Yanks sign Thames, make Winn official  —  Left fielders expected to be compete with Gardner for time  —  On the day the Yankees finalized a one-year deal with a potential left fielder for the 2010 season, they reportedly reached agreement with a man who could give him even more competition.

Steve Phillips in interview: 'I'm fully responsible for what I did'  —  Steve Phillips, the former ESPN baseball analyst and New York Mets general manager, said Monday that he knew he had a sex addiction problem in August — two months before he was fired from his role with the network.

Selig to get statue at Miller Park  —  By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel  —  The Brewers announced today that they will honor Major League Baseball Commissioner and former team owner Bud Selig with a statue at Miller Park's Home Plate Plaza.  —  Selig's statue will join …

Caribbean Series won by Dominican Republic  —  Mets' Martinez named tournament's Most Valuable Player  —  MARGARITA ISLAND, Venezuela — The pulsing sounds of merengue overpowered the concourse, and fireworks lit up the sky above center field on a clear night at Estado Nueva Esparta.

Send Mark to spring training  —  When I launched this site one week ago, I honestly had no idea what to expect.  I knew I wanted to provide another outlet for news and analysis of the Washington Nationals.  But with no method of advertising other than word-of-mouth, I didn't know how many people that content would reach.

Why you sign Josh Beckett, today.  —  The ‘comps’ are flying, everyone is writing about Josh and his worth to the team, his potential value this winter, his health, all the things you hear when someone enters a walk year on a contract.  —  Here's why, barring some freakish medical issue …

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 …

A look at the new sky blue jersey  —  UPDATE, 3:54: And now it appears mlb.com has taken the jerseys down.  —  DEVELOPING: The Rays were planning on waiting to unveil this new sky blue alternate jersey, but, as raysindex.com noted, since they are for sale on mlb.com (for just $219.99 generic …

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.

3UP: Jeter, Beltran and Damon  —  The Super Bowl is out of the way, so there is nothing but clear field between here and pitchers and catchers - unless the slam dunk contest is just too much for you to resist.  —  So I figured I would open this week with three questions on my post-Super Bowl mind:

Did Boras Fail Damon, Washburn, & Lopez?  —  Last offseason, the Scott Boras Corporation brokered approximately $341MM worth of free agent deals.  It was a strong showing, with three of the four big-money contracts already looking regrettable (Derek Lowe, Manny Ramirez, and Oliver Perez).

Getting in position  —  By this time next week, I'll be tossing clothes in a suitcase and wondering how much AirTran will charge me for the privilege of checking in for my flight to Sarasota.  —  Southwest doesn't fly into that city, which is one strike against the Orioles' spring training relocation.

A call for neater autographs  —  Youngsters in particular treasure a signed baseball by their favorite player.  Of course, sports cards are always valued, but not like a ball signed by an Albert Pujols or a Yadier Molina.  —  It always angers me that some athletes will go to great lengths to sign legibly …