Spring Game 16: Yankees at Red Sox  —  YANKEES  —  Pitching tonight: Chien-Ming Wang followed by Brett Tomko, Mike Dunn and Anthony Claggett.  —  RED SOX  —  Ellsbury CF  —  Lugo SS  —  Ortiz DH  —  Lowell 3B  —  Drew RF  —  Bay LF  —  Wilkerson 1B  —  Kottaras C  —  Chavez 2B

Gibbons among first Marlins cuts  —  Considering he hit a three-run homer Thursday night, the last thing on Jay Gibbons' mind as he was reading the newspaper at his Roger Dean Stadium locker this morning was getting released.  —  “I went out on a high note, put it that way,” said Gibbons …

Three observations  —  1) A sudden reversal of fortune.  The Yankees entered last season believing that they'd be carried by what they were sure would be a powerful and question-mark-free offense, and hoping that an ace-less pitching staff — which was to include a bunch of rookies at its backend …

Venezuelan team bus catches on fire … MIAMI — The bus that transported the Venezuelan team to the World Baseball Classic caught fire after the team was dropped off at Dolphin Stadium Friday afternoon.  No injuries were reported.  —  The team was practicing in the stadium for the WBC …

Cashman Takes Issue With Book Anecdote About Giambi  —  Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman angrily took issue Thursday night with an anecdote about him and Jason Giambi that is contained in a new book about Roger Clemens.  —  The book, “The Rocket That Fell to Earth,” (Harper Collins) …

M's defense was “above average” in 2008  —  Many thanks to Larry Stone for pulling OT duty filling in for me this week while I was in Philadelphia after the death of a close family member.  Larry even broke the story yesterday about the M's signing of Chad Cordero to a minor-league deal that could …

PR woman claims Bernie Williams hit her at club  —  Buzz up!  —  SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)—A woman has filed a complaint against former Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams for allegedly hitting her at a nightclub while she took his picture.  —  Officer Angel Nazario …

Brewers should really make a few bold moves  —  “The Fielding Bible” is back, and it's (much) bigger and (definitely) better than ever.  For example, Bill James' article about Defensive Misplays: … That's 29 Defensive Misplays, with 15 more to go (Bill describes them in loving detail), after which we get a spot of analysis:

Blyleven is a Dutch master  —  Buzz up!  —  MIAMI - The podiatric arsonist has retired.  —  Bert Blyleven has hung his lighter up.  The allure of setting shoelaces on fire has abated over the years, and he is instead these days adopting a more mundane concept in trying to keep people warm: a jacket.

New York Yankees prospect Jesus Montero is working hard to catch on  —  TAMPA, Fla. — Even before his bat earned him universal regard as the top Yankees prospect, before his raw power prompted the organization to pony up $1.6 million to sign him, before some observers hailed …

Yankee Ticket News - Random Drawing For The Opportunity To Participate In A 12-Hour Online Sale  —  Gone are the days when the casual fan was able to purchase Yankee tickets at their leisure.  According to a page on Yankees.com, the initial single-game ticket on-sale for the general public …

Murray Chass Q&A  —  By Tim Dierkes [March 13 at 1:40pm CST]  —  Murray Chass covered baseball for the New York Times for almost 40 years, and now his work can be found at MurrayChass.com.  Chass answered questions for MLB Trade Rumors over email recently.