February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 317 days remaining until the end of the year (318 in leap years).

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Carter died on Thursday after suffering from brain cancer. His daughter Kimmie Bloemers published an announcement on a family website. The Hall of Fame catcher, the biggest face of the Expos franchise and a leader among superstars on the World Series champion Mets in 1986, was 57 years old. He hit 324 career homers, made 11 All-Star teams and seemed to have a blast doing every bit of it.

RIP Kid.

Tim Kurkjian remembers the life and career of Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter. (This is a youtube video)

Natural

Alligator Gar are found in the Lower Mississippi River Valley and Gulf Coast states of the Southeastern United States and Mexico as far south as Veracruz, encompassing the following US states: Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, North Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Missouri, Florida, and Georgia.[4] They have also been known historically to come as far north as central Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, Ohio, Iowa, and west-central Illinois, where the most northerly verified catch was at Meredosia, Illinois in 1922 and an 8.5 ft (2.6 m) specimen, now preserved, was caught at nearby Beardstown.[5] Specimens at locations further south in Illinois have been verified as recently as 1976, with the Illinois Academy of Sciences verifying a total of 122 captures to that date.[5] They inhabit sluggish pools and backwaters or large rivers, bayous, and lakes. They are found in brackish or saltwater, and are more adaptable to the latter than are other gars. In Louisiana it is common to see these large gar striking the surface in brackish marshes. [edit] Outside natural rangeThere have been a few notable sightings of Alligator Gar outside North America. In February 2007, a 1.5 m (4.9 ft) Alligator Gar was found swimming in Jakarta, Indonesia, when that city was hit by a major flood (see External Links below). In January 2008, a 3 kg (6.6 lb) alligator gar was found by fishermen in Bera, Pahang, Malaysia, when it was entangled in a fishing net.[citation needed] In November 2008, a 0.5 to 0.6 m (1.6 to 2.0 ft) long Alligator gar was caught in the north of Esenguly, Turkmenistan by two officials of Turkmenistan Fishery Protection. Dr. R. Mayden, Saint Louis University and Dr. Eric Hilton, Virginia Institute of Marine Science confirmed that it was probably Atractosteus spatula.[6] On September 4, 2009 a 1 m (3.3 ft) long Alligator Gar was found in Tak Wah Park in Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong. In the next two days, at least 16 other Alligator Gars, with the largest one measuring 1.5 m (4.9 ft) long, were found in ponds in public parks in Hong Kong.[7] As reported by nearby residents, the fish were released in the ponds by aquarium hobbyists and had lived there for some years. However, after a complaint made by a citizen who falsely identified the fish as crocodiles, terms like "Horrible Man-eating Fish" were found in the headlines of some major local newspapers.[8] Government officials decided to remove all the fish from the ponds as they claimed the species had no conservation value and would affect the local ecology if left in the ponds. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department said it would offer non-dangerous fish to animal welfare groups and charities. The fish that was caught first died later that day, and claims have been made that the local government does not treat the gars in an animal-friendly way - they were seen catching the fish with improvised nets and garbage cans.[9] On September 6 the government euthanized all of the fish as it said that there were no organizations willing to take them.[10] On September 8 however, the Hong Kong Ocean Park announced that it was willing to take the fish for exhibition and education to the public. Five surviving gars, caught on September 7, were sent to the Ocean Park.[citation needed]

With the ZiPS projections coming out for the Rangers last week, we are doing a series of polls asking folks to pick whether they think various players will go over or under the OPS that ZiPS projects.

ZiPS projects David Murphy to have an OPS of 750 in 2012.

Do you think it will be over or under that figure? Cast your vote...

Jim Bowden, Keith Law and Buster Olney have been jointly running a feature attempting to measure the potential for each team in baseball over the next half decade. Using a formula for ranking each team in five different categories (Major league roster quality, minor league system quality, finances, management and mobility [the age and cost of players on roster]) the troika of writers have determined that the Rangers are "baseball's model franchise these days."

The article is behind the ESPN Insider wall, but I'll give you a little taste. Bowden's "Next Step" for the Rangers begins with:

Perhaps the biggest issue facing the Rangers will be to figure out on which fingers their World Series rings will go.

The top five teams listed are Texas, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay, St. Louis, and Boston. As for the rest of the AL West, the Angels are ranked 7th, the Mariners are ranked 18th, the A's are ranked 23rd, and the future AL West Astros are ranked 29th.

Richard Durrett has a pretty lengthy piece on how the Rangers were able to transition from small market disaster to, as Olney writes, "a superpower."

It's a pretty good time to like Texas Rangers baseball.

At noon Law will be answering questions at ESPN here. You can go ask him questions about how awesome the Rangers are or about Leonys Martin's hit tool if you like.

Adam is in Vegas. LSB is mine, ALL MINE!

T.R. Sullivan writes about Josh Hamilton's appearance on Glenn Beck's Internet show where he spoke about being in counseling since his relapse.

Anthony Andro also writes about Hamiton.

Evan Grant does as well.

Mac Engel of the Inflaming Engels has a piece on Hamilton, also. Engel writes not of Glenn Beck appearances or counseling, however, but of whether or not Hamilton is getting a pass from the media because of his race.

Over at ESPN Dallas, Bryan Dolgin updates us on the Ballpark renovations which are nearing completion. For the curious, Drew Davison has videos of the new visiting bullpen and the new Vandergriff Plaza.

Richard Durrett's penultimate edition to his Positional Outlook series focuses on the Rangers' manager. That is Ron Washington.

Finally, Mike Napoli was on the Ben & Skin show. The DMN has a transcript. Mike Napoli on facing C.J. Wilson:

I'm going to do what I try to do to any other pitcher. I might give C.J. a head nod, but I'm still going to try and take him deep.

Second all-nighter of the week...it doesn't get much better, folks!