Specialist gives Pedroia a wake-up call  —  Injured Red Sox second baseman scales back expectations  —  ANAHEIM — Dustin Pedroia's Tuesday visit to the office of renowned orthopedist Lewis Yocum was a bit sobering.  Any designs that Pedroia had of rushing himself back to the active roster …

Phillies could get Oswalt, keep Werth  —  Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005.  He appears weekly on MLB on FOX.  Follow him on Twitter.  —  The Phillies are positioned to get Roy Oswalt — if they want him.

Derrek Lee to remain a Cub  —  CHICAGO — Chicago Cubs first baseman Derrek Lee has told the organization he prefers to remain a Cub rather than accept a trade, general manager Jim Hendry told ESPNChicago.com on Wednesday.  —  The Los Angeles Angels proposed a trade to the Cubs over the past 10 days …

MRI shows no damage in Strasburg's shoulder  —  An MRI revealed no damage in the shoulder of Nationals' star rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg.  Washington will monitor him closely and see how he responds.  It's uncertain how long he'll be out.  —  Strasburg, the Nats rookie phenom …

A very important article on fielding  —  Baseball Prospectus has published an article by Colin Wyers today that may be one of the most important pieces written about fielding measurement in the last decade.  The full piece is available only to BP subscribers, but let me briefly recap some of the topics Colin covers.

Mauer playing through all kinds of pain  —  is hurt.  He smiles through the pain because the unwritten part of a $184 million contract calls for grinning and bearing.  He refuses to talk about his injuries because to do so would be to admit they exist, and to do that would seem like an excuse …

Mets must show they've learned from past mistakes  —  Mets on Twitter  —  We have seen this movie.  The Mets had a manager and GM holding on for their jobs.  They had played surprisingly well for about half the schedule, but as the trade deadline neared they began trending the wrong way.

Yankees pitcher A.J. Burnett says Coghlan's freak accident won't deter him from throwing pies  —  CLEVELAND - Celebrating has become dangerous in baseball, but don't expect A.J. Burnett to curb his pie throwing.  —  Florida's Chris Coghlan tore the meniscus in his left knee on Sunday …

Why do Yankees lose to debutantes?  —  From Virginia, Chris writes: “After [Josh] Tomlin kept the Yankees in check, it reminded me of a question I've had for a while.  The Yankees seem to lose much more often when they face a rookie for the first time or a guy making his major-league debut.

Daily Rumble: Three who will get traded  —  As the chances of a Roy Oswalt deal by Saturday fade to black, we're going to do something revolutionary:  —  We're going to look at three players who, unless something changes, actually will get traded this week.  —  OK, so he isn't the most magical name on the Trade Deadline Marquee.

MLB Opening Day 2011 to fall on Friday, April 1; season to end on a Wednesday  —  Major League Baseball, trying to avoid having long underwear as part of its players' postseason apparel, is planning to start the 2011 season in earnest on Friday, April 1 - three days earlier than the traditional Monday opener.

Okajima caught in culture clash  —  Red Sox reliever talks about lack of communication with media, teammates  —  ANAHEIM, Calif. — There's an easy way to refute the notion that Boston Red Sox reliever Hideki