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The winter meetings began with the strong possibility that the Pittsburgh Pirates would trade Andrew McCutchen. They ended Thursday with the star outfielder still on the team, with the expectation he will be there on Opening Day as well.Our intent coming in here was to have Andrew McCutchen be in our lineup going forward, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington told reporters. No one changed that. Its unlikely someone changes that going forward. Were not going to close the door, but were not going to be making calls.Huntington said he talked to multiple teams at the winter meetings about McCutchen, but none of them were willing to meet his steep asking price.We took calls. We listened. We engaged, Huntington told reporters. And not just on Andrew but on other players who are on one- or two-year contracts. As we will always do, if we find the right move and we believe the right move is to move the player, well move the player. If we believe the right move is to hold the player, then well hold the player.In this instance, obviously, we felt the right move was to hold the player and have him continue to help us win a lot of games at the major league level. ... We expected Andrew to be a Pirate. We feel great about Andrew being a Pirate. Hes done remarkable things for this organization. We look forward to him being in our lineup next year and continuing on as a Pirate.The Washington Nationals were reportedly talking to the Pirates about McCutchen, but their trade for Chicago White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton on Wednesday appeared to end their interest.On Wednesday and Thursday, McCutchen posted tweets of an emoji with its mouth zipped shut and the words keep working.McCutchen, who won the National League MVP award in 2013, is coming off his worst major league season, posting career lows in batting average (.256), on-base percentage (.336) and slugging percentage (.430). He also had 24 home runs and 79 RBIs.The 2013 NL MVP has a .292 batting average, 175 home runs and 637 RBIs in his eight years in the majors, all with the Pirates. McCutchen, a five-time All-Star, won a Gold Glove in 2012.Huntington said he hasnt talked to McCutchen but plans to do so before Saturday, when the outfielder is expected to appear at PirateFest in Pittsburgh.If McCutchen is with the Pirates on Opening Day, he might not be in center field. Manager Clint Hurdle told reporters on Wednesday that he talked to McCutchen at the end of last season about moving to a corner-outfield spot in 2017. The outfielder seemed to be receptive to the idea, Hurdle said. (STATS) -- If youre seeing smoke, thats FCS social media on fire.The NCAA Division I FCS selection committee announced a Top 10 ranking of playoff candidates for the first time Thursday and it didnt match the very top of the major polls, including the STATS FCS Top 25. Ohio Valley Conference leader Jacksonville State earned the committees No. 1 seed with three weeks of action remaining before the 24-team field is announced Nov. 20.The Gamecocks (7-1) were just ahead of Sam Houston State (8-0), ranked No. 1 in the STATS media poll but No. 2 by the committee. Those two were followed by Eastern Washington (7-1), five-time defending FCS champion North Dakota State (7-1), James Madison (7-1), The Citadel (8-0), Richmond (7-1), Chattanooga (8-1), Charleston Southern (5-2) and Central Arkansas (7-1).This changes nothing for us, Sam Houston coach K.C. Keeler said. The goal for us all along has been to win every game we possibly can, win the Southland Conference and position ourselves to win a national championship. I like that the committee is giving us a glimpse at where we stand right now, but there is still a lot of football yet to be played and our focus is on going out and competing and winning each week.The committee rankings were likely going to draw the ire of some fan bases, it just depended on the order of the rankings. Withh the top two seeded teams in the playoffs set to play home games prior to the national championship game Jan.dddddddddddd 7 in Frisco, Texas, North Dakota State might have had the biggest complaint about the first set of rankings.The NCAAs toughest schedule report that is included in its national statistics show the Bison with the nations fifth-toughest schedule, with wins against Big Ten member Iowa, Eastern Washington, Charleston Southern and Western Illinois (6-2). The only blemish was a last-second loss to South Dakota State (5-3), which has the nations third-toughest schedule based on cumulative opposition (the winning percentage of past and future opponents).Jacksonville State, whose only loss was to SEC member LSU, had a strength of schedule that was 88th, Sam Houstons was 86th and Eastern Washingtons was 30th, including the head-to-head overtime loss to the Bison. The second-best strength of schedule among the 10 ranked teams was Charleston Southern at 20.Only eight teams will earn seeds for the playoffs and receive first-round byes; the other 16 qualifiers will open play in the first round on Nov. 26.The selection committee will release additional sets of Top 10 rankings on Nov. 10 and 15. ' ' '