Does Cardinals' trade for Ozuna complicate their pursuit of Machado?

Does Cardinals' trade for Ozuna complicate their pursuit of Machado?
The Cardinals didn't get Giancarlo Stanton from the Marlins, but they have landed another Miami outfielder, Marcell Ozuna, a 27-year old All-Star with a Gold Glove. Now the question is: Does this mean the Cardinals would be pulling out of the market for Orioles third baseman Manny Machado? Apparently they would still like to swing a deal for the Baltimore slugger, who also has a Gold Glove and Platinum Glove on his resume. According to media reports, the Cardinals gave up their fifth-best...
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Light on actual movement, Winter Meetings are heavy on speculation

Light on actual movement, Winter Meetings are heavy on speculation
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The second day of baseball's Winter Meetings were light on moves, but, as usual, heavy on speculation. The biggest move on Tuesday involved the Yankees, who traded third baseman Chase Headley to the Padres, leaving them without a proven third baseman, as well as an established second baseman. The Yankees traded second baseman Starlin Castro to the Marlins in the deal that brought Giancarlo Stanton to the Bronx. So what will the Yankees do? For now, the Yankees have...
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Stanton eager for "new chapter" with Yankees; Hall of Fame finally calls Morris, Trammell

Stanton eager for "new chapter" with Yankees; Hall of Fame finally calls Morris, Trammell
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Yankees, who a year ago were thought of as a rebuilding club, officially introduced Giancarlo Stanton, the National League MVP in 2017, as a member of their team. "This is a great new chapter in my life,'' Stanton said at a press conference Monday as baseball's Winter Meetings opened in the Magic Kingdom. Stanton, who led the majors with 59 home runs for the Marlins, also led with 132 RBIs and a .631 slugging percentage. His 1.007 OPS ranked fourth by the...
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Where the AL East stands before the Winter Meetings

Where the AL East stands before the Winter Meetings
We are not breaking any news here when we say the Orioles need starting pitching - at least three starters and certainly more - if they are going to be contenders in the 2018 American League East. The Orioles have Kevin Gausman, who pitched well in the second half after a lousy first half in 2017, and Dylan Bundy at the top of the rotation, but after that, it's all question marks. Baltimore is in catch-up mode. The New York Yankees, who unexpectedly came one win away from making the World...
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Checking in on the NL East before the Winter Meetings

Checking in on the NL East before the Winter Meetings
Baseball's Winter Meetings start Monday in Orlando, and while a slow-moving market has defined the offseason so far, that doesn't mean that deals - and endless speculation about deals that aren't going to happen - won't start making headlines in the Magic Kingdom. The Nationals are the defending National League East champions with 97 victories and it would be difficult to see why they wouldn't be the favorites to win the division in 2018, thanks to a rotation that has 2017 NL Cy Young...
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Will Joe Morgan's letter affect voters' Hall of Fame ballots?

Will Joe Morgan's letter affect voters' Hall of Fame ballots?
Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan has written a letter to baseball writers, urging them not to vote for players that have been tied to performance-enhancing drugs. Morgan didn't mention players by name, but pitcher Roger Clemens (54.1 percent of the vote last year) and outfielder Barry Bonds (53.8 percent) have been moving up in vote percentage each year, getting closer to the 75 percent needed to be enshrined. When Clemens and Bonds were first on the ballot in 2013, they were at 37...
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Arrival of Hall of Fame ballots opens another round of endless debate

Arrival of Hall of Fame ballots opens another round of endless debate
The holiday season has arrived, so that means turkey, wine and cheese, shopping, bright lights and a month of Hall of Fame voting discussions. Members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America started receiving their ballots in the mail to consider the 2018 class for induction into Cooperstown. There are 19 newcomers among the 33 players on the ballot, including Chipper Jones, Jim Thome, Johnny Damon and Omar Vizquel. There are seven candidates that have at least 50 percent of the vote...
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How close is Max Scherzer to punching his ticket to Cooperstown?

How close is Max Scherzer to punching his ticket to Cooperstown?
With consecutive National League Cy Young Awards, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer is one of 10 to have at least three Cy Young Awards. He won the 2013 AL Cy Young with Detroit, so he's one of six pitchers to have won the award three times. So how close is Scherzer to punching his ticket to Cooperstown? The answer: close, very close. A pitcher generally has to dominate his era for six to 10 years. No question, Scherzer and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw, who finished second in the...
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Previewing what might happen this offseason in the AL East

Previewing what might happen this offseason in the AL East
Here's what's going on in the American League East as the offseason begins: Baltimore: The Orioles, who finished last in the American League East, are in need of a rotation behind Kevin Gausman and Dylan Bundy. Gausman had a bad first half and a good second half. Bundy was their most consistent pitcher in 2017. ... They need to search all avenues, including free agents, trades, minor league free agents and prospects. It's possible they could get CC Sabathia, Lance Lynn or Alex Cobb. ... The...
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New managers bring change to National League East landscape

New managers bring change to National League East landscape
The National League East has three rookie managers - Dave Martinez in Washington, Gabe Kapler in Philadelphia and Mickey Callaway in New York - and here's a look at what the NL East teams will be up to this offseason: Atlanta: The Braves are looking for a replacement to make the roster decisions with general manager John Coppolella leaving because of a controversy involving international signing rules. ... The Braves need to fortify their bullpen and find a power bat. ... Their rebuilding...
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With 104 wins under their belts, Dodgers return to World Series for first time since 1988

