Cincinnati Reds acquire infielder Aaron Miles from Oakland Athletics for Adam Rosales, Willy Taveras  —  The Cincinnati Reds acquired infielder Aaron Miles in a trade with the Oakland Athletics, swapping young infielder Adam Rosales and outfielder Willy Taveras.

Mariners agree with Garko for $550K, 1 year  —  SEATTLE — Ryan Garko and the Mariners have agreed to a $550,000, one-year contract, as Seattle tries to address its need for a right-handed hitter.  —  Terms of the contract obtained Monday by The Associated Press show the 29-year-old …

Mets passed over truly Amazin' baseball exec  —  Early in the fall of 1997, at the outset of his first offseason as Mets' general manager, Steve Phillips restructured his front office.  He lured Omar Minaya from Texas to be his assistant GM and hired a friend, Jim Duquette, as the director of pro personnel.

Ranking MLB team nicknames  —  Wanna read something stupid and pointless?  Lucky you, because I'm in that kind of mood.  —  I like lists.  Anyone who reads my columns on a semi-regular basis may even have noticed it already.  I recently had a random (if unoriginal) idea: a column ranking the nicknames for all 30 MLB teams.

Some gut feelings and hot tips from TwinsFest  —  Everybody I spoke with during TwinsFest believes the team soon will have Joe Mauer signed to a contract extension.  Two people, who have their own information pipelines, claimed that the deal's basic framework — the number of years and guaranteed money …

Sources: Dodgers near deal OF Johnson  —  Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005.  He appears weekly on MLB on FOX.  —  The Dodgers are close to signing free-agent outfielder Reed Johnson, according to major-league sources.

Phils' prospect arrested on misdemeanors  —  2009 Draft pick facing three separate charges in Louisana  —  Phillies' prospect Brody Colvin was arrested on three misdemeanor charges in his hometown of Lafayette, La., late Saturday night.  —  According to a spokesman for the Lafayette County …

Kotchman's not perfect - but he's close  —  Commentary: Seattle's new first baseman boasts all-time fielding record; now about that bat ...  SEATTLE - On June 20, 2008, first baseman Casey Kotchman, then playing for the Angels, bumbled a ball hit off the bat of the Phillies' Jimmy Rollins.

Analyzing the MLB draft using WAR  —  There has been plenty of work published regarding the value of draft picks, most recently the work done by Victor Wang.  Wang's previous studies (part 1 and part 2 ) on the draft were a major help for me in conducting this study.

Texas Rangers expect pitchers prospects who were part of visa fraud case to be cleared to enter U.S. after five years.  —  Texas Rangers pitching prospects Omar Beltre and Alexi Ogando, banned from setting foot on United States soil the last five years because of their parts in a visa fraud ring …

Chamberlain ready to fight for rotation spot  —  Joba Chamberlain's eyes are set squarely on the fifth spot in the Yankees' rotation.  —  The right-handed pitcher told The Post last night that he will arrive in Tampa next week — well before pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report …

Blogging from “On Deck”  —  Thousands of Brewers fans lined up early this morning at Milwaukee's downtown Midwest Airlines Center for “Brewers On Deck,” a day-long fanfest that features autographs, photo sessions, memorabilia booths and a big corner stage for question and answer sessions and other events.