According to Newsday’s Ken Davidoff, free agent Nick Johnson will return to where he began his career and sign a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Yankees. It seems like quite a bargain, though Johnson isn’t necessarily any better of a bet for the Yankees than Hideki Matsui would have been. Johnson can still play…

We’ve been playing this game for nearly six months now: some team is talking to the Padres about Adrian Gonzalez — usually the Red Sox — and then the report goes on to state, in some similar but perhaps not identical fashion, “yet the Padres have no reason to trade their first baseman.” But they…

If you happen to be in the greater Champaign, Illinois metroplex, I will be on WDWS 1400 with host Brian Moline talking about the St. Louis Cardinals and all things baseball in, oh, about ten minutes.  If you’re otherwise indisposed but just can’t get bear to miss me, they’ll have a link up to a…

While the Dodgers have yet to confirm the Jamey Carroll signing (his agent has, however), they did add several veterans on minor league deals announced Thursday, including first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, infielder Angel Berroa, RHP Josh Towers and RHP Luis Ayala. It’s necessary depth for a team that’s bled prospects recently and can’t afford a…

Remember Gookie Dawkins?  Formerly his claim to fame was taking over for Pokey Reese as the most ridiculously-named infielder on the Cincinnati Reds. In a serious lowering of standards, the title was assumed by Ray Olmedo upon Dawkins’ departure prior to the 2003 season.* But Dawkins now has a new claim to fame: he’s been…

The Mets confirmed the signing of reliever Ryota Igarashi to a two-year contract on Thursday. The financials weren’t disclosed, but it’s believed the deal is worth around $3 million. It’s a nice little gamble for the Mets, and I thought Igarashi would get twice as much when he announced he was coming over. The 30-year-old…

The New York Post’s Joel Sherman tweets so. The Seattle’s Times’ Larry Stone expands, though there really isn’t anything there to illuminate how serious the Mariners’ interest really is. The Mariners have been linked to everyone, it seems, so this could be anything from real interest to phony Boras-leverage-creation interest to some random mention of…

Matthew Cerrone has a fine interview with sabermetric whipping boy Jeff Francoeur over on Metsblog.com, where you can watch the video or read the text. I’ll just post the first question and response, since it was the one most interesting to me: Cerrone: Yesterday, you did a chat with MLB.com, and, on it you were…

Mark Healey of Baseball Digest reports that the Mets and the Reds are in “serious talks” about a trade involving Bronson Arroyo. Nothing is likely to get done quickly, however, because according to Healey’s source there are multiple other players involved — including more Reds — and because the Mets “have a player under contract…

On Tuesday, Miami-Dade County approved proposals for $5.3 million in public art projects for the Marlins new ballpark.  They rejected my Jeff Conine fresco — apparently they didn’t believe me when I told them that the nudity would be tasteful — but they did approve some jumping fish contraption: It’s still conceptual and difficult to…

At the time of Alex Rodriguez’s hip surgery in March the doctor believed that he’d eventually need to go under the knife a second time once the season ended, but today A-Rod was given a clean bill of health and told that he won’t need another operation. Rodriguez missed the Yankees’ first 28 games following…

My neighbor has a 9 year-old they won’t let operate the damn remote, but little Braden Halladay was the decision maker that changed the course of three franchises. Go kids: “It’s such a family decision,” Roy Halladay’s wife was saying after yesterday’s press conference at Citizens Bank Park made it official. “We were sitting with…

From the Twins’ official Twitter account: Tony Oliva got stuck in the restroom yesterday when the handle fell off the door! T-minus 4 1/2 business days until we pack up and move! Yup, it happened on the Executive Level in the Dome yesterday. Not only will the good people of Minnesota finally get to see…

This morning we passed along word that the Orioles are getting into the Matt Holliday bidding.  If they are, they’re doing it kind of like how I write in insanely low bids at silent auctions in the almost non-existent chance that I’ll get, say, an autographed team photo of the 1969 Seattle Pilots for ten…

So, how did LaTroy Hawkins convince the Brewers to give him a two-year, $7.5 million deal at age 37? According to Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he schmoozed them in person at the winter meetings: “It helped he was in Indianapolis with his representative, Larry Reynolds,” general manager Doug Melvin said. “I had…

I don’t know that there’s any trade rumor with as little actual merit creating as much buzz, sturm und drang as the Adrian Gonzalez to the Sox business.  Even the most wild rumor-passer-oners in the blogosphere all note that nothing has really happened except the passive acknowledgment of general overall compatibility between the Sox and…

In analyzing Garrett Atkins signing with the Orioles last night Matthew predicted that the one-year deal would be worth “$4 million-$5 million.” Official terms of the contract were released this afternoon and sure enough Atkins is guaranteed … $4.5 million. He’ll get $4 million in 2010 and the Orioles hold an $8.5 million option or…

Washington Post columnist Thomas Boswell is a big fan of the new committee tasked with looking at rules changes, pace of game issues and the like.  In fact, he’s so enthusiastic he offers a dozen or so of his own suggestions, most of which are aimed at speeding up the game.  On the whole I…

Amid reports that the Pirates are interested in signing a veteran left-handed hitter coming off a down year like Rick Ankiel, Hank Blalock, or Kelly Johnson, Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette suggests that they may end up simply going with young, in-house left-handed hitter Jeff Clement instead: The deeper we get into this…

The only criminal cases I ever handled were white collar corruption things, so maybe I’m missing a couple of the nuances here, but is mounting a full-blown prosecution of the Philadelphia woman who tried to trade sex for World Series tickets via Craigslist really the best use of judicial resources?  They had a preliminary hearing…