opening.And it comes against the backdrop of headlines that

NEW YORK -- Even before the Chicago Cubs got to celebrate their drought-ending World Series title with a parade, baseballs business season began Thursday when more than 100 players became free agents and teams started making decisions on 2017 options.Among the potential free agents are outfielders Yoenis Cespedes, Jose Bautista, Mark Trumbo, Josh Reddick and Ian Desmond; first baseman Edwin Encarnacion; catcher Matt Wieters; and closers Aroldis Chapman, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon. They can start talking money with teams on Tuesday.Clubs must decide by Monday whether to make $17.2 million qualifying offers to their players who became free agents, which would attach draft-pick compensation if they sign elsewhere. Only players who spent the entire season with one team are eligible for the offers.Texas said it will make a qualifying offer to Desmond, and the two-time All-Star will have until Nov. 14 to accept.In the first trade since the World Series, the Los Angeles Angels acquired outfielder Cameron Maybin from the Detroit Tigers for right-hander Victor Alcantara.Maybin batted a career-best .315 with four homers, 43 RBI and 15 stolen bases in 94 games this year for the Tigers, posting one of his best big league seasons despite injury problems. The Angels said they will exercise his $9 million option.The 23-year-old Alcantara has spent five years in the Angels minor league system. He went 3-7 with a 4.30 ERA in 29 appearances for Double-A Arkansas last season.Among potential free agents, Philadelphia declined a $23 million club option on first baseman Ryan Howard, who gets a $10 million buyout, and a $9.5 million mutual option on right-hander Charlie Morton, who gets a $1 million buyout.Boston exercised a $17.2 million option on designated hitter David Ortiz as a formality, even though the 40-year-old slugger has said he will retire.The team also exercised a $13 million option on right-hander Clay Buchholz and declined a $3.75 million option on catcher Ryan Hanigan, who gets an $800,000 buyout.Others whose options were exercised include Mets outfielder Jay Bruce ($13 million) and infielder Jose Reyes (minimum salary), Washington left-hander Gio Gonzalez ($12 million), Detroit closer Francisco Rodriguez ($6 million), Seattle outfielder Seth Smith ($7 million), Texas catcher Jonathan Lucroy ($5.25 million) and San Francisco left-hander Matt Moore ($7 million).Among those whose options were declined were Chicago White Sox pitcher Matt Albers, Seattle catcher Chris Iannetta, Miami reliever Fernando Rodney, Mets left-hander Jon Niese and Washington right-hander Yusmeiro Petit.In another move, the Houston Astros claimed outfielder Nori Aoki off waivers from Seattle. 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On June 12, just as the sun sets on the magnificent historical city of Sao Paulo the inventors, innovators and purveyors of “joga bonitowill” open their campaign. The opponent, Croatia and all its football might and will. As opposites do attract we are set for a corker of an opener. BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil -- If locals hoped to get under Hope Solos skin by heckling the goalkeeper during much of the United States Olympic opener against New Zealand, they chose the wrong material.The chants of Zika that by the end of the game rang out loudly each time Solo kicked the ball were by most reckonings payback for what some fans perceived as the player maligning their country in social media posts showcasing the veritable arsenal of mosquito repellant that she brought to Brazil. But Solo, who previously apologized for any offense given, shrugged off the jeers.The fans got some entertainment. She got yet another clean sheet.If they really wanted to irk her, they should have questioned her workload.Few matters predictably elicit an icy response from Solo like a question, however well-intentioned, that she interprets as an implication that low save totals, or even scarce touches in some games, equals a light workload. She bristled at such a query after her 100th international shutout a month ago against South Africa, and after first diplomatically defusing the subject of the heckling Wednesday night, she again took umbrage at a familiar line of questioning.A lot of my shutouts have been very intense games, with a lot of shots on goal, so please dont take away from that, Solo said. But I will say shots on goal, its not the only stat that a goalkeeper should be judged by. Theres crosses, theres the kicking game, theres organizing the defense, theres positioning.Ive said it my entire career, that I hate stats. ... It really doesnt tell the whole story.The story of that career will presumably reach its 200th chapter when the United States plays France on Saturday (4 p.m. ET), and Solo should become the first goalkeeper to reach 200 appearances. It is a game of unusual stakes