Padres going to try to re-sign Quentin, Street to multi-year deals  —  The Reds, Indians and Pirates are among the many teams to have inquired about the Padres' Carlos Quentin.  (Getty Images)  —  The Padres are now planning to try to extend veteran stars Carlos Quentin and Huston Street …

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 …

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 …

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.

Phillips' 5 RBIs Help Reds Rally Past D-Backs 7-6  —  CINCINNATI (AP) — Brandon Phillips homered and had five RBIs, then scored the go-ahead run in the seventh inning on Todd Frazier's single to help the Cincinnati Reds rally from a six-run deficit to pull out a 7-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday.

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 …

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 …

Cubs Acquire Justin Germano; DFA Asencio  —  The Cubs have acquired Justin Germano from the Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations, according to a team press release.  The veteran right-hander was designated for assignment by Boston earlier this week to make room for Jacoby Ellsbury's return from the disabled list.

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.

Carl Crawford soldiers on  —  Perseveres through bashing, trade talk  —  Carl Crawford would be lying if he said the thought hadn't at least flickered in his mind.  —  Did I make a mistake?  —  After all, Crawford had options.  As the most desirable free agent on the market two winters ago …

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?

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).

Maholm pitches gem as Cubs top Marlins to win series  —  CHICAGO - Paul Maholm pitched eight innings, Alfonso Soriano homered and the Cubs beat the Miami Marlins 4-2 Thursday, ruining Mark Buehrle's return to Chicago.  —  Maholm allowed one run and four hits to win his fourth consecutive start, matching a career best.