It's a Deal: Strasburg, Nationals Agree  —  Long Night Ends With Record-Setting Pact for Washington's Top Draft Pick  —  Midnight neared, an organization held its breath, and finally — after way too much losing, years of scouting, and weeks of negotiating — the Washington Nationals secured the one good thing to come from all of it.

The Strasburg & Ackley Deals  —  Stephen Strasburg:  —  Four-year major league deal, $7.5 million bonus, $7.6 million in salaries (including pro-rated $400,000 salary for remainder of 2009), $15.1 million total guaranteed.  Also various incentives based on big league award voting.  —  Dustin Ackley:

Rockies Agree with Matzek - Updated  —  The Colorado Rockies came up to the deadline, and then got the deal done with their top draft pick, high school lefthander Tyler Matzek.  —  The Rockies agreed to a signing bonus of $3.9 million, insidetherockies.com learned, more than double …

Wright's way is right way on, off field  —  Teammates call Mets' young leader ‘too good to be true’  —  The baseball sped toward his face, imperiling his good looks, his cranium and his livelihood.  And 10 days later, it happened again.  Each time, David Wright flinched.

Winners And Losers  —  We analyze who did well at the signing deadline  —  The last three years, Major League Baseball has implemented a signing deadline, ending the interminable holdouts that often plagued baseball's draft process.  The draft still has plenty of problems, but that's another story.

Ankiel's HR helps sizzling Cardinals sink Dodgers … LOS ANGELES(AP) Although Ryan Franklin graciously accepted his teammates' congratulations in the Dodger Stadium clubhouse for his 30th save, the St. Louis closer thought the spotlight should be on Chris Carpenter 's setup work.

Marlins come to terms with top two picks  —  With signings, Florida has signed its top 12 selections  —  Currently on the Marlins roster are two starting pitchers who were drafted out of high school in the first round in 2005.  —  A pair of high school pitchers, selected first and second …

Hitting the brakes on the “Tex for MVP” bandwagon  —  THE MVP PROPAGANDA WARS  —  With due respect to my on-air colleagues at YES who have been touting Mark Teixeira for the MVP award, it's very hard to see how he's going to win it, and more to the point, it's hard to see that he should win it.

Damon Feels Like Staying, and the Yanks Seem Willing  —  OAKLAND, Calif. — Johnny Damon played his first series as a Yankee at the Oakland Coliseum in April 2006.  He did not really factor into one of the games, but he hung around by his locker after it was over, just in case reporters needed him.

Game 119: Yankees at Athletics (with draft signing updates)  —  YANKEES (74-44)  —  Pitching: RHP AJ Burnett (10-5, 3.71).  —  ATHLETICS (52-65)  —  Kennedy 3B  —  Davis CF  —  Suzuki C  —  Hairston LF  —  Sweeney RF  —  Ellis 2B  —  Cust DH  —  Crosby 1B  —  Pennington SS

Cleveland Indians sign No.1 pick, North Carolina pitcher Alex White, for $2.25 million  —  CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Indians have signed No.1 pick Alex White for $2.25 million.  —  The University of North Carolina right-hander went 8-4 with a 3.89 ERA in 16 starts for the Tar Heels this year.

Braves not interested in Smoltz  —  The Boston Red Sox severed ties with John Smoltz on Monday, announcing they were releasing the former Brave, which made him available to other teams at a pro-rated major league minimum salary.  The Braves are not among the teams interested in signing him though …

Baryshnikov in Baseball Cleats  —  Son of Star Ballet Dancers Sets Off an MLB Bidding War; $800,000 From the Twins  —  Kathy Kepler, once a star ballerina at the Berlin ballet, has a saying: “Three days away, out of the ballet.”  That training motto also serves her son Max, baseball's most unusual prospect.

Is Jeter the best hitting shortstop of all time? … Derek Jeter became the all-time leader for hits by a shortstop on Sunday in Seattle, passing Hall of Famer Luis Aparicio.  But does that mean he's the best hitting shortstop of all time?  —  It most certainly does not even though it's a title that Jeter may deserve anyway.

Chicago Cubs lose 4-1 to San Diego Padres  —  Closer wastes Lilly's gem as Cubs fall 6 behind Cardinals  —  Padres' Kyle Blanks leaps into his teammates as he crosses home plate after blasting a three-run home run in the ninth inning off Cubs closer Kevin Gregg.  (Lenny Ignelzi, Associated Press / August 17, 2009)