We all know things are rough out there. A lot of people are out of jobs, struggling to make ends meet. The Cleveland Indians are trying to help, offering fans the ability to win 12-game ticket packages through an essay contest. But for those feeling a bit strapped on the cash front in these tough…

Yesterday, in the wake of Carlos Beltran’s surgery spat with his team, I wondered what else could go wrong for the Mets? I shouldn’t have asked, because today I saw this story in the New York Daily News: The Mets are suing a major advertiser they claim bounced $400,000 in checks. The Mets want the…

If you think the Mark McGwire steroids saga has been played out, think again. Reactions just keep rolling in from all sorts of folks like Jack Clark (ban him from baseball!), Mark Grace (why would you do steroids and ruin your sex life?), and Christine Brennan (hey everybody, let’s talk about Pete Rose!) While each…

That gun the union put to the Marlins’ head has paid quick dividends for Josh Johnson, who just had his arbitration and two years of free agency bought out by Florida, to the tune of four years, $39 million. Johnson turns 26 later this month.  He was 15-5 with a 3.23 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and…

Phillies closer Brad Lidge had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Wednesday.  Something to do with “loose bodies and meniscal debridement.” I hate it when that happens. He’ll start throwing again in ten days or so.  It’s unclear if he’ll be ready to go by Opening Day.  If he can’t go, the Phillies will…

Yahoo!’s Tim Brown reports that Jose Valverde has reached a two-year agreement with the Tigers.  It’s for $14 million, with an option for a third year. I’m a bit surprised that a deal like that was signed this late in the hot stove season. Indeed, from Valverde’s perspective, this is the best deal any closer…

Multiple tweetings of this news, which has been brewing for some time. In other Pirates news, Maury Brown reports that they’re giving Ryan Church the #18 jersey.  Which used to be Andy Van Slyke’s number.  I always liked Andy Van Slyke.  I assume Pirates fans do too, even if the decision to keep him over…

At least that’s what USA Today’s Bob Nightengale says he says. Of course, Torre is only under contract through 2010. If the team implodes or if it goes broke and gets mired in McCourt nonsense, isn’t it possible that they’ll say thanks-but-no-thanks to a manager making $4 million or more for an additional year? UPDATE: …

Sports Business Daily caught up with Bud Selig at the owners’ meetings yesterday and got a couple of additional quotes from him about McGwire: “My public statement, which I wrote over and over and over, says exactly how I feel on the matter. I just don’t want to add to that. I painstakingly went over…

Tim Kurkjian reports that Ben Sheets is tan, rested and ready: “That was my first summer off. No baseball player can even remember the last summer he had off. I did July 4th and Labor Day with the family. The time off refreshed me. It made me realize how much I love baseball. I missed…

UPDATE:  The Mets have spoken.  Assistant GM John Rico says that they say that they had the conversations with Boras, but that “the conversation with Scott was very direct in we said we do not want him to have surgery until we’ve reviewed the info.” Ricco said that the team wanted a “third opinion.”  They…

Deep Thought: For what the Mets are going to likely pay Bengie Molina, they could have signed Adam LaRoche and any of the multiple $3 million-and-cheaper catchers who have signed this winter and who aren’t appreciably worse than Molina, including but not limited to Gregg Zaun, Miguel Olivo, John Buck, and Ivan Rodriguez. And even…

2:20 P.M.:  Bud Selig has just announced that Major League Baseball has kicked in $1 million via UNICEF. 11:30 A.M.: Great move by the Yankees: The New York Yankees announced today that they were donating $500,000 in support of rescue and relief efforts following the tragic earthquake in Haiti. The catastrophic event has devastated an…

Most teams don’t go to arbitration with their arbitration-eligible players, and the Braves less so than most. So it’s no surprise that they’ve reached a deal with new-arrival Melky Cabrera. It’s a $3.1 million deal, reports ESPN’s Enrique Rojas. The Braves will only pay $2.6 million of that, however, as the Yankees agreed to kick…

As the Tribune’s Paul Sullivan notes, “The Cubs may be the only team in history to bring their new hitting coach to town for an introductory news conference while letting their most prominent free agent signee do his talking over the phone.”  But a news conference it was, and Rudy Jaramillo spoke about his guru…

If you wondered what the famously overage star of the 2001 Little League World Series is up to, the New York Daily News is your huckleberry. The story is mostly about the high school team he’s helping coach now, but this line sticks out: “Despite putting up impressive numbers the past two seasons at Western…

If you don’t know who the best shortstop of all time is please say 50 “Honus Wagner’s” and 10 “our fathers.”  As for second place, ESPN’s David Schoenfield thinks it’s between the Cap’n and Cal, and sides with Jeter. At least eventually: Look, Jeter still has some work to do to catch Ripken. He needs…

Dave O’Brien tweets it anyway. It seemed like the Braves were done making big moves and were content to head to Florida with an outfield of Melky, McLouth, Diaz and maybe — just maybe — Jason Heyward. This didn’t sit particularly well with most Braves fans.  Johnny Damon for a single year at a reasonable…

Dejan Kovacevic tweets that the Arizona Diamondbacks have signed first baseman Adam LaRoche to a one-year contract. Heyman tweets that it’s between $4-5 million. You’ll recall that LaRoche had previously turned down a two-year, $17.5 million offer from the Giants. Add in the facts that (a) San Francisco is a way cooler place to live…

UPDATE:  Readers who heard the un-bleeped version of the broadcast mentioned below are telling me that the expletive in question was “s—” and not “f—.”  I went with the latter earlier because that’s what the linked transcript said, but in hindsight and based on what the readers are telling me, I’m switching.  Whether that changes…