Top News:
Keith Law / ESPN:
Ranking the top prospects (Nos. 1-25) … Welcome to the third annual ESPN.com ranking of the top 100 prospects in baseball. The No. 1 prospect for 2008, Evan Longoria, ended up winning the American League Rookie of the Year Award, and last year's No. 1 prospect, Matt Wieters …
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Jonathan Mayo / MLB.com:
Breaking down the Top 50 Prospects — Pitchers, premium position players make grade in 2010 — MLB.com's Top 50 Prospect list is now public for all to see. Let the opinions fly. Should the game's top prospect be Braves outfielder Jason Heyward or Nationals fireballer Stephen Strasburg?
Fox Sports:
Yankees, Damon would've been a solid fit — Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005. He appears weekly on MLB on FOX. — Talk about a dumb divorce. — The Yankees need Johnny Damon. Damon needs the Yankees. But so much for happily ever after.
Discussion:
NY Post: Hardball, No, You're a Towel, It's About The Money, Detroit Tigers and DRaysBay
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Joel Sherman / NY Post: Hardball:
Rays have interest in Damon — A darkhorse has emerged in pursuit of Johnny Damon, and it is an AL East rival of the Yankees. — The Tampa Bay Rays have been in regular contact with Scott Boras about adding Damon to be their primary DH, The Post has learned.
Discussion:
Rays Index, The LoHud Yankees Blog, Jorge Says No!, MLB.com, DRaysBay, TYU, The iYankees Blog and Bottom9 Baseball
NY Daily News:
In letting Johnny Damon go and signing Randy Winn, Brian Cashman's ego might have gotten best of him — First and foremost, it's obvious that Johnny Damon screwed up a good thing here by allowing Scott Boras to antagonize the Yankee front office with his contract demands …
Joel Sherman / NY Post: Hardball:3UP: Cone, Mets Rotation and Damon
Discussion:
Fack Youk, BronxBanterBlog.com, River Avenue Blues, Bottom9 Baseball, Amazin' Avenue, The iYankees Blog and MetsBlog.com
Adam Rubin / NY Daily News:
Sources: Fernando Tatis re-signs with New York Mets, returns for third season — PORT ST. LUCIE - The Mets have found the righty-hitting complement to spell Daniel Murphy at first base. And it's a familiar face. — Fernando Tatis will return for a third season, according to a source.
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Dan Connolly / Baltimore Sun:
Orioles, reliever Hendrickson agree to terms — Left-hander returns for one-year, $1.2 million deal — The Orioles shored up their bullpen and likely put the final touch on their 40-man roster before they head to spring training by agreeing to terms Wednesday with reliever Mark Hendrickson.
Ben Nicholson-Smith / MLB Rumors:
Brewers To Sign Jim Edmonds — The Brewers have agreed to sign Jim Edmonds to a minor league deal that will pay the outfielder $850K if he makes the team and up to $1.65MM more in incentives. Edmonds will come to Spring Training with a chance to make the club as an extra outfielder.
Adam Rubin / Surfing The Mets:
Smoltz could borrow Pedro's script — John Smoltz could choose not pitching over pitching for the Mets ... at least for now. But Smoltz isn't retiring yet. — An insider tells the Daily News he believes the 42-year-old Smoltz could follow the route Pedro Martinez went last season — wait and sign mid-season.
Ken Gurnick / MLB.com:
Dodgers sign Perez, Koronka to Minors deals — Pair along with Lindblom, Mitchell invited to Spring Training — LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers have signed outfielder Timo Perez and left-handed starting pitcher John Koronka to Minor League contracts with Major League Spring Training invites …
Jon Weisman / Dodger Thoughts:
Dodger Thoughts moves to ESPN.com/LA next week — On Monday, it will have been 365 days since Baseball Toaster closed and Dodger Thoughts moved to the Los Angeles Times. The past year has been an interesting one — in some ways fun and rewarding, in other ways extremely humbling.
David Waldstein / New York Times:
The Mets Play Hard to Get, This Time With Smoltz — PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — John Smoltz, who turns 43 in May and would like to extend his Hall of Fame career, has received 2010 contract offers from several teams, his agent, Lonnie Cooper, said Wednesday. The Mets, however, are not among those clubs …
Tom Layman / Full Count:
Gammons on The Big Show: Sox were ‘scared to death’ of Bay's knees — Hall of Fame writer Peter Gammons of the MLB Network said that the Red Sox reduced their offer to Jason Bay from four years to two years because they “were scared to death of his knees” after a physical revealed the possibility of surgery.
