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Jeff Passan / Yahoo! Sports:
Playing the slots — One of the usual exercises during baseball's collective-bargaining negotiations goes something like this: Owners ask for a system to pay draft picks pre-determined bonuses. The union says no. And after that short dalliance, they discuss bigger, more important things.
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Jim Callis / Baseball America:
Clubs Will Feel Porcello Aftershocks — As Rick Porcello nears completion of a record contract with the Tigers, the aftershocks will be felt in several other negotiations with first-round picks, most notably David Price (No. 1 overall, Devil Rays), Mike Moustakas (No. 2, Royals), Matt Wieters (No. 5, Orioles).
Murray Chass / New York Times:
Deadline Nears for Clubs to Sign Top Draft Picks — If the commissioner's office could, it would put a cap on bonuses paid to drafted players. It can't, so it instead recommends bonuses for each slot of the first five rounds of the June draft. — If it could, the commissioner's office …
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Lone Star Ball
Danny Knobler / Detroit Tigers Insider:
Tigers to sign Porcello to record $7.3 million deal — DETROIT — First-round draft pick Rick Porcello has agreed to sign with the Tigers. — Porcello, the team's first-round draft pick in June, will get a record $7.3 million guaranteed over a four-year major-league contract.
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Mack Avenue Tigers
Jim Callis / Baseball America:Tigers Near Record Deal With Porcello
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The Detroit Tiger Weblog
Jayson Addcox / MLB.com:
Notes: Little holds closed-door meeting — Manager looking for Dodgers to snap three-week slide — LOS ANGELES — Manager Grady Little held a team meeting prior to Monday night's game against the Houston Astros in an attempt to get his team out of a three-week funk in which the Dodgers …
Discussion:
6-4-2
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Dylan Hernandez / Los Angeles Times:
All doors remain closed for this team — Little has pregame meeting, Garciaparra a mid-game tirade (and ejection), and all it amounts to is L.A.'s 12th loss in 15 games, 4-1 to Astros. — The signs of desperation were everywhere. — Grady Little spoke to his team for 20 minutes behind closed doors in a pregame meeting.
Discussion:
Associated Press
Paul Harris / MLB.com:
Notes: Polanco sets all-time record — Monday's errorless game gives infielder milestone — DETROIT — Despite the fact it was set in a loss, the record for most consecutive errorless games by a second baseman means a lot to Placido Polanco. — "This game has been around for a long time," Polanco said.
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Associated Press:
Polanco sets error-less mark — DETROIT (AP) — Placido Polanco of the Detroit Tigers set a major league record for second baseman by playing his 144th straight game without an error in a 7-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics on Monday night. — "I have to really thank the organization …
Dom Amore / Hartford Courant:
Powerful Company — Right Off The Bat, The 500 Home Run Club Is Tough To Separate — Here we take the 22 members of the 500 home run club and rank them, not by how many they hit - you could do that yourself - but by how they hit them. Who was most remembered as a home run hitter?
David Andriesen / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Sexson blasts away at funk — 9th-inning homer wins it for M's, caps 3-RBI night — It was a dream matchup between the Venezuelan superstar pitcher of today and the man who many expect to be the Venezuelan superstar pitcher of tomorrow. — In the end, however, neither was around when the game was decided.
Paul Meyer / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Pirates Notebook: Phelps fits into plans for 2008 in key way — The Pirates' 2007 season must run its course, but early hints about the makeup of the 2008 team are surfacing. — One arose in the second game last night against San Francisco when Josh Phelps made his first start at catcher since Oct. 5 …
Discussion:
Bucs Dugout
Nick Cafardo / Boston Globe:
Home stretch good time to make a stand — If you're going to make a case for why the Red Sox will not lose their lead in the AL East, it was precisely what we saw last night: Their starting pitching is too good. — If you're going to make a case for why they might squander it …
Richard Sandomir / New York Times:
The Voice You Don't Hear on Fox Belongs to Joe Buck — Joe Buck ended his regular-season baseball schedule for Fox Sports on Aug. 4, having called eight games in 19 weeks and the All-Star Game, his lightest load since he was anointed the network's lead major league baseball voice in 1996.
Anthony McCarron / NY Daily News:
Catching Mets' eye — Pudge and Posada on radar for 2008 — The Mets are hoping Paul Lo Duca's hamstring heals quickly and Ramon Castro's back isn't a lingering hindrance. They have catching questions, however, well beyond this season and there are two possible splashy winter solutions - Jorge Posada and Pudge Rodriguez.
Discussion:
New York Post
Jon Paul Morosi / Detroit Free Press:
Tigers agree to trade minor leaguer Hannahan to Oakland — The Tigers have agreed to trade Jack Hannahan, an infielder at Triple-A Toledo, to the Oakland Athletics, according to an individual with knowledge of the deal. — Hannahan is expected to fly to the West Coast with Oakland's big-league club …
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