A-Rod A-OK after successful surgery … Alex Rodriguez underwent successful hip repair surgery Monday at a Colorado clinic.  —  The 80-minute procedure was performed by Dr. Marc Philippon, a specialist known as the “hip doctor to the stars.”  —  “Alex is doing very well,” Philippon said.

Spring Game 13: Blue Jays at Yankees (includes A-Rod surgery update)  —  YANKEES  —  Pitching today: Andy Pettitte followed by Ian Kennedy, Dan Giese, Dave Robertson, Jose Veras and Jon Albaladejo.  —  BLUE JAYS  —  Adams LF  —  Hill 2B  —  Lind DH  —  Overbay 1B  —  Lane CF  —  Snider RF

Lester extension makes good business sense  —  One can make the case that of all the left-handed pitchers younger than 26 years old, Cole Hamels and Jon Lester would have the most value on the open market.  Each is 25.  Each has pitched World Series-clinching games.

Chipper Jones leaves game with mild oblique strain  —  TORONTO (AP) — United States third baseman Chipper Jones left Sunday night's game against Venezuela after five innings with a mild oblique strain and will be evaluated again Monday.  —  Jones was injured swinging at a pitch in the fifth inning …

Details on Cabrera, Garciaparra contracts with Oakland  —  The Oakland A's are nothing if not contrarian.  At a time when small market teams are trimming their budgets, Oakland has opened its wallet.  The A's will have around a $60 million payroll — still well below the Rockies' $73 million 00 …

JETER: YANKEES WILL GET BY  —  TORONTO - Hip, hip, hooray!  Six to nine weeks without Alex Rodriguez doesn't sound so bad to Derek Jeter.  —  “It's good, better than the other story I heard that he was going to miss a longer time,” Jeter said last night before Team USA faced Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic.

WBC Five Cuts: USA-Venezuela … 1. I would not want to be Luis Sojo.  The Venezuela manager was on the hot seat even before the WBC began, with the highly enthusiastic Venezuelan press grilling him to the extent of asking questions about “life and death.”  And it has turned out to be a rough tournament for Mr. Sojo.

Twins were wise to pass on Gagne; Cordero update  —  FORT MYERS, FLA. — The Twins had a $3 million guaranteed offer on the table for reliever Eric Gagne before they agreed to their $1.3 million deal with reliever Luis Ayala.  —  The decision to go with Ayala instead of Gagne looks better now …

Minor League Transactions  —  February 28 through March 7  —  Atlanta Braves  —  Placed on restricted list: OF Rashod Henry  —  Outrighted to Triple-A: RHP Anthony Lerew  —  The Nationals released Perez during spring training last year and the 29-year-old minor league veteran failed to latch on with another affiliated club.

Team Offense, New York Yankees  —  The series on team offense continues with the New York Yankees.  I plug the probable lineup from CBSSportsLine into the Lineup Analysis Tool, and fill in the numbers with Marcel the Monkey projections.  The results:  — Best lineup: 5.72 runs per game

Is Strasburg the best prospect ever?  —  So just how good is Stephen Strasburg, the San Diego State right-hander who is regarded as the No. 1 talent in this year's draft?  —  “The best I've ever seen,” says a longtime scout.  “And it's not even close.”  —  C'mon. Better than Mark Prior?

5TH-STARTER FIASCO SPARKS PEDRO TALK  —  PORT ST. LUCIE - Paging Pedro Martinez?  —  Less than a month before Opening Day, the “race” for the Mets' fifth-starter job remains as muddled and uninspiring as ever.  —  Four of the five candidates threw yesterday, and the results were almost uniformly ugly.

The Final Santana Stage  —  If you think you've been waiting to see Johan Santana in a Grapefruit League game, it's probably no more than he wants to pitch in one himself.  —  Throwing a bullpen session on the six-pack of mounds just outside Tradition Field, the sort of side session …

Blalock a healthy gamble for Texas Rangers  —  SURPRISE, Ariz. - A torn left hamstring.  Carpal tunnel release surgery.  Thoracic outlet syndrome.  —  And, on the flip side, career highs in on-base and slugging percentage.  —  The last two years have been the strangest of Hank Blalock's Rangers career.

Franklin is in the mix to be St. Louis Cardinals closer  —  JUPITER, FLA. — Cardinals manager Tony La Russa on Sunday officially placed righthander Ryan Franklin squarely “in the mix” for the team's closing vacancy, insisting that in many ways Franklin is the more qualified to take on the job …