Bedard on the path of returning to Seattle  —  Now that the Mariners have avoided salary arbitration with first baseman Casey Kotchman, signing him to a one year, $3.5 million contract on Wednesday, the next order of business might be — surprise, surprise — re-signing left-hander Erik Bedard.

Hank says Yankees can repeat, likes trades for Granderson and Vazquez  —  TAMPA, Fla. — Hank Steinbrenner thinks the Yankees are in a strong position to repeat as World Series champion due to the acquisition of pitcher Javier Vazquez and outfielder Curtis Granderson.

PADRES: Coleman will have reduced role in 2010  —  For 37 years, Jerry Coleman has been the voice of the Padres on radio, the link between the team on the field and the fans in their homes, cars, at the beach or a barbecue.  —  It will remain that way in 2010, but in a very limited basis.

Billboards tout the 61 in '61 clubbed by Maris, “Fargo's golden boy”  —  A North Dakota billboard company has erected a pair of signs in Fargo honoring local hero Roger Maris, whose record 61 home runs in 1961 have long been clouded with an asterisk.  —  Take that, Mark McGwire.

Twins in position of strength with Hudson, Washburn  —  The Twins are in a good position, as free agents Orlando Hudson and Jarrod Washburn finalize their decisions on where they want to spend 2010.  —  The Twins don't need either player.  Sure, Hudson would be a natural fit in the No. 2 spot …

Winning offer: An open letter to Pirates owner Bob Nutting  —  Major league sports is a brutal business.  What with aggressive player agents, deep-pocketed competitors and more venues vying for the public's entertainment dollar, it is not a pursuit for the faint of heart.

FOX 2010 Major League Baseball Schedule Includes Two Interleague Games in Primetime  —  via FOX Sports:  —  MLB ON FOX GOES UNDER THE LIGHTS IN 2010  —  TWO PRIME TIME INTERLEAGUE DATES HIGHLIGHT MLB ON FOX'S 15TH REGULAR-SEASON SEASON SCHEDULE  —  NL Champion Phillies Scheduled a Maximum Nine Times …

MEET THE MESS  —  The word is multitasking.  It is such a relatively new word that it doesn't appear in my dictionary, the third edition (1992) of the American Heritage Dictionary.  A nice lady at Houghton Mifflin, the publisher, told me multitasking first appeared in the fourth edition published in 2000.

Buzz: Mets still interested in Rod Barajas  —  C Rod Barajas is still available on the free-agent market.  —  Barajas hit just .226 last season, but with 19 HR and 71 RBI, in 125 games for the Blue Jays, while hitting .267 against left-handed pitching.

If you were on Jeopardy and the final category was baseball ...  ... how confident would you be in making your wager?  —  This is one of my favorite questions to ask people at a party or in a bar because it can tell me so much about their baseball knowledge and their propensity for risk and greed.

Giants on Thin Ice with Lincecum  —  There's no need to freak out — pun semi-intended — in light of recent comments from Tim Lincecum's agent, Rick Thurman, who suggested to the San Jose Mercury News that the Giants are low-balling his client.  —  No need to read much into the virtual …

Brewers have history of waiver wire magic  —  From Podsednik to McGehee, Crew has plucked winners  —  MILWAUKEE — Winter waiver claims often go unnoticed amid the bigger bubbles on the Hot Stove.  Not in Milwaukee, where the Brewers over the years have quietly acquired some key players over the wire.

Verlander convinces Tigers of his worth  —  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.