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Steve Popper / NorthJersey.com:
Mets' John Santana all smiles after erratic outing against Twins — Mets third baseman David Wright, left, and starting pitcher Johan Santana get together after the Minnesota Twins second home run in the second inning in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Friday. — But he couldn't resist a smile …
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Marty Noble / MLB.com:
Johan bested by former mates — Mets fall to Twins; Santos hits second spring homer — TWINS 7, METS 3 — Twins at the plate: Rookies Danny Valencia and Wilson Ramos, neither of whom was a teammate of Johan Santana, hit solo home runs against the Mets' ace in the second inning.
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Associated Press:
Stephen Strasburg fans 8 in 4 innings as Nats top Cards 13-5 — VIERA, Fla. (AP) — Stephen Strasburg (FSY) watched two of his first 11 pitches sail out of the ballpark. He didn't flinch. — So much for the notion that the Washington Nationals' top pitching prospect can't handle a little adversity.
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Adam Kilgore / Nationals Journal:
Stephen Strasburg's striking preference: groundball outs — Three starts, 9 innings, 149 pitches and 1 at-bat into his Washington Nationals career, Stephen Strasburg has basically been everything the Nationals hoped he would be. — For a bounty of reasons, Strasburg will certainly not be starting the season in major leagues.
Bill Ladson / MLB.com:
Strasburg's fate to be decided Saturday — Team meeting to determine if righty is ticketed for Minors — VIERA, Fla. — Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg made his third Spring Training start Friday night against the Cardinals at Space Coast Stadium, and it was a good one.
Peter Abraham / Boston Globe:
Red Sox sign Embree to minor-league deal — The Red Sox, unhappy with their bullpen options, today signed 40-year-old lefty Alan Embree to a minor-league deal that included an invitation to spring training. — With veteran Brian Shouse not particularly impressive and prospect Dustin Richardson getting hurt …
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Robert Cribb / Toronto Star:
Sabermetrics: Stats guru advising Blue Jays — There's no statistic too obscure for Blue Jays adviser Tom Tango, a self-taught, secretive superstar in the growing field of sabermetrics … Tom Tango, one of the Toronto Blue Jays' latest acquisitions, won't be pitching, catching or hitting for the club this season.
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Mike Silva's …
Fox Sports:
Shame we can't see Dodgers' true potential — Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005. He appears weekly on MLB on FOX. — Defenders of Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt — the few that exist — point to the team's two straight appearances …
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Fred Claire / MLB.com:
Lajoie excels at scouting intangibles — Former Tigers GM publishes book about his career — There was a very interesting point that came out of the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference held recently in Boston. — In a panel discussion on baseball analytics, with some of the bright young minds …
Geoff Baker / Seattle Times:
Reds 6, Mariners 2: Don Wakamatsu rips umpire over Milton Bradley “witch hunt” — Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu just went off on Class AAA umpire Jon Merry for ejecting Milton Bradley in the fourth inning. — “To me, it's almost like a witch hunt,” he said.
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Paul Sullivan / Chicago Tribune:
For Cubs core, this could be the last hurrah — Window of opportunity closing for Lee, Lilly, Soriano, Ramirez, Dempster, Piniella and Hendry — Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee tags out White Sox's Juan Pierre in the first inning. (Tony Dejak, Associated Press / March 19, 2010)
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Bruce Levine / ESPN:
Oney Guillen, son of White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, has resigned from his position with the team — Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen stormed past media representatives after Friday's Cubs-Sox game in Glendale, Ariz. It was the first time in anyone's recollection that Guillen didn't talk to media after a baseball game.
Bob Klapisch / NorthJersey.com:
At 38, Jorge Posada says he's far from done — TAMPA, Fla. - Jorge Posada isn't vain enough to ignore what's going on between Joe Mauer and the Twins - or, more accurately, what's not happening in their curiously stalled contract negotiation. The longer the game's best catcher goes without …
Rob Neyer / ESPN:
Yanks' ‘Core 4’ aging ... but this fast? — My friend Allen Barra on some surprising projections for a quartet of aging Bombers: … Actually, Nate Silver's not running Baseball Prospectus' PECOTA projections anymore; he's too busy with other things. I'm sure PECOTA's new masters are plenty bright …
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