Torii Hunter says he'll take big pay cut to stay with Angels next season  —  DETROIT — Torii Hunter, in the final year of a five-year, $90 million contract, would take a huge pay cut to remain with the Los Angeles Angels and promised that money “will not be an issue” in whether he returns in 2013.

Mark Reynolds' 2-run single rallies O's by Twins … MINNEAPOLIS — Mark Reynolds' two-run single in the eighth inning backed a strong performance from Wei-Yin Chen and rallied the Baltimore Orioles to a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Thursday.  —  Chen (8-5) gave up three runs …

EXCLUSIVE: ‘Baseball Wives’ star Anna Benson says husband filed for divorce; kids registered as ‘homeless’ for school  —  Anna and Kris Benson in 2006 after Kris was traded by the New York Mets to the Baltimore Orioles.AP  —  The woman who said she would sleep with the entire …

Wright hits two homers, Dicky wins 13th in Mets' victory  —  WASHINGTON - David Wright homered twice and had five RBIs and R.A. Dickey won his league-leading 13th game and the New York Mets broke a six-game losing streak with a 9-5 win over the Washington Nationals on Thursday.

Sources: Cole Hamels talks intensify  —  PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Phillies and Cole Hamels' agent, John Boggs, have picked up the pace of discussions in recent days, sources said, and those intensified discussions are an indication the Phillies have started a major push to sign Hamels before the July 31 trade deadline.

2012 Trade Value: #25-#21  —  So, from the land of embarrassing mistakes comes this - I screwed up yesterday and copied the wrong part of the list in to the #30-#26 post and didn't catch it until this morning.  Kipnis, Moore, Upton, Moustakas, and Gio were actually 25-21, and for whatever reason …

An Inner Circle for the Hall of Fame  —  By standards of the museum, all players honored in the baseball Hall of Fame are equal.  Once a man's in, he's in and all players get the same plaque.  There is no delineation between the Mickey Mantles and Tommy McCarthys of Cooperstown.  Should this be?

Braves Avoid Sweep, Beat Giants, 3-2  —  ATLANTA (AP) — Freddie Freeman and David Ross hit home runs as the Atlanta Braves made the most of their three hits to beat the San Francisco Giants 3-2 on Thursday to avoid a sweep.  —  Tim Hudson (8-4) helped an Atlanta bullpen that was drained by Wednesday night's 9-4 loss in 11 innings.

Mets won't overpay in trade  —  WASHINGTON — Trailing the Atlanta Braves by six games in the NL East standings in 2004, the New York Mets impulsively traded Scott Kazmir to Tampa Bay for Victor Zambrano in an ill-fated pursuit of a postseason berth.  —  The Mets could overpay now, too, assistant general manager John Ricco said.

Stephen Drew Drawing Interest  —  3:37pm: The Pirates haven't had discussions about Drew with the Diamondbacks either, Olney reports (on Twitter).  —  3:27pm: The Red Sox and Diamondbacks have not spoken about Drew, ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports (on Twitter).

Nats GM: Sitting Strasburg will be ‘my decision’  —  WASHINGTON — The decision whether the National League East-leading Washington Nationals will shut down prized starter Stephen Strasburg has apparently been made.  The when is all that remains.  —  General Manager Mike Rizzo told ESPN …

Prado focused on baseball, not contract  —  ATLANTA — Martin Prado has impressively bounced back from the most disappointing season of his young career and provided reason to believe he could serve as Chipper Jones' successor as the Braves' starting third baseman next year.

Draft lottery awards 12 teams with extra picks  —  Royals draw top sandwich pick; Pirates, D-backs claim next two  —  SECAUCUS, N.J. — The Royals were the biggest winner in the first Competitive Balance Lottery, held at MLB Network Studios on Wednesday afternoon.

Jays' Lawrie leaves game after falling over railing  —  Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Brett Lawrie bruised his right calf when he flipped over a railing trying to catch a foul pop in the third inning of their game against the New York Yankees on Wednesday.