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ARLINGTON, Texas — Texas Rangers shortstop Corey Seager will miss at least four weeks after being placed on the injured list Wednesday with a left hamstring strain after getting hurt running the bases.

General manager Chris Young said Seager had an MRI that showed a Grade 2 strain. Seager, who got hurt in the fifth inning of Tuesday night’s game against Kansas City, spent nearly a month on the IL with a left hamstring strain during the 2019 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

“Somebody of Corey’s caliber is not replaceable, but it leads to opportunity for other players to step up. And that’s what good teams do,” Young said. “All good teams, every team, goes through injuries. And we knew something like this would happen, didn’t know when or to whom.”

Texas went into Wednesday night’s game against the Royals leading the AL West with a 7-4 record.

While Seager went on the 10-day IL, the Rangers activated switch-hitting center fielder Leody Taveras from that list. Taveras, who was set to return from his rehab assignment sometime this week, began the season on the IL because of a left oblique strain sustained during batting practice early in spring training.

Taveras was back in the lineup batting seventh for the Rangers. Josh Smith was the starting shortstop and hitting second, Seager’s usual spot in the order.

Seager was off to an impressive start in the second year of his $325 million, 10-year contract with the Rangers. He got hurt running out an opposite-field double into the left-field corner, his fifth consecutive game with an extra-base hit. He was seventh in the American League hitting .359 overall, and with nine walks had a .469 on-base percentage.

“He’s disappointed. Obviously, no player wants to be injured. Corey is off to a great start. He’s been swinging, even through spring training to the beginning of the season, as well as anybody in the game,” Young said. “He’s bummed about it, disappointed not to be out there with his teammates. … We’ll get him back healthy and he’ll pick right up where he left off.”

After cleanly making the turn around first, Seager took a few more steps before he suddenly pulled up and then limped the rest of the way to second base. He briefly reached toward the back of his leg, bent down and then almost immediately started going back toward the Rangers’ dugout, even before a team trainer got all the way out to check on him.

Smith took over as the pinch runner and stayed in the game at shortstop. Smith avoided an IL stint last week after he got hit by a pitch in the face and needed six stitches. The Rangers also have utility player Ezequiel Duran, who can play short, on the roster.

“We feel like we have good depth and versatility in the infield with Smith and Duran and certainly we are excited to see more of them and hopefully fill the void as best we can until Cory is ready to come back,” Young said.

Seager played 151 games in his debut with the Rangers last season, when he never missed more than three games in a row. He hit a career-high 33 homers and was an All-Star for the third time.

But he missed about 2½ months of the 2021 season with the Dodgers because of a fractured right hand after getting hit by a pitch. Along with the previous hamstring injury, he was limited to only 26 games in 2018 because of right elbow surgery.

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Wisconsin fires offensive coordinator after 2 years

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Wisconsin fires offensive coordinator after 2 years

Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo on Sunday, a day after the Badgers’ 16-13 home loss to No. 1 Oregon.

In a statement, Badgers coach Luke Fickell thanked Longo for his two seasons with the program, while adding, “We are not where we need to be and believe this decision is in the best interest of the team.”

Wisconsin ranks 97th nationally in scoring and 102nd in passing while operating an Air Raid-style offense that Longo brought with him from North Carolina and other stops.

The Badgers, who lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a season-ending injury Sept. 14, had only three points and 88 yards in the second half against Oregon, which rallied from a 13-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter.

Wisconsin ranked 101st nationally in scoring in Longo’s 23 games as coordinator and failed to eclipse 13 points on its current three-game losing streak. Quarterback Braedyn Locke had only 96 passing yards against the Ducks.

Fickell did not immediately announce an interim coordinator for Wisconsin’s final regular-season games against Nebraska and Minnesota.

Fickell had long targeted Longo for a coordinator role, going back to his time as Cincinnati’s coach. Longo, 56, oversaw productive offenses at Ole Miss, North Carolina, Sam Houston State and other spots but never consistently got traction at a Wisconsin program that had operated dramatically differently on offense before his arrival.

