Braves agree to terms with free-agent Craig Wilson on one-year contract  —  ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves today agreed to terms with free-agent outfielder/first baseman Craig Wilson on a one-year contract for the 2007 season.  Financial terms of the deal were not announced.

Davis, D-backs agree to new deal  —  Southpaw avoids arbitration with three-year contract  —  PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks and southpaw Doug Davis agreed to a three-year deal on Thursday night, avoiding arbitration.  —  Davis, along with pitcher Dana Eveland and outfielder Dave Krynzel …

Washington Nationals set to begin week-long Winter Caravan Monday, Jan. 22-Monday, Jan. 29  —  Nationals Manager, players, front office executives and broadcast personalities get on the road prior to start of Spring Training with several stops in the District, Maryland and Virginia

Twins face fiscal issues in near future  —  The Twins are dealing with six potential arbitration cases, more than any club.  The rising stature of the middle of their batting order — Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau — underscores the difficulty that the team eventually will face …

Padres make Wells offer, want answer by end of week  —  Kevin Towers won't call it a deadline.  —  But he'd like to get an answer from pitcher David Wells "by the end of this week."  —  The Padres have made a formal contract offer to the 43-year-old left-hander after what Towers described as a series of "positive dialogues."

Betty Trezza, women's baseball pioneer, dies at 81  —  CBS SportsLine.com wire reports  —  NEW YORK — Betty Trezza, who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League for the team featured in the film A League of Their Own, has died.  She was 81.

Inside Shea: Olivermania?  —  (Editor's Note) Gotham Baseball Magazine is proud to announce the newest addition to our editorial staff, Howard Megdel.  He has covered both sports and news with an equal amount of excellence and we're priviliged to have him.  Join us as we welcome him to Gotham Nation.

Sosa's return could bring big dividends  —  Rangers general manager Jon Daniels began the day Wednesday awaiting a new arrival, wondering just how big he might be.  —  Sammy Sosa?  Oh, yeah, him, too.  —  But of more immediate concern was the imminent arrival of Daniels' first-born.

Mitchell asks owners for cooperation  —  Former Senator says help will aid steroid report's credibility  —  PHOENIX — Former Senator George Mitchell, who has been heading up a nearly year-long investigation into steroid use in Major League Baseball, told the owners on Thursday that he needs …

Bonds' leaked results could handcuff Giants  —  Six weeks after he reached a tentative deal to return to San Francisco for a 15th season, Barry Bonds remains a non-Giant.  —  He has no contract.  He is not on the 40-man roster, and his one-year, $15.8 million agreement has not been formalized …

Historical Win Shares Above Bench  —  You may come to the Hardball Times to catch up on Bill James' Win Shares during the season.  The history of Win Shares is briefly covered in this article, so I won't go into all of that here.  But I will say that Win Shares is a fairly controversial …

Do Umpires Have Their Own Strike Zone?  —  Yes.  Here's how to tell.  —  DanAgonistes asks: " It would be interesting to see whether there is any trend that holds over from year to year ".  —  We don't need year-to-year data.  We just follow the same process we follow for everything else.