UConn Huskies head coach Paul Pasqualoni has released his depth chart for the Syracuse game on Saturday and there are some changes to the depth chart from last week against Pittsburgh but none on the offensive side of things.

Jesse Joseph has regained his starting spot at defensive end with Teddy Jennings as his backup. B.J. McBryde was behind Jennings last week but is now the backup to Trevardo Williams with Marcus Campbell now no where to be seen on the two deep.

There’s still no Blidi Wreh-Wilson on the depth chart and once again I expect that Pasqualoni will address his situation during his press briefing on Tuesday.

For a full look at the UConn depth chart for Syracuse, please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

OFFENSE

LT: 71 Mike Ryan (RSr., 6-5, 335)
50 Tyler Bullock (So., 6-4, 298)

LG: 69 Steve Greene (RSo., 6-4, 304)
70 Gary Bardzak (RSr., 6-3, 289)

C: 57 Moe Petrus (RSr., 6-2, 302)
70 Gary Bardzak (RSr., 6-3, 289)

RG: 63 Adam Masters (RJr., 6-4, 292)
65 Gus Cruz (RFr., 6-4, 288)

RT: 77 Kevin Friend (RSo., 6-5, 300)
61 Stephen Brown (So., 6-6, 290)

TE: 89 John Delahunt (RJr., 6-3, 247) OR
94 Ryan Griffin (RJr., 6-6, 248)
81 Corey Manning (RJr., 6-5, 247)

WR: 6 Kashif Moore (RSr., 5-10, 175)
31 Nick Williams (Jr., 5-10, 185) OR
84 Tebucky Jones (RFr., 5-11, 186)

FB: 39 Mark Hinkley (RJr., 5-11, 226)
47 Reuben Frank (RFr., 6-3, 238)

QB: 18 Johnny McEntee (RJr., 6-3, 224)
11 Scott McCummings (RFr., 6-2, 218) OR
2 Mike Nebrich (Fr., 6-1, 204)

TB: 43 Lyle McCombs (RFr., 5-8, 172)
1 Jonathan Jean-Louis (RSr., 6-0, 207) OR
45 Martin Hyppolite (RSo., 6-0, 215)

WR: 83 Isiah Moore (RSr., 6-1, 195)
85 Geremy Davis (Fr., 6-3, 211)

DEFENSE

DE: 48 Trevardo Williams (Jr., 6-1, 231)
97 B.J. McBryde (RFr., 6-4, 277)

DT: 4 Twyon Martin (RSr., 6-2, 273)
53 Ryan Wirth (RJr., 6-2, 268)

DT: 99 Kendall Reyes (RSr., 6-4, 295)
59 Shamar Stephen (RSo., 6-5, 315)

DE: 91 Jesse Joseph (Jr., 6-3, 262)
98 Teddy Jennings (RJr., 6-5, 248)

LB: 3 Sio Moore (RJr., 6-1, 232)
32 Jefferson Ashiru (Fr., 6-1, 210)

LB: 33 Yawin Smallwood (RFr., 6-2, 229)
36 Michael Osiecki (Fr., 6-1, 238) OR
55 Jerome Williams (RJr., 6-1, 255)

LB: 28 Jory Johnson (RJr., 6-1, 227)
46 Marquise Vann (Fr., 6-0, 225)

CB: 7 Dwayne Gratz (RJr., 6-0, 195)
29 Taylor Mack (So., 5-9, 169)

S: 15 Jerome Junior (RJr., 6-1, 215)
2 Gilbert Stlouis (So., 5-11, 183)

S: 40 Ty-Meer Brown (RFr., 6-0, 192)
25 Harris Agbor (RSr., 5-11, 1990

CB: 16 Byron Jones (RFr., 6-1, 187)
21 Gary Wilburn (RSr., 5-11, 197)

SPECIAL TEAMS

PK: 38 Dave Teggart (RSr., 6-0, 203)
13 Chad Christen (RSo. 6-2, 211)

P: 86 Cole Wagner (RSo., 6-2, 211)
13 Chad Christen (RSo. 6-2, 211)

H: 13 Chad Christen (RSo., 6-1, 201)
86 Cole Wagner (RSo., 6-2, 211)

DS: 67 Adam Mueller (So., 6-1, 207)
66 Dominick Manco (Fr., 6-1, 251)

KR: 31 Nick Williams (Jr., 5-10, 185)
29 Taylor Mack (So., 5-9, 169)

PR: 31 Nick Williams (Jr., 5-10, 185)
29 Taylor Mack (So., 5-9, 169)

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The 2011-12 Preseason AP All-American Team is out and one member of the UConn Huskies men’s basketball team finds his name on the list.

