MLB: Major League Baseball

By Sean P Austin Jackson-OF So naturally this will start plenty of speculation about the Yankees plans. Do they only plan on signing only one of Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Andy Pettitte? Or are they planning on some free agent prize? Brian Bruney-RHP

By Peter Schmuck The free agent market has been open for almost 12 hours and the Orioles still haven't signed John Lackey. What's the deal? I'm just reinforcing the point that we wait breathlessly for the opening of the free agent market and... The free agent market has been open for almost 12 hours and the Oriol...

By Grant All things being equal, I would like Matt Holliday on the Giants. But if he's going to be paid like a elite hitter by a team with crazy-deep pockets, and the Giants aren't willing to pay elite money, I'm not going to blame them. Now, should the Giants really be a $100M payroll kind of team, or shou...

By Chuck Finder The move with Karstens, who went 4-6 with a 5.42 ERA last season after being picked up in the Xavier Nady-Damaso Marte trade in July 2008 with the New York Yankees, was a bit of a surprise -- though he likewise was out of minor-league options.

By TAB BAMFORD In the spirit of discussion, I present to you an idea for discussion: the Cubs should explore trading third baseman Aramis Ramirez to the Phillies. The young third baseman the Cubs picked up named Ryne Sandberg turned out pretty well.

By Dan Barbarisi(dbarbari@projo.com) On the first day of free agency, the Red Sox added to their pitching depth on the cheap, claiming 26-year-old reliever Robert Manuel off waivers from the Seattle Mariners. Manuel, a righty, made his major league debut with Cincinnati this...

Washington, DC (Sports Network) - The Washington Nationals have finalized their coaching staff for Jim Riggleman, who was officially named manager last Thursday after serving in an interim role for the second half of this past season.

By cbwilk The fact is, most effective Major League relievers are converted starters. But, that's no reason to ignore the crop of pitchers performing primarily as relievers in the Braves' Minor League system, as the tops names are each not only talented but have succeeded as they've moved up the lad...

Pitcher John Grabow became the first of the 171 free agents to reach agreement on a new deal, getting a $7.5 million, two-year contract Friday from the Chicago Cubs.

By Al So a modified platoon of Granderson and Reed Johnson would be, in my opinion, the ticket to success for the Cubs outfield. I say "modified" because Johnson would also have to spell Fukudome in RF from time to time; on those days, Granderson would have to start in CF vs. LHP. Sam Fuld would stick w...

By KLSnow Two Brewer staffers, manager in the Brewers' media relations department John Steinmiller and manager of marketing promotions Caitlin Moyer have started a blog to keep fans updated on what's going on at Miller Park during the offseason, and they have a post on some planned renovations i...

By Administrator Bay has said, on many occasions, that he has enjoyed his time in Boston and would like to return… but after the Red Sox failed to sign him by Opening Day last season it seemed a foregone conclusion that he would test the free agent waters.

By Joe Cowley According to pitching coach Don Cooper, for the first time in his tenure, the club will have a pitching summit in January for a group of major and minor-league pitchers in the organization to come together in Chicago, making sure they are practicing what the club is preaching from their hu...

By Marine Layer(marinelayer@gmail.com) However, not everything's wine and roses. Listeners in the Berkeley/Oakland hills were left feeling neglected, as KTRB's signal was noticeably poor throughout last season, day or night. When we last left off, KTRB was pursuing a second broadcast site in Sonoma County. Things have change...

By Denis Savage San Diego Padres prospect Matt Clark was one of 15 players in the entire minor leagues to collect 100 or more RBI and the only one to accomplish the feat within the Padres farm system.

By photi(noreply@blogger.com) While Selig whines about the bad economy and about how some teams (who he wouldn't identify) lost money last season, ESPN's Jayson Stark calculates that not only each club makes more money than you could dream possible, but also that teams like the Marlins who annually keep a huge chunk of...