“This team still has a lot in front of us and I am committed to doing everything we can to close out this season with success,” Fickell said in his statement.

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4-star QB Jones, former FSU commit, picks Florida

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4-star QB Jones, former FSU commit, picks Florida

Four-star quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. has committed to Florida, he told ESPN on Sunday, joining the Gators’ 2025 class four days after pulling his pledge from Florida State.

Jones, a four-year starter at Florida’s Mandarin High School, is ESPN’s No. 9 dual-threat passer in the Class of 2025. After multiple trips to Florida throughout his recruitment, Jones returned to campus Saturday, taking an official visit with the Gators during the program’s 27-16 win over LSU. A day later, Jones stands as the lone quarterback pledge in a 2025 Florida class that includes five pledges from the ESPN 300.

“I pretty much saw everything I needed to see when I visited last spring — I just love everything around the campus,” Jones told ESPN. “And then hanging out with the guys yesterday, seeing the camaraderie with each other, that really just sealed it for me.”

Jones was the longest-tenured member of Mike Norvell’s 2025 class at Florida State before his decommitment from the Seminoles on Thursday morning.

Jones’ exit came days after Norvell announced the firings of three assistant coaches on Nov. 10, including offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Alex Atkins. Jones was the first Florida State commit to pull his pledge in the wake of the staff shakeup but marked the Seminoles sixth decommitment since the start of the regular season, joining five ESPN 300 recruits who have left Norvell’s recruiting class across the program’s 1-9 start.

Jones’ commitment follows a key late-season victory for Billy Napier on Saturday and marks the Gators’ first recruiting win since athletic director Scott Strickland announced on Nov. 7 that Florida would stick with the third-year coach beyond the 2024 season.

Uncertainty over Napier’s future had weighed down Florida’s recruiting efforts in the 2025 class as the Gators began November with the No. 39 class in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle. But Jones’ pledge comes as a boost for Florida one day after the Gators hosted a handful of high-profile flip targets, including five-star offensive tackle Solomon Thomas (Florida State pledge) and four-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench (Texas pledge).

When Jones signs with Florida, he’ll arrive on campus flanked by fellow in-state offensive talents in four-star wide receivers Vernell Brown III (No. 44 in the ESPN 300) and Naeshaun Montgomery (No. 115), as well as four-star running back Waltez Clark (No. 223). Florida is also set to sign a pair of in-state defenders from the 2025 ESPN 300 between four-star defensive end Jalen Wiggins (No. 68) and four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. (No. 121).

With Jones’ commitment, Florida has another jolt to its momentum on the recruiting trail as the Gators seek to chart a strong finish in the 2025 cycle next month. More imminently, Florida will host No. 11 Ole Miss on Saturday.

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Ted Williams’ 1946 MVP award sells for over $500K

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Ted Williams' 1946 MVP award sells for over 0K

A rare souvenir postcard picturing Hank Aaron as a rookie with the Indianapolis Clowns of the Negro Leagues sold for nearly $200,000 at a baseball memorabilia auction that also included Ted Williams’ 1946 AL MVP award, which went for $528,750.

The Aaron postcard from the scrapbook of scout Ed Scott, who discovered Aaron, went for $199,750 following a bidding war that soared past the pre-sale estimate of $5,000-$10,000, Hunt Auctions said.

The auction included 280 items from Williams’ personal collection that had been held by his daughter, Claudia, who died last year. Among the other items were a silver bat awarded for his 1958 batting title, which sold for more than $270,000, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom presented to him by fellow naval aviator George H.W. Bush, which went for $141,000.

The sale also included items from the collection of Rutherford Hayes Jones, the business manager of the Washington Giants, one of the earliest Black baseball teams. The trove was discovered in 2001 in a suitcase, where it had been unseen for 40 years.

A first batch of items from Claudia Williams’ collection went up for auction in 2012 at Fenway Park and garnered more than $5 million.

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