OXON HILL, Md. -- The Cubs could use a closer, maybe someone like Wade Davis. Texas needs a center fielder, and most every team wants an extra arm.So now that Chris Sale got traded, baseball executives are trying to figure out whos next.Andrew McCutchen is still available, perhaps the Tigers really would deal Miguel Cabrera or Justin Verlander, and Cincinnati speedster Billy Hamilton might be on the move.Its incredible, the different directions that our conversations in the suite go, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.Boston made a big splash at the winter meetings Tuesday, getting Sale. The AL East champion Red Sox sent a package of four prospects including high-priced and highly talented hitter Yoan Moncada to the Chicago White Sox for the All-Star ace.The Red Sox also acquired top setup man Tyler Thornburg from Milwaukee for third baseman Travis Shaw and two minor leaguers, and neared a deal with free agent first baseman Mitch Moreland.Tampa Bay closed in on a two-year contract with All-Star catcher Wilson Ramos worth about $12.5 million. The 29-year-old hit .309 with a career-high 22 home runs and 80 RBI before tearing a knee ligament late in the season.More action could be in the works, too.Kyle Schwarber, of course, isnt going anywhere. The Cubs slugger completed a remarkable comeback from a knee injury in April by bashing his way to a World Series championship.Creative manager Joe Maddon sees something interesting in the future for Schwarber -- as in, maybe the leadoff spot after Dexter Fowler became a free agent.Schwarber is not a bad name, Kyle is not a bad name at all, Maddon said.Two years ago, I considered leading Kyle off and putting Dexter second. But I had all the dudes do all the work, all our nerds did all the work and they really liked Fowler one and like Schwarber two just based on the data, he said. So I went with that and it worked out well.Fowler, meanwhile, would make a nice fit in St. Louis.I know about Dexter, manager Mike Matheny said. Yeah, theres no question that hes one of the guys out there that not just the Cardinals but other teams are interested in.Im always available for whatever the recruiting process needs, he said.No movement yet on star closers Aroldis Chapman and Kenley Jansen, though the New York Yankees are looking at both of them.The Yankees already are facing the prospect of seeing Sale a lot next year after this trade put him in the same division. Sale bolstered a Red Sox rotation that also features recent AL Cy Young winner Rick Porcello, former award winner David Price and All-Star knuckleballer Steven Wright.Thats a big one. Thats a blockbuster. That was a wow, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. Obviously they gave up a lot and they got a lot.Bostons like the Golden State Warriors now in baseball. They got their (Kevin) Durant and their (Draymond) Green and (Klay) Thompson and (Stephen) Curry, he said.Mets GM Sandy Alderson said he thought the Sale trade might cause the rest of the trade market to start to loosen up a bit.Either way, the Mets figure to have a new face in spring training next year -- Tim Tebow.Manager Terry Collins said hed like to put the former NFL quarterback into a few exhibition games, even though Tebow still has a long path in his transition to playing baseball.The 29-year-old aspiring outfielder hit .194 in the Arizona Fall League, striking out 20 times in 70 plate appearances.Our players, theyre athletes, too. Theyre fans, too, Collins said. They would probably like to know how to run a quarterback sneak one day. Jatavis Brown Jersey . Aaron Harrison scored a 22 points for Kentucky (6-1), which has won four in a row following a Nov. 12 loss to current No. 1 Michigan State. Julius Randle overcame a scoreless first half and added his sixth double-double in as many games with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Los Angeles Chargers Jerseys .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. http://www.chargersauthenticofficialonline.com/authentic-dan-feeney-jersey.html . Sulaiman, 44, was chosen unanimously Tuesday in a vote by the leadership, the World Boxing Council said. Sulaiman becomes the sixth president of the organization. Korey Toomer Jersey . With their top three point guards and Kobe Bryant all sidelined by injury, the Lakers signed Marshall out of the D-League on Friday before their home game against Minnesota. Doug Flutie Jersey .500 on the season. The Jets are now 0-5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs. The game started the same way the Vancouver game started the night before, with the Jets taking the first two penalties of the game and killing off the first, but the Oilers getting on the board first, scoring on the second man-advantage. DraftKings and FanDuel, the two largest daily fantasy sports operators, have agreed to merge, the companies announced Friday.The merger, pending regulatory approval, is expected to close in the second half of 2017. Until then, both sites will continue to operate under their respective brand names.Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but sources close to the negotiations told ESPN that it is basically a 50/50 split between the fantasy giants. Each company will have three seats on the board, with one independent director. At closing, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins will be the CEO of the new company, while FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles will become the chairman of the board.The name of the joint company has not been revealed. It will have headquarters in New York and Boston.We have always been passionate about providing the best possible experience for our customers and this merger will help advance our goal of building a transformational global sports entertainment platform, Robins said in the release announcing the agreement. Joining forces will allow us to truly realize the potential of our vision, and as a combined company we will be able to accelerate the pace of innovation and bring a richer experience to our customers than we ever could have done separately.Being able to combine DraftKings and FanDuel, added Eccles, presents a tremendous opportunity for us to further innovate and