Jon Heyman wonders how the Giants may make their arbitration case against Tim Lincecum in the event they don’t settle. After noting how easy it would be for Lincecum — two Cy Youngs, babies — he passes along a potential team strategy: The Giants could claim Lincecum’s second Cy was a “fluke” (a word I…

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that the Brewers and left-hander Doug Davis have agreed to terms on a one-year, $5.25 million contract with an option for 2011. The deal will pay Davis $4.25 million in 2010. The option for 2011 is worth $6.5 million and includes a $1 million buyout. It will be Davis’ second stint…

Arizona designated Eric Byrnes for assignment over the weekend and officially released the 34-year-old outfielder this afternoon. Byrnes was in the final season of a three-year, $30 million contract, so the Diamondbacks are eating $11 million by letting him go. Byrnes signed that deal after a career-year in 2007 that saw him hit .286/.353/.460 with…

Look kids, a trade:  Reliever Merkin Valdez was just sent to Toronto for cash considerations. The Giants had DFA’d him to make room for Aubrey Huff. Hard to believe that he’s only 28, because Valdez — who used to go by the name Manny Mateo — feels like he’s been around for years. I mean,…

On the same day that he filed an arbitration request of $13 million, Tim Lincecum was ordered to pay $513 in fines to resolve October marijuana charges. Lincecum was originally charged with two misdemeanor counts of marijuana and drug paraphernalia possession following an October 30 traffic stop in Washington, but the incident has been reduced…

I was never a big Tommy Lasorda fan back when he was a manager, but I kind of like retired old man Tommy Lasorda. He was a hoot working the room and telling war stories at the Winter Meetings. Reminded me of my late father-in-law, who also happened to be a large and jolly Italian…

While appearing at a Cardinals charity event earlier this week Jim Edmonds challenged manager Tony La Russa to consider him for a comeback, saying that he’d play for the minimum salary after sitting out all of 2009. It was tough to tell whether Edmonds was half-joking or not, but apparently he’s serious. St. Louis radio…

UPDATE:  Dave O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets “I’m told by someone who knows Damon well that he’s not considered retiring.”  That makes more sense, of course, as many of you in the comments have suggested that this could very well be a negotiating ploy. The real question is whether O’Brien knows this because the…

MetsBlog.com’s Matthew Cerrone wrote an interesting article about Bengie Molina’s surprising decision to return to the Giants yesterday after seemingly being all but signed with the Mets. Molina inked a one-year, $4.5 million deal with San Francisco, but Cerrone reports that New York’s offer–which was made in mid-December–included $1 million more in salary for this…

As we’ve passed over several dozen million dollar contracts these past few days for players I’d wager a plurality of baseball fans have never even heard of, it’s probably worth remembering how the other half live: Baseball’s minor leaguers are getting a small raise–in the form of meal money. MLB team owners last week approved…

Colby Lewis was one of the game’s best pitching prospects while coming up through the Rangers’ farm system, with Baseball America ranking him as their No. 32 overall prospect in 2003, sandwiched between Adrian Gonzalez at 31 and Josh Hamilton at 33. That season he made 26 starts for the Rangers as a 23-year-old rookie,…

Via MetsBlog.com comes Jon Heyman talking on the MLB Network last night about Ben Sheets’ expectations.  After suggesting that he’s going to see offers in the $7.5 million range — which sounds reasonable to me — Heyman says: I have a feeling he is seeking more than that, though . . . the buzz around…

Eric Gagne told a French-Canadian radio station that he has a tryout scheduled for today with the Phillies, but general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. was unavailable for comment when Philadelphia Daily News reporter David Murphy tried to get in touch with him about the former Cy Young winner. Gagne signed a minor-league deal with the…

Neat idea from Sam Mellinger at the Kansas City Star: In Zack Greinke, the Royals have a superstar with more unabashed love from the local fan base than anybody else in baseball with possible exceptions for Derek Jeter, Joe Mauer, and Albert Pujols . . . The Royals should take full advantage of this by…

I’m not going to go with the easy joke about how the Giants saved the Mets from themselves with respect to Bengie Molina, because as Aaron’s going to say later this morning, that’s not necessarily the case. Short version: it was a bit more complicated than that, with the Mets initially (and laudably) holding the…

We’re reaching the point where only the true completists among you — the sort of people who are such big Pixies fans, for example, that they bought The Amps’ CD when it came out — will care about these signings. But dadgummit, when I start something I’m going to finish it. Unless I, you know,…

The White Rat is none too thrilled with the steroids business: “The people in St. Louis give Mark McGwire a standing ovation the other day, and (former major leaguer) Jack Clark said every steroid user should be banned for baseball, and they booed him. Now, what the hell is the matter with society when that…

I was so distracted by the scores of trivial one-year contracts that I overlooked two of the few significant deals yesterday: The Dodgers’ signing of Andre Ethier and Jonathan Broxton, $15.25 to the former and and $11 million to the latter, both on two year deals. Ethier made $3.2 million in 2009 and Broxton got…

Grant at McCovey Chronicles has a hilarious — though painful for Giants’ fans — takedown of the Bengie Molina signing that’s definitely worth a read.  But it’s something that he says after the phony press conference that I think gets at the basic problem with the signing: I’m actually fine with the idea that Posey…

I think the best thing about the steroid revelations is that every time some new user is outed, some old timer goes absolutely nuts.  Yesterday it was Carlton Fisk’s turn.  There’s so much gold there that, rather than quote it line by line, it’s better that you just read it all.  First, though, I will…