press conference at Citi Field. | Brad Penner-Imagn Images The Mets aren’t either Much ado has been made so far this offseason about the spending of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Of course, they aren’t the biggest spenders this off-season, those would be the New York Mets. Together, those teams have spent nearly as m...2025
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• Weekend Rumblings - News for January 25, 2025

Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images New year, new swing? Anne Rogers writes about the outfield situation. Melendez is the most interesting part here, because he still boasts tremendous power potential. It hasn’t clicked in his first three seasons, and the 26-year-old slashed .206/.273/.400 with 17 homers in 2024. The Royals, thinking back to Melendez’s 41-homer Minor League season in 2021, b...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Your new Hall of Fame inductees

Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images I just want to talk to that one voter who left Ichiro off their ballot... Well, the long-anticipated time arrived last night as the newest class of MLB Hall of Famers was announced. Ichiro Suzuki was one vote shy of being a unanimous inductee, and I think perhaps anonymous ballots shouldn’t be allowed because I just want to have a quick chat with the pe...2025
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• Outside The Confines: Farewell to a legend

Set Number: X27208 TK1 R14 F17 Tributes come in for Rickey Henderson. The Astros sign a first baseman. The Marlins trade Jesús Luzardo to Philadelphia. And other Hot Stove news. Good morning. I assume you all know about the passing of Rickey Henderson by now. We have a lot of tributes to “The Man of Steal” today. Late last night, the Mets agreed to a three-year, $75 million deal to bring...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Is Mookie Betts trading strike-outs for strikes?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Tokyo story
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Down goes Cole
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Who’s on first?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Free the hair!
2025

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• Outside The Confines: No deal for Vlad Jr. and the Jays
2025

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• Outside The Confines: College baseball begins

Jace LaViolette | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images The college baseball season started this weekend. Storylines from Spring Training. Who might yet be traded? Plus other baseball news. Good morning. We had real baseball over the weekend, albeit the kind with aluminum bats. Jacob Rudner has 12 takeaways from NCAA baseball’s opening weekend. Rudner also has 18 college pitchers who stood out this...2025
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• Outside The Confines: The Alex Bregman sweepstakes are over

Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images And the Red Sox are the winners. The biggest lingering question of the offseason free agent market has finally been answered, and that’s: Who will sign Alex Bregman? The three biggest contenders were our own Cubs, the Detroit Tigers, and the Boston Red Sox. Despite a reportedly large offer from the Tigers, it was the Red Sox who won out and signed the forme...2025
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• Tuesday Rockpile: Are the Los Angeles Dodgers ruining baseball?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Let’s stay together
2025

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• Hisashi Iwakuma to Dodgers: Latest Contract Details, Comments, Reaction
2015

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• Jung Ho Kang Injury: Updates on Pirates Star's Knee and Return
2015

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• The Drew Smyly signing by the numbers
Drew Smyly pitches against the Giants at Wrigley Field in September | Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images Smyly will return to the Cubs It’s hard to avoid a sense of déjà vu writing this piece because I’ve written it before — I also did this five years ago, the first time the Cubs signed Drew Smyly to a two-year deal when he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Cubs took a second f...2023
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• MLB.TV takes promised postseason games away from fans in the UK and other countries
Douglas DeFelice-USA TODAY Sports This is not a good look for you, Rob Manfred, but it’s also not surprising. Major League Baseball says it wants to promote the game internationally. To do so, it’s going to hold several games in Europe — the UK and France — over the next few years, including the London Series in 2023 involving the Cubs and Cardinals next June. This is a good thing. Promoti...2022
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• Outside The Confines: The Tigers claim the voice of the White Sox

Photo by Ron Vesely/MLB Photos via Getty Images This might be the best offseason move yet. Well, one of the biggest moves of the offseason has nothing to do with players, or even with the shuffle of managers. The Detroit Tigers announced today that after Bally Sports Detroit parted ways with Matt Shepard the new play-by-play announcer for the season will be none other than White Sox great ...2023
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• Outside The Confines: Behind the dish no more
Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images A former friend is going through some changes. Happy Monday everyone! The big stories over the weekend were the news that the floundering Cardinals are making a bit of a change about where former Cub Willson Contreras will be playing going forward; Royals pitcher Ryan Yarbrough experienced a scary moment on the mound; a former A’s MVP has passed away; ...2023
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• Minor League ballplayers officially have a union
MLBPA chief Tony Clark | Photo by Joel Auerbach/Getty Images The MLBPA has been officially named as the representative of most minor league ballplayers in collective bargaining. The Major League Baseball Players Association has officially succeeded in its efforts to unionize the minor leaguers. Arbitrator Martin Schienman officially certified that more than 50 percent of minor league ball...2022
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• Lynch pitches well, but offense quiet in 3-2 loss to Orioles
Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images Daniel Lynch had his best start of the season, going six innings with just three runs allowed, but the offense managed just two runs in a 3-2 loss in the series opener to Baltimore. Lynch walked just one hitter and struck out four in his longest start of the year and his first quality start. It was a shaky start for Lynch, when Austin Hays led off the ...2023
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406. Michael Baumann

