Sunday: Roch Kubatko of MASN hears that Takahashi has rejected offers from the Mets and Orioles.  Scratch two more teams off the list. Saturday, 6:09pm: Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News tweets that the Giants are assuming Takahashi will accept a minor league offer elsewhere. Saturday, 2:39 pm: Jon Heyman of SI.com tweets…

The Mets certainly don’t need any more ragging, but sometimes it’s hard to resist.  A rough offseason filled with negative storylines has bred a mile-high pile of superb quotes and observations.  Here’s the opinion of one veteran sports agent, courtesy of the New York Post’s Joel Sherman: “How can you have that payroll and still…

UPDATE: ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports that Giles will earn $500,000 if he lands on the big league roster.  The contract also contains another $200,000 worth of performance-based bonuses. 9:18am: According to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick, the Dodgers have signed outfielder Brian Giles to a minor league contract. Included in the deal is an invitation to spring…

Last night, I found myself in a pretty interesting to-and-fro with Sam Page of the excellent Amazin’ Avenue about whether Fernando Martinez was rushed in his development. It was spurred on, at least initially, by what Martinez told Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com this week: “I know I’m a big league player, and I can perform…

According to Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com, the Blue Jays have acquired left-hander Dana Eveland from the Athletics in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Eveland was designated for assignment earlier this week. The 26-year-old southpaw was touched up to the tune of a 7.16 ERA in 13 games (nine…

According to Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com, the Nationals have signed veteran left-hander Shawn Estes to a minor league contract. Estes, who turns 37 later this month, didn’t appear in the majors last season, but was 3-4 with a 3.07 ERA in 13 starts with Triple-A Albuquerque in the Dodgers organization. Of course, Mets fans know…

It’s not like there’s some kind of Nazarite oath afoot here that will sap Tim Lincecum of all of his power in the event his locks are shorn, but I still don’t like this one bit: His hair is 3 inches shorter. He said he cut it before last month’s baseball writers’ banquet in New…

Jim Street of MLB.com reports that Erik Bedard has passed his physical, paving the way for his return to Seattle. Bedard, who turns 31 in March, signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with a mutual option for 2011. Jon Heyman of SI.com tweets that the contract includes incentives that could push him over the $7.5…

Kevin Millar makes the case for his value to the Cubs: “Everybody is looking at stats … I get it. But my point is when you’re making a team and trying to bring in a bunch of different personalities I think everybody’s got a certain amount of intangibles that they bring. “Obviously, I’ll bring some…

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Braves and the Tigers are somewhat interested in Johnny Damon and would sign him if the price was right: It’s not clear how many suitors are showing interest in Johnny Damon at the moment. But the Tigers and Braves are definitely among the group, multiple…

This is part of a 30-article series looking at each team’s depth chart headed into spring training. Philadelphia Phillies Rotation 1. Roy Halladay 2. Cole Hamels 3. Joe Blanton 4. J.A. Happ 5. Jamie Moyer 6. Kyle Kendrick 7. Antonio Bastardo 8. Jose Contreras 9. Drew Carpenter 10. Ryan Vogelsong 11. Joe Savery Barring the…

Over the next several days, I’ll be dipping into my 2010 projections and presenting some leaderboards. 1. Ryan Howard – 47 2. Prince Fielder – 42 3. Albert Pujols – 41 3. Mark Teixeira – 41 5. Miguel Cabrera – 39 5. Alex Rodriguez – 39 7. Ryan Braun – 38 7. Adrian Gonzalez –…

I sometimes wonder if ballplayers who are still unsigned as February dawns get nervous.  I still don’t know if they do or not, but based on this tweet from Jon Paul Morosi, they probably should be: Asked a scout about Jermaine Dye today. His response: “I forgot about him.” 27 homers and 81 RBI last…

Last week the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bruce Jenkins tried to imagine Buster Posey pulling a Craig Biggio in order to save his knees or to keep busy or to allow Bengie Molina to remain the Giants’ catcher until his sons can succeed him or something.  Today we hear from Andrew Baggarly that the notion may…

Why? Because there are more masochistic Yankees fans than you realize, they love this stuff and I live to serve. The last installment from NYaT is the pen, the bench and the coaches: Phil Hughes/Joba Chamberlain. What it would look like: Their 2009 playoffs. The thought is that whichever one of these two does not…

After noting the dearth of contract offers after 2008, and the utter lack of leverage he had with respect to his opt-out clause after last season, Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times wonders whether 2010 will be Manny’s swan song: This might well be the last season of Ramirez’s career. If he wants to…

Yesterday at an auction in California an anonymous bidder paid $103,579 for the ball Alex Rodriguez hit for his 500th career homer. Rodriguez hit the homer off Kyle Davies of the Royals at the old Yankee Stadium in August of 2007, and has since hit another 83 bombs. Generally speaking the 500-homer club has lost…

The Twins and their fans are understandably giddy over the Orlando Hudson signing, but Joel Sherman of the New York Post is throwing a bit of cold water on the O-Dog today: No doubt Hudson is a better player than Castillo and, thus, would have helped the Mets more. But Dodgers officials were actually disappointed…

He’s not quite in Russell Branyan territory, but we now know that Yorvit Torrealba cost himself a bunch of money by turning down a good offer early in the offseason. Six weeks ago Torrealba reportedly turned down a two-year deal from the Rockies worth around $5 million, with talks apparently breaking up over a difference…

Joel Sherman tweets that the Blue Jays are no longer interested in bringing back Carlos Delgado. They and the Mets were the only two teams to have shown any interest in him all winter.  The Mets peeled out when they signed Fernando Tatis.  The Jays have decided that Adam Lind is a better bet at…