It’s $3.5 million. He can make another $425K in incentives.  Capps had an offer from the Cubs and a late one from the Mets, but he’ll almost certainly get to close in D.C., however, so it may be a better situation for him even if those offers were better or equal. Dejan Kovacevic reports in…

The Boston Red Sox loaded up on pitching and defense this offseason by bringing in John Lackey, Marco Scutaro and Mike Cameron, then said they were pretty much done with Jason Bay. But guess what? Even the great Theo Epstein can change his mind. According to the Boston Herald (via our sharp-eyed friends at Rotoworld)…

Athletes have already received advance notice that TMZ plans to start a site devoted solely to sports. If today’s story is any indication, the new site will neither step lightly nor stick to chasing only names in Tiger Woods’ area code. Case in point: Chan Ho Park is suing Chad Kreuter, claiming his former Dodgers…

This just in: Johnny Damon is pessimistic about a return to the Yankees (from the New York Post, via Sporting News). “I know I don’t fit their payroll,” Damon said. “We’ve had a little bit of communication with them, but my price is too high right now. I don’t think I’m their solution.” Despite the…

If you’re a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, you might want to avert your eyes. The rest of you may proceed to check out an amusing look at the best and worst moments of the Pirates’ decade, courtesy of Joe Starkey of the Tribune-Review. You can probably take a guess at what the ratio of best/worst moments…

UPDATE:  I received a call from someone with the Greenberg group. They couldn’t explicitly comment because of confidentiality agreements, but they deny the report that there is anything amiss with financing and say that everything is going just fine. Fair enough. The way it breaks down right now, however, is that I have a source…

Jason Bay may have a mystery team courting him, but he’s got nothing on the Phillies who have come to terms with a mystery closer: According to a person with knowledge of the situation, the Phils have an agreement in place with a pitcher that they believe will help fortify their bullpen. The person could…

That’s not me gushing over the guy — my love for Jeter is a private thing — it’s the name of a new exhibit at the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center (“Learning Center?” For Yogi?): The big item on display is the original Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year Award. First given out in…

I took a bunch of Spanish in college, to the point where there was a month or two where I was thinking in Spanish all the time, getting pretty conversational and everything. At that point I should have spent a summer in an immersion program to solidify it. Instead I took a $4.25/hour job taking…

Coco Crisp and the A’s were reportedly close to a deal over the weekend and they just made it official. He gets a one-year contract worth around $4.5 million and the A’s will have a team option for 2011. When healthy Crisp is a solid starting center fielder, batting .266/.338/.390 while rating 20 runs above…

From WEEI: The Boston Chapter, BBWAA also announced Tuesday that Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman has been selected as Major League Baseball Executive of the Year. They say that the Yankees-Red Sox thing is like an arms race or a cold war or something. Pfft. It’s not a true clash of the titans until the…

Maybe it’s not how they drew it up, but Mark Bowman* of MLB.com reports that the Braves were getting very little interest in Vazquez outside of the Yankees as no one outside of his no-trade clause (i.e. the NL and AL West) was willing to pay $10M+ for a pitcher while giving up any talent…

The guys behind the most excellent Blue Jays blog Drunk Jays Fans love them some Roy Halladay, but they’ve had a bit too much of the post-trade Halladay-love.  After first acknowledging that Halladay was the best pitcher to ever wear the bird, they let loose: What I don’t understand is the sentiment that seems to…

ESPN’s Buster Olney (and about a zillion other people today) note that the Jason Bay-to-the-Mets stuff is dragging on.  Rather than come up with new and exciting Mets jokes, Buster gets constructive and makes eight suggestions for adding depth and improving the team without blowing a big chunk of money on Jason Bay.  His ideas:…

I’m not a big fan of yesterday’s Javier Vazquez-for-Melky Cabrera (and prospects) swap from Atlanta’s point of view, but using some of the money saved on the deal to sign Troy Glaus to an incentive-laden one-year pact makes plenty of sense for the Braves. Adam LaRoche was fantastic for the Braves after coming over in…

It’s from Ken Rosenthal this year, who thinks that the rest of the AL East should “just give up.”  It’s less an argument than a rundown of the the deals the Red Sox and Yankees have made so far this offseason, and which Rosenthal thinks aren’t over yet (“I guarantee you, their outfield next season…

It was reported on Monday that Justin Duchscherer has offers from three clubs and as poised to make his decision shortly. Today Buster Olney says that he could land right back where he started with the A’s. The Yankees had been one team inquiring about him, but now that their take-a-chance-on-a-comeback-candidate strategy has been jettisoned,…

Wait, so they signed Jamey Carroll to start at second base by choice?! How would you say the divorce proceedings between Frank and Jamie McCourt have impacted the Dodgers’ spending this winter? Have you been asked — by Frank McCourt, by Major League Baseball or by anyone else – not to take on major long-term…

Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times caught up with Brandon Morrow before he left town for Toronto. Morrow’s view of the world: he’s happy about the trade because now Seattle can stop messing with his development as a starter: “I was never really allowed to develop as a starter the way I and a lot…

Rosenthal tweets it.  He’ll play first base. He has six career games at first base.  It’s a one-year, incentive-laden contract. Glaus is coming off shoulder surgery and back problems which limited him to 29 at-bats last season. He started 151 games and hit .270/.372/.483 in 2008, so maybe there’s still something left in the tank.…