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Rawhide Or Pigskin? Dual Threats Like Matt Szczur Face A Decision

Back in December, I happened to be at an FCS playoff game between Villanova and Appalachian State, and watched as the Wildcats' Matt Szczur torched the Mountaineers for five touchdowns. It was the kind...

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Vernon Wells Trade Shows That For Some Teams, It's 'Mo Money, Mo Problems'

To switch musical gears and quote The Beatles, money can't buy you love. But a lot of it can buy you a mediocre, past-his-prime outfielder with four years left on his albatross contract. Unlike an...

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The 10 Worst MLB Seasons By Good Players

Kent Bottenfield pitched nine largely forgettable seasons in the big leagues as a starter and reliever but stumbled on some pixie dust in 1999, when he had an 18-win all-star season that accounted for...

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It Takes Two: A Look At MLB Duos

SI.com’s Joe Lemire had a fun piece the other day about ballplayers’ at-bat music that naturally got me to daydreaming about my own hypothetical walkup tune for my professional baseball career. It’s a...

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The MLB Optimist Club: Looking At The Bright Side For All 30 Teams

The sky is blue, the grass is green, the uniforms are spotless and everyone is tied for first place. Yes, pitchers and catchers are reporting to Spring Training, and rosy outlooks are at their annual...

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Fun With Alternate Reality: Albert Pujols And The 1999 Draft

All 30 MLB teams would love to have Albert Pujols, and with El Hombre's negotiating deadline with the Cardinals coming and going Wednesday, it now seems likely that all 30 teams will have a chance to...

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Baseball Players vs. Baseball Players: Analyzing A Great Cliché

“He’s a baseball player.” It is a statement that means both nothing and everything when those inside the game utter it. In a literal sense, it states the obvious. But when a player, coach or front...

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Baseball Codes Musings: Examining Big League Big-Lead Etiquette

As a manager, what do you do when your team builds a huge lead? Do you put in some bench players? Do you order runners not to steal or take extra bases? Do you tell your hitters not to swing on 3-0...

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Putting The Spotlight, For Once, On The MLB Journeyman

“He’s a true baseball vagabond, and with his thick horseshoe mustache and accompanying soul patch, you could almost picture him riding a Harley from one stop to the next, wandering into a new parking...

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Anonymous Opening Day Starters (Of The 2000s)

Making it to the major leagues is an outstanding accomplishment. Earning a start on Opening Day, a sacred occasion in baseball and now just a week away, is a distinct honor. That being said, not...

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MLB Predictions: What WON'T Happen In 2011

Months of waiting are finally over, and the 2011 season has arrived. To mark the occasion, everyone is making their predictions, saying what they think will happen this season. What a boring,...

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The Great AL East Panic Of 2011

On Thursday afternoon, the Red Sox and Rays both lost and moved to 0-6. Coupled with the Astros’ win over the Reds, this left the two AL East would-be contenders as the last teams standing – in only...

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How To Make The Perfect Closer (A Recipe)

Torn from the pages of Bon Appetit … The Closer Introduction Every chef needs The Closer, that dish that takes a winning meal and seals the deal. Do not confuse The Closer with “a closer.” The latter...

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Which MLB Coaching Staff Has The Best Players?

An arms race has broken out in the NL West, and this one has nothing to do with Clayton Kershaw, Ubaldo Jimenez or Tim Lincecum. No, this has to do with men who write lineup cards, flash signs, hit...

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Juan Castro Is Kind Of Amazing

Lots of major league baseball players possess the ability to amaze. You watch Mike Stanton launch a home run, Peter Bourjos chase down a fly ball or Roy Halladay carve up the strike zone, and it fills...

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Staring At The Sun: An In-Person Report On Bryce Harper

On Sunday I made a pilgrimage, one that will change my life forever. There I was in Kannapolis, N.C., to see with my own eyes Baseball's Chosen One . Yes, No. 1 pick and No. 1 prospect Bryce Harper was...

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Russell Branyan > Albert Pujols: A Useless Study Of Baseball And Wikipedia

There is no doubt that baseball's greatest Wiki is former big league catcher Wiki Gonzalez . Wiki (full name: Wiklenman Vicente Gonzalez) was a serviceable backup backstop for seven seasons, mainly...

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Unlucky Hiroki: Dodgers' Kuroda Can't Catch Break

On Wednesday night in Philadelphia, Hiroki Kuroda started on the mound for the Dodgers, matched zeroes with Cole Hamels for five innings, gave up a home run and a double with one out in the sixth and...

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Choosing MLB's 2011 Division All-Stars

Imagine this crazy All-Star scenario: a team for each division, creating a six-team tournament. Will it happen? No. Should it happen? Also, no. But if it did, theoretically, I decided to see what the...

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5 Totally Reliable MLB Trade Rumors

During trade deadline season, a baseball fan hears and reads more rumors than an Us Weekly reporter. It’s fun, exhausting and even a little scary -- if you’re worried your GM might, say, mortgage your...

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Who Is MLB's Most Top-Heavy Team?

The Dodgers beat the Padres on Monday in a battle of woeful NL West clubs, and like many LA victories these days, the driving force largely consisted of two players. Clayton Kershaw gave up two runs in...

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MLB Hitters As Pitchers: Imaginary Scouting

If you’re like me, you probably find it endlessly entertaining when position players are forced to pitch in blowouts or long extra-inning games. Usually it’s a utility-type guy, like Wilson Valdez...

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Imagining MLB With The NFL's Season

The start of the NFL season always lends itself to mass hysteria. When one loss can move you a sixth or an eighth of the way toward playoff elimination in a 16-game season, it's understandable. Every...

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Mike Stanton Is Our Home Run Savior

The Florida Marlins' Mike Stanton did something very mean to a baseball on Monday night in Miami. If you haven’t seen it, please go ahead and watch it here. I’ll wait. All caught up? Good. That was the...

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Some More Crazy Ideas For The Marlins' New Stadium

Next season, the Marlins change their name from Florida to Miami and move into a shiny new ballpark. Getting away from the football stadium that has been their home throughout their existence is...

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MLB Hot Stove Headlines From An Alternate Universe

Somewhere out in the great beyond, there exists an alternate universe with an alternate Major League Baseball. Here are some recent headlines from this league's Hot Stove season. Yanks’ Sabathia Opts...

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Old News: Revisiting Some 2010 Headlines

In Internet time, last year’s headlines might as well be living in a cave, dressed in animal skins and carrying a spear. Time moves quickly, and the recent past is buried under the crushing weight of...

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Important Facts, Brought To You By My Old Baseball Cards

There was a time when I believed my baseball card collection would be a gold mine. That wasn’t the only reason I had one growing up – there also was the endless fun of organizing, trading and...

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Edwin Jackson's Wild Journey

Baseball America named a 20-year-old Edwin Jackson its top Dodgers prospect for the 2004 season and wrapped up its scouting report with this: “He’s the best homegrown pitching prospect the Dodgers have...

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The 2002 Padres and History's Most Populated Bullpen

The 2002 San Diego Padres were a bad baseball team. At 66-96, they did not underperform their Pythagorean record. They finished last in the National League West, 32 games behind the Diamondbacks, with...

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