SOURCE: LUGO DESIGNATED FOR ASSIGNMENT  —  According to a source familiar with the situation, the Red Sox have designated Julio Lugo for assignment.  The Red Sox will have 10 days to assign Lugo's contract to another major or minor league club, whether it be via trade or through waivers.

Dodgers enter race for Halladay; Jays freezing out Yankees, Red Sox … While the Phillies remain almost everyone's favorite to land superstar pitcher Roy Halladay, and the best-in-baseball Dodgers are now believed to be showing interest, two big-market contenders for the summer's big pitching prize …

Game 89: Tigers at Yankees  —  YANKEES (51-37)  —  TIGERS (48-39)  —  Pitching: LHP Lucas French (1-0, 1.93).  —  TIME/TV: 7:05 p.m., YES.  —  STATE OF THE STRIPES: The Yankees have had four days off since since being swept by the Los Angeles Angels last weekend.

Pirates offer extensions to Wilson, Sanchez  —  Best-friend infielders ‘excited’ after team approaches them jointly  —  The Pirates have approached shortstop Jack Wilson and second baseman Freddy Sanchez about multiyear contract extensions, putting on hold, for now, the possibility that either …

Banner Day, 2009  —  The Mets' last Banner Day was staged years ago but it was revived by The New York Times over the past week and produced some pretty clever results.  —  Close to 100 people used words and images to comment on the 2009 season, which, for the Mets, has been a succession of minor calamities.

Future Shock  —  Signing Situations  —  The signing period for the 2009 draft is, as expected, a complete mess.  As of today, teams have just one month remaining to sign their 2009 draft picks, yet 20 of 32 first-round picks remain unsigned, including 13 of the first 16 selections.

Dickerson battling back spasms  —  Cincinnati (42-46) vs. Milwaukee (46-43), 7:10 p.m. ET  —  CINCINNATI — Reds manager Dusty Baker had expected outfielder Chris Dickerson to be past his back spasms and ready to play to the point that he had him in Thursday's starting lineup leading off and playing right field.

Mitre becomes Yankees' No. 5 with Wang on DL … NEW YORK (AP) — Sergio Mitre will become the Yankees' No. 5 starter while Chien-Ming Wang is on the disabled list.  —  Yankees manager Joe Girardi said the team plans to bring up Mitre and start the 28-year-old right-hander against Baltimore on Tuesday night.

BOSS OPTIMISTIC ABOUT GETTING 7TH RING  —  The Boss wants a seventh World Series ring.  —  In other years, George Steinbrenner wouldn't have been pleased being three games behind the Red Sox at the All-Star break and winless in eight games against the Yankees' blood rivals.

Starters make Braves contenders for playoff spot  —  Ready to write off the Braves?  Not so fast.  With a strong starting rotation they can't be counted out of the race yet, Ken Rosenthal says.

Baseball Veers Into Left Field  —  Voluminous Data Yield Some Arcane Research; ‘Pee Wee’ and Life Expectancy  —  When baseball dubbed shortstop Harold Reese “Pee Wee” and first basemen Fred Merkle “Bonehead,” they probably weren't trying to lengthen the players' lives.

Cubs' Soriano day-to-day with dislocated pinkie  —  WASHINGTON (AP) — Chicago Cubs left fielder Alfonso Soriano says he dislocated a finger and isn't sure when he'll return to the lineup.  —  Soriano was scratched for Friday night's game at Washington because of a swollen right pinkie.

Arms race for elite pitching trio  —  Projecting the three top pitching prospects in the world — who will be the best?  —  STAY AHEAD OF THE GAME Become an Insider Today  —  Scouts Inc.  —  The defection of Cuban lefthander Aroldis Chapman has returned his name to the spotlight …

Prospect Hot Sheet: July 17  —  The Futures Game as well as the Triple-A, Eastern and Southern league all-star games cut into our player pool for this week's Hot Sheet.  No big deal.  We managed to find plenty of worth candidates from among the leftovers.  —  Remember as always …