Henderson, Rice given Hall passes  —  Rickey Henderson, widely considered the greatest leadoff hitter in the history of baseball, was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame Monday on his first ballot with 94.8 percent of the votes cast by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

MLB.com voters share Hall thoughts  —  Baseball writers sound off on who they voted for and why  —  A dozen MLB.com writers voted in the Hall of Fame balloting this year, and this is how they voted:  —  MICHAEL BAUMAN: Rickey Henderson, Bert Blyleven, Andre Dawson, Jim Rice, Lee Smith

Henderson, Rice in Hall of Fame … NEW YORK — Rickey Henderson sped his way into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot Monday, and Jim Rice made it in on his 15th and final try.  —  Henderson, baseball's career leader in runs scored and stolen bases, received 94.8 percent of the vote …

Source: Braves make 4-year, $60M offer  —  Free-agent pitcher Derek Lowe has received a four-year, contract offer worth about $60 million from the Braves, and indications are that he's leaning strongly toward signing with Atlanta, a baseball source told ESPN.com.

MINAYA'S 50-50 ON PEDRO'S RETURN  —  Heads, it's Derek Lowe, Oliver Perez or Randy Wolf.  Tails, it's Pedro Martinez or some other option for the Mets' rotation.  —  GM Omar Minaya yesterday made it a coin flip when asked about his confidence in landing one of the Big 3 starters he has pursued in recent weeks.

Mets Increasingly View Martínez as Backup Plan  —  Pedro Martínez wants to pitch next season, and he wants to pitch for the Mets.  But the chances of his returning diminished Monday when General Manager Omar Minaya all but ruled out re-signing Martínez.