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.
PBT: Jeremy Lin wasn't his hot self on Saturday, but he still led the Knicks to victory.
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.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
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.
“Jon’s very aware of how I feel about him,” Francona said. “I think he knows how the entire organization feels about him. He’s got a pretty mature attitude toward this whole thing. He’s fine.”
Santana, though, has the track record.
He is 93-44 with a 3.22 ERA in eight major league seasons and won the AL Cy Young Award in 2004 and 2006. He slipped last season when he went 15-13 with a 3.33 ERA. It was his worst winning percentage and ERA in the past six seasons.
Still, three teams considered giving up plenty of top young players to get him.
In four starts against the Red Sox over the last three seasons, Santana was 1-1 with a 2.63 ERA. He had 23 strikeouts and six walks in 24 innings.
For Boston, he would have formed a formidable one-two punch with Beckett, coming off a 20-7 season with a 3.27 ERA. Instead, the Red Sox and Yankees are following the same path — keeping young players who developed in their farm systems and don’t make much money rather than trading them for one ace who commands a rich contract.
But Francona isn’t thinking about Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Ian Kennedy, three rookies last year who could be in the Yankees’ rotation this year.
The manager will be figuring out how to squeeze six starters into five spots.
“I don’t want to rate the Yankees,” Francona said. “I’ve got a tough enough time worrying about us. I don’t know. I hope every team we play struggles.”
And he certainly has no time to think about the next time Santana could show up in Fenway’s visitors’ clubhouse — in the World Series.
“You’re getting way ahead of me,” Francona said.
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.
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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.