Never finding the kind of deal he wanted, even after he hit .256/.369/.568 in an 85-game stint with the Cubs, Jim Edmonds sat out last season. Now that his itch to play again outweighs his pride, he’s accepted a minor league contract in an attempt to make the Brewers. The initial thought will be that,…

Tampa Bay has signed one of the biggest busts in draft history, inking former No. 1 overall pick Matt Bush to a minor-league contract. When last we saw Bush in July he’d been sentenced to 120 days in residential rehab, 240 hours of community service, three years of probation, and $2,000 in fines after being…

PECOTA — or “Player Empirical Comparison and Optimization Test Algorithm” for those of you who don’t like clever acronyms — is the statistical projection system owned and operated by the good people at Baseball Prospectus. While the specific means by which PECOTA predicts what players and teams will do is proprietary — and while the…

Last week Peter Gammons reported that Boston and Jason Bay “had agreed on the framework” of a four-year, $60 million contract in July, but the Red Sox pulled the offer when an MRI exam raised red flags about the health of his knees. While appearing on WEEI radio today Gammons revealed a few more details:…

UPDATE: Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel confirms the signing.  See you in camp, Mr. Edmonds. 2:42 P.M.: Ken Rosenthal tweets that Milwaukee is about to sign Jim Edmonds to a minor league deal. Jimmy presumably wants to make the Cubs and Cardinals rue the day and all of that. I have a hard time…

“We might be fortunate enough to get away with this” – Jerry Manuel, referring to the Mets’ starting rotation, as currently constructed.  You know you’re in for a long season when your team’s manager refers to the pitching staff as though it were a crime.

Livan Hernandez said yesterday that he’d really like to re-sign with the Nationals, but revealed that he sent the team a contract proposal in December that “did not ask for a lot of money” and general manager Mike Rizzo never even responded. Here’s more from Hernandez, who went 9-12 with a 5.44 ERA last season…

No, not the one in Cooperstown, because the people that run and vote for it are too addle-minded to do such manifestly smart things. It’s the Canadian one doing the good work: Former Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Roberto Alomar will be inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame this summer. Alomar missed out…

Randall Simon played eight seasons in the majors, batting .283 with a decent .742 OPS as a part-time first baseman for six different teams, but he’s most famous for two things: 1) Braves teammate called him a “fat monkey” in an interview with Sports Illustrated. 2) During the mascot “Sausage Race” in Milwaukee he leaned…

Yahoo!’s Tim Brown tweets that the Dodgers are looking at the venerable Garrett Anderson as a fourth outfielder. The Dodgers are interested despite the fact that Anderson had an OBP-light .705 OPS for the Braves last year and a -11.8 UZR.  And they call me irresponsible?

Last month Tigers catcher Gerald Laird and his 22-year-old Yankees prospect brother Brandon Laird were arrested while attending a Phoenix Suns game, with initial reports describing their “loud behavior” and how “the Laird brothers allegedly assaulted the security guards” who tried to calm them down. Gerald Laird insisted afterward that the whole thing was just…

We interrupt this program for some shameless promotion. Partially self-promotion, actually, which you’re used to from me by now, so it shouldn’t be a big deal.  Anyway: As you all know, Aaron, Matthew, D.J., Drew and many others spend a huge amount of their time making your fantasy baseball life better over at Rotoworld.  Their…

Repoz over at Baseball Think Factory links USA Today’s Organizational Report on the San Francisco Giants today. The report was written a couple of weeks ago, actually, as is evidenced by both the url and the references to the team maybe picking up Rod Barajas or someone to help Buster Posey out behind the plate. …

The Daily News’ Adam Rubin reports that John Smoltz is considering pulling a Rogers Clemens or a Pedro Martinez or whatever you want to call it and sitting out until midseason before signing with someone. From a maximization of value perspective this makes perfect sense for a guy like Smoltz. Right now everyone things their…

Those are Cincinnati Enquirer John Fay’s words, who tweets that there’s a lot of activity coming out of the Reds’ front office.  He notes that the team called Scott Boras, but he (and others) are doubtful that there’s anything to the Johnny Damon-to-Cincinnati stuff people were talking about yesterday. Fay thinks the team could be…

In the wake of the Yankees doing the moonwalk from Johnny Damon and signing Randy Winn, Scott Boras is trying to spin, but he’s doing a bad job of it.  First Boras: “The Yankees never even made an offer to me regarding Johnny Damon during the entire process, and the reason for that is they…

Rosenthal notes that there is a big game of musical chairs afoot when it comes to infielders, and Orlando Hudson is the guy controlling the record player. Specifically, the Nats, Twins, Reds, Tigers Rockies and maybe the Mariners and Rays could all use infield help, while Hudson, Adam Kennedy, Felipe Lopez, Orlando Cabrera and Melvin…

The New York Post reports that the Mets are “deep into negotiations” with Fernando Tatis and could announce his signing as early as today.  He made $1.7 million last year and reportedly wants around the same this year. Tatis has been told by Omar Minaya that he is wanted as part of a first-base platoon…

Several readers suggested this one:  If it’s such a big deal that the Cardinals have hired a coach who took PEDs — if he’s toxic, if he’s a distraction — then why does no one care that Glenallen Hill coaches for the Colorado Rockies? And don’t tell me that it’s because Hill, unlike McGwire, truly…

Kenny Lofton would like to let everyone know that he did not ever use, or even consider using, performance-enhancing drugs. “I just went out there and did what I had to do. I was not a cheater,” he told the Associated Press. Lofton made the comments during an announcement that he had been selected for…