A Long Struggle To Get Back Up And Running  —  16 Months After Breaking Leg, Nats' Johnson Is Ready to Battle for the Job at First Base  —  SACRAMENTO — It is 8:40 a.m., and the sun is just beginning to bake through the windows of a gym that sits anonymously in a business park on the edge of California's capital city.

Canseco Is Said to Seek Favor to Omit Name  —  José Canseco, the former major league slugger and admitted steroid user who exposed other players in his 2005 best-selling book “Juiced,” offered to keep a Detroit Tigers outfielder “clear” in his next book if the player invested money …

Sox' Henry delivers hard sell … Fenway Park isn't getting any younger and that will not help the Red Sox [team stats] compete on the revenue front with the Yankees and Mets in the years to come, team owner John Henry pointed out yesterday.  —  The final payroll information regarding …

Giants have the Wright stuff  —  David Wright is no celebrity bandwagon-jumper - he has been a Giants fan since he was a kid growing up in Norfolk, Va., and he started rooting for Big Blue simply because his father is a Redskins fan.  On a Major League Baseball trip to Japan in November of 2006 …

Gammons and Cyberspace  —  A nice column yesterday by Peter Gammons on the impact of the Internet on the sports as well as the political culture (similar to another column he wrote back in 2006).  Two quotes in the column in particular caught my eye (other than the mention of this blog …

Santana's Hometown Awaits His Next Move  —  TOVAR, Venezuela — “Welcome to the territory of Johan Santana,” reads a sign on the wall of the local baseball field in this Andean town more than 6,400 feet above sea level in southwestern Venezuela.  —  Santana, the Minnesota Twins' ace and perhaps …

Large number of players still seeking employment … With the exception of the Johan Santana and Erik Bedard trade talks and another round of congressional steroid hearings, baseball's hot stove season appears to be on a straight shot toward pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training camps.

Feds unable to locate, serve Knoblauch subpoena  —  WASHINGTON — Former major leaguer Chuck Knoblauch had not been tracked down as of early Wednesday evening by federal marshals trying to serve him a subpoena from a House panel investigating steroids in baseball, a committee staffer told The Associated Press.

Wright, Bucs agree to Minor League deal  —  PITTSBURGH — Oft-injured pitcher Jaret Wright and the Pirates agreed on a Minor League contract Wednesday with an invitation to Spring Training.  —  Wright, a 15-game winner for Atlanta in 2004, had a 6.97 ERA while losing all three games he started for Baltimore last season.

Chat with 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.

Tulo lands a big deal  —  Rapid rise rewarded with record contract  —  Troy Tulowitzki isn't a shortstop.  He's a pixie dust-speckled short story.  —  Seventeen months ago he wore topsiders and jeans on his first big-league road trip.  Eleven months ago he arrived at spring training without a starting job.