Cory Wade missed much of last season with a shoulder injury, but upon arriving at spring training last month the 26-year-old reliever said: “My shoulder is healthy. My back is strong. This is the best I’ve felt since 2008.” Unfortunately that was short-lived, as Wade complained of shoulder pain just two weeks later and is…

So Bud Selig appointed a committee to study the intricacies of maybe possibly hopefully hypothetically moving the Athletics to San Jose.  The problem: the Giants’ territorial rights.  I’m not expert of decision making, but it strikes me that Bud’s committee had to answer a relatively small, relatively simple few questions: (1) Are the A’s viable…

Turner Sports announced that John Smoltz has joined the TBS broadcast team as an analyst for their Sunday afternoon games and select Braves games. Smoltz joins a lineup of color commentators that includes Ron Darling, Buck Martinez, David Wells, and Dennis Eckersley, with Ernie Johnson, Brian Anderson, and Dick Stockton filling play-by-play duties. Chip Caray’s…

The New York Times’ Tyler Kepner runs down the differences between spring training in Florida vs. spring training in Arizona. He focuses on how as of next year every Cactus League team will play in the greater Phoenix area and how everything in Florida is spaced out. He could have added that the weather, generally…

Lance Berkman is questionable to be ready for Opening Day following knee surgery last week and Zachary Levine of the Houston Chronicle reports that the Astros are leaning toward veteran utility man Geoff Blum as his replacement at first base. In his absence, Geoff Blum started in the No. 5 spot in the lineup Sunday,…

Everyone has had a lot of fun with Buster Olney’s report about the Phillies having internal discussions about trading Ryan Howard for Pujols.  Today Buster strikes back. After making it clear that he never said that any St. Louis-Philly negotiations took place and that neither team was inclined to make such deal, Buster says he…

Jed Lowrie has been sidelined for the past four days because of a so-called “mystery” illness that sapped his energy and accelerated his heart rate. He underwent a stress test and various blood work yesterday and has apparently been cleared of anything serious, with Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reporting that he “could resume…

Mike Scioscia more or less confirmed what folks who think a lot about baseball had been hoping for: Brandon Wood will break Angels’ camp as the starting third baseman.  There had been concerns that the three-year, $10-million deal the club gave to Maicer Izturis this winter would serve to block Wood. Again.  Scioscia says, however,…

Yesterday several Rule 5 picks were sent back to their original teams, but the Brewers worked out a deal with the Indians for Chuck Lofgren to remain in the organization without being on the big-league roster all season. In exchange for being able to keep Lofgren and, just as importantly, demote him to the minors…

A summary of Bob Klapisch’s take on Manny Ramirez:  He was totally awesome until he tested positive for PEDs, and then we all realized that he was a fraud and now he needs to prove he can still produce without the drugs. But if he does produce this season we’ll have no idea if he’s…

Stuff like this post — looking at all the preseason annuals like Sporting News and Athlon, and determining whether their choices of the face of each franchise as evidenced by the cover photos they use makes rational sense — is why I keep Wezen-Ball bookmarked and you should too. Anyone can tell you who won…

Chuck Greenberg keeps telling everyone who will listen that there’s nothing to worry about, the sale of the Rangers will close by April 1, and all will be happy and sunshine. Events on the ground, however, continue to make such a scenario less and less likely. According to Daniel Kaplan of Sports Business Daily: Hicks…

Mike Vaccaro has a column today about how the presence of Derek Jeter and his presumptive multi-year deal likely contributed to the Yankees missing out on Cuban free agent Adeiny Hechevarria, who seems to have signed with the Blue Jays. Vaccaro is realistic about it — it’s not like you let 19 year-old prospects dictate…

Economist (and Braves fan) J.C. Bradbury thinks the best way to deal with the scourge of HGH is to simply allow anyone who wants to use it to do so. It’s an Insider article so many of you can’t see it, but Bradbury’s upshot is that (a) there is almost a total lack of evidence…

Derek Lowe was absolutely dominant last night, retiring every batter he faced save one who reached on an error, striking out six and inducing five groundouts. This (a) gives me hope that his little toe blister problem is past him; and (b) bolsters my belief that he’s poised for a bounce back season. Then I…

If it wasn’t for bad luck Josh Hamilton wouldn’t have no luck at all: Hamilton was diagnosed with a bruise on his left hand after getting hit by a pitch Monday night in a Cactus League game against the San Francisco Giants. Preliminary X-rays were negative and he will be re-evaluated Tuesday. “Somebody is after…

The latest from the McCourt divorce: Jamie McCourt considered whether to parlay her high-profile position with the Dodgers into the pursuit of political offices, including president of the United States, according to documents filed by her estranged husband in the couple’s divorce proceedings . . . In a December 2008 e-mail, Dodgers executive Charles Steinberg…

Well tonight thank God it’s them instead of you:

The Oakland A’s pulled off one of the shockers of the offseason when they signed free agent pitcher Ben Sheets to a one-year, $10 million deal. While many thought the A’s overpaid for the talented (yet oft-injured)  pitcher who missed all of 2009, there were also some good feelings that a small-market club could outbid…

I remember when I first realized that Albert Pujols was GREAT. I already knew he was great, mind you, but there came a time when the simple lower-case modifier was no longer good enough to describe the St. Louis Cardinals slugger. Sort of like calling the Grand Canyon big, or the Pacific Ocean wet, it…