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 …
Discussion:
JSOnline, Drunk Jays Fans, USA Today, Baseball Nation, Brew Crew Ball, Getting Blanked, Dodgers Blog, HardballTalk, ESPN.com, Baseball Prospectus, Lone Star Ball, NESN.com, Disciples of Uecker, The Big Lead, Athletics Nation, The Good Phight, Yahoo! Sports, Baseball Time in Arlington, SI Tracking Blog and Deadspin
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Teri Thompson / NY Daily News:
Ryan Braun's initial PED test results were ‘insanely high,’ NL MVP's lawyer insists client did not take PEDs — Outfielder's test results were twice the level of highest test ever taken: source — Ryan Braun wins the NL MVP in 2011 after batting .332 with 33 home runs and 111 RBI for the Brewers.
Discussion:
HardballTalk and JSOnline
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.”
Tom Haudricourt / JSOnline:
Source: Braun didn't take PED — By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel — A very good source on the Ryan Braun side of the drug testing controversy assures me that Braun did not test positive for a performance-enhancing drug, as reported by ESPN's “Outside the Lines.”
Discussion:
HardballTalk and Baseball Nation
Fox Sports:
Source says Braun's test not for PED — Baseball was rocked Saturday by an ESPN report that reigning National League MVP Ryan Braun has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. — A source close to Braun, however, said Sunday that although the player tested positive for a prohibited substance …
Discussion:
JSOnline and Dodgers Blog
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
Sports Illustrated:
What we know and what we don't know about Braun's positive test … The baseball world was shocked by reports of Ryan Braun testing positive under the terms of MLB's anti-doping policy. Since I began covering the connections between baseball and performance-enhancing drugs in 2004 …
Discussion:
Disciples of Uecker and Sports Illustrated
Mike Axisa / MLB Rumors:
Ryan Braun Tested Positive For Prohibited Substance
Discussion:
Blog Red Machine, Lasorda's Lair, JSOnline, Al's Ramblings and HardballTalk
Michael Hunt / Boston Herald:
Ryan Braun's test would be severe blow to Milwaukee area and baseball, if it's true
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
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:
Federal Baseball and MLB Rumors
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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
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
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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 …
Fox Sports:
Taxing issue for Red Sox in offseason — The Boston Red Sox are in a box. — A box that might prevent them from signing free-agent closer Ryan Madson, reduce their leverage in trade talks for Oakland Athletics closer Andrew Bailey and temper their pursuits of free-agent outfielder Carlos Beltran and Japanese right-hander Yu Davish.
Discussion:
HardballTalk
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, Rangers Blog and Lone Star Ball
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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, MLB Rumors, Lone Star Ball, MLB.com and Rangers Blog
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