Here's Your Ex: See, Now This Is Just Being Mean  —  Imagine you're facing one of the most important moments of your career, a moment in which you must be on top of your game and perform at your peak capacity.  Everyone is counting on you; the whole world is watching.  Concentration is paramount.

TORRE LANDS IN TAMPA  —  NEW DEAL IMMINENT?  —  Joe Torre just landed here, in what could be the surest sign that a new deal with the Yankees brass is imminent.  —  Torre, wearing a dress shirt with sleeves rolled up, departed from Westchester this morning and landed here in a private jet …

Mets' collapse weighs heavily on Green  —  Missed opportunity at playoffs continues to haunt right fielder  —  NEW YORK — Survivor's guilt it isn't.  The Mets don't qualify as survivors.  It is a full-fledged guilt, a guilt that weighs on Shawn Green these days, a heavy and unsettling sense …

It's still early in the offseason.....  I click on this blog and the drool pours out of my monitor as I read all these cries for information.  I understand that Twins Nation is hungry for news, but there's nothing earth-shattering going on right now.  But there are a few tidbits....

Long live the bullpen car  —  The notion is absurd on its face: professional athletes needing a motorized vehicle to bring them approximately 100 yards.  And yet that was once the norm in Major League Baseball, where that quaintest of innovations, the bullpen buggy (or car, or cart, or motorcycle), held sway for nearly half a century.

Ryan Braun's Defense  —  I've made several snide remarks about Ryan Braun's third base defense in recent weeks, most recently in my review of the 50 most valuable players in baseball.  I don't have anything against Ryan Braun; it would be hard for someone with the last name Silver to root against the Hebrew Hammer.

White Sox sitting pretty with Garland, Contreras as trade bait  —  The stove isn't hot yet.  As a matter of fact, it hasn't even been turned on.  —  That will soon change.  Not long after the Cleveland Indians finish cooling off the Colorado Rockies and celebrate their first World Series …

Interview - Eric Fisher - Sports Business Journal  —  If you're interest lies in anything that has to do with sports outside the lines, then the trade magazine the Sports Business Journal and it's counterpart, the Sports Business Daily are indispensable resources for keeping up with all manner of sports business.

Offseason Plans, AL West  —  This is the third of a six-part preview of the impending offseason.  Today, we cover the AL West, because it's kind enough to have only four teams, none of whom remain in the playoffs.  —  Part I: AL Central  —  Part II: NL Central  —  2007 Record: 94-68, first place

Three arrested in connection with copper theft cases  —  Last Updated:October 17.  —  Three Colbert County men, including a former Major League baseball pitcher, have been arrested in Muscle Shoals in connection with separate cases of copper theft, police said.

Remaking Of A Team — Red Sox's Farrell strong candidate for manager's job  —  John Farrell's candidacy for the Pirates' manager's job seems to be picking up some momentum.  —  And it could be that, if Farrell's the man, he could have a hand in hiring the Pirates' next scouting director, too.

Help from the Far East  —  Scoping out the Japanese free-agent market  —  A reader e-mailed me a question yesterday that I planned on holding for an upcoming offseason mailbag post, but after watching Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima pitch in Monday night's ALCS Game 3, I decided this would be as good a time as any to answer him.