For those Red Sox fans out there grousing about Theo Epstein electing to replace Jason Bay with Mike Cameron, and Mike Lowell with Adrian Beltre (for far less money, too), remember that a run prevented is just as good as a run scored. And with Cameron in center field pushing Jacoby Ellsbury to left, and…

Remember country music singer and Roger Clemens temptress Mindy McCready? You probably thought she went away right? Not so lucky, I’m afraid: McCready, whose long-term romance with former Yankee pitcher Roger Clemens was exposed in the Daily News in April 2008, is one of nine cast members in the third season of VH1′s “Celebrity Rehab…

You know how every few years you have to go to the DMV to renew your driver’s license? They check your vision and take a new photo and make sure your stats are up to date? I’ve always thought that at a certain age – much older than my own, of course – you should…

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe backs up this earlier report that the Red Sox are still in the mix for Cuban left-hander Aroldis Chapman. He also reports that the Yankees are out, and the Marlins have bowed out as well. For those of you keeping score, that leaves the Blue Jays and Angels –…

After a couple of months of looking like the guy who would be left without a seat in the great closer musical chairs game of 2009-2010, Jose Valverde finally has some offers according to Yahoo!’s Tim Brown. Four to be precise, including one from the Tigers and one from the Diamondbacks. MLB Trade Rumors notes…

UPDATE: A source tells Jerry Crasnick that, no, the Rangers aren’t going any higher than $5 million on Vlad.  I love this: battling ESPN stories. I met both Crasnick and Arangure in Indianapolis. Crasnick has the reach, but Arangure is no doubt quicker.  Anyway, even $5 million is a good offer for a guy in…

Because the sign-the-former-Brave strategy worked so well with Tom Glavine, the Mets are taking a look at John Smoltz, according to Matt Cerone of MetsBlog.com. OK, that’s not fair. Smoltz is someone the Mets should be looking at.  Lots of upside and very little risk, I would imagine.

It’s generally accepted that having fallen five votes short this year, Bert Blyleven’s induction in 2011 is a foregone conclusion.  That’s certainly the sensible position. And if I had to bet, I’d wager that he makes it. Part of me still wonders, however, if we haven’t seen his candidacy’s high-water mark — that place where…

Remember when I said that the Yankees and Mets should be treated like movie slashers when it comes to the pursuit of a free agent? That you can’t count them out until they’re truly, truly dead, and that even then you should pour gasoline on the corpse and light it just to be sure? I…

Jack Cust knows that it’s hard out there for a DH. According to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle, he’s about to re-sign with the A’s for $2.5 million with incentives that could take it up to $3 million.  He made $2.8 million in 2009. Cust was non-tendered by the A’s.  If he had…

ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick caught up with Brandon Webb, who’s down in Arizona preparing for a comeback season with the Diamondbacks. He says he feels fine and is ready to pitch, but of course guys always say that.  We’ll see once he starts to face live hitters in spring training. More interesting were the Kentucky native’s…

Jonathan Papelbon sat down for an interview with ESPN Boston’s Gordon Edes and the subject of his soon-to-arrive son came up.  And I gotta tell ya, I’m really starting to take a shine to Jonathan Papelbon: Papelbon’s wife, Ashley, is pregnant with the couple’s second child, a brother for toddler daughter Parker. The child is…

If you wait long enough, even the lamest stuff becomes cool again.  Tell me Astros fans, wouldn’t you give up the comforts of Minute Maid Park if you could hang out in a place like this during a ballgame, drinking brandy Alexanders and Gibson Martinis and stuff?

Everyone’s favorite complaint heading into the 2010 season will be about how cold and rainy and icky it’s going to be in Target Field and why oh why they didn’t put a roof on the joint. Baseball Daily Digest’s Joe Hamrahi throws cold water on that talk, however, noting that of all of the cold…

Commenter ralphdibny was a young Cubs fan in the late 80s and supports Dawson’s enshrinement even if he agrees that maybe he falls a smidge short, objectively speaking. He may be on to something with this: Perhaps there should be a line on his plaque that reads “While his statistics aren’t quite Hall of Fame…

Any of you ever had to pay alimony?  And watched your ex move in with some rich flame? But they don’t get married, and even though you’re making minimum wage and he/she is eating steaks every night you still have to cut the check?  Yeah, that’s the Padres and Kevin Towers: While former San Diego…

Like I said yesterday, Andre Dawson is not necessarily my definition of a Hall of Famer on a statistical basis, but I’m fine with his induction because he was, by all accounts, a great guy, he did a lot of unmeasurable stuff that made baseball come alive in Montreal, if only for a while, and…

Mark McGwire may not change anyone’s mind about his Hall of Fame case simply by talking, but what if he hits a pinch hit home run to win the 2010 NLCS?  Tony La Russa: “If we’re in contention, we’ll put him on the roster Aug. 31. It’s a nice little dream.  Is it likely? Probably…

Murray Chass is one of those guys who will write something one moment that will make you want to pull your hair out, and then the next moment will make a razor-sharp observation, the sort of which that makes so much sense that you’ll wonder why you’ve never heard anyone say it before. He did…

UPDATE:  Still read the discussion below because it applies to other players too, but for the record, a few minutes ago MLB.com’s Hal Bodley walked into the Waldorf Astoria ballroom where they’ll have Andre Dawson’s press conference later today and noticed that they have a big portrait of him in an Expos uniform set up. …