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I suppose this means that Tim McCarver will have to stop writing “Mrs. Derek Jeter” over and over again in his notebook: After months of speculation that the Yankees’ hunk and his sexy steady Minka Kelly are headed to the altar, The Post has learned that the super couple may have settled on a wedding…

We talked about this some last summer, but Bill Madden of the Daily News reminds us today that the Hall of Fame debates which raged before and after last Wednesday’s announcement — and which will rage every year forever more, it seems — have to do with a hell of a lot more than history…

A reader is not all that impressed with Mike Lowell’s “mission”: he’s bragging about working out 4 or 5 times a week? I work out 4 or 5 times a week, and I have a full-time+ job and a two year old.  WTF?! No wonder he looked slow out there all year. Maybe his defense…

Because I don’t think I’ve mentioned Aroldis Champan since at least breakfast I may as well provide the latest:  The Jays are on top at the moment, having offered him $23 million, according to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com. The Angels are still reportedly in it, and many who follow the Angels keep bringing up the…

Rosenthal tweets: A one year deal for $1.75 million plus incentives that could bring the deal to $2 million. Also, a $2 million club option for 2011, also with incentives, but he can void the option if he gets 525 plate appearances in 2010. Coulda been worse I suppose.  And hey, if Podsednik has a…

5:03: UPDATE:  Done deal according to Brian McTaggart of MLB.com. No details yet on the money. 4:50 P.M. OK, forget what I wrote earlier about the Rangers and Brett Myers. I got my tweets mixed up and clicked Jerry Crasnick’s old Rangers/Myers tweet instead of the new Astros thing.  What can I say? All those…

I dunno, man. It’s Jim Bowden again, and Jim Bowden has shown that he couldn’t out-scoop his mother on the scoopingest day of his life with an electrified scooping machine. But then again, this Guerrero-to-Texas stuff seems pretty inevitable, so we’ll pass it along anyway:  Vlad has come to his senses, realizes that no one…

ESPN’s Howard Bryant is outraged at all the outrage over the Hall of Fame voting. His argument boils down to this: Baseball used to ignore its history and poop on the fans before the strike, and now they care about honoring people and milestones; God, that sucks; The sabermetricians and their fellow travelers in the…

Gwen Knapp of the San Francisco Chronicle wants to know why Bud Selig and Tony La Russa and, eventually she presumes, the public is willing to embrace Mark McGwire once again despite his steroidy sins but not Barry Bonds. I suppose that has a lot to do with the fact that people actually once, you…

My buddy Jason at IIATMS has a rule:  you can’t complain unless you offer a solution. Terrible rule. If I followed it I would be deprived of all kinds of self-satisfying complaining. Ideas are hard. Bitching cleanses the soul. But he lives by it, and because of that he decided to come up with a…

The Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Pacific League have signed Blue Jays’ righty Brian Wolfe.  Wolfe had a 8.22 ERA in 14 games in relief with the Jays and had a 5.05 ERA in 34 games at Triple-A Las Vegas. I don’t really care about the signing that much, but it does make me wonder…

That’s what Boras called Beltre’s deal with the Red Sox a little while ago. When the roomful of reporters couldn’t grok his meaning, he explained what he meant: “A pillow contract is, basically, you lay down, it’s comfortable, it’s soft, it’s there. But the fact of the matter is it’s not with you all the…

They pay him to pitch, not study, but it is rather fun to learn that CC Sabathia got creamed in a game of Yankees trivia by Denzel Washington on the Jay Leno show last night. I suppose his saving grace is that between the BCS game and the fact that not too many damn people…

This isn’t a “best shape of my life” article, it’s simply David Wright talking frankly about his bad 2009, his approach at Citi Field and talking confidently about 2010: “I felt very uncomfortable in the batter’s box . . .I think one of my greatest strengths as a hitter is going the opposite field and…

Buster Olney and Ken Rosenthal were on the same page with their Hall of Fame voting pieces this morning. They’re likewise on the same page in passing along disdain for the Matt Holliday deal too.  First was Robo talking about Boras’ bluff and now here’s Buster passing along two quotes regarding the Cardinals’ overpayment, the…

Ken Rosenthal doesn’t mince any words when it comes to the Hall of Fame electorate: Our membership is too bloated, too riddled with voters who do not take the process seriously enough to educate themselves properly . . . Virtually every voter I know is honored to participate in the process. Virtually every voter I…

Depending on who you believe, the Rangers have offered Vald Guerrero either $5 million or $7 million.  According to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com, however, it doesn’t really matter as “one source said Guerrero wasn’t particularly happy with the Rangers offer.” Let’s say it’s $5 million. That’s what Bobby Abreu got to be Vlad’s teammate in…

On December 23rd, I reported that the Pirates had made a $3 million offer to Octavio Dotel to be their closer. The team denied it. Today, however, Dejan Kovacevic says that “Dotel is one of several relievers the team has offered a contract,” and that they have “zeroed in” on him.  He notes that that…

If I had any skills I’d create some sort of interactive bingo card for the right-hand margin on which we’d put chips every time a player is reported this spring to (a) be in the best shape of his life; (b) be working on a new pitch that he thinks will make the difference; (c)…

I and others suspected that the Cardinals were bidding against themselves in the Matt Holliday negotiations. Ken Rosenthal suggested yesterday that they had some help via some Boras bluffing: Would Scott Boras have pulled an Adrian Beltre with Matt Holliday, taking a one-year deal in search of a better free-agent market next off-season? The Cardinals…

9:21 A.M. UPDATE: Rosenthal now reports that Podsednik is saying he has a deal with a club and that the Royals are saying they have a deal with an outfielder and that we should “put 2 and 2 together!”  UPDATE: Now Jerry Crasnick has a source confirming this and that a formal announcement will come…

On the occasion of Andre Dawson’s election to the Hall of Fame, Tyler Kepner of the New York Times has a nice story up about the Montreal Expos.  Definitely worth checking out.  I rarely get too nostalgic about the Expos — in their latter years they were most bothersome competition for my Braves — but…

“Our view of it is that with our ballpark coming online, there’s no question in my mind we’re the team of the Americas.” – Florida Marlins’ President David Samson, getting a little too excited about playing a random series in San Juan instead of the Miami suburbs this June. I’m not at all certain that…

After a couple of months of looking like the guy who would be left without a seat in the great closer musical chairs game of 2009-2010, Jose Valverde finally has some offers according to Yahoo!’s Tim Brown. Four to be precise, including one from the Tigers and one from the Diamondbacks. MLB Trade Rumors notes…

UPDATE: A source tells Jerry Crasnick that, no, the Rangers aren’t going any higher than $5 million on Vlad.  I love this: battling ESPN stories. I met both Crasnick and Arangure in Indianapolis. Crasnick has the reach, but Arangure is no doubt quicker.  Anyway, even $5 million is a good offer for a guy in…