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Last week general manager Dave Dombrowski said the Tigers will not attempt to re-sign impending free agent Johnny Damon, but yesterday the 36-year-old outfielder made it clear that he has no plans to retire: I definitely want to keep playing, but it’s going to have to be somewhere else because Detroit has a lot of…

Jim Edmonds said last week that he was “hopeful” about being ready for the playoffs after suffering an injury that was initially believed to be a torn achilles’ tendon, but that was never particularly likely and the Reds officially announced that he won’t be on the playoff roster. Cincinnati opted to give the final spot…

Opening Day catcher Dioner Navarro, part-time designated Willy Aybar, and rookie phenom Jeremy Hellickson are all absent from the Rays’ playoff roster, with struggling starter Jeff Niemann and outfielders Rocco Baldelli and Desmond Jennings making the cut in their place. In fact, Baldelli will actually start at designated hitter against Cliff Lee in Game 1,…

A.J. Burnett getting bumped from the Yankees’ playoff rotation means the Twins will face a left-handed starter in four of five games, which is a definite advantage for New York. In the regular season the Twins had a .776 OPS versus right-handers compared to a .736 OPS versus left-handers, in large part because Jim Thome…

After two weeks on the sidelines with a shoulder injury Takashi Saito made a tune-up appearance in the Braves’ second-to-last game of the season Saturday, retiring just one of the six batters he faced while allowing two runs on two hits and three walks. It was an ugly appearance and not surprisingly the Braves have…

Josh Hamilton answered questions about his fractured ribs during a press conference this afternoon, saying: Nobody is 100 percent right now. That puts things in perspective for me. I’d be lying to you if I said it doesn’t hurt. But it’s mind over matter. It’s just that time of year. You suck it up, you…

New York led the league in scoring for the fourth time in five seasons, but unlike 2006 (930), 2007 (968), and 2009 (915) they failed to score 900 runs. Now, scoring 859 runs is clearly still great–by comparison, the Twins had a very good offense and scored 108 fewer runs–but the Yankees’ total is inflated…

General manager Jed Hoyer said yesterday that the Padres will not exercise their $8.5 million option on Chris Young for next year, which isn’t surprising after he missed nearly the entire season with shoulder problems. Young had a 1.49 ERA in three September starts after sitting out five months, but his 10/8 K/BB ratio in…

MLB announced this afternoon that Twins left-hander Francisco Liriano and Braves right-hander Tim Hudson have won the Comeback Player of the Year awards for their respective leagues. Liriano struggled last year in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, going 5-13 with a 5.80 ERA, but was one of baseball’s best starters this…

Barry Zito was fantastic early on this season, going 5-0 with a 1.49 ERA through six starts, and he had an ERA under 3.50 as recently as mid-August, but the veteran left-hander went 1-8 with a 6.66 ERA in his final 11 starts and now the Giants have decided to bump him from the playoff…

Andy Pettitte’s health and Phil Hughes’ second-half struggles give the Yankees’ rotation some major question marks after CC Sabathia, but New York’s bullpen may actually be underrated at this point. Mariano Rivera’s late-season rough patch provides a bit of worry that he’ll be something less than his usual unhittable self, but I’m not counting on…

I scoffed at the Padres acquiring a 36-year-old and seemingly washed-up Miguel Tejada to be their shortstop down the stretch, but he ended up hitting .268/.317/.413 in 59 games, which is actually above average once you factor in Petco Park, and amazingly avoided being a disaster defensively. Yesterday general manager Jed Hoyer said the Padres…

Matt Murton went 3-for-5 last night, giving the former Cubs outfielder 213 hits on the year to break Japan’s single-season record of 210 hits set by Ichiro Suzuki in 1994. Murton still has two more games to add to his total, although it’s worth noting that Suzuki played when the Japanese schedule was 130 games,…

Miguel Olivo followed up a big first half by hitting .193 after the All-Star break, but finished with a solid .269/.315/.449 line in 112 games overall and will be back in Colorado next season after the Rockies’ exercised their $2.5 million team option for 2011. Olivo either figures to split time behind the plate with…

General manager Dan O’Dowd called re-signing free agent starter Jorge De La Rosa “a priority” for the Rockies this offseason, telling Troy Renck of the Denver Post that “adding a middle-of-the-rotation starter” is atop the offseason wishlist and “we would certainly like that to be Jorge.” De La Rosa turned down a two-year, $8.75 million…

Darren Rovell of CNBC passes along an interesting tidbit, noting that a television advertisement on FOX during one of the upcoming World Series games costs $450,000 per 30 seconds. And if that seems like a lot to you, consider that Rovell also reports FOX has already sold 90 percent of their available ad space despite…

Houston decided that Geoff Blum wasn’t worth $1.6 million next season, choosing to buy him out for $150,000, but the Astros have exercised their $900,000 option on Jason Michaels for 2011. Michaels actually got less playing time than Blum this season, but did more with it by hitting .253/.310/.468 in 203 plate appearances. He’s been…

Tampa Bay announced its rotation for the ALDS. As expected David Price will start Game 1 and Game 5, but in a mild surprise the Rays have tabbed James Shields rather than Matt Garza to start Game 2. Ultimately it doesn’t matter a whole lot, since both guys will end up starting just once in…

Two weeks ago, when new general manager Kevin Towers revealed that he wanted Greg Maddux to be the Diamondbacks’ pitching coach, I wrote: “Mel Stottlemyre Jr. is currently in his second season as Arizona’s pitching coach and has spent the past nine years in the organization in some capacity, so he’s probably not thrilled to…

Geoff Blum was Houston’s Opening Day first baseman, but yesterday the Astros informed the 37-year-old utility man that he will not be back in 2011. Rather than exercise their $1.65 million option the Astros will give Blum a $150,000 buyout and he’ll go in search of another bench job after hitting his usual .267/.321/.356 in…

Two weeks ago Ron Gardenhire replied “I don’t see how it can possibly happen” when asked if Justin Morneau could return from a July 7 concussion to play in the postseason, but then last week Morneau had a handful of symptom-free days and expressed optimism about potentially joining the Twins for the ALCS if they…

Prior to managing his final game for the Dodgers yesterday Joe Torre reiterated to Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com that he doesn’t plan to manage in the big leagues again, but did say that a short-term gig skippering the World Baseball Classic team in 2013 “would be interesting.” You wouldn’t have a lot of baggage there,…