Sophomore guard Jeremy Lamb is one five players on the team and one of four sophomores to be named to the team. His teammate, Alex Oriakhi, also received votes.

Here’s the full team:

*Jared Sullinger, Ohio State, Sophomore

Harrison Barnes, North Carolina, Sophomore

Jordan Taylor, Wisconsin, Senior

Terrence Jones, Kentucky, Sophomore

Jeremy Lamb, Connecticut, Sophomore

*unanimous selection

Others receiving votes (alphabetical): Anthony Davis, Kentucky; Ashton Gibbs, Pittsburgh; JaMychal Green, Alabama; John Henson, North Carolina; Tu Holloway, Xavier; Scoop Jardine, Syracuse; John Jenkins, Vanderbilt; Perry Jones III, Baylor; Kris Joseph, Syracuse; Kendall Marshall, North Carolina; Alex Oriakhi, Connecticut; Thomas Robinson, Kansas; Tyler Zeller, North Carolina.

I’m pretty sure in the past, we’ve never known who the finalists are for the Gold Gloves at their respective positions. But this year, we now know that four members of the 2011 Boston Red Sox are finalists for Gold Gloves.

They are Adrian Gonzalez (1B), Dustin Pedroia (2B), Kevin Youkilis (3B) and Jacoby Ellsbury (OF).

Also for the first time ever, ESPN2 will be announcing the Gold Glove awards during the Rawlings Gold Glove Show which will be done in the Baseball Tonight studios.

Here’s the release from ESPN on that:

ESPN2 will televise the first-ever Rawlings Gold Glove Awards Show – emanating from ESPN’s Baseball Tonight studio in Bristol – Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 10 p.m. ET. The one-hour telecast, hosted by Baseball Tonight’s Karl Ravech with analysts John Kruk and Barry Larkin (a three-time Gold Glove winner – 1994, 1995, 1996), will include the announcement of the 2011 Gold Glove Award winners and extensive highlights and analysis of the best defensive performers and plays during the MLB regular season.

The Rawlings Gold Glove Awards are presented annually to the best defensive Major League Baseball players in both the American League and National League at every fielding position. All 18 Gold Glove Award winners, one for each position in each league, will be announced during the telecast. Guest presenters Omar Vizquel (11-time Gold Glove winner) and Mike Matheny (four-time winner) will join ESPN Baseball Tonight analysts during the show.

Rawlings Platinum Gold Glove Award™

The 2011 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards Show telecast will include the introduction of the Rawlings Platinum Gold Glove Award. The 18 Rawlings Gold Glove winners will be eligible for the inaugural Rawlings Platinum Glove Award, with the winner to be determined by fan voting on the Rawlings, ESPN and ESPN Baseball Tonight Facebook pages. Voting will begin after the 2011 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards Show telecast Nov. 1 and conclude Nov. 7, with the announcement of the winners on Friday, Nov. 11, at the Rawlings Gold Glove Award Ceremony in New York, and via ESPN Baseball Tonight’s Facebook page and Twitter account.

To see the full list of nominees for the 2011 Rawlings Gold Glove Awards from the American League and National League, please click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

The fate of the last Boston Red Sox players with contract options was decided on Monday as the club announced that the team options of Scott Atchison and Dan Wheeler were not exercised.

Here’s the release from the Red Sox:

The Boston Red Sox today declined team options on right-handed pitchers Scott Atchison and Dan Wheeler.

The announcement was made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington.

The 35-year-old Atchison, who will remain on the club’s 40-man roster, made 17 appearances over six stints with the Red Sox this past season, posting a 1-0 record with a 3.26 ERA (11 ER/30.1 IP) and his first Major League save. He also pitched in 36 games with Triple-A Pawtucket, including one start, going 6-2 with five saves, a 2.64 ERA (18 ER/61.1 IP), 72 strikeouts and nine walks.

Signed by the Red Sox as a free agent on December 2, 2009, the right-hander has appeared in 113 career Major League games (one start) over parts of five seasons with the Mariners (2004-05), Giants (2007) and Red Sox (2010-11), tallying a 4.09 ERA (72 ER/158.1 IP) and 128 strikeouts while going 5-6 with one save.

