Santana looks doubtful for WBC  — Johan Santana just completed a conference call with reporters a few minutes ago and it looks like he's doubtful for the World Baseball Classic as he recovers from offseason knee surgery.  Santana pitched the final month of last season with a torn meniscus …

RICKEY TO BIG LEAGUE GMS: DON'T LOSE MY NUMBER  —  YES, he's a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but Rickey Henderson is not done.  —  If some major league team calls, Rickey still wants to play, be it with the A's or anybody, one day, one week, one season, whatever; his door is wide open.

Yankees Invite 20 Players to 2009 Spring Training  —  The New York Yankees announced today that they have invited 20 non-roster players to 2009 Spring Training in Tampa, Fla. The list includes four pitchers, five catchers, seven infielders and four outfielders.  The total number of players now scheduled to report is 60.

Gross gets $1.255-million from Tampa Bay Rays  —  The Rays avoided arbitration with OF Gabe Gross by settling on a one-year, $1.255-million deal.  —  Gross, 29, hit .242 with 13 homers and 38 RBIs in 127 games for the Rays last season after being acquired in April from Milwaukee …

Minor League Transactions  —  This installment considers all transactions reported by MLB between Dec. 24, 2008, and Jan. 12, 2009.  The previous installment is available here.  —  Arizona Diamondbacks  —  Signed: 2B Guillermo Reyes  —  Baltimore Orioles

Tigers avoid arbitration with Rodney  —  Fernando Rodney spent part of this winter playing with former Rockie Ray King in the Dominican Republic.  He's preparing for the possibility that he could be the Detroit Tigers' closer.  Detroit is still examining its free agent options …

Astros likely out of free-agent market  —  Economic downturn, swollen payroll influencing GM's hesitance  —  HOUSTON — The free-agent market is flush with dozens of quality free agents, but don't expect the Astros to jump in on any bargain-bidding wars in the days leading up to Spring Training.

At what point is rotation depth a concern?  —  At the moment, here are the starting pitchers with more than a game or two of major-league experience the Yankees have available to them:  —  CC Sabathia, A.J.Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, Ian Kennedy, Alfredo Aceves, Jason Johnson, Dan Giese, Kei Igawa.

Cuba ranked No. 1 in world rankings; U.S. No. 2 … LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Cuba is No. 1 — in the International Baseball Federation's first rankings.  —  The United States was second in a ranking system that assigned points based on finishes in sanctioned events over the last four years …

Catching up with Benson  —  I had a nice chat last night with former Orioles pitcher Kris Benson, who surprised me with a phone call around 10 p.m. I didn't recognize the number and screened him.  —  Benson is throwing off a mound today after restricting himself to a long-tossing program …

How John Smoltz Convinced The Red Sox He Was Worth A Chance  —  The viewpoints of Nick Scherer and the Red Sox weren't all that different.  —  “When I think of a great pitcher,” said Director of Operations for the Georgia Tech baseball team, “I think of John Smoltz.”

BBWAA must speed up its voting requirements  —  Today on XM Radio, Hal Bodley had some interesting (and surprising) things to say about the BBWAA: … Just a few minutes ago I mailed, for the first time ever, my BBWAA dues.  So I feel a bit more qualified than before to discuss this subject ...