With 104 wins under their belts, Dodgers return to World Series for first time since 1988
The Dodgers are in the World Series for the first time since 1988, a World Series remembered for a limping Kirk Gibson's pinch-hit home run against Oakland's Dennis Eckersley in a walk-off 5-4 win in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium. When the World Series returns to Dodger Stadium for Game 1 on Tuesday, the 104-win Dodgers, will play the 101-win Astros. The series will match two triple-digit win teams for the first time since 1970, when the 108-win Orioles beat the Reds, who had 102...
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Back in Fall Classic, Astros are one of eight teams to never win World Series

Back in Fall Classic, Astros are one of eight teams to never win World Series
The Astros are back in the World Series for the first time since 2005, the year they were swept by the White Sox. The Astros are one of eight teams never to win a World Series, a list that has the Nationals, Mariners, Brewers, Padres, Rangers, Rays and Rockies. The Nationals and Mariners are the only teams that haven't appeared in a World Series. The Astros' championship drought covers 55 years, currently the third-longest. The Astros started as the Colt .45s in 1962 and had that nickname...
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Cubs will themselves to win, prevail in "crazy" Game 5 over Nationals

Cubs will themselves to win, prevail in "crazy" Game 5 over Nationals
Bryce Harper swung and missed for strike three and Cubs catcher Willson Contreras tossed his glove and mask and joined a hug-fest of gray uniforms around closer Wade Davis on the pitcher's mound at a shocked Nationals Park. The Cubs beat the Nationals 9-8 to win their National League Division Series in five games. After the game, the Cubs headed to Los Angeles to get ready for a rematch with the Dodgers for the National League pennant. The Cubs are going to their third consecutive National...
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Maddon rolls the dice, pays the price for going against convention

Maddon rolls the dice, pays the price for going against convention
With one out and pinch-runner Victor Robles on first base in the eighth inning, the Nationals' Bryce Harper was at the plate against Cubs right-hander Carl Edwards Jr. Never mind that lefty Mike Montgomery was ready in the Cubs bullpen. Cubs manager Joe Maddon played the percentages. He left the lefty in the bullpen. Maddon wanted Edwards to face Harper, a left-handed batter, even though a lefty reliever would be a more traditional approach, but this is why Maddon liked the matchup: Edwards...
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Cubs wait out Strasburg, emerge with 1-0 lead in NLDS

Cubs wait out Strasburg, emerge with 1-0 lead in NLDS
Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg looked unhittable for five innings Friday night. Then the Chicago Cubs came to bat in the sixth inning. That's when everything changed. The Cubs scored twice against the Nationals starter, who had a 0.86 ERA after the All-Star break as well as a streak of 35 consecutive scoreless innings, on their way to a 3-0 win against the Nationals in Game 1 of the National League Division Series at Nationals Park. The Cubs' Javier Báez reached on a high chopper that...
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Breaking down the 10 postseason teams and their October storylines

Breaking down the 10 postseason teams and their October storylines
After losing three National League Division Series - to the Cardinals, Giants and Dodgers - the Nationals are in the postseason for the fourth time in six seasons. The Nationals, who finished with 97 wins and start the NLDS on Friday at home against the Cubs, have the deepest rotation, a rebuilt bullpen, depth, and a versatile offense that has power, speed and a blend of left-right hitters. They are the favorite to win the NL pennant and bring a World Series to Washington for the first time...
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A question-and-answer session as baseball hits September stretch run

A question-and-answer session as baseball hits September stretch run
A question-and-answer session for September: Question: The Nationals are on the verge of clinching the National League East. It seems early for clinch talk, right? Answer: Early clinches are defining the season when you consider the big leads of the Nationals, Dodgers and Astros. But there have been earlier clinch dates. The 1975 Reds clinched on Sept. 7. Cleveland clinched in 1995 and 1998 on Sept. 8 while the 1998 Yankees and 20 02 Braves each clinched Sept. 9. The Yankees that year...
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Wins and losses more important to Stanton than home run record

Wins and losses more important to Stanton than home run record
September is here, and already the Marlins' Giancarlo Stanton feels as if he's been asked a "zillion'' times about his surge in home runs. So if Stanton winds up with more than Roger Maris' 61 home runs and fewer than Barry Bonds' 73, does he own baseball's single-season home run record? Stanton paused and stared into his locker before answering the question at Nationals Park on Wednesday. He said earlier this month that he thinks Maris' 61 is the legitimate record, but he...
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Taking a look at the bizarre AL wild card race

Taking a look at the bizarre AL wild card race
The American League wild card race is bizarre, flawed or mediocre - whatever you choose to call it. In most seasons, teams struggling to stay above .500 would be long gone out of the race. Not this year. Here is what makes the AL wild card race so wild: * The Twins, who lost 103 games in 2016, are contenders even with a rotation that includes Bartolo Colon, Aaron Slegers, Dillion Gee and Tim Melville. Colon is 44 and looks like a sportswriter. Slegers has made one big league start, Gee 23 in...
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Where the American League postseason race stands

Where the American League postseason race stands
With less than two months to go, there's not a lot of drama in the National League races. The Nationals most likely will play either the Cubs, Brewers or surging Cardinals in the Division Series, while the Dodgers will play the winner of the projected Diamondbacks-Rockies wild card game. The American League is more complex. Teams are bunched and a .500 record keeps a team thinking October. The Orioles are contenders even though they were seven games under on July 16. The Orioles' schedule...
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