FOX’s Jon Paul Morosi reports that Bengie Molina as lowered his asking price and that, as a result, he may be a step closer to joining the Mets. The holdup all along has been years, not money, so it’s unclear whether the Molina is now willing to deal with a single year and an option…

I haven’t voted for him because he wouldn’t come forward and say anything, but now that he did and admitted he cheated, I probably still won’t vote for him. – The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s Tom Haudricourt, approaching the sublime.

I only mention this because, just like the will-Bonds-be-the-next-to-apologize thing, tons of people are asking me if I think Congress will get back into the steroids thing in light of Mark McGwire’s admission. No and no. The first no is based on the legalities involved. The only reason they’d have to haul McGwire back or…

FanHouse’s Ed Price tweets that the Mets have scouted Carlos Delgado a handful of times as he plays in Puerto Rico this winter, and that he’s “not moving well.”  One would think that this would preclude his return as a first baseman. Price suggests that the Blue Jays have scouted him as well. If Price’s…

Yahoo!’s Jeff Passan reports that Aroldis Chapman’s six year contract has an incentive clause in it that could make it a very different deal than it’s currently constructed: If he’s in the Majors by mid-May, it turns into a three-year, $25.25 million deal with three years of arbitration to follow. I can only assume that…

The Cubs are reportedly interested in Ben Sheets who, in turn, is interested in playing for the Cubs. I love it when true love blooms. The problem: Sheets reportedly has been asking for a two-year deal averaging around $10 million to $12 million per year.  The Cubs would be right to balk at such an…

I think the best bit of McGwire spleen I’ve seen so far comes from the New York Post’s Kevin Kernan. Unlike a lot of the cutesy people who are trying to explain why, exactly, McGwire’s apology doesn’t cut the mustard and parsing words and all of that, Kernan just lets fly about the evils of…

Jason at IIATMS has an excellent post exposing just how differently Bud Selig, and by extension Major League Baseball, are treating the Mark McGwire business than they treated the Alex Rodriguez business. My take: Rodriguez and his agent and his contract bug Selig on some primal level, so it’s easy for him to slip into…

Let’s cleanse the palate a bit, shall we? lar from Wezen-Ball is a friggin’ genius. Using his collection of the “Complete Peanuts”, volumes 1 through 12, he went through and counted all of the wins, losses, and other various stats put up (and against) Charlie Brown’s baseball team between 1951 and 1970.  Here’s the introduction. …

In both his statement yesterday and during his interview with Bob Costas last night, McGwire repeatedly said that he took steroids to recover from injuries. When asked if he thought steroids helped him, you know, hit the living crap out of the baseball, he said no. He called them performance “equalizers,” not performance “enhancers,” and…

Hank Aaron on Mark McGwire’s mea culpa: “I think that it’s wonderful that he did this. It takes a big man to admit this and I want to commend him for that. A lot of people make mistakes, and for him to stand up and admit what he has done in the past, I think…

CORRECTION: While one of the parties to the bid was, indeed, unsuccessful in the first round of the bidding, I was mistaken in assuming that it had to be either Crane of Gilbert. The first round of bidding was actually a letter-bid submission round from last September, which included as many as six interested parties. …

I have head-full of other Mark McGwire thoughts driving me insane this morning, but those will come later. At the moment let’s address a sentiment I’ve heard over and over since yesterday afternoon, and that’s that now McGwire has offered up his mea culpa, it’s time for Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens to…

Drayton McLane is considering selling the Houston Astros, according to the Associated Press. McLane, who’s owned the team since 1993, has signed a working letter of intent to sell the team to a group consisting of local and out-of-town investors, KTRK-TV reported. Interestingly, McLane sounds like he doesn’t know a whole lot about the potential…

The Los Angeles Dodgers want everyone to know they’re trying really, really hard. Honestly, folks. According to Yahoo!’s Tim Brown, the Dodgers are trying to figure out away to sign free agent pitcher Joel Pineiro, who is coming off perhaps his finest season. The Dodgers have reportedly been on the Pineiro hunt for awhile, but…

Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting that the Pirates have agreed to terms on a contract with outfielder Ryan Church, a free agent who played just 111 games last season as he battled back problems. The signing is contingent on Church passing a physical, which will come later his week. This isn’t a huge…

Though he’s probably a better option than some of the guys the Royals and Mets will trot out to the mound this season, Greg Maddux has apparently decided that his retirement is going to stick.  Instead, he’s going to go work for the Cubs as a special assistant to Jim Hendry. Maddux has long been…

Omar Minaya and Theo Epstein spoke at a round table discussion over the weekend and the subject of Latin American player development came up.  This was fun: While many big-name players have emerged from the Dominican Republic, the highly touted athletes often are kept out of baseball games and kept in training facilities, thus explaining…

Keith Law is dead-on with his take about what the Aroldis Chapman means for the allegedly necessary international draft: Returning to Chapman, this deal puts yet another lie to the claim pushed by MLB, among others, that making the draft a worldwide one is about maintaining competitive balance. The Reds, playing in one of MLB’s…

Jon Heyman reports that the Twins have not started talking to Joe Mauer yet, though they probably will soon. Heyman says that the “word is that Mauer plans to be reasonable for a superstar” in his demands, which Heyman says is seven years and north of $20 million, but not near $30 million. I’d be…