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:
baseballmusings.com, Yahoo! Sports, Lady Loves Pinstripes, JSOnline, USA Today, Babes Love Baseball, Brew Crew Ball, Baseball Nation, Drunk Jays Fans, ESPN.com, Lasorda's Lair, Dodgers Blog, HardballTalk, Baseball Prospectus, Lone Star Ball, NESN.com, The Big Lead, Athletics Nation, The Good Phight, Baseball Time in Arlington, SI Tracking Blog and Deadspin
RELATED:
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:
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
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:
Baseball Prospectus, Baseball Nation and HardballTalk
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.”
Sports Illustrated:
What we know and what we don't know about Braun's positive test
Discussion:
CNN and Sports Illustrated
Michael Hunt / Boston Herald:
Ryan Braun's test would be severe blow to Milwaukee area and baseball, if it's true
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
Mike Axisa / MLB Rumors:
Ryan Braun Tested Positive For Prohibited Substance
Discussion:
Lasorda's Lair, Blog Red Machine, JSOnline, Al's Ramblings, HardballTalk and Baseball Nation
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
RELATED:
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
Chris Jaffe / Hardball Times:
The Cooperstown case for Tim Raines — It's that time of the year again: Hall of Fame voting season. This month, the decade-long members of the BBWAA fill out their ballots for who belongs in Cooperstown. — There are many candidates on this year's ballot, and many would make perfectly fine Hall of Famers.
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:
Viva El Birdos, BBTF's Baseball Primer … and HardballTalk
Tom Singer / MLB.com:
D-backs bring back Ransom on Minors deal — Veteran Major League infielder Cody Ransom is getting another shot with the D-backs, who re-signed the 35-year-old to a Minor League contract in hopes he could yet approach the stellar Triple-A production he posted last season.
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:
Over the Monster and HardballTalk
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 …
