I’m a National League guy and I’ve never been a big fan of the DH. It’s not a superiority thing or an elitist thing — I know that pitchers can’t bat — it’s just a familiarity thing in my case. I’ve watched tons more NL ball than AL ball in my lifetime, I just like…

Contrary to yesterday’s reports that he had already exercised his $3 million option, Jason Varitek held out yesterday, apparently trying to get the Red Sox to renegotiate its terms in an effort to make the incentives more attainable. That according to the Globe’s Pete Abraham, who reports that Scott Boras and Theo Epstein had a…

The uber-agent on his free agent client, Johnny Damon: “His durability is off the charts,” Boras said, referring to Damon’s streak of 14 straight seasons with 140-plus games played. “Chronological age does not have anything to do with a player of his genetics. Certainly you have to look at the Yankees’ history and what they’ve…

Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News says that while the Giants would welcome Bengie Molina back, they only want to give him a single year and don’t want to give him a raise.  Molina, on the other hand, wants more money and two years.  Given that Buster Posey is waiting in the wings in San…

FOX’s Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi are reporting that, while nothing is imminent, the Tigers are looking to deal Edwin Jackson in an effort to shed some payroll. Jackson only made a bit over $2 million last year, but he’s arbitration eligible, and coming off a 13-9, 3.62 ERA season he’s looking at a…

Angel Villalona is out of jail yet still facing murder charges in the Dominican Republic after paying the family of the man he allegedly killed $55,000 of an approx. $140,000 settlement, prosecutor Jose Antonio Polanco told The Associated Press on Tuesday. Polanco said Villalona, one of the Giants’ top prospects, is expected to pay another…

SI.com’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Phillies are “seriously considering” free agent Chone Figgins. The 31-year-old speedster doesn’t figure to lack for options in free agency, particularly because he can play third base, center field and perhaps second. Figgins to the White Sox has been a popular rumor through the years, but GM Ken Williams…

It’s that time of year again, so in case you missed it, here’s the rundown of the top 111 free agents I did back in late September. Some, like Manny Ramirez, Tim Hudson, Bobby Abreu and Brandon Webb are now off the table. Nos. 111-91 Nos. 90-71 Nos. 70-51 Nos. 50-36 Nos. 35-21 Nos. 20-11…

The Gold Gloves aren’t worthy of any real analysis and never have been, but we won’t completely ignore them, even if it’s likely the best way to treat them. The AL choices were announced Tuesday, and the managers and coaches voting for them clearly went for offense over defense: C Joe Mauer 1B Mark Teixeira…

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that the Cardinals “have yet to present an offer to” Matt Holliday and “acknowledge it is virtually certain their former cleanup hitter will reach the open market.” “We have to be prepared if we can’t sign him,” general manager John Mozeliak said. “We need to have…

Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe did some inferring based on a few Theo Epstein statements and came to the conclusion that the Red Sox may be preparing to spend a whole bunch of money this offseason Epstein mentioned to Abraham that part of the motivation for restructuring Tim Wakefield’s contract yesterday was to save…

Asked yesterday what the Phillies will be looking to upgrade this offseason general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said: “Third base, bullpen, bench.” Despite the lack of “rotation” on that list Jim Salisbury of the Philadelphia Inquirer spoke to “more than one baseball official with knowledge of the Phillies’ offseason plan” who said that “the team…

As you’d expect, manager Ron Gardenhire had some good and some not-so-good things to say about Carlos Gomez after the Twins traded him to the Brewers: He irritates people. Sometimes me. We’ve been trying to get him to calm down and get him to control the situations, and sometimes the situation controls him. There are…

For years now the White Sox have been linked to Chone Figgins via various trade rumors, but now that he’s a free agent general manager Ken Williams made it clear yesterday that he won’t be pursuing the speedy infielder, saying: “We don’t have that kind of money.” Williams’ sudden lack of interest in Figgins is…

Baseball’s president and chief operating officer Bob DuPuy was on “Mike & Mike in the Morning” yesterday, and was asked about the Yankees’ alleged buying a title. His response: “I don’t think that’s a fair statement. Competitive balance has been a hallmark of the entire tenure of Commissioner [Bud] Selig. The numbers tell an awfully…

The fellow to the right is Jeff Novitzky, the controversial federal agent who in 2004 led the raid on a drug lab that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled violated the constitutional rights of the baseball players who took drug tests during the 2003 steroid survey. That ruling came after a previous, smaller…

Ken Rosenthal reports that the Nats have narrowed their managerial choices down to two: current skipper Jim Riggleman and Bobby Valentine.  However, the Nats are more likely to stay the course than make the sexier pick in Valentine, says Rosenthal, for the simple reason that Riggleman won’t demand as much money as Valentine is presumed to want. One…

That’s $82.5 million over five years, but according to SI’s Jon Heyman, Lackey “sees himself in a higher echelon than Burnett.” I think he’s right to see himself that way. He’s not as erratic as Burnett, and as Heyman notes in the article, the Yankees admire his toughness. Given the massive increase in revenue the…

The Red Sox declined their $5 team option on Jason Varitek yesterday, but the Captain had a $3 million player option that he decided to exercise last night: NESN learned on Monday night that the 37-year-old Varitek will exercise his $3 million player option for 2010 that includes up to another $2 million in incentives.…

It’s been a good six months since we’ve heard Mark Cuban say he wants to buy a Major League team. That’s gotta be some kind of record. The silence is over, however, as yesterday he said that, sure, he’d buy the Dodgers if they were up for sale. That’s a little premature inasmuch as the…