Ken Rosenthal doesn’t mince any words when it comes to the Hall of Fame electorate: Our membership is too bloated, too riddled with voters who do not take the process seriously enough to educate themselves properly . . . Virtually every voter I know is honored to participate in the process. Virtually every voter I…

Depending on who you believe, the Rangers have offered Vald Guerrero either $5 million or $7 million.  According to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com, however, it doesn’t really matter as “one source said Guerrero wasn’t particularly happy with the Rangers offer.” Let’s say it’s $5 million. That’s what Bobby Abreu got to be Vlad’s teammate in…

On December 23rd, I reported that the Pirates had made a $3 million offer to Octavio Dotel to be their closer. The team denied it. Today, however, Dejan Kovacevic says that “Dotel is one of several relievers the team has offered a contract,” and that they have “zeroed in” on him.  He notes that that…

If I had any skills I’d create some sort of interactive bingo card for the right-hand margin on which we’d put chips every time a player is reported this spring to (a) be in the best shape of his life; (b) be working on a new pitch that he thinks will make the difference; (c)…

I and others suspected that the Cardinals were bidding against themselves in the Matt Holliday negotiations. Ken Rosenthal suggested yesterday that they had some help via some Boras bluffing: Would Scott Boras have pulled an Adrian Beltre with Matt Holliday, taking a one-year deal in search of a better free-agent market next off-season? The Cardinals…

9:21 A.M. UPDATE: Rosenthal now reports that Podsednik is saying he has a deal with a club and that the Royals are saying they have a deal with an outfielder and that we should “put 2 and 2 together!”  UPDATE: Now Jerry Crasnick has a source confirming this and that a formal announcement will come…

On the occasion of Andre Dawson’s election to the Hall of Fame, Tyler Kepner of the New York Times has a nice story up about the Montreal Expos.  Definitely worth checking out.  I rarely get too nostalgic about the Expos — in their latter years they were most bothersome competition for my Braves — but…

“Our view of it is that with our ballpark coming online, there’s no question in my mind we’re the team of the Americas.” – Florida Marlins’ President David Samson, getting a little too excited about playing a random series in San Juan instead of the Miami suburbs this June. I’m not at all certain that…

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…