so early in the tournament. The winner, if there is one, becomes the prohibitive favorite to win Group G and face a third-place team in a quarterfinal. The team that finishes second in the group will play a quarterfinal against the winner of Group F, which without writing off Canada, could well be world No. 2 Germany.France is the rare opponent that cedes little if anything to the United States either physically or technically. It keeps putting itself on the brink of something special in major tournaments -- the semifinals in the 2011 World Cup and 2012 Olympics and a quarterfinal exit in the 2015 World Cup in which it arguably outplayed Germany but yielded in a penalty shootout.The stumbling point has been an inability to turn laudable possession into corresponding goals.And the best way to prolong that streak is to stop the chances before they happen.She organizes everything, co-captain Becky Sauerbrunn said of Solos effect on the U.S. defense. Any time Im out of step, shell let me know and Ill have to correct it, or Im going to hear it again and again and again. She demands perfection, and shell let us know when its not perfect. I think the sheer amount of shutouts shes gotten, its a testament to her and how she can organize us. Its just wonderful to play with someone behind there that demands that from the people in front of her. And I respect the hell out of her.An outside back more often out of earshot, especially in front of the kind of large and noisy crowds that flocked to the World Cup a year ago, Meghan Klingenberg nonetheless echoed Sauerbrunns sentiments on organizational skills.She also noted the secondd part of the résumé.dddddddddddd.She makes big saves when we need her to, Klingenberg said. When [stuff] hits the fan and we break down at the end, she makes big saves.Go back and watch some of the goalkeeping gaffes in the opening round of the mens and womens competition here to appreciate the value of that.The nature of the U.S. teams stay in Brazil could be in the hands of someone whose visit was once a question mark.In February, Solo told Sports Illustrated that if the Olympics were at hand, she wouldnt go because of concerns about the Zika virus. In explaining the evolution of that thought process, she said this week that she and husband Jerramy Stevens consulted three infectious disease doctors to educate themselves on the risks involved in traveling to the country most associated with the virus (although it has now spread as far as the mainland United States, with a recent outbreak in Miami determined to have originated there).We got to the point where we asked enough questions -- we prepared ourselves as best as possible, Solo said. And we got to a level of being as comfortable as we possibly can be. Im here now. I am very happy and proud to be here. As I said, we havent been to Rio yet; I have no idea what to expect in Rio. But it has been beautiful here. Its been beautiful.She went on to suggest the U.S. media was culpable for scaremongering and being unduly harsh on the Brazilian people in the Olympic buildup. It is never without some merit to point out the modern medias penchant for hyperbole, so point taken. At the same time, a prominent athlete going public with the idea that she wouldnt, based on the evidence she had at the time, go to the Olympics is the kind of thing that is going to generate coverage and feed the hyperbole.She can pass a couple of quarters our way, but she cant pass the whole buck.That quite possibly the best keeper who ever played womens soccer reaches an unequaled milestone in this manner is perfectly in keeping with the whole story of her career. It could have come in a forgotten friendly. Instead it will come in a defining game of these Olympics, against an opponent that might well be one goal away from a floodgate of championships opening.And it comes against the backdrop of headlines that whether overblown, as in the heckling here or her comments after being replaced in the 2007 World Cup, or legitimate, as in the domestic violence case that preceded last years World Cup, find her -- or vice versa -- with more regularity than shots.It isnt as simple as counting saves. There is always so much more to the story of a truly complex figure.I think there is a lot of negativity out there sometimes, Solo said, prophetically, before the opener. So I feel like Im always just trying to push forward and take another step towards a highlight in my career. I think thats just the way I handle things. I just keep looking for the next feather in my cap, so to speak. But more or less, I just want to win another tournament.I think going along with trying to win this Olympics, I will be reaching my 200th cap and who knows what else. The desire to win has allowed me to reach these other accomplishments.This much is clear.Saturday is the kind of game her team wouldnt want to play without Solo in goal.Then again, there are a lot of those games. ' ' '