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

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 …

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.

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 …

Team USA advances behind big sixth  —  Iannetta, Pedroia, Youkilis deliver key hits vs. Venezuela's 'pen  —  TORONTO — For the first five innings on Sunday, Team USA seemed destined for its second nail-biter in as many nights in the World Baseball Classic.

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.

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?

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 …

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

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 …

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.

Gardner vs. Gathright  —  Last week longtime RAB reader and commenter whozat shot me an email asking me if there was any reason to expect Brett Gardner to develop into a better Major League player than Joey Gathright.  The comparison between the two players obviously makes sense since they're …

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.

Twins concerned by Mauer's lingering back pain … PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (AP) — Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer has been hampered by back pain, hurting his rehab from offseason kidney surgery.  —  Mauer, the reigning American League batting champion, will undergo a magnetic resonance arthogram Tuesday.

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.