Joba's first start to come Tuesday  —  MINNEAPOLIS — Joba Chamberlain is set to join the Yankees' rotation on Tuesday, starting against the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium and completing his transition from the club's bullpen.  —  Yankees manager Joe Girardi officially announced the move …

Pedro will make his Mets return at San Francisco  —  Pedro Martinez will make his next start for the Mets in San Francisco next week, a team official confirmed last night.  —  Martinez was believed to be en route to New York yesterday from Port St. Lucie, Fla. Because he's Pedro, though …

Posey projected to go No. 1 to Rays … Making a first-round projection is like slamming your head into an omelette — there's no way to do it without ending up with egg on your face.  So, with a towel handy, here's my stab at the first 30 picks of next week's Rule 4 draft, accompanied by notes on other directions each team might take:

Matsuzaka placed on DL with shoulder injury  —  BALTIMORE — Daisuke Matsuzaka was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday by the Boston Red Sox, who opted to take a cautious approach after an MRI exam revealed a mild strain of his right rotator cuff.

Braves place outfielder Kotsay on DL  —  Club recalls Anderson frm Triple-A Richmond  —  CINCINNATI — Even though he felt like he was realizing some improvement, Mark Kotsay was never able to convince himself or the Braves that his back wasn't going to continue giving him problems for at least another week.

No, I'm not Chuck Todd  —  There are certain pleasures in writing anonymously.  Particularly in the political world, where there is a whole mythology associated with anonymity — think Deep Throat or Primary Colors or Atrios.  But I'm fortunate enough to have been granted the opportunity …

Temperature and League HR Splits  —  Recently, there has been some discussion about the disparity in run-scoring between the AL and the NL.  For example, here are two articles on the subject by William Burke and Joe Sheehan, and David Pinto.  Because of the designated hitter …

Middle relievers give Giants room to deal  —  Young arms give chance to deal  —  PHOENIX - The trade market might be materializing a little earlier than normal this year and the Giants are actively shopping several players, according to sources.  —  But not the names you'd expect.

Will the Rockies trade All-Star Holliday … Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd is the sort of fellow who has the ability to make a brutally honest assessment of his team.  “We stink,” O'Dowd said in a recent interview, an interview conducted even before the Rockies were throttled 20-5 …

Rockies collapse in clutch  —  Colorado blows 4-3 lead in 8-4 setback to plummet 14 games under .500  —  CHICAGO — To reach the dugout Thursday from their cramped, odorous clubhouse, the Rockies descended 20 concrete steps, made a right at the frazzled miniature-golf carpet …

Why Baseball Really Is a Game of Inches  —  Several journalists I really respect (Pat Jordan, Dan Shaughnessy, Selena Roberts) have written or talked lately about shrinking access to players.  I won't pretend to know what it was like before I started in this business, in 1990 …

Thwart A Cash Heavy Deal By Cuban?  Try A Marriage  —  There's something more than a little intriguing about Mark Cuban owning the Chicago Cubs.  There is certainly that fact that Cuban has done what seemed nearly impossible in a city dominated by the Cowboys: he's made the NBA Dallas Mavericks …