By Adam Bernacchio Late this afternoon, the Chicago Cubs traded RHP Aaron Heilman to the Arizona Diamondbacks for prospects Scott Maine (no relation to John of the New York Mets) and Ryne White. Can Cubs GM Jim Hendry get a do-over from the 2008-2009 offseason?

CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Indians have added pitchers Kelvin De La Cruz of Class-A Mahoning Valley and Jeanmar Gomez of Double-A Akron and five other minor leaguers to their 40-man roster.

As Chris from Bothell noted on the Lincecum thread, Bob Nightengale of USA Today sent out a tweet that has Mariner fans all atwitter. Here's how it read in its entirety: "Keep and eye on developing three-way trade talk with Tigers and Mariners and mystery team involving M's Brandon Morrow a...

By Joe Gerrity My love of the Mets stayed true until one day when the Mets started trying to emulate the Yankees. They started to embody the very values that I so very much detested. Tampa Bay? Sign me up for the bandwagon. 1. Yankees. 3. Mets. (Because they broke my heart.)

During his time away from football, Justice started showing up at Hollywood’s Wild Card Boxing Club, where he worked with famous trainer Freddie Roach. Justice knew that Roach had worked with Mike Tyson (he now has Manny Pacquiao) and he actually flirted with the idea of giving up on schoo...

Adam Wainwright is a star pitcher with the Cardinals, but in the winter he returns to the town where he grew up, a town, he says, where the people haven't changed.

The Yankees' Andy Pettitte and the Mets' Fernando Tatis have become the final players to file for free agency this year.

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By Tom Dakers That said, I really don't want to position us closer to the mass media. I don't want full access to the team, I don't want to be in the locker room or the press box. I don't want to be an 'insider'. I don't want to know that Kevin Millar is really a great guy in the locker room. Until they start giving run...

By Brett Perryman The big Rangers story this morning is still Tom Hicks attempting to hang onto the Rangers by constructing a new local ownership group. His favorite buzz word here appears to be "local." Evan Grant lays out Hicks' thought process, and one of Hicks' comments here is that he has been working o...

Doug Henry will be the new pitching coach for Class AAA Omaha after spending one season as the Royals’ roving pitching coach. Henry replaces Tom Burgmeier. The rest of the coaching staffs for the Royals’ top four affiliates will return intact, the organization anno...

By Kurt Mensching Sizemore -- OK, that goes without saying. He's already written in as the Tigers' second baseman in 2010.Ryan Strieby -- The left fielder / first baseman slugger is definitely the kind of player teams would want to steal away from Detroit. Possibly:

If they make trades for Curtis Granderson and Edwin Jackson, the Tigers will get pitching in the exchange. And, you can bet, a shortstop. And maybe a prospect at third base.

By Charlie Scrabbles I think the Reds' biggest goal this offseason is to simultaneously dump one of their two overpaid starters without weakening the rotation. If money is a problem for them, they at least have a chance to fill their holes in the outfield and shortstop internally, but beyond Cueto and Bailey, t...

By gondeee If Rafael Soriano was the Atlanta Braves closer that came out of the gate strong and finished poorly, then Mike Gonzalez is the opposite -- the closer who started out poorly and finished strong. Gonzalez was in the co-closer role out of spring training, but he was clearly favored by Bobby Co...

By editor@denverpost.com (The Denver Post) Under Jim Tracy's watch, the Rockies went 74-42 and reached the playoffs, an accomplishment that should result in Tracy winning the NL manager of the year award today from the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

By Administrator Coghlan won the National League Rookie of the Year award despite having spent the first two months of the season in the minor leagues (Triple-A New Orleans) — as a second baseman. He was asked to try left field… he played just one minor league game there and then was promoted to the major leagu...

By Matt Trueblood As the Cubs look toward 2010, General Manager Jim Hendry has to be pleased with the quartet he has assembled atop his starting rotation. In Ted Lilly, Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster and Randy Wells, the Cubs have as deep a four-man staff as any in the National League, albeit not the most tale...