Interestingly enough, Wheeler has been classified as a Type B free agent. The same goes for Jason Varitek. As expected, Jonathan Papelbon and David Ortiz are both Type A free agents.

So if the Red Sox offer both Varitek and Wheeler arbitration and they don’t accept it, the Red Sox would then pick up an extra supplemental pick. This will be interesting to follow as the odds are if you offer Varitek arbitration, he’s likely to accept it as he said he’d like to finish his career with the Red Sox.

For Cherington, if Tek isn’t in the team’s plans, then they most likely wouldn’t offer him arbitration. This will be something to keep an eye on over the coming weeks.

Wheeler had a tough year battling through injuries but started to turn around things late in the season. It’s the same situation for Wheeler as Tek. If he’s not in the plans, don’t expect arbitration unless he’s signs with someone else quickly.

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Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as some of the other sports. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Football links

Big East bowl projections: Week 9 [Andrea Adelson – ESPN.com]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Breaking Down UConn’s Opponents: Game 11, Fairfield [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Kemba Walker makes appearance at Lisbon store [Norwich Bulletin]

Little man on campus [The Hour]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

“16 Minutes” – With Kaleena Mosqueda Lewis’ HS Coach, Kevin Kiernan [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Sun Guard Renee Montgomery “Fired” By Hungarian Team [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

W. Volleyball. UConn Volleyball Takes Down DePaul, 3-1 [UConnHuskies.com]

M. Soccer. No. 5 Men’s Soccer Drops 1-0 Decision at Seton Hall [UConnHuskies.com]

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

The first move in the Ben Cherington era as Boston Red Sox GM is in the books. The Red Sox have picked up the $6 million option on shortstop Marco Scutaro.

Here’s the release:

BOSTON, MA – The Boston Red Sox today exercised the 2012 contract option on shortstop Marco Scutaro.

The announcement was made by Executive Vice President/General Manager Ben Cherington.

Scutaro, who turned 36 today, hit a career-best .299 (118-for-395), the second-highest clip among American League shortstops with at least 400 plate appearances, and also set a career mark with a .423 slugging percentage in 113 games for the Red Sox in 2011. He tallied 26 doubles, one triple, seven home runs, 54 RBI, 59 runs and 38 walks this past season while posting a .358 on-base percentage and .781 OPS, both the second-best marks of his career. Scutaro made 109 appearances at shortstop in 2011, including 103 starts, and also started two games at second base. His .301 clip (116-for-386) as a shortstop during the 2011 season was the best by a Red Sox while playing the position since Nomar Garciaparra’s .301 average in 2003.

In 263 games with the Red Sox since he signed with the club as a free agent on December 4, 2009, Scutaro has batted .284 (292-for-1,027) with 64 doubles, one triple, 18 home runs, 110 RBI, 151 runs and 91 walks. Originally signed by the Indians as an international free agent in 1994, he has a .270 career average (1,019-for-3,768) with 214 doubles, 14 triples, 68 home runs, 404 RBI, 538 runs, 388 walks and 44 stolen bases in 1,103 Major League games over parts of 10 seasons with the Mets (2002-03), Athletics (2004-07), Blue Jays (2008-09) and Red Sox (2010-11), and has posted the highest zone rating among AL shortstops since 2007 (minimum 320 games) at .844.

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With MLB free agency kicking off at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday morning, eight members of the Boston Red Sox filed for free agency. Yesterday I had written there were six but I had forgotten about two of them.

The eight free agents for the Red Sox are Erik Bedard, J.D. Drew, Conor Jackson, Trever Miller, David Ortiz, Jonathan Papelbon, Jason Varitek and Tim Wakefield. The two I had forgotten were Jackson and Miller.

The Red Sox can now talk exclusively with those eight guys until 12:01 a.m. on Thursday when they can hear offers from the other 29 teams.

As I said in the post yesterday, expect the Red Sox to concentrate right away on Ortiz and Papelbon. They are the two Type A free agents the Red Sox have. So if they did lose them, they would be awarded compensation in the form of a first round draft pick and a supplemental pick.

Obviously, we hope it doesn’t come to that but at least the Red Sox would get something if the pair or one of them decides to go somewhere else.

