Browsing: Pablo

Baseball

Twins plan to keep Byron Buxton, Joe Ryan, Pablo López

The Twins, who traded 10 players off their big league roster prior to the 2025 Trade Deadline, entered this offseason with three other big-name trade candidates: outfielder Byron Buxton and starting pitchers Joe Ryan and Pablo López.

Team president of baseball and business operations Derek Falvey has said repeatedly that his intention is not to further subtract from the roster but instead add to it. To that end, it does appear that those three key players will be staying in Minnesota.

According to a report on Friday by The Athleticâ€s Ken Rosenthal, the Twins are planning to hold on to Buxton, Ryan and López and build around them for 2026.

A source indicated to MLB.com this week that Buxton prefers to remain in Minnesota, but that if the Twins were to trade more current players for prospects, he would entertain the idea of a move that made sense for all parties. The 31-year-old outfielder has three years and $45 million remaining on his contract, and he has a full no-trade clause through 2026.

Buxton enjoyed one of the best seasons of his 11-year career in 2025, slugging a personal-best 35 home runs in 126 games, earning his second All-Star selection and receiving some down-ballot MVP votes.

Ryan was a first-time All-Star this past season and struck out 194 batters with only 39 walks in 171 innings. Multiple injuries limited López to just 75 2/3 frames, but he still posted a 2.74 ERA. From 2022-24, he averaged 202 Kâ€s and 186 1/3 innings per year.

As far as what the Twins could be looking to add during and after next weekâ€s Winter Meetings, multiple relief arms, a first baseman and improved defense in the middle infield could all be on their shopping list.

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Football

‘You looked at Cafu, Rivaldo, Kaka, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Roberto Carlos – it felt like you were in a video game’ Juan Pablo Angel on the Colombia vs Brazil game that changed his life

The Brazil side of the early 2000s was arguably the last truly great Selecao team.

The devastating full-back pairing of Cafu and Roberto Carlos was supplemented by an awe-inspiring frontline of Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Rivaldo, and it was this side that won Brazil’s last World Cup title in 2002.

Only once since then have Brazil reached the semi-final stage of the World Cup, with the 2014 last-four thrashing on home soil by Germany an occasion that every Brazilian football fan would rather forget.

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Juan Pablo Angel on scoring against Brazil

Juan Pablo Angel

Juan Pablo Angel won 33 caps for Colombia (Image credit: PA)

It’s therefore not a huge surprise that even twenty-plus years on, scoring against that last classic Brazil side remains a badge of honour for any player.

Former Aston Villa striker Juan Pablo Angel scored nine goals in 33 appearances for Colombia, but his strike in a 2-1 World Cup qualifying defeat in 2003 remains something he will never forget.

Rivaldo holds the trophy aloft as Brazil players celebrate their World Cup final win over Germany in June 2002.

Brazil were coming off the back of their 2002 World Cup win (Image credit: Getty Images)

“Scoring against Brazil, surely the best national team of all time, was one of the most significant moments of my career,” Angel tells FourFourTwo.

“It was impossible to look at them – Cafu, Rivaldo, Kaka, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, and Roberto Carlos – and not think it was all a video game.

“Ronaldo made it 1-0, but on 40 minutes I equalised with a header. Suspended in the air, I won the duel against Lucio and surprised Dida.

Juan Pablo Angel

Juan Pablo Angel in action for New York Red Bull (Image credit: Getty Images)

“I was in my prime, playing well at Villa, and felt capable of anything.

“The stadium exploded. Kaka made it 2-1 in the second half, but it still was a memorable afternoon for me personally, and a proud memory.”

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