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Albany, NY – Well the Marlins are trying to reel in the big fish...
After making a big splash this off-season by signing shortstop Jose Reyes and closer Heath Bell, the Marlins are now making a serious run at the number 1 free agent on the market - Albert Pujols. Miami, St. Louis, and the Chicago Cubs are all reported to have lucrative offers on the table.
In other baseball news, the Mets have traded outfielder Angel Pagan to the Giants for outfielder Andres Torres and pitcher Ramon Ramirez. New York also signed free agent relievers Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch.
ESPN reports this morning that DH David Ortiz plans to accept the offer of salary arbitration that the Red Sox extended to him, meaning that he'll return to Boston for the 2012 season.
To Top 25 college hoops, Syracuse outlasted Marshall 62-56, North Carolina thumped Evansville 97-48, Missouri got past Villanova 81-71, Marquette rallied to beat Washington 79-77, Kansas held off Long Beach State 88-80, Pittsburgh rolled over VMI 97-70, and Memphis cruised past Miami 71-54.
On the Women's side, U-Conn demolished Texas A&M 81-51, Penn State embarrassed Virginia Tech 66-28, and Georgia roughed up Mercer 80-43.
To the ice, St. Louis skated past Detroit 3-2, Calgary outshot Carolina 7-6, the Islanders routed Tampa Bay 5-1, New Jersey downed Toronto 3-2 in OT, Phoenix dumped Nashville 3-2, Vancouver crushed Colorado 6-0, Columbus edged Montreal 3-2, Minnesota dropped San Jose 2-1, Anaheim held off Los Angeles 3-2, and Winnipeg upset Boston 2-1 - That's the Bruins first regulation loss since October 29th.
And in college football news, sources say the Big East is set to announce the additions of Boise State and San Diego State as football-only members and Houston, Central Florida and SMU for all sports as soon as today. The person says the five new schools will join in 2013.
I'm Tristan O'Neill, WAMC News.