Gambling probe reveals Charlie Samuels' relationship to Francisco Rodriguez, Jeff Francoeur, others  —  Charlie Samuels, the Mets clubhouse manager ensnared in an investigation into mobbed-up gambling, has been a trusted confidant and friend to scores of Mets players over the years …

Yankees will be ‘in early’ on Cliff Lee, source says, will face competition from Angels and Rangers  —  Two years ago, the Yankees started the free agency period with a blockbuster offer to CC Sabathia that helped pave the way to signing the big lefty.  After the clock strikes midnight Saturday night …

Source: Collins top Amazin' candidate  —  Mets on Twitter  —  Tweet  —  When Mets general manager Sandy Alderson explained last week that “I think that a fiery manager is actually quite desirable,” the sense was he was sending out a message at his introductory press conference that the door was open to Wally Backman.

Odds and ends from today's Sabean/Bochy news conference, plus a not-so-crazy, crazy idea for shortstop  —  My story from today's annual postmortem news conference is on the Gate and linked here.  Actually, I don't know if you can call it a postmortem if the Giants won the World Series.

Harvin returns to practice, squabbles with Childress over effort  —  Percy Harvin got into a heated argument with Brad Childress.  —  Percy Harvin returned to Vikings practice Friday, but things did not go smoothly.  —  The wide receiver, who sat out Wednesday and Thursday …

Bidding For Iwakuma Closes, Mariners The Favorite?  —  NPB Tracker's Patrick Newman passes along a report saying that the bidding has closed for Japanese righty Hisashi Iwakuma (via Twitter), and a report from Sports Hochi (article in Japanese) indicates that the Mariners appear to be the favorite to land him.

Mets and Takahashi Part Ways  —  Hisanori Takahashi's time with the Mets is over after one successful season, and he will seek another team in free agency beginning Saturday.  —  The Mets and Takahashi's agent, Arn Tellem, were expected to announce later Friday that they could not come …

How Changes to MLB's Luxury Tax Could Influence Player Contracts, Now  —  Already, MLB's Hot Stove season is under way.  As players and clubs work through options within player contracts, the next wave of free agent signings or contract extensions will be getting underway in earnest.

Exiled Isiah is itching for an encore  —  How often does he think about running the Knicks?  ‘Every single day of the week’  —  ESPNNewYork.com  —  MIAMI — Isiah Thomas thought he would be dead by age 20, so at 49 he offers no apologies for betting on himself.