Pinch hitting: Will Carroll of BP  —  On Friday, Travis from Yankees, Etc. wrote a guest post for this blog about how many innings Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy could give the Yankees.  —  Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus was reading and asked if he could give his views on the subject.

The 10 greatest Game Sevens in World Series history  —  Let's finish up this series of articles.  —  Game Seven is the ultimate in drama.  There is no Game Eight.  (Well, not since the early 1920s).  Any close game has a chance to become a classic.  Only 39 of the 103 Series went this far.

Tulowitzki agrees to big deal with Rox  —  Colorado to give young shortstop unprecedented extension  —  DENVER — Shortstop Troy Tulowitzki's six-year, $30 million contract extension, the largest ever granted a Major League player with fewer than two years of experience …

Positive reinforcement  —  Fans offer plenty at annual Cubs Convention, but this team has question marks  —  So the optimism is back on the North Side, a suspicion confirmed by the buzz at the Cubs Convention.  —  And that can mean one thing: Uh-oh.  —  One year after venom-spewing fans …

Cards complete a deal with Molina  —  The Cardinals and Yadier Molina finalized a contract today that cements the young catcher as a cornerstone of the club and rewards him for his defensive  —  presence.  —  The club is scheduled to announce a new contract for Molina at an 11:30 a.m. press conference at the Millennium Hotel.

Yukinaga Maeda To Throw For MLB Teams  —  Yukinaga Maeda is a 37 year-old southpaw reliever who was recently released by the Yomiuri Giants.  He hasn't been any good in Japan lately; Aaron and Jackson of East Windup Chronicle told us:  —  His '07 season was marked by a series of call-ups and send-downs …

Team Offenses  —  During this slow period of baseball news, I'd like to start looking at how team offense stack up for next season.  I'm planning on going in order of the 2007 ranking in runs per game.  We'll start with the Yankees.  In 2007, the Yankees scored 5.98 runs per game, the highest rate in the majors.

Source: Royals, Tomko agree to one-year deal … The Kansas City Royals have reached preliminary agreement on a one-year, guaranteed $3 million contract with free-agent pitcher Brett Tomko, a baseball source said.  —  The deal, which includes an additional $1.5 million in incentives …

Yankee Heads South To Endorse Giuliani  —  From CBS News' Ryan Corsaro:\  —  ORLANDO, FLA. — New York Yankees centerfielder Johnny Damon is endorsing Rudy Giuliani's candidacy for president, according to a campaign aide.  —  He is scheduled to appear with the former mayor at a rally in Orlando this morning.

Needs and Luxuries: Tampa Bay Rays  —  Up next in our Needs and Luxuries series, the Rays.  Here's how they're set up.  —  C - Dioner Navarro  —  1B - Carlos Pena  —  2B - Akinori Iwamura  —  SS - Jason Bartlett  —  3B - Evan Longoria  —  LF - Carl Crawford  —  CF - B.J. Upton

Recessions Can't Touch Baseball's Attendance  —  In an exit poll conducted after Michigan's Republican presidential primary, more voters cited the economy as their top concern, more so than terrorism, the war in Iraq, and immigration combined.  One in five said they were falling behind financially …

How can the Twins deal with the Mets?  —  The Twins continue to be patient in their attempt to trade two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana.  But you wonder how much longer can they wait with pitchers and catchers set to report to spring training in less than a month.

Indians losing interest in Colon  —  The Indians were one of several teams that watched former Cy Young winner Bartolo Colon throw recently in the Dominican Republic.  After watching him, their interest has waned.  —  Colon, a free agent, was throwing between 87 and 89 mph and had no life on his fastball.

3RD TYNES A CHARM!!!  —  KICKER CAPS SUPER BOWL RUN WITH OT KICK  —  Nothing deters these Giants.  —  Nothing stops these Giants.  —  Not unholy cold.  Not the mystique of sacred Lambeau Field or the presence of future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre or yet another road game …

Sunday Notes  —  This week the story came out that Juan Encarnacion was not expected to play in 2008.  This came as no real surprise but it is still a true shame.  If you don't recall the injury it happened when a foul ball off the bat of Aaron Miles (thanks Rotoworld!) fractured his left orbital bone on August 31st.