Basisphilosophie » playing winter ball in his native Dominican

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Minnesota Twins slugging prospect Miguel Sano will have Tommy John surgery on his throwing arm and miss the 2014 season. The 20-year-old third baseman had been trying to rehabilitate a strained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He was hurt in October while playing winter ball in his native Dominican Republic. Twins doctors, along with orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews, recommended rest for Sano in early November. Despite making strides during a two-month throwing program, Sano reported pain in his elbow after making an off-balance throw during an intrasquad game Thursday. An MRI exam revealed a partially torn ligament. "When I threw a couple days ago, (there was) no injury, no pain, nothing. When I threw to first, it hurt a little and I talked to the trainer," Sano said. "I think when I come back I will be the same player." The Twins said the surgery will likely take place in March. "We wanted to give him an opportunity to try and rehab it," Twins assistant general manager Rob Antony said. "If it would have worked, he wouldnt have missed the season. It didnt work." The recovery period for position players is shorter than it is for pitchers undergoing Tommy John surgery. The Twins expect Sano to resume hitting in about four months, and he should return to playing the field in eight months. Sano hit a combined 35 home runs last season between Class A Fort Myers and Double-A New Britain while batting .280 with 103 RBIs and counts Boston slugger David Ortiz among his mentors. Sano hit 28 homers with 100 RBIs in 2012 at Class A. Nike Air Max 1 Italia .Y. - His opponent couldnt stop him, and LeBron James didnt quite know what to think when his coach tried. Air Max 1 Scontate Italia .com) - The Chicago White Sox have officially announced that the club has agreed to terms with utilityman Emilio Bonifacio on a one-year, $4 million contract that includes a team option for the 2016 season. http://www.airmax1scontate.it/ . Returning to Davis Cup tennis, Federer cruised past Ilija Bozoljac, winning 6-4, 7-5, 6-2 in less than two hours. Federer faced little challenge from Bozoljac, who served well but still was no match for his Swiss opponent. Air Max 1 Scontate Online . The Gatineau Olympiques head coach will lead Canada in its quest to end its gold medal drought at the 2015 world junior hockey championship held in Montreal and Toronto at the end of this year. Nike Air Max 1 Uomo .com) - The Minnesota Twins made it official on Wednesday, announcing the signing of outfielder Torii Hunter to a one-year contract.Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) - There is no worse month on the baseball calendar than January. Yes, the Hall of Fame announcement comes and that is always good for some debate, but other than that ... nothing. And thats probably a good thing because with the newly formed College Football Playoff and the NFL postseason in full swing, baseball is really on the back burner in the sports pantheon. More so than usual, anyway. Regardless, it certainly makes for a boring time of the year if you are covering the sport. And while we still may be less than a month away from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, there are still some big questions that need to be answered. For instance ... WHERE IS MAX SCHERZER GOING TO WIND UP? This may have been the biggest question heading into the offseason and here we are on Jan. 14 and still have no idea how this is going to play out. The process was likely slowed by the notion floated from Scherzers agent, Scott Boras, that it could take up to $200 million to land the former AL Cy Young Award winner. Still and all, its probably the same teams you initially thought would be in the mix for Scherzer that are still in the running, despite statements from both the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers that they were no longer interested. Given Boras past relationship with the Washington Nationals, youd have to think they could be a factor. I thought all along he would wind up in the Bronx, but now I am not so sure. However, it is starting to sound like the Tigers could once again be a factor, which could then lead them to move David Price. And if that happens, it could be a wild few weeks. One team that may be laying in the weeds, though, is the St. Louis Cardinals. They normally dont delve into this type of contract, but it does make some sense. Scherzer is from St. Louis and the Cards have a ton of injury concerns in that rotation. Plus Jon Lester going to Chicago may have upped the ante for the Cardinals. WILL THE RED SOX ADD ANOTHER STARTER? Speaking of Lester, the Red Sox failed to re-sign him and have never really addressed the top of their rotation. And if they werent willing to go over $130 million or so for Lester, it makes zero sense to think theyd do it for Scherzer. Now the Red Sox added some depth to their rotation this winter, bringing in the likes of Rick Porcello, Wade Miley and Justin Masterson. Its a nice group of No. 3 pitchers, but theres no real ace in the mix. Should Scherzer find his way back to Detroit, dont be surprised to see the Red Sox get involved in a potential Price blockbuster. Righty James Shields is still out there, too, and likely biding his time to offer his services to the losers of the Scherzer sweepstakes. WHO IS GOING TO PLAY SHORTSTOP FOR THE METS? Since the final game of the 2014 season, the New York Mets have been linked to almost every shortstop in the league. Yet here we are almost a month away from spring training and the odds-on favorite to be the teams Opening Day shortstop is once again either Wilmer Floores or Ruben Tejada.dddddddddddd A Troy Tulowitzki deal was probably always a pipe dream, but the Mets failed to land a Jed Lowrie or Asdrubal Cabrera. The fact they were in on Ben Zobrist last week tells you, though, that they are looking to fill that spot. There are some options left for them. Rafael Furcal is still available, but at age 37, is he any better an option than what the Mets have in-house? If the Mets do truly want a shortstop, why not just give the Toronto Blue Jays a call and ask about Jose Reyes? The wear and tear from that turf is robbing him of the thing that once made him so electric. The Mets have the pieces to get a deal done. Isnt it something to explore at least? Or maybe they do actually believe in Flores? ARE THE PHILLIES DONE WHEELING AND DEALING? One of the busier teams this offseason has been the Philadelphia Phillies. They finally cut ties with longtime shortstop Jimmy Rollins and may be ready to do the same with both Cole Hamels and Ryan Howard, especially the latter. Finding a taker for Hamels shouldnt be that hard, even with the $90 million- plus still owed to him. Hamels is an ace. Any team would want him. For the Phils, its a matter of what you are getting back. Like we mentioned earlier, the Red Sox are a team that could make a move, as well as a team like San Diego. Hamels is from San Diego and despite all the other moves they have made this offseason, the Padres probably still arent a playoff team in the NL. Getting Hamels would change that. Now the Phillies unloading Howard and his $50 million is a different story. The former NL MVP may not be as feared as he once was, but he still slugged 23 home runs and drove in 95 runs last year. However, he only hit .223 and struck out 190 times. Still, there could be a market for him, provided the Phils eat a ton of that salary. IS THE GAME GOING TO SPEED UP? The owners meetings are taking place this week in Arizona, the final ones presided over by outgoing commissioner Bud Selig, and the biggest topic on the agenda is the effort to speed up these games. Its probably unlikely that a pitch clock is going to be implemented anytime soon, but there could be some tweaks to speed up the game, particularly in regards to the replay process. Far too often last season, managers would take a nice little stroll out to an umpire and stay there until he got word from his dugout if he should challenge a play. One of the changes that could be made is that once a manager leaves the dugout, that automatically triggers his challenge. Another pace of play discussion will center around the experiment MLB used in the Arizona Fall League. A hitter was required to keep one foot in the batters box at all times with exceptions for foul balls, wild pitches and timeouts. With no current major league rule to deter hitters from stepping out of the box, they are free to stroll away after every pitch. With this rule, if a player leaves the box completely, he can be penalized with a strike. Ugh. Spring training cant come soon enough. ' ' '