• Outside The Confines: Is Mookie Betts trading strike-outs for strikes?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: No Rays of sunshine

Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images Things are going wrong fast for the Rays. Also the Angels, who bet big on one last year with Shohei Ohtani. And other news from around MLB Just a few months ago, the Tampa Bay Rays were the biggest story in the game for the best start to a season since the 1984 Tigers. Now, they’re the biggest story in the game for not-as-pleasant reasons. The Tampa Bay Ray...2023
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• Nelson Agholor to Eagles: Twitter Reacts to Pick After Marcus Mariota Rumors
2015

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• Outside The Confines: Is Mookie Betts trading strike-outs for strikes?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Tokyo story
2025

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• Royals Rumblings - News for March 12, 2025
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Rays being sold, and A’s getting bold?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Who’s on first?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Spring Training stories
2025

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• Outside The Confines: What’s gone wrong in Toronto?
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Free the hair!
2025

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• Outside The Confines: College baseball begins
2025

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• Outside The Confines: The Alex Bregman sweepstakes are over
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Spring Training stories
2025

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• Outside The Confines: Juan Soto tops the free agent market

Photo by J. Conrad Williams Jr./Newsday RM via Getty Images But what will it take to sign him? There are plenty of big names out there who have now hit the free agent market, but likely none is bigger than Yankees’ slugger Juan Soto. Soto, agented by Scott Boras, is sure to fetch a tidy sum, and plenty of teams are already making overtures to try and get him on their roster. Al will have m...2024
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• Outside The Confines: A long-awaited debut for Kumar Rocker

Photo by Alika Jenner/Getty Images The player is poised to make history as he prepares to make his debut. Happy Friday, everyone! We’re halfway through September, which means we only have two full weeks of regular season baseball left. There are still some questions about who will slot in for the wild card spots, and some teams who are poised to win their divisions might want to worry a bi...2024
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• Outside The Confines: A new chapter in the Ippei Mizuhara betting scandal

Photo by Masterpress/Getty Images A freshly released criminal complaint offers shocking details in the betting scandal. Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani has been charged with bank fraud after stealing $16 million from Ohtani. In a newly publicized criminal complaint, texts were released between Mizuhara and his bookie, as well as details regarding how much he won (a...2024
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• Outside The Confines: Opening Week is here!

Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The pre-season ends this week, real baseball is almost here! Well, friends, we have officially made it. This is the last Monday without baseball! (Well, regular season baseball. that is.) It’s so thrilling to realize that this is the week baseball begins in earnest and we can switch from saying “Spring training doesn’t count” to “it’s ...2024
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• Outside The Confines: No baseball players won Oscars last night

Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images But it was still a fun show. While most of the buzz this weekend was over the Oscars, that doesn’t mean there was no baseball news to delve into. The Reds have a suspension scandal to deal with. Former Reds player Joey Votto is heading to his Canadian homeland on a minor league deal. The Twins are getting their sleep, Willy Adames is looking ...2024
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• Outside the Confines: The Twins and Mariners make a trade

Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports The Orioles are being sold. Justin Turner heads north of the border. More trouble in Las Vegas. And other news from around baseball. The College Baseball season starts in 16 days. The Mariners and Twins made a reasonably major trade as Minnesota shipped second baseman Jorge Polanco to Seattle for right-handed reliever Justin Topa, right-handed starter Anth...2024
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• Outside The Confines: The Tigers claim the voice of the White Sox
2023

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• Tuesday Rockpile: Three Colorado Rockies who should be Gold Glove finalists (or winners)

Colorado Rockies news and links for Tuesday, September 26, 2023 That the 2023 Colorado Rockies have not had a good season is no secret — Evan Lang looked at the specifics yesterday. But there’s one area in which the team has been strong, their defense, and on this front, three Rockies have been outstanding: Brenton Doyle, Ryan McMahon, and Ezequiel Tovar. As speculation begins turning to award se...2023
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• Outside The Confines: Royals looking for a new throne

Photo by MediaNews Group/Bay Area News via Getty Images Will KC be the next team hunting for new digs? Also, big news from the Chicago White Sox. The Kansas City Royals unveiled their plans for their future stadium, and the future of Royals baseball in Kansas City. We’re excited to share the future vision of Royals baseball. For more images and to learn about the economic impact of a bal...2023
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