Top News:
ESPN:
Ryan Braun tests positive for PED — National League MVP Ryan Braun, who last season led the Milwaukee Brewers to their first division title in nearly three decades, has tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug and faces a 50-game suspension if the initial finding is upheld …
RELATED:
Fox Sports:
I'm positive: MLB will never be clean — Here we go again. — A bombshell revelation about a major leaguer testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. The player disputing the result through arbitration. A spokesperson for the player saying, “There was absolutely no intentional violation of the (drug-testing) program.”
Mike Axisa / MLB Rumors:
Ryan Braun Tested Positive For Prohibited Substance — SUNDAY, 11:50am: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hears from a source that Braun tested positive for a prohibited substance, not a performance-enhancing drug (Twitter link). Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was told the same thing …
Discussion:
JSOnline, Blog Red Machine, Lasorda's Lair, Al's Ramblings and HardballTalk
Richard Justice / MLB.com:
Braun deserves the benefit of the doubt — Reigning NL MVP denies using performance-enhancing drugs — Ryan Braun deserves the benefit of the doubt. There, I said it. That is not a popular position on steroids, is it? — We want to hang 'em high and sort out the facts later.
Discussion:
Al's Ramblings
Michael Hunt / Boston Herald:
Ryan Braun's test would be severe blow to Milwaukee area and baseball, if it's true — MILWAUKEE — I'm not sure what it was like around here when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was traded years ago, but at least there were early distant warning signs that howitzer blast of a news item would occur.
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
Geoff Baker / The Seattle Times:
If Ryan Braun's positive PED test is upheld, baseball writers should demand re-vote for National League MVP — Stunning news today that Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun failed a test for performance enhancing drugs weeks before he was named National League Most Valuable Player.
Discussion:
JSOnline, joy of sox, Baseball Nation and Getting Blanked
Michael Vega / Boston Globe:
Bobby Valentine: Bard to be prepped as starter in spring — Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said reliever Daniel Bard, who projected as the team's closer after the departure of Jonathan Papelbon to the Philadelphia Phillies, would be prepped as a starter during spring training.
Discussion:
HardballTalk and joy of sox
RELATED:
Nick Cafardo / Boston Globe:
The purse strings get a bit tighter over at Fenway — The bottom line is this: You must have a good closer to win the American League East and make it deep into the playoffs. — The Red Sox lost Jonathan Papelbon, one of the best closers in baseball, and have yet to replace him.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
Joe Strauss / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Pujols: ‘It was about the commitment.’ … ANAHEIM, Calif. • Shortly before noon local time Saturday, Albert Pujols slipped into a fitted Los Angeles Angels cap and a crisp home white jersey before a crowd of more than 4,000 boisterous fans. — It was 11:50 a.m. to be precise.
Discussion:
HardballTalk
RELATED:
Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
Rangers, Kinsler talking new deal — General manager Jon Daniels has said throughout the off-season that retaining the core players from two World Series runs is the top priority for the Texas Rangers, though for now the process is in the preliminary stages.
Discussion:
Getting Blanked, HardballTalk, Lone Star Ball, MLB Rumors, MLB.com and Rangers Blog
RELATED:
George A. King III / New York Post:
Yanks willing, waiting to make a deal — It makes no difference if they're in a hotel room in Dallas or their Yankee Stadium offices: the Yankees aren't abandoning their patient approach to altering the roster. — Brian Cashman departed the Winter Meetings Thursday not optimistic about signing …
Discussion:
The LoHud Yankees Blog, Pinstripe Alley, Lone Star Ball and Rangers Blog
RELATED:
Ken Gurnick / MLB.com:
Source: Dodgers interested in Mets' Murphy — LOS ANGLES — Daniel Murphy of the Mets is the player the Dodgers tried to trade for at the Winter Meetings, according to a baseball source, and they might make another run at him. — Murphy was the unnamed player general manager Ned Colletti referred …
Discussion:
Amazin' Avenue, HardballTalk, MetsBlog.com and MLB Rumors
Fox Sports:
Price doesn't fight man urinating on car — Rays pitcher David Price narrowly avoided a scuffle with a man in Tampa, Fla., after confronting him when he saw him urinating on the door of his car. — Rays at a glance — Price had been working as a guest bartender at Rays manager Joe …