By Chip There have been lots of scenarios running around Houston, some even posted on this blog. Trade this one, give that one a shot. Sign this free agent, don't offer that one arbitration. So let's play some fact or fiction with...

By Cliff Eastham Did you know that Roy Face of the Pittsburgh Pirates holds the single season W/L Pct? Did you know Barry Bonds was walked intentionally more than Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Willie Mays combined in their careers? Baseball-Reference

By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Twins Notes: Washburn, Buscher, Huber, Crede, NeshekJoe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune notes that the Twins "are expected to pursue" free agent Jarrod Washburn, which certainly isn't surprising. At various points over the past two years the Twins have been linked to Wash...

By Grant If the Giants somehow repeat their 2009 win total without Posey in 2010, the burning question in 2011 will be, "Gee, can we afford to start a rookie catcher with this pitching staff keeping us in contention?" This would also happen if the pitching staff implodes, mind you. It would probably...

By ESPN.com news services Jim Riggleman will be the Washington Nationals manager for 2010, a source told ESPN's Tim Kurkjian.

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By Aaron(noreply@blogger.com) Mark DeRosa: After a career-year in 2008 the Cubs traded DeRosa to the Indians for a trio of mid-level prospects. He had a nice first half as Cleveland collapsed, hitting .270/.342/.457, and was then dealt to St. Louis for two nice relief prospects. Unfortunately for the Cardinals he suffered a...

The technique is a traditional one, used for centuries by American Indians along the rivers, said Hostler, the spokeswoman for the Hoopa Valley Tribe. ... and more »

Boston Globe Jones, 25, made his major league debut this season with Boston and appeared in 11 games in relief. The left-hander posted a 9.24 ERA with the Red Sox, ... Red Sox acquire Hermida from MarlinsFOXSports.com Yahoo! Sports -Boston Globe -Seattle Post Intelligencer

Chase Utley hit two home runs to raise his World Series total to a record-tying five, backing Cliff Lee once again as Philadelphia staved off elimination with an 8-6 victory Monday night and set up a Game 6 for the first time since 2003.

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The San Diego Padres officially named Jed Hoyer as their new general manager on Monday.

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By Dashiell Bennett McGwire's return to Cardinals as hitting coach makes sense [Post-Dispatch] Stunner: McGwire back in baseball? [SF Chronicle] Cardinals schedule midday news conference [AP] Keep the head down and inject 2 cc of nandrolone: Mark McGwire to be hitting coach at St. Louis [Steroid Nation]

By By DAVID WALDSTEIN Don Mattingly, the Dodgers' hitting coach, had a preliminary telephone interview with the Cleveland Indians for their vacant managerial position, and could meet with them after the Dodgers' season ends. Speaking before Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Wednesday,...

By ESPN.com news services The owners of the New York Mets baseball team made about $48 million in dealings with swindler Bernard Madoff, court documents showed.

By Brian McTaggart The Minnesota Twins' scintillating 12-inning win over the Detroit Tigers in the American League tiebreaker on Tuesday night produced the kind of drama and ratings worthy of a prime-time soap opera. Tiebreaker game draws big ratings

By Sun-Sentinel The Florida Marlins announced they will keep their coaching staff in tact under manager Fredi Gonzalez with the exception of pitching coach Mark Wiley and first base/infield coach Andy Fox. Both have been offered different positions within the organization. Sent...

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Veteran right-hander Freddy Garcia will be back with the White Sox next year, according to a report on ESPN Chicago. Prior to being traded in 2007, Garcia compiled a 40-21 record with the White Sox and was a vital part of the 2005 World Series championship, winning the clinching game in Hous...

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By WiHaloFan Poll There's been talk of Kendry Morales for AL MVP, but is he even the Angels' MVP? Yes, he's the Angels MVP. No, Torii Hunter is the Angels MVP. No, Bobby Abreu is the Angels MVP. No, [BLANK] is the Angels MVP (comment below).   17 votes | Results