Lawyer for Clemens Explains Strategy  —  In a lengthy conversation Friday with Rusty Hardin, Roger Clemens's lawyer, I was particularly interested in his answers to two questions.  To Hardin's credit, he answered both candidly with no attempt to obfuscate the answers with typical lawyerly prattle.

Debate: Is Andre Dawson a Hall of Famer?  —  Andre Dawson fell short of reaching the 3,000-hit plateau, but he did hit more than 400 home runs and drove in over 1,500 runs.  —  In this, his sixth year on the ballot, will Dawson get enough votes to become part of the Class of 2008?

Hot Stove: Cold, hard data is McLouth's best friend  —  There is no more objective guide to Major League Baseball than the annual Bill James Handbook, a detailed compendium of way-inside-the-game numbers.  No fluff, no conflicting observations from scouts and no talk of promise or potential.

Santana Situation shows exactly what's Wrong with Baseball  —  Johan Santana is still a Twin - for now.  The Big Market Teams (BMT) are low-balling the Twins with offers that won't include another star player (like Jose Reyes or Robinson Cano) or two-top shelf prospects (like Jacoby Ellsbury and Jon Lester).

Buzz: Kazmir's Day may be Numbered  —  “Even though he is entering his first year of arbitration eligibility, there's already talk that Scott Kazmir's days as a Ray are numbered,” writes the St. Petersburg Times.  —  According to the report, the Rays approached Kazmir about a long-term extension last year, ‘but nothing developed.’

Buzz: The Mets and the Pitcher's Market  —  ...MLB Offices are closed through January 2...my sense is that the off-season may pick up steam again during the middle of this month, since pitchers and catchers will be only four weeks away from reporting at that point...

McGwire looking for more Hall support  —  Slugger garnered 23.5 percent of vote on first attempt  —  Mark McGwire's Hall of Fame candidacy looked drastically different in December of 2006, when he first appeared on the ballot, than it did when he retired following the 2001 season.

Reports: Canseco finalizes deal for ‘Juiced’ sequel  —  Jose Canseco has finalized a book deal for his sequel to “Juiced” and it is expected to hit bookstores by Opening Day of the 2008 season, two New York newspapers reported Sunday.  —  Robert Saunooke, Canseco's lawyer …

Monday Morning Manager...Farewell 2007  —  Let's face it.  This was not the best year ever for baseball.  It never is when a former Senator's report on the state of steroids in the game creates far more interest than the playoffs.  —  So now it's time to move on to a new year and we are more than halfway through the off-season.

A look at Jennings  —  Another possibility if the Rangers decide to look outside for a fifth starter is Jason Jennings, who was born in Dallas and played at Baylor.  He's 29 years old and spent last season in Houston.  Jennings had surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right elbow …

Steroids in Baseball: What's New York Got to Do with it?  —  As I've written before, I don't think there's any reason to think that the Mitchell report snared most of professional baseball's juicers.  Just on logical grounds, if a couple of accidental low-level distributors looking …

KTVI exec who oversaw Pujols coverage leaves  —  Kingsley Smith, the KTVI (Channel 2) news director who devoted the bulk of a newscast to a false rumor that Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols would be named in the Mitchell report on performance-enhancing drugs, is leaving to run …