Top News:
Associated Press:
A's designate outfielder Bradley for assignment — OAKLAND, Calif. — The Oakland Athletics designated outfielder Milton Bradley for assignment Thursday, cutting ties with a player who was expected to play an important role on the team this season. — Bradley had been on the disabled list three times …
RELATED:
MLB.com:
A's designate Milton Bradley for assignment — A's select Kevin Melillo From Triple-A Sacramento — OAKLAND — The Oakland Athletics announced today the club has designated outfielder Milton Bradley for assignment and has selected infielder Kevin Melillo from Triple-A Sacramento.
Mychael Urban / MLB.com:
A's designate Bradley for assignment — Harden activated from DL for weekend series with Mets — OAKLAND — In a move that general manager Billy Beane characterized as an attempt to limit any potential clubhouse displeasure about playing time, the A's on Thursday designated oft-injured outfielder Milton Bradley for assignment.
Discussion:
Twinkie Town
Jayson Stark / ESPN:
Win-loss records don't tell the whole story … How often have you heard this question asked this season: — What's wrong with Johan Santana? — Uh, how about nothing? — Yeah, his win-loss record is "only" 7-6. Yeah, that's exactly the same record as Miguel Batista.
Discussion:
Redleg Nation
RELATED:
RotoAuthority / MLB Trade Rumors:
Stark's Latest — ESPN's Jayson Stark has his latest Rumblings and Grumblings column up, and it's chock full o' rumors. — Stark speaks to one NL exec who thinks any Barry Bonds trade rumor is hogwash. That source believes that there would be no market for him. Personally, I don't buy it.
Discussion:
Chop-n-Change
ESPN:
Not for the Birds: Girardi turns down Orioles job — BALTIMORE — Joe Girardi declined an offer Thursday to become the new manager of the Baltimore Orioles, saying the timing wasn't right "for the Girardi family." — "Baltimore is a fine organization, a fine team, and I'm flattered …
Discussion:
Oriole Magic, Boston Globe, FanHouse, Camden Chat, Yanksfan vs Soxfan, Oriole Post, The Biz of Baseball and MetsBlog.com
RELATED:
Jeff Zrebiec / Baltimore Sun:
Girardi turns down Orioles … SAN DIEGO // Saying that the timing just wasn't right, Joe Girardi this morning turned down the Orioles' offer to be their next manager. — "I was flattered that the Orioles called me," Girardi said. "It's a great city, a great organization.
Ken Rosenthal / Fox Sports:
Girardi turns down O's managerial job — FOXSports.com, Updated 54 minutes ago — LIKE THIS STORY? — Former Marlins manager Joe Girardi turned down the Orioles' managing position on Thursday, saying, "At this point in time, it's not right for me and my family." — "It's a great organization.
Associated Press:
Giambi agrees to meet with Mitchell investigation — NEW YORK — Jason Giambi agreed Thursday to meet with baseball steroids investigator George Mitchell and apologized for his actions, becoming the first active player known to cooperate with the former Senate majority leader.
RELATED:
Maury Brown / The Biz of Baseball:
With Giambi Chosing to Speak, One Asks, "Why?" — Today, MLB announced that the parameters are in place to allow Jason Giambi to speak to former Senator George Mitchell about comments he made to USA Today - comments that vaguely reference prior steroid use when he said, I was wrong for doing that stuff.
Jonathan Mayo / Minor League Baseball:
Futures Game rosters announced — Cleveland prospect Lofgren excited to play near hometown — It doesn't matter what language you say it in — Japanese, Spanish, Dutch or English — the only correct way to say "future" to the 50 prospects chosen to participate in the 2007 XM Satelitte All-Star Futures Game is "big leagues."
Arnie Stapleton / Associated Press:
Rocks deny Rocket 350th win, sweep Yanks — DENVER (AP) — The New York Yankees couldn't wait to get back to Coors Field after scoring a record 41 times on their first trip to the Colorado Rockies' ballpark five years ago. — This time, they couldn't get out of town fast enough.
Discussion:
Bad Altitude
RELATED:
ESPN:
Evaluating Sosa's Hall of Fame candidacy … Last winter ESPN surveyed Hall of Fame voters and found that only 20.4 percent would have voted for Sammy Sosa if he'd been eligible. — Now that Sosa has become the fifth player in major league history to reach 600 home runs …
Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:
Rangers interested in Jones — Michael Barrett on Wednesday doesn't have any direct bearing on the Cubs' philosophy or intentions heading toward next month's trade deadline. But that doesn't mean they're done dealing. — The Cubs have talked with the Texas Rangers and several other teams …
Discussion:
Lone Star Ball
RELATED:
RotoAuthority / MLB Trade Rumors:Rangers Interested In Jacque Jones
Discussion:
Ben Maller's Sports …
ESPN:
Chat with Scouts Inc.'s Keith Law — Welcome to The Show! On Thursday, Scouts, Inc. senior baseball analyst, Keith Law, will stop by to talk some baseball. — Keith was formerly the special assistant to the general manager with the Toronto Blue Jays and has a wealth of knowledge for you to tap into.
Steve Silva / Boston Globe:
Ellsbury, Buchholz tabbed — A couple of future Sox hopefuls are heading to San Francisco for the All-Star festivities. Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury and pitcher Clay Buchholz will represent the Sox in the 2007 XM All-Star Futures Game, the team announced today.
Discussion:
Over the Monster
Ian Browne / MLB.com:
Five Sox homers back Tavarez's gem — Righty stymies Braves; Papi, Manny go deep in blowout — ATLANTA — A batting barrage and a pitching masterpiece. It isn't often that a team can combine both of those forces in one night, but the Red Sox had all of that going for them and more in Wednesday's 11-0 romp over the Braves.
RELATED:
Barry Svrluga / Washington Post:
Ayala Is Back, Speigner and Abreu Depart — Luis Ayala smiled broadly as he grabbed his glove yesterday afternoon. The right-hander, once a stalwart of the Washington Nationals' bullpen, was active for a major league game for the first time since September 2005, finally …
RELATED:
