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FOXSports.com’s Ken Rosenthal said Monday that the Cubs and Mets have discussed a deal that would send Milton Bradley to New York for Luis Castillo and then onto Toronto for Lyle Overbay. Rosenthal believes such a deal is a long shot, since the Jays don’t appear to be interested in a one-for-one trade. Perhaps that…

Torn up Monday was baseball’s one truly unique contract. And, arguably, one of the most foolish. In April 2005, a then 38-year-old Tim Wakefield made a deal with the Red Sox that gave the team a one-year, $4 million extension for 2006 and $4 million in perpetuity after that. The Red Sox had exercised those…

White Sox acquire 3B-OF Mark Teahen from the Royals for 2B Chris Getz and 3B Josh Fields Neither player the White Sox surrendered for Teahen is likely to come back and bite them in a big way. I just wrote this about Getz in the AL Rookie Review on Monday: Getz always showed a knack…

The Red Sox acquired disappointing outfielder Jeremy Hermida in a three-player deal with the Marlins on Thursday, surrendering left-handers Hunter Jones and Jose Alvarez in the bargain. Hermida was hardly an obvious fit for the Red Sox, given his left-handedness and the presence of J.D. Drew and Jacoby Ellsbury ahead of him in the outfield.…

According to Fanhouse’s Ed Price, the deal between the Angels and Bobby Abreu is worth $19 million over two years and includes a vesting option for 2011. Abreu, who had to settle for a one-year, $5 million deal last winter, will make $9 million each of the next two seasons. The details of the vesting…

Whether it was the remnants of a weekend cold or simply not having the extra day of rest he’s often been accustomed to, Pedro Martinez showed up Wednesday with far from his best stuff. He still managed to hold his own against eight of the Yankees’ nine hitters in two times through the order. Unfortunately,…

World Series Game 6 live chat

Given all of the indications that the team had no plans to offer free agent Rich Harden arbitration this winter, the Cubs must have been feeling confident about their 2010 rotation. Big-money pitchers Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly and Ryan Dempster were set to lead the way, with rookie surprise Randy Wells and summer acquisition Tom…

The Phillies managed to score four runs in six innings against a fully rested Andy Pettitte in Game 3 of the World Series on Saturday. Given that he’ll be working on short rest tonight, it seems doubtful that they’ll be shut down entirely. Pettitte hadn’t even started on four days’ rest since Sept. 5. His…

Rays second baseman Akinori Iwamura is headed to Pittsburgh, says the St. Petersburg Times and several other sources. According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, right-hander Jesse Chavez will be the return when the deal is announced, something that might not happen until after the World Series concludes. The Rays are expected to surrender a second player…

The Yankees confirmed Tuesday that Andy Pettitte would take the mound on short rest and start Game 6 against the Phillies and Pedro Martinez on Wednesday. It was obvious the Bombers would go that route from the moment that A.J. Burnett was chosen to start Game 5. If Chad Gaudin was going to pitch, it…

When the showdown against the Yankees began, it looked like Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth were the Phillies poised to make postseason history. Howard matched a record by driving in runs in eight straight games to begin the postseason. Werth, meanwhile, hit five homers in nine games against the Rockies and Dodgers. In the World…

World Series Game 5 live chat

It was the obvious issue when GM Ruben Amaro opted for Raul Ibanez over Pat Burrell last winter: the Phillies would have big problems against left-handed pitching with so much of their power coming from the left side. It turned out to be a non-factor during the regular season. Ibanez, who went into the year…

It was fun while it lasted. Lidge opened the postseason with five straight scoreless appearances. He put together that kind of streak just once during the regular season, when he saved five in a row from May 26-June 1. Of course, he finished the regular season 0-8 with 11 blown saves and a 7.21 ERA.…

It seems like the story has been repeated several times this year. Cole Hamels came out firing again Saturday, keeping the Yankees hitless through three innings. The only one of the first 11 hitters to reach did so on a HBP. And then it all fell apart, too quickly for Charlie Manuel to do much…

The Giants could have gone out and picked up Felipe Lopez or Ronnie Belliard to fill a colossal hole at second base at midseason, but they guessed wrong and picked Freddy Sanchez. They may well have lost the NL West in the process. Not that they deserved to have things turn out so badly. Sanchez…

How exactly do we weigh opportunity? Andy Pettitte has been far from an ace while finishing with ERAs over 4.00 each of the last four seasons, yet he keeps winning 14 games every year and is now up to 229 victories for his career. That comes with being an above average starter for very good…

Manager Charlie Manuel announced Friday that Joe Blanton would start Game 4 for the Phillies on Sunday, essentially setting his rotation for the rest of October. The guess going in was that the Phillies would try to get away with using Cliff Lee in Games 1, 4 and 7. Blanton still figured to start Game…

So, now we know just how the Yankees have decided to address that middle-relief problem; they’re going to bypass it completely. A.J. Burnett struck out nine over seven innings and Mariano Rivera pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings Thursday as the Yankees won 3-1 to send the World Series to Philadelphia deadlocked at one game…

World Series Game 2 live blog/chat

Check back at 8 pm EDT, as I’ll be hosting a live chat during Game 2 of the World Series.

Jorge Posada’s absence was expected with Jose Molina having caught A.J. Burnett in each of the right-hander’s three previous postseason starts, but Yankees manager Joe Girardi made the surprising decision Thursday to remove Nick Swisher from the starting lineup for Game 2 of the World Series and replace him with Jerry Hairston Jr. in right…

The winner of Game 1 has prevailed in each of the last six World Series It’s a streak that started when the Marlins upset the Yankees in six games in 2003. But the truth is that none of the series since have been close. In fact, three were sweeps and the other two ended in…

*Cliff Lee needs to work deep into the game in order to match CC Sabathia. The Phillies will likely have to rely a great deal on their pen during Games 2 and 3, so it’s important that Lee provide them with at least seven strong innings. The chances of Chad Durbin, Chan Ho Park and…