J.D.'s back is back  —  FORT MYERS, Fla. — Despite the protestations of both J.D. Drew and manager Terry Francona earlier in camp that the outfielder's back was not an issue, Drew was sent back to Boston to get an injection in his lower back.  The injection, administered by Dr. Bill Palmer, was given yesterday.

Pedro Martinez wants big contract or he'll retire and ‘go fishing’ … JUPITER, Fla. - Pedro Martinez wants to pitch in the majors this season, but the three-time Cy Young winner prefers retiring to his fishing boat if the alternative is accepting a Tom Glavine-like contract.

Spring Game 7: Team USA at Yankees  —  YANKEES  —  Pitching: Phil Hughes followed by Coke, Dunn, Veras, Hacker, Robertson, Texeira  —  TEAM USA  —  Pitching: Roy Oswalt followed by Jon Broxton, Matt Lindstrom, Brad Ziegler, Matt Thornton and LaTroy Hawkins.  —  Notes: The game will be on YES.

Bonds' agent again shops for a contract to play in 2009  —  PHOENIX — Barry Bonds, whose federal perjury and obstruction-of-justice trial has been indefinitely delayed, gave permission Monday for his agent to solicit interest from major league teams in hopes of resuming his career.

Evan Longoria Likely (Did Not) Have The Best Rookie Season By a Third Baseman.  Ever.  —  Did you know, Evan Longoria's season was the third best by a rookie third baseman who played at least 100 games in history?  Well, it's true.  The filtering statistic of choice is OPS+ since raw numbers …

Concerns about Castro put Pudge on radar  —  JUPITER, Fla. - The Mets were unsuccessful in their attempts to shop Ramon Castro this offseason, but they still remain very interested in Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez, according to a person familiar with the team's thinking.

Wang gets back in step … KISSIMMEE, Fla. - The last time Chien-Ming Wang pitched against the Astros - against any team, for that matter - he suffered a foot injury that wrecked his 2008 season and helped send the Yankees spinning, too.  So when Wang climbed the mound at Osceola County Stadium Monday …

Lou Piniella outraged by ESPN analyst's criticism  —  MESA, Ariz. — ESPN baseball analyst Steve Phillips might want to steer clear of Lou Piniella when the Cubs play Milwaukee on an April 12 ESPN telecast.  —  Piniella was fuming over a remark Phillips made recently on Chet Coppock's WMVP-AM 1000 radio show.

Kasten, Zimmerman's agent meet  —  Nationals trying to hammer out extension for third baseman  —  VIERA, Fla. — Nationals team president Stan Kasten is trying hard to sign third baseman Ryan Zimmerman to an extension.  —  In fact, Kasten met with Zimmerman's agent, Brodie Van Wagenen, on Tuesday morning at Space Coast Stadium.

Errors Cast Doubt on a Baseball Memoir  —  Matt McCarthy, a graduate of Yale and of Harvard Medical School now working as an intern in the residency program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital in New York, has gained national attention in recent weeks for “Odd Man Out,” …

There are season ticket plans cheaper than one Yankees game  —  Flush with cash these days?  Have a little extra cheese to spend?  Always wanted to call yourself a Yankees seaon ticket holder?  Well, you're in luck!  —  Over on Yankees.com, they're advertising that there's still …

The Worst Contracts In Baseball  —  For this exercise I only considered current contracts (so Mike Hampton's eight-year, $121MM deal is out).  Also, there are some lousy deals that were worth less than $15MM total that I chose to leave out. 2006 was a black hole for free agent contracts.

Where Are They Now?  —  This is the first in what will hopefully become a series about Angels of yesteryear.  —  As we increasingly wax nostalgic, we got to thinking about how cool it would be to start a series of interviews with former Angels who, in one way or another, left their mark on the franchise.

A's ace Duchscherer to visit doctor about elbow … PHOENIX (AP) — Oakland's Justin Duchscherer was scheduled to see a doctor Tuesday to have his sore right elbow examined.  —  The two-time All-Star, the Athletics' projected opening-day starter, began experiencing tightness in the elbow two weeks into spring training.

Farm system value rankings (Part 1)  —  With spring training games beginning, almost all top prospect lists have been released.  Prospect rankings and farm system rankings can be tough to judge and create plenty of debate online.  In this series I'm going to try to provide an objective point …