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There are a couple of times in this video where Dan Haren looks like he’s about to break into a Ric Flair-style “Woo!”

Ken Rosenthal reports that  Rays outfielder B.J. Upton “remains unlikely to be moved.”  This isn’t Earth-shattering news, but Upton had been thrown around as possible trade bait for a pitcher, mostly when Cliff Lee was still being shopped. Upton is having a terrible year, but occasional lapses aside, defense doesn’t slump as much as hitting…

A little over a week ago we heard that the Yankees would like to have Joakim Soria if they could. Which didn’t really raise anyone’s eyebrows because, really, who wouldn’t?  Turns out that they were more than just a little interested, however, because Heyman reports that they made the Royals “a big proposal” for Soria…

The Red Sox bandwagon has a few empty seats in it this year according to Sports Business Journal: The Boston Red Sox’s six-year reign atop MLB’s local television ratings is about to end, as the team’s local numbers have plummeted from first to fifth this season. Entering the All-Star break, ratings for Red Sox games…

How much of this is politeness towards the Cubs upon being asked a question about them and how much of this is Bobby V. actually wanting the job is hard to say, but . . . The ESPN analyst and former New York Mets and Texas Rangers manager says he’s interested in taking over for…

It’s one thing to talk about a deal, but it’s another thing altogether to make a deal. Joe Strauss of the Post-Dispatch is reporting this morning that, despite talking about it for over a week, the Cardinals dealing for Roy Oswalt is “unlikely.” The reason: as it appeared last week, the Astros simply aren’t being…

Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported last night that Tyler Skaggs is the player to be named later in the Dan Haren deal.  Skaggs is a decent prospect: He just turned 19 and he’s 8-4 with a 3.61 ERA in 82.1 innings for low Class-A Cedar Rapids. Most folks project him to be a…

When you come off a 2-9 road trip in which your team was shut out four times, there’s a decent chance your hitting coach is gonna be in deep trouble. That seems to be the case with the Mets, reports Adam Rubin. Omar Minaya seems poised to fire someone, and that someone is likely to…

Police are on the lookout for the person or persons who robbed the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The A’s on Friday signed popular catcher Kurt Suzuki to a four-year contract worth a guaranteed $16.25 million, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Susan Slusser. The new deal replaces the one-year, $420,000 contract Suzuki signed prior to 2010. He would have been eligible for arbitration for the first time in the offseason. Now all…

You say incredible doesn’t describe it? Well, no, for a bench player to be hitting .225/.265/.396 with four homers and 12 RBI in 111 at-bats three and a half months into the season isn’t particularly notable. In fact, it’s not far off from what should have been expected. My preseason projection called for him to…

This is the first in a series of articles looking at players who might be available in the days leading up to the July 31 trade deadline. Kurt Suzuki (Athletics) – I’m starting it off with a couple of long shots. The A’s see Suzuki as a building block, and they’ll probably try to get…

Although he’s been in an awful slump since hitting 13 homers during April and May, Orioles utilityman Ty Wigginton is drawing interest from the Phillies, Rangers and Yankees, according to the Baltimore Sun’s Jeff Zrebiec. Zrebiec says the Orioles and Phillies have discussed Wigginton for several weeks. The Philllies could install Wigginton at third base,…

As the Angels were beating the Mariners 8-3 on Thursday night, Ichiro Suzuki and Erick Aybar became the first pair of leadoff men to drive in three runs in the same game in a season and a half. Ichiro supplied all of Seattle’s runs on the night with a bases-loaded double in the fifth inning,…

Anteing up $3.5 million to add talent to a system dearly in need of it, the Mariners signed three 16-year-olds out of Latin America to minor league contracts on Thursday, Baseball America reports. Chief among the players was outfielder Phillips Castillo, a native of the Dominican Republic who signed for $2.2 million. The hope is…

Adam Ottavino, the Cardinals’ first-round pick in 2006 out of Northeastern, will undergo surgery for what GM John Mozeliak called a “slap tear,” reports the Post-Dispatch’s Derrick Goold. The procedure to repair the labrum in his shoulder will keep him out for the rest of this year and could sideline him well into 2011. It’s…

Jose Reyes was due to hit leadoff Thursday in Carlos Beltran’s return from knee surgery, but he was scratched prior to the game against the Giants and Tim LIncecum because he still doesn’t feel comfortable hitting left-handed as he deals with a strained oblique. Reyes, who originally missed six days with the injury, tried hitting…

Jason Heyward didn’t push it and try to return for the All-Star Game, but he is in Thursday’s lineup as the right fielder against the Brewers. Heyward, who was sidelined with a bone bruise in his left thumb, will hit second between Martin Prado and Chipper Jones tonight. It had turned into his usual spot…

Yunel Escobar for Alex Gonzalez certainly isn’t a deal anyone saw coming a year or two ago. Sure, the Braves had always had something of a love-hate relationship with their Cuban shortstop, but they had no shortage of opportunities to move him for promising players. To trade him now for an older, less-rangy shortstop having…