Rest of AL East should just give up now  —  How would you like to be the Tampa Bay Rays?  The Baltimore Orioles?  The Toronto Blue Jays?  —  Now pitching for the Yankees in 2010: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte and Javier Vazquez.  —  Now pitching for the Red Sox: Josh Beckett, John Lackey, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz.

Delgado's return to action delayed  —  Without seeing him play, club may have less interest in veteran  —  NEW YORK — The Mets' interest in Carlos Delgado, an interest that was not shared by all members of the club hierarchy after the season, may begin to wane now that the free agent has postponed his return to active baseball.

Sources: Nats near 1-year deal with reliever Guardado  —  Jon Paul Morosi is a national MLB writer for FOXSports.com.  He previously covered baseball for the Detroit Free Press and Seattle Post-Intelligencer.  He began his journalism career at the Bay City Times in his native Michigan.

Source: Braves give Glaus one-year deal  —  The Braves have reached agreement on a one-year contract with free agent Troy Glaus to play first base, according to a major-league source.  —  The deal, which also includes incentives, is pending a physical, the source said.

A Decade of Growth: Examining MLB Player Payroll  —  Late Monday, data was released by MLB that showed a total of $2.91 billion was spent on final player payroll for the 2009, an increase of 1.2 percent from the year prior when $2.87 billion was doled out.  It was a slowing of growth - the chilly economy taking a chunk out of spending.

Raul Mondesi is a rising star again — in Dominican Republic politics  —  Like many sports stars who've become politicians in his home country, the ex-Dodger is as popular as ever, even if he doesn't have a firm grasp of the issues.  —  Raul Mondesi, shown in 2002 when he was a member …

Talk of 1969 still catching up to ex-Cub Hundley  —  Randy Hundley missed a turn on his way to Bloomington on Tuesday, delaying his arrival at a Young Men's Club luncheon.  Yet, “the question” stayed on his trail.  A minor detour wasn't going to keep it from following him to the Ozark House Restaurant banquet room.

The Ian Kinsler Question  —  Let's shove all of the equivocations aside for a moment and cut right to the chase: as the active roster currently stands, Ian Kinsler is the Texas Rangers' best player.  He's a sensational talent, a success story of the highest magnitude for the amateur scouting department …

Source: Angels, Rodney negotiating  —  The Los Angeles Angels are in serious discussions with free-agent right-handed reliever Fernando Rodney, a source familiar with the negotiations told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark on Tuesday.  —  Rodney, 32, posted 37 saves in his first full season …

Fred McGriff belongs in baseball's Hall of Fame  —  Beginning this year, Tampa native Fred McGriff joins the Hall of Fame numbers discussion.  —  One of the quickest ways I know to start an argument is with three simple words: Hall of Fame.  —  In Chicago, those are fighting words.

Dodgers President Dennis Mannion addresses state of the club  —  In a discussion of several topics, he says that the team's baseball and business decisions have not been impacted by the divorce proceedings between Frank and Jamie McCourt.  —  On Baseball  —  Randy Wolf never has been confused with Johan Santana.