Top News:

The Complete Top 100 Prospects List — The Top 100 Prospects list is the culmination of our offseason prospect coverage, which begins with our reviews of the top talent in each minor league and proceeds with ranking the talent in each major league farm system.

Aaron Boone retires, joins ESPN as baseball analyst — For Aaron Boone, Tuesday signaled the formal end to his playing career and, at the same time, the launch of his role as an analyst of the game he played for 12 major league seasons. — Boone announced his retirement from Major League Baseball …
Discussion:
WEEI, River Avenue Blues, Red Reporter, The LoHud Yankees Blog, Yahoo! Sports, NESN.com and Full Count

Mike Lowell wants to play - anywhere — Third baseman realizes time limited with Sox — + Recent Articles + Recent Blog Entries + Email + Bio — FORT MYERS - Third baseman Mike Lowell just spent almost 22 minutes with the local media and seemed at peace with the fact that he'll be dealt out of Boston.
RELATED:


Lowell: Don't feel sorry for me — FORT MYERS, Fla. — Mike Lowell took the high road in every way possible at a 21-minute press conference Tuesday on the bench outside the clubhouse at the Red Sox spring training facility. — First, some basics you need to know:


Building a Better Broadcast — Jon Sciambi, who does play-by-play of Major League Baseball games for ESPN, has been kind enough to grace the Baseball Prospectus site with a guest column. — Let me tell you about an argument I had with Chipper Jones. Last year, I came across an interesting nugget …


J-ROLL PICKS HALLADAY OVER JOHAN — CLEARWATER, Fla. — On the one-month anniversary of his wedding, Jimmy Rollins spoke to the media for nearly 20 minutes after today's workout. Among the highlights were Rollins' individual goals for 2010: Steal 50 bases, score 150 runs, bat .300 and make fewer than three errors.
RELATED:


MLB Mascot Accused of Gruesome Wiener Attack — Sluggerrr the Lion — the mascot for the Kansas City Royals — is accused of poking a fan's eye out with a steaming hot wiener during a Major League Baseball game last year ... and now the team is being sued over it.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports, NESN.com, Back Porch FanHouse, Babes Love Baseball, Fanhouse MLB Blog, Deadspin and BBTF's Baseball Primer …


Wright's story still being written — Too soon to brand Mets' third baseman — Post on facebook Fan Comments print email — Today's history lesson is on David Wright — specifically, pronouncements on David Wright's outlook, both in the short-term and beyond.
Discussion:
Mike Silva's …
RELATED:


Bay talks U.S.-Canada hockey, curling, Mets — Jason Bay arrived in the clubhouse Tuesday morning. And one thing became clear: With Jeff Francoeur and Bay, David Wright isn't going to have as much of a media burden in 2010. Bay spoke about several topics, from his knee's health …


British professional rugby player Terry Newton tests positive for HGH as MLB on deck for testing — The argument by Major League Baseball that no reliable test for human growth hormone exists took a major hit Monday. — Both the United Kingdom Anti-Doping agency (UKAD) …

Derrek Lee: No talks during season — MESA, Ariz. — Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee reported to camp on Tuesday for the first day of full practice, and as he enters the last year of his contract, he said if the Cubs don't approach him about a new deal, he and his agent won't approach them.

Welcome to Bradenton: Tony Sanchez on Spring Camp — For Tony Sanchez, spring training is a bit of a wonderland. The Pirates 2009 first-round pick is in camp for the first time, so while hard work is his number-one priority, you can't exactly begrudge him for soaking in the atmosphere just a little.

Mets add veteran infielder Cintron — Second baseman reportedly signed to Minor League deal — The Mets recently signed veteran second baseman Alex Cintron to a Minor League contract, Baseball America reported. — The signing has not been confirmed by the club. The details of the deal were not immediately known.
Discussion:
Amazin' Avenue

Tigers Designate Casey Fien For Assignment — The Tigers designated righty Casey Fien for assignment to make room for Johnny Damon , according to the team's Twitter page. Fien, 26, posted a 3.41 ERA, 10.2 K/9, and 2.3 BB/9 in 58 Triple A relief innings this year.


D-backs, Reynolds won't talk new deal after Opening Day — The Diamondbacks have offered a variety of contracts at various lengths to Mark Reynolds in hopes of locking up their star third baseman, who is eligible for arbitration starting next year. The sides have agreed to negotiate up until Opening Day …


Lincecum is no speed Freak — went to his pitching coach more than once last season and said, “I don't have any pain. Where is it?” — He meant the fastball. Where was the fastball? — Dave Righetti would assure him the mechanics looked good. The hitters didn't seem to be noticing.
Discussion:
HardballTalk

The big question — Sox wonder if Papi can regain his pop — FORT MYERS, Fla. - You look at him and listen and you want to believe. You want to turn back the clock to 2006 when he hit 54 homers and knocked in 137 runs. You want to remember the golden days when it seemed like every hit was a walkoff wonder.
Discussion:
ESPN

Orioles to Highlanders: One Francise or Two? — This is pretty far down in the weeds, but a lot of what we do when posting these numbers is far down in the weeds. At the prodding of an interested party, I've been asked whether the 1901-1902 Orioles should be part of the New York Yankees history.
Discussion:
Fack Youk

Heyman: Yanks Love Crawford — Via Jon Heyman today - — One reason the Yankees were reluctant to go for a two-year deal for Johnny Damon might have had little to do with Damon and been a greater reflection of what they think of Carl Crawford. The Yankees love him.
Discussion:
Bottom9 Baseball


Spring Training, PECOTA, and the Regular Season — Over at Sports Illustrated last week, I wrote an article on how spring training records aren't all that meaningless. It's been a blast writing over at SI.com, but one of the downsides is that I can't delve into as much nitty-gritty as I can here.

Figgy, Takahashi kick off Grapefruit League — Plenty of nuggets I've learned at Mets camp today ... * The starting pitcher for the Grapefruit League opener on March 2 against the Braves at Tradition Field? That honor will go to either Hisanori Takahashi or Nelson Figueroa, both of whom are scheduled to pitch that day.