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TORONTO — Tigers shortstop Javier Baez was removed from Thursday’s game against the Blue Jays after he lost track of how many outs there were and ran into a double play.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch removed Baez in the third, one inning after Baez’s gaffe on the bases.

“If you watch the last couple of series, we’ve made a number of mental mistakes, and the one thing we can control is our preparedness and our readiness,” Hinch said after the Tigers’ 3-1 victory. “It’s a message to our whole team that we’ve got to clean that up.”

Facing Chris Bassitt, Baez doubled off the left-field wall with one out in the second for his first extra-base hit this season. Baez didn’t run hard out of the batter’s box, apparently thinking he had homered.

Baez broke for third and rounded the base on Akil Baddoo’s liner to center and was easily doubled up for the third out.

“My mind is everywhere right now,” Baez said. “I’m just trying to focus on my hitting and my timing and other stuff.”

Baez said the reason he lost track of the outs was he was hitting sixth, lower in the lineup than usual, and believed he was Detroit’s third batter of the inning.

Between innings, television cameras caught Hinch and Baez descending the steps that lead from the dugout to the clubhouse for a brief chat. Baez returned to the dugout, grabbed his glove, untucked his shirt and left again.

“Obviously we’ve got to show respect to the game,” Baez said. “He took a decision and I respect that. He’s the manager and we’ve got to respect what he does.”

Hinch said it was “very rare” for Baez to make such a blunder.

“He’s one of the better baseball minds on our team,” Hinch said. “It’s a big move because we take a potent bat out of our lineup.”

This wasn’t the first time Baez has been benched for a baserunning gaffe. In 2021, Cubs manager David Ross removed Baez from a game against Cleveland when Baez was doubled off after running from first to third with one out.

Baez signed a $140 million, six-year contract with Detroit in December 2021. He hit .238 with 17 home runs and 67 RBIs in 144 games last season.

Hinch said Baez would return to the lineup for Friday’s home game against San Francisco, adding that the decision to bench him wasn’t easy.

“I don’t want to embarrass anybody,” Hinch said. “I don’t want to lessen our bench. I don’t want to take out one of our starters. He’s a premium player. But I also don’t want to see a team make mental mistakes.”

Tigers first baseman Spencer Torkelson said he had no issue with Hinch making an example of Baez.

“It shows you that it doesn’t matter what your name is, you will get disciplined,” Torkelson said. “I don’t know what guys think about that in the clubhouse but I think that’s the right thing to do.”

Baez said his poor performance so far this season might have factored into Hinch’s decision to take him out of the game.

“Anybody can make mistakes,” Baez said. “At this point, the way we’re playing and the way I’m playing, it’s obviously going to be worse. If I’m hot and I have seven homers and I make that same mistake, I would have stayed in the game. I’ve got no excuses. It’s just part of the game.”

Jonathan Schoop entered at third base in the bottom of the third, with Nick Maton moving from third to shortstop.

Neither Matt Vierling nor Eric Haase was in Detroit’s starting lineup Thursday. Both Vierling and Haase were thrown out on the bases in Wednesday’s 4-3, 10-inning loss. Vierling came on in the seventh as a pinch-hitter and finished the game in right field.

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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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