disrupt the sports industry. While both companies have accomplished much already, this transaction will create a business that can offer a greater variety of offerings, appealing to new users, including the tens of millions of season-long fantasy players that havent yet tried our products.The merger is expected to draw scrutiny, potentially from the Federal Trade Commission. FanDuel and DraftKings make up more than 80 percent of the daily fantasy marketplace, but they are looking to pool their resources to grow their customer base by tapping into the much larger season-long market, a source privy to the companies strategy told ESPN. An estimated 40 million North Americans play only season-long fantasy sports, eight times more than the number of those who play daily fantasy.The benefit of the merger to the consumer, an important test for regulators, will be increased overall competition in the marketplace, the source said. The source added that DraftKings and FanDuel will work together in a streamlined fashion to conquer regulatory hurdles, which have hampered both businesses. They believe it could further open the fantasy market to entrepreneurship.Some smaller fantasy operators also view the merger as an opportunity.Prior to the tumult of the past year, FanDuel and DraftKings were well on their way to becoming multibillion-dollar pillar business[es] in sports, said Jeremy Levine, founder and CEO of DRAFT, a competing fantasy site. There still will be massive business built in this space, but it wont be FanDuel or DraftKings individually. Due to the merger, the opportunity is now there for the few companies that were able to survive and strengthen in the past year.In the meantime, with legal fees and regulatory costs mounting, the merger between DraftKings and FanDuel was seen as a necessity by some investors. Multiple high-volume players told ESPN they stopped playing because of the increasing rake, the commission fee charged by the sites. Overall play on both sites was described as soft by players.DraftKings and FanDuel each have approximately 320 employees.FanDuel was launched in July 2009 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and rose to the top of the industry with an innovative, condensed version of traditional season-long fantasy sports. DraftKings came along three years later and quickly took aim at FFanDuel, creating, at times, a hostile rivalry between the two leading operators and their CEOs.ddddddddddddBoth companies attracted large investments from media conglomerates and venture capitalists. They formed partnerships with professional sports leagues. The NBA has equity in FanDuel; Major League Baseball and the NHL are partners with DraftKings, along with 28 of the 32 NFL franchises.At their peak, the companies were each valued at more than $1 billion. But things changed in the fall of 2015.Heading into last football season, the sites unleashed massive marketing blitzes, flooding the airwaves with commercials touting million-dollar prizes. The two companies spent an estimated $750 million combined on ads, marketing and related expenses in 2015.The relentless advertising attracted a bevy of new users but also the attention of lawmakers and regulators.The scrutiny intensified after a DraftKings employee won $350,000 playing in an NFL contest on FanDuel. There were accusations the employee used inside information. An investigation by DraftKings found the employee did not use internal information that potentially could have given him an unfair advantage in submitting his winning lineup, but the damage had been done, and a firestorm of controversy ensued.In November 2015, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sent cease-and-desist letters to DraftKings and FanDuel, eventually forcing the companies out of one of their most important states for several months. Alabama, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Mississippi and Texas joined New York in ruling daily fantasy violated state gambling laws.FanDuel stopped operating paid contests in Texas, but DraftKings filed suit against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and continues to offer games in the state. Paxtons office said it would assess the impact of the merger on the pending litigation.Both sites are still involved in litigation against Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and also are contending with a consolidated class-action suit. They recently settled with Schneiderman over false advertising claims, agreeing to each pay $6 million. The settlement with Schneiderman, sources said, was one of the last hurdles before the merger could be completed.Nine states have passed legislation clarifying the legality of fantasy sports in the past two years. With the new laws came increased regulatory costs in the form of licensing fees and taxes. Theyve taken a toll on the companies finances and, along with legal costs, ultimately forced the merger, sources said.The New York Times reported both sites were having trouble meeting their day-to-day financial obligations, and multiple sources told ESPN that DraftKings and FanDuel were months behind on paying vendors and lobbyists. The merger, upon approval, would allow the companies to split legal fees and regulatory costs. Without it, some questioned whether they would survive.Up until recently, it seemed unlikely Eccles and Robins would be able to work together. They were known rivals and had different views on which direction to take the industry. DraftKings, for example, offers contests on golf and NASCAR, while FanDuel avoided those sports over legal concerns.They were the Jets and the Sharks, said Al Zeidenfeld, a high-level daily fantasy player and contributor to ESPN. You think the Jets and the Sharks would form one super neighborhood gang? No.Both platforms will remain separate and operational through the 2017 NFL season, while the deal is completed, the sites said.ESPN senior writers Don Van Natta and Darren Rovell contributed to this story. Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping China NFL Jerseys China Jerseys Cheap Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys 2019 Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Jerseys From China ' ' '