Sanders Commings Wants To Pull A Tim Tebow, & He Might Have The Talent

Three swings, and Jerry Hairston Jr. believed.

Fox Sports

Scott Kazmir, Aaron Harang, Matt Garza, Kyle Lohse Are Possible Trade Targets; Teams Waiting For Rafael Soriano's Price To Drop

Scott Kazmir, LHP, A’s — “Tick, tick, tick,” one AL GM said in response to whether he thinks Kazmir might be traded before the deadline. “Sure. If Oakland can’t hang in, Billy [Beane] will flip him for prospects. He’s actually an interesting name. All you hear about is [David] Price, [Jordan] Zimmermann, [Johnny] Cueto, but that’s a pretty good name right there.” Kazmir, 31, is 2-1 with a 2.75 ERA in six starts after going 15-9, 3.55 last season. Kazmir is not expected to be as costly as the others. He could be a Red Sox target.

Boston Globe

Manny Ramirez & Johnny Damon Still Looking To Play; Interest Picking Up On Bronson Arroyo

David Segui, who acted as a hitting coach for Manny Ramirez, said he hasn’t spoken to the former Red Sox star in more than two months. Ramirez wants to continue playing and is trying to hook on with a team. “Manny will always be able to hit,” Segui said. “He loves to play, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s still looking for something.” Ramirez’s contemporary, Jim Thome, also resisted retirement to the bitter end.

Boston Globe

Larry Bigbie: Steroid Story Hits Home

When the doorbell rang at Larry Bigbie's home in Valparaiso, Ind., on a typically cold winter day in January 2006, there was no reason for him to think something unusual was about to occur.

The Star Press

Talent Evaluators Split On Aroldis Chapman

The Blue Jays have reportedly bid $23 million for Aroldis Chapman. The Mets and Yankees (and other teams) have bid zero. And somebody, in the end, is probably going to look very smart, and somebody is going to look less than that.

ESPN

Cooperstown Confidential: Small Vs. Big, & The Hall Of Fame Vote

Over at Baseball Think Factory, writers and contributors often refer to the argument of the “small hall” vs. the “big hall.” Advocates of the “small hall” believe the Hall of Fame should be reserved for a select few, the absolute immortals of the game, such as the Ruths, the Aarons, the Wagners, the Groves, and the like. Advocates of the “big hall” believe that the Cooperstown shrine should be more inclusive, so as to include greats from a second and third tier of distinction, making room for players like Harmon Killebrew, Billy Williams and Phil Niekro.

The Hardball Times

Mark McGwire Makes Little Gain In Hall Vote

Mark McGwire made a slight rebound, but he has a long, long way still to go.
Cardinals Official Site

Former Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs outrfielder Andre Dawson was elected to the Hall of Fame today in his ninth year on the ballot.
Cardinal Beat

So far, Mark McGwire’s impending return from self-driven exile has done nothing for his Hall of Fame candidacy other than restore his lost ground from 2008 to 2009.
The Cardinal Nation

Prospectus Today: Virtual Hall-Worthy Selections

I hadn’t realized it until I went looking, but I’ve been pretty good about doing a Hall of Fame ballot each year. Mock, of course—I’m at least 11 years from having one, probably more, barring eligibility changes—but a fun exercise nonetheless. It can be a challenge to keep it fresh, as there are only so many ways to point out that Bert Blyleven is one of the 50 best starting pitchers in history, would raise the Hall standards for the position, and should therefore be elected.

Baseball Prospectus

Prospectus Hit & Run: Roberto Alomar, The Crime Dog, The Big Cat, & Big Mac

The BBWAA Hall of Fame ballot has been out for a few weeks, and by now just about everybody who's got an opinion on the subject of which candidates are worthy of election has beaten the Christmas rush by weighing in on Rock, Hawk, Rik Aalbert, and friends. While the cabal which sent Jim Rice to Cooperstown last year might like to believe that I've told my spreadsheet to shut up, the reality—deadlines for this year's annual impeding my progress—is much more mundane. There's still time to beat the Christmas rush, however, so away we go.

Baseball Prospectus

Rating The 2010 Hall of Fame Candidates By Win Shares

Five ex-St. Louis Cardinals are on the ballot, but none are forecasted to be elected into the Hall of Fame in 2010. They are Mark McGwire, Lee Smith, Ray Lankford, Todd Zeile and Pat Hentgen.

The Cardinal Nation

Hall Could Call For Unheralded Candidates

They're not the headliners.

They're the ones who may have been overlooked because of the teams they played on, the markets they represented or the roles they had. The ones who might have missed a few more good years because of injuries. Or the ones who were simply beaten out on hardware by premier players in their respective leagues.

MLB

David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez Said To Be On 2003 Doping List

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the sluggers who helped the Boston Red Sox end an 86-year World Series championship drought and capture another title three years later, were among the roughly 100 Major League Baseball players to test positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the results.

NY Times

Jason Grimsley Implicates Players

Jose Canseco, Lenny Dykstra and Rafael Palmeiro were among nine players accused of doping by former Major League pitcher Jason Grimsley in a federal agent's affidavit unsealed Thursday.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071220&content_id=2334936&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

David Segui Admits To Using Steriods

Retired first baseman David Segui admitted on Monday that he used steroids and purchased shipments from former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski, The Sun reported on its Web site on Monday.

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7550422