Not to be left out of the mix, the Red Sox have until the end of the day tomorrow to decide whether or not they are picking up the options on Marco Scutaro and Dan Wheeler‘s contracts.

One more date to keep in mind is November 23rd. That’s when the Red Sox have to make a decision on what free agents they are offering arbitration to. If I had to venture a guess, it’s obviously going to be to just Ortiz and Papelbon.

In other news, the Red Sox are expected to bring in Pete Mackanin and Dale Svuem for interviews this week.

Here’s something to ponder quickly.

We all know about Svuem’s troubles as third base coach of the Red Sox when he would basically Bogar them. Could you imagine if he was named manager and kept Tim Bogar as his third base coach? And then he hires Wave’em in Wendell Kim as his first base coach?

Just a funny thought for y’all to think about on this snowy Sunday here in New England.

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as some of the other sports. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Football links

What we learned in the Big East: Week 9 [Andrea Adelson – ESPN.com]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Update on UConn’s Andre Drummond [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Breaking down UConn’s Opponents: Game 10, Holy Cross [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Charlie Villanueva, University of Connecticut [The UConn Blog]

UConn has plans to add to glowing resume [CT Post]

Oriahki Wants To Lead UConn Through His Effort [Hartford Courant]

U of L this year’s UConn? [Louisville Courier-Journal]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

More On The First AP Women’s Basketball Poll [John Altavilla – Hartford Courant]

Other UConn related links

Field Hockey. Sunday’s Field Hockey Game Cancelled At Princeton [UConnHuskies.com]

M. Cross Country. Men’s Cross Country Takes Tenth At BIG EAST Championship [UConnHuskies.com]

M. Soccer. Men’s Soccer vs. Seton Hall Postponed To 6 p.m. Sunday [UConnHuskies.com]

M. Swimming. Karim Zayed Wins Two Events On Saturday [UConnHuskies.com]

W. Swimming. Cecco Wins Second Diving Title In Two Days [UConnHuskies.com]

M. Ice Hockey. Men’s Hockey vs. Army Saturday Night Postponed [UConnHuskies.com]

W. Cross Country. Huskies Finish 7th At BIG EAST Championship [UConnHuskies.com]

W. Volleyball. Huskies Outlast Irish in Five-Set Thriller [UConnHuskies.com]

Field Hockey. Melissa Gonzalez Assists Team USA In Gold Medal [UConnHuskies.com]

W. Ice Hockey. Women’s Hockey Falls Victim to Third Period Comeback [UConnHuskies.com]

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams as well as some of the other sports. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Football links

Fits and starts plague UConn football [Journal Inquirer]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Observations from UConn Practice [David Borges – New Haven Register]

Andre Drummond Injured During UConn Practice [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

UConn Practice: Rebounding There, Offense Out of Sync [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Jim Calhoun On APR, UConn’s Possible Tournament Ineligibility [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Breaking Down UConn’s Opponents: Game 9, Harvard [Dom Amore – Hartford Courant]

Drummond suffers mild concussion, breaks nose; Calhoun video [Gavin Keefe – The Day]

UConn’s Calhoun on APR benchmarks [CT Post]

Drummond Has Broken Nose, Concussion [Hartford Courant]

We Need To Monitor The Academic Progress Rate’s Progress Rate [Hartford Courant]

UConn basketball: Missing the point [Journal Inquirer]

Andre Drummond suffers a broken nose [New Haven Register]

Calhoun: Don’t count out the Huskies just yet [The Day]

UConn’s Drummond injured in practice [The Hour]

Calhoun hopeful changes coming to APR reporting [The Hour]

Connecticut not sneaking up on anybody this season [AP]

Other UConn related links

Time for Big East to survive and move on [Andrea Adelson – ESPN.com]

West Virginia hopes to leave in 2012 [Andrea Adelson – ESPN.com]

Statement from Commissioner John Marinatto on the Departure of West Virginia [BigEast.org]

M. Soccer. Men’s Soccer at Seton Hall Changed To 1 p.m. [UConnHuskies.com]

M. Soccer. UConn rejuvenated ahead of postseason [ESPN.com]

Field Hockey. Huskies Earn 5-0 Road Shutout Over Rutgers [UConnHuskies.com]

M. Swimming. First Day Of BIG EAST Quad Meet Completed [UConnHuskies.com]

W. Swimming. First Day Of BIG EAST Quad Meet Completed [UConnHuskies.com]

W. Ice Hockey. Women’s Ice Hockey Shutout at Syracuse, 4-0 [UConnHuskies.com]

Follow Ian on Twitter @soxanddawgs. And be sure to like us on Facebook as well.

