Fan fined $1,000, ordered away from Shea Stadium  —  A Mets fan who impersonated a reporter last season was fined $1,000 on Tuesday and ordered to stay away from Mets home games for the next three years.  —  Ryan Leli, 18, was also ordered to stay away from Brooklyn Cyclones games …

Ex-Yank Leyritz: Good riddance, Randy  —  NEW YORK - As badly as one wanted to leave, another wanted to stay.  The winters of Randy Johnson and Bernie Williams took different paths, and those paths were a hot topic last night at a dinner honoring the 1977 Yankees.

Prospectus Today  —  Post-Hype Sleepers, 2007  —  A couple of years ago, I coined the term "post-hype sleepers" to describe players who were entering the season after they'd failed miserably amidst a tremendous amount of preseason buildup.  I still think this category is the best place …

New mix in Sox's outfield  —  Erstad signing near; groin surgery sidelines Podsednik  —  With SoxFest just a few days away, the shape of the White Sox's outfield has taken a dramatic turn with the impending signing of free agent Darin Erstad and recurrence of an old groin injury …

Rays to pad infield depth with Pena … ST. PETERSBURG - Seeking to increase depth with their infield plans unsettled, the Devil Rays are close to signing first baseman Carlos Pena to a minor-league deal.  —  Under some alignments, the Rays could end up with Ty Wigginton and Greg Norton splitting time at first base.

Wallace Matthews  —  What's the deal?  —  Mets spend on everyone but Willie  —  Perhaps if Willie Randolph were still a player, and not the manager who led them to within a victory of the World Series, the Mets would show him a little more respect and a lot more money.

Cards hope to learn Weaver's fate this week  —  The Cardinals probably will learn this week whether their two-year offer to free-agent pitcher Jeff Weaver is enough to keep the righthander in their starting rotation three months after he became a cog in their World Series championship push.

Blue Jays Join Growing Gulf Coast League  —  A busy offseason for the Gulf Coast League continued when the Blue Jays added a sixth affiliate and joined the Florida-based Rookie-level league.  —  The Blue Jays pulled out of the Appalachian League at the conclusion of the 2006 season …

Rollins, Phillies confident about chances in '07  —  PHILADELPHIA — Pitchers and catchers don't report to spring training for another three weeks and exhibition games are still more than a month away.  The Philadelphia Phillies already are talking about the postseason.

Perlozzo offers thoughts on baseball's economics … WASHINGTON // Washington Nationals owner Theodore Lerner wants to curb spending on player salaries, New York Yankees President Randy Levine wants to limit his team's luxury tax payments, while Baltimore Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo …

METS MAY BE IN ARMS WAY  —  INNINGS MINOR PROBLEM FOR PELFREY, HUMBER  —  Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber haven't thrown many minor-league innings, yet they're both candidates for the Mets' starting rotation.  It's worth examining how ready they are without many more frames for them in Double-A or Triple-A.

Rays payroll shrinks as goodwill is spent … Stu, I thought we were friends.  —  You, me and our 3-million or so neighbors.  —  I thought there was a rapport.  I thought we all understood one another.  You wanted a major-league franchise and we wanted to see what a real one looked like.