What’s New

There have been a lot of good players to come through the National League Central Division over the years. Even the Chicago Cubs have had a few of them but the opponents have also had a lot. One of the best ever was Albert Pujols during his time with the St. Louis Cardinals.

It has been a long time since he played for them, however, as many of his recent years have been spent with the Los Angeles Angels before being traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021. They made a deep playoff run but his stay there was short-lived.

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NEW YORK — The NBA has fined Minnesota Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince $15,000 for making an obscene gesture on the court.

The league announced the fine Sunday.

It stemmed from an incident that occurred at the end of the third quarter during the Timberwolves’ 116-95 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night. Prince and Dallas’ Luka Doncic both got technical fouls for barking at each other.

Prince scored 14 points off the bench as the Wolves stopped a two-game losing streak.

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MESA, Ariz. — The Tampa Bay Rays acquired outfielder Harold Ramirez in a trade with the Chicago Cubs on Friday.

Ramirez batted .268 with seven homers and 41 RBI in 99 games with Cleveland last season. He was acquired by the Cubs for cash in November.

Chicago got minor league infielder Esteban Quiroz in the deal with Tampa Bay. The 30-year-old Quiroz hit .268 with 12 homers and 48 RBI in 68 games with Triple-A Durham last year.

A native of Cartagena, Colombia, Ramirez, 27, is a .271 hitter over parts of three seasons with Miami and Cleveland. He ranked sixth among NL rookies with 116 hits for the Marlins in 2019.

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GLENDALE, Ariz. — Chicago White Sox designated hitter Yermin Mercedes will miss the start of the season because of a left hand injury.

A CT scan on Friday showed a hamate fracture in Mercedes’ hand. The team said he will have surgery Monday, and his projected recovery time is six to eight weeks.

The 29-year-old Mercedes was one of baseball’s hottest hitters at the beginning of last season, batting .415 with five homers and 16 RBI in 22 games in April. He angered Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa by homering on a 3-0 pitch from a Twins position player in the ninth inning of a 16-4 win at Minnesota on May 17.

Mercedes eventually cooled off, hitting .150 (16 for 107) over his final 31 games with Chicago before being demoted to Triple-A Charlotte on July 2.

After he was sent down, Mercedes announced he was quitting the game, and then returned to the Knights a day later.

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Ohio State junior forward E.J. Liddell will enter the 2022 NBA draft and forgo his remaining college eligibility by hiring an agent, he announced via Twitter on Friday.

“I will cherish the time and commitment of Buckeye Nation,” Liddell’s statement read in part. “I hope the feeling is mutual! With that, I’d like to announce that I will be hiring an agent and entering the 2022 NBA Draft.”

Ohio State’s NCAA tournament run ended with a 71-61 loss in the second round to Villanova. Liddell finished the game with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks in 35 minutes.

“Choosing to play for Coach [Chris] Holtmann has been the best decision for me not only as a player but as a person. Thank you for believing in me Coach,” Liddell said. “To our trainers, managers and the rest of our coaching staff, I appreciate you all for allowing me to carry on the great traditions and culture of being a Buckeye. Most importantly thank you God for everything. Without you none of this would have been possible.”

Liddell, the No. 38 prospect in the ESPN 100 for 2019, was named first-team All-Big Ten for a second consecutive season and averaged 19.4 points 7.9 rebounds and 2.5 assists. Liddell also led the Big Ten with 2.6 blocks per game. The Belleville, Illinois-born Liddell was named a third-team All-American by the Associated Press.

“I’m really excited for E.J. as he begins his NBA career,” Holtmann said. “He has developed and grown significantly as a player every single year as a Buckeye, and that will continue to be the case as an NBA player. E.J. has represented our program at the highest level with his excellent play, leadership and of course, his trademark smile. E.J. will always be a Buckeye. We love you, my man.”

The NBA combine will be held May 16-22 in Chicago, and the draft will be June 23 in Brooklyn, New York.

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Everyone knows that the Chicago Blackhawks are going to execute a rebuild. Kyle Davidson is their new general manager and he seems to know what his plan is. One thing that will be interesting to see is what happens with Jonathan Toews.

He has the rest of this year and all of next year left on his deal. He is still a player that can help any team in the National Hockey League win but he is not worth the 10.5 million dollar cap hit anymore which makes him tough to trade for. The Hawks will likely see him stay through his contract.

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DENVER — Chris Paul returned from a broken right thumb to help the Phoenix Suns wrap up the top seed in the NBA playoffs with a 140-130 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.

Devin Booker led Phoenix with a season-high 49 points, and Paul had 17 points — 15 of them after halftime — and 13 assists in the Suns’ seventh straight victory.

The Suns, who won 11 of the 15 games while their 12-time All-Star point guard was out, lead the NBA with a 60-14 record and are trying to make the NBA Finals for a second straight season after losing to the Milwaukee Bucks last year.

The Nuggets got 28 points from Nikola Jokic, 23 from rookie Bones Hyland and 21 from Aaron Gordon. They shot 59.3% from the floor, but Phoenix was even hotter, hitting at a 60.5% clip.

Mikal Bridges added 22 points for the Suns, who trailed by nine points early on but took the lead for good on Bridges’ basket that made it 115-114 midway through the final quarter.

Booker was 16-of-25 from the field, while Bridges was 8-of-9. Booker, Bridges and Deandre Ayton have played well in Paul’s absence, and Ayton had a career-high 35 points Wednesday night in a comeback victory at Minnesota. He had 16 on Thursday night.

Paul returned roughly five weeks after breaking his right thumb in a game against the Houston Rockets on Feb. 16, just before the All-Star break.

“It’s good to have him back,” Suns coach Monty Williams said about an hour before tipoff. “He’s been working diligently to not just get back but play at a level he wants to play. I’m sure the guys are jacked up.”

“I knew he was close to coming back and I was just hoping that wouldn’t be tonight,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said while Paul was warming up at an empty Ball Arena.

The Suns were worried that Paul might miss the remainder of the regular season because of the thumb injury, but the veteran had been active in recent practices in a push to return.

With a nine-game lead over the second-place Memphis Grizzlies with eight games left for both teams, the Suns wrapped up the best record in the NBA and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.

They also have the NBA-best road record at 30-6.

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The transition from former Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace to new and current general manager Ryan Poles has been a sudden one. The Bears hardly have any Pace draft picks left at this point.

Poles has made some tough decisions in parting ways with veterans formerly acquired under the Pace administration, all while taking a “wait and see” approach during the first two weeks of free agency.

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