This is part of an occasional series comprising MLB season previews.
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Category: mlb
Hawk Harrelson To Remain Face Of White Sox Even After Retirement
For years, broadcaster Hawk Harrelson has been the face of the Chicago White Sox. Players have come and players have gone, the Sox have been up and they’ve been down, but even more than a Mark Buehrle cutter or a Frank Thomas home run, Harrelson’s unique passion and commitment have defined the South Siders to the rest…
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Investigators: José Fernández Was Intoxicated And Driving Boat At Top Speed In Fatal Crash
José Fernández was the operator of the boat that crashed into a jetty in the early hours of September 25, 2016, killing him and two friends, Eduardo Rivero and Emilio Macias instantly, according to the investigation report released this morning by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The full report…
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Cody Asche Is Coming On Strong For The White Sox
While top prospect Yoan Moncada will get a lot of deserved attention for smacking his first longball of the spring today, there was other dong-related news out of the Chicago White Sox’s 7-3 win over the Kansas City Royals. Cody Asche crushed a big home run—his third this spring—as a designated hitter. CSN’s Dan Hayes…
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MLB Agent And Trainer Found Guilty In Cuban Smuggling Trial
Sports agent Bartolo Hernandez and baseball trainer Julio Estrada could not overcome a mountain of evidence and testimony from Cuban-born Major League Baseball players who linked the two Florida men to a human trafficking ring that brought Cuban players into the U.S.
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Respect Carlos Beltran's Blonde Beard
Astros designated hitter Carlos Beltran has been raking at the Word Baseball Classic, and he’s also gotten a head start on his Scott Steiner Halloween costume.
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Javier Baez Started Celebrating This Tag Before He Even Caught The Ball
Puerto Rico beat the Dominican Republic 3-1 this evening in both teams’ first second-round game. Yadier Molina drove in two runs and five Puerto Rican pitchers kept the WBC’s best offense very quiet. Puerto Rico’s defense came up big all game, starting with Eddie Rosario’s rocket of a throw in the first inning.
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The Long Slog Of The Cuban Baseball Player Smuggling Trial Is Nearly Over
After six grueling weeks of testimony, both sides delivered their closing arguments today in the criminal trial of two men charged with conspiracy and human smuggling for their part in getting Cuban baseball players into the United States. Federal prosecutors in Miami reiterated today their point that the two men…
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Dodgers Interpreter Fires Up The Team With A Deadlift
Will Ireton, interpreter for the Dodgers and pitcher Kenta Maeda, donned a singlet, slapped the team logo on his torso, and did a trap bar deadlift in front of his coworkers. Anything to keep the clubhouse loose and relaxed.
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How Craig Breslow Used Science To Engineer His Way Back To The Majors
Craig Breslow is a little surprised that the media has made such a big deal out of his offseason reinvention. After a decade of pitching effectively in the major leagues, 2016 saw him demoted to the minors in May and released by two different teams before the season’s end. The way he looked at it, if he didn’t want to…
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White Sox Face Tough Choices In Center Field
Presumptive White Sox Opening Day center fielder Charlie Tilson will be out for at least three more weeks with a stress reaction in his foot, the team said yesterday. It’s just the latest setback for the Wilmette native, who singled in his major-league debut last August, then promptly injured himself while diving for…
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Scott Podsednik To Teach White Sox How To Play The Game The Right Way
According to an article over at MLB.com, running under the dubious headline “Podsednik has much to offer as guest instructor,” Scott Podsednik, who in one of the two decent years he had in his major-league career was arguably one of the dozen best players on the 2005 Chicago White Sox team that won the World Series,…
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Lawyer Who Prepared Documents For Smuggled Cuban Players Shocked Smuggling Took Place
Sports agent Bartolo Hernandez and baseball trainer Julio Estrada could learn their fates early this week. The defense rested on Friday without either Florida man taking the stand to refute criminal charges that they conspired with human smugglers to transport baseball players out of Cuba for a cut of lucrative…
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Yadier Molina Criticizes WBC Security After Team Puerto Rico Clears Dugout To Investigate Fight In Stands
After Team Puerto Rico cleared its dugout and bullpen to investigate a fan fight the stands of their World Baseball Classic game last night, catcher Yadier Molina has been pointed with his criticism of security.
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New York Times: Venezuelan Baseball Players Love Their Chaotic Country From Afar
James Wagner of the New York Times has an interesting look at the state of baseball in Venezuela as the country has dealt with political and economic chaos over the last few years: Venezuelan Baseball Players Love Their Chaotic Country From Afar.
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Pirates Place Jung Ho Kang On Restricted List As He Awaits Visa After DUI Case
The Pirates have placed third baseman Jung Ho Kang on the restricted list a week after he received a suspended prison sentence for his third DUI in seven years in South Korea.
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Rockies Pitcher Chad Bettis Out Indefinitely After Cancer Returns
Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis underwent surgery last November after he learned he had testicular cancer, and said in January that he had been cleared by doctors. Bettis was supposed to be part of the team’s rotation at the beginning of the season. After a recent checkup, however, he learned that the cancer had…
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Blue Jays Pitcher T.J. House Leaves Field In Ambulance After Being Hit By Line Drive
A spring training game between the Blue Jays and Tigers was called off in the bottom of the ninth after Jays pitcher T.J. House left the field in an ambulance.
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Clint Frazier's Beautiful Red Locks Fall Victim To Yankees' Fascist Hair Policy
Clint Frazier, the prized outfield prospect the Yankees acquired when they traded Andrew Miller to Cleveland last year, has amazing hair. It’s long and red and voluminous and I honestly get kind of jealous just looking at it. Unfortunately for Frazier and those of us who appreciate a good mop, the Yankees have robbed…
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Mike Matheny Made A Joke?
The St. Louis Cardinals, who were 38-43 at home last season, are 6-0 at home for spring training. (That’s swell. Almost means as much as those 81 games.) Manager Mike Matheny was asked a light question about the team’s preseason performance, and I think he tried to be funny and peck at the Cubs?
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Of Course Tim Tebow Knows Where The Dang On-Deck Circle Is
So poor lil Tim Tebow, the world-famous football refugee and circumcision doer now trying his hand at baseball, prepared for his first spring-training plate appearance for the New York Mets yesterday by doddering all the way around behind home plate, from the third-base dugout to the first-base side, to take his…
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Here Is A Thing That Happened In Tim Tebow's Spring Training Debut
At the start of the bottom of the third inning, New York Mets designated hitter Tim Tebow left the dugout to get some warm-up swings in before stepping into the box. But, strangely, he walked all the way around behind the plate—from the Mets dugout on the third-base side to the on-deck circle in front of the visitors’…
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Jennifer Lopez Is Reportedly Dating Former Baseball Megastar Alex Rodriguez
Jennifer Lopez, last seen kinda-sorta saying that she would kinda-sorta no longer be dating younger men while she was kinda-sorta-but-not-really dating Drake for PR reasons, is reportedly dating fellow New York native Alex Rodriguez.
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MLB Execs Testify They Had No Idea Cuban Players Were Entering Country Illegally
The federal trial of sports agent Bartolo Hernandez and baseball trainer Jose Estrada is hitting the home stretch. On Tuesday, their defense attorneys called five witnesses, including two executives from the Texas Rangers and one from the Miami Marlins, hoping their testimony would help punch holes in the federal…
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Piss Off, Tim Tebow
Tim Tebow isn’t a major-league ballplayer, and he isn’t a pro ballplayer in any but the barest, most literal sense. Certainly, if he weren’t famous for playing football and for not having been aborted, no one anywhere would pay him money to play baseball. Look at this shit!
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Bruce Chen Takes The Mound In Business Casual Shoes
Bruce Chen, 17-year MLB vet who currently works for the Indians, is pitching for China at the World Baseball Classic right now. He’s only 39 years old, but he is pitching in some cleats that look like something your cousin lends you for your first job interview. I am literally unsure of what these are.
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The Time Reggie Jackson Got His Ass Whooped In The Clubhouse By A Teammate
The following is excerpted from Dynastic, Bombastic, Fantastic: Reggie, Rollie, Catfish, and Charlie Finley’s Swingin’ A’s, by Jason Turbow. The book is available now on Amazon. Jason will be joining us later today to take your questions, and chat about the book.
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Mariachi Band Greatly Improves Mariners Spring Training
Spring training always has stunts and shenanigans—like indulging a former quarterback’s fantasies so you can sell his shirsey for a couple of months—but the Seattle Mariners set the bar pretty high by hiring a mariachi band to tag along with center fielder Leonys Martin today.
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Look, Baseball!
I know I’m warmer than most on the World Baseball Classic, but I think it can only be a good thing that there’s actual, competitive baseball being played right now, after a long cold winter. (My enthusiasm will wane by May, when I’ll be wishing they could just skip ahead to September already. But let’s enjoy this!)
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Spring Training Is Good
One of my midlevel life regrets is that I’ve never gotten to Florida or Arizona for Spring Training, because it seems like it offers the things I like most about live baseball: Sitting outside in nice weather, eating and drinking, and just absorbing the entire sensory experience—the smells, the sounds—without…
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