Dodgers sign Giles to Minor League deal  —  Veteran will compete for a roster spot at Spring Training  —  LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers signed 39-year-old outfielder Brian Giles to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Major League camp, the club confirmed.

Pirates admit ‘rumblings’ about Tabata's age  —  His birth certificate and passport say outfielder Jose Tabata was born Aug. 12, 1988, in Anzoategui, Venezuela.  Yet, during a recent radio interview, general manager Neal Huntington admitted there are “a lot of rumblings” that Tabata might actually be in his mid-20s.

Joba Chamberlain: ‘As a competitor, definitely I got frustrated at times’  —  Joba Chamberlain was in New York City on Tuesday to receive an award for his philanthropic work at the 30th annual Thurman Munson Dinner.  The 24-year-old righthander told Sporting News' Bill Eichenberger …

Lengthy deal for Beckett requires medical attention  —  A five-year, $82.5 million deal for Josh Beckett - the same thing former Marlins teammate A.J. Burnett and current teammate John Lackey got - seems logical for the free-agent-to-be.  Right now, it's not going to happen in Boston.

Mets' failure to sign bargain players goes beyond Minaya  —  It is easy to demonize Omar Minaya for the Mets' ills, and I am not here to praise him.  I do think the job of Mets GM is too big for Minaya; that his deficits in areas of communication, organization and ability to creatively multi-task …

‘Willie Mays’: The life and legend of a pioneering baseball player  —  For two decades, during baseball's golden era in America in the 1950s and '60s, Willie Mays was the game's incandescent star, a marvelous natural athlete who played the game like no one had before.

Wood's turn at third has finally arrived  —  Longtime backup ready to compete for full-time job with Halos  —  Patience is an essential virtue, in life and at home plate.  Brandon Wood could do a lecture tour on the subject.  —  Having paid his dues in full for seven years …

FanGraphs Splits  —  For a couple years now I've wanted to get better splits up and running on FanGraphs, but other things have taken priority.  We've had Lefty/Right and Home/Away splits in the graphs sections for almost four years, but never have there been any tabular splits.

Ranking MLB stadiums (that I've been to)  —  Apparently people like stupid lists.  That's hardly news to me, but last week really drove the point home.  My column was the ultimate in stupid lists: my personal rankings of MLB team nicknames.  Not only was it about as lightweight an article …