Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
APSo Moore dealt for Odalis Perez, who wore out his welcome in Los Angeles, but provided some innings. Moore also saw left-hander Jorge De La Rosa as a great arm who needed an opportunity as a starter every fifth day rather than in middle relief, so he traded Tony Graffanino to Milwaukee for him.
Hudson was promoted and put into the rotation, Hochevar was signed, and Tyler Lumsden, another top pitching prospect, was added in a late-July deal for Mike MacDougal.
Moore also has dealt most of the rest of the one-time core of the Royals’ pitching future in Andrew Sisco, Runelvys Hernandez and Ambiorix Burgos — the latter for young starter Brian Bannister. But Greinke is in camp, apparently over his problems and intent upon making the team out of spring training, even though there is no longer is the need to rush him. And in Lumsden, Buckner and Hochevar, they have three top prospects to look for in the near future.
“We’ve done a tremendous job with developing position players,’’ Moore said. “Now we need to do it with pitchers.’’
The other big pitching off-season acquisition was a dice roll on Octavio Dotel. The early health prognosis is good, and the Royals feel they will benefit from his desire to be a closer — a role he wasn’t going to fill in New York, where he pitched only 10 innings in 14 games last year coming off surgery.
“We had 31 blown saves last year — most in the majors,’’ Moore said. “We needed an identity at the back end of our bullpen.’’
The other potentially huge camp question is third baseman Alex Gordon, widely regarded as the best prospect in the game. But the Royals are trying to avoid placing the Opening Day-starter label on him just yet, and instead will just see how things play out this spring. A positive development on that front is a budding relationship between the future franchise player and one from the past – Hall of Famer George Brett.
“Alex grew up in Nebraska, the Royals were his boyhood team,’’ Moore said. “So he knows all about George Brett.’’
Moore knows the Royals aren’t going to contend over night. But the pervasive feeling around camp is that the 100-loss seasons are a thing of the past. Ownership has allowed a payroll increase from $50 million to the mid-to-upper $50s this season, additional revenue streams will be coming with renovations at Kauffman Stadium, and almost half the payroll will be cleared next winter, when the contracts of Mike Sweeney, Reggie Sanders and Elarton expire, and there will be options on Dotel and Perez.
In other words, there will be plenty of wiggle room for another free-agent signing that could irk other teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
DeMarco: Plug in a well-heeled ownership group and negotiate one of those mega-bucks TV deals that are going around, and the Dodgers could become the west coast version of the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox.
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.