The 2011 season for the Boston Red Sox was one that started out with such promise in spring training of a team that was expected to get to the World Series and hopefully win it. Obviously that didn’t happen as the St. Louis Cardinals were crowned as the champions on Friday night.

The Red Sox got off to a slow start early on before becoming probably the hottest team in baseball. Then September happened. And of course after that took place came the decision of manager Terry Francona to leave the Red Sox. Shortly thereafter, boy wonder Theo Epstein left and went to franchise that hasn’t won a World Series in over a 100 years.

We can’t forget the Fried Chicken and Beergate either.

But as much as we are upset as to what happened and some of us may not be ready to forgive the players for their roles, it’s time for us to put what happened in the 2011 Red Sox behind us and move forward to the 2012 season.

After all, the Hot Stove has been officially lit with the end of the 2011 season.

So what does that all mean?

For starters, it means the Red Sox have five days to try and re-sign their free agents and make decisions on players with team contract options.

The Red Sox will need to decide who of their six free agents, Jason Varitek, J.D. Drew, David Ortiz, Jonathan Papelbon, Erik Bedard and Tim Wakefield, they don’t want to lose. They’ll need to figure out if Jose Iglesias is ready for the big leagues. Otherwise, they’ll need to exercise the $6 million option on shortstop Marco Scutaro, who also has a $3 million player option.

The other decision in dealing with contract options is Dan Wheeler which the Red Sox hold a $3 million team option.

It’s not going to be easy for new Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington. But the good thing is the fact that he is not an outsider coming in. He’s been with the organization since 1999.

To continue reading, click on the read more button below if you’re on the home page.

Obviously of the big free agents the Red Sox have, the focus will probably be on Papelbon and Ortiz. I wouldn’t expect Drew or Bedard back at all. Bringing back Varitek remains to be seen but could be a possibility if the Red Sox don’t feel Ryan Lavarnway is ready to be the backup catcher to Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Wakefield is the wild card in all of this as well.

The Red Sox need starting pitching. They’ll only have Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz back for next season. John Lackey, as we know, is out for 2012 as he’ll be having Tommy John surgery. Daisuke Matsuzaka is still recovering from his Tommy John surgery as well.

So could the Red Sox bring Wake back on another team friendly deal? I guess that’ll come down to what they during free agency.

For Papelbon, this is something he’s been waiting for.

For the past three years, Paps has gone through the arbitration process without being signed to a long-term deal. He probably could have taken one but he wanted to set the bar for elite closers in arbitration and he did just that. Given that Daniel Bard is still a liability at the back end of the bullpen along with the uncertain health of Bobby Jenks, the need is there to re-sign Papelbon.

He’ll most certainly want to test the free agent market and see what the other teams out there who need closers think he’s worth. It may drive his price up to where the Red Sox aren’t comfortable in paying him that much.

Big Papi started off slow in 2010 and was essentially run out of Boston by everyone but the team. He made all of those people, including myself, eat crow basically by turning his season around. This year in what was a stacked lineup when healthy, he made his mark too.

He means so much more to the Red Sox than just his bat. His presence in the community along with his charitable endeavors is second to none. One could say he is the face of the Red Sox right now (I know people will argue that fact).

Ortiz has said if the Red Sox re-sign him, they won’t regret it. But what it’s going to come down to is one, could Lavarnway be the backup catcher and DH on a regular basis? Two, is there anyone else on the free agent market who could put up the same numbers as Ortiz but for a cheaper price? Three, how much money and years does Big Papi want?

If the price and years are right, you know Ortiz will be back. If he’s not, I’d be surprised.

The Red Sox will have five days to exclusively negoitiate with all of their free agents. Do I think we’ll see a deal get done with any of them? Other than Scutaro’s option being picked up, no, I don’t.

As I said above, Paps will want to hit the market. And unless the Red Sox give Big Papi something even close to what he desires, he’ll join Paps and the others out there on the market.

For now though, it’s time to sit back, buckle up and get ready for the littany of rumors that will be churned out of the hot stove for the coming months until February when the Red Sox will head to their new home at JetBlue Park in Ft. Myers, FL.

I’m ready for it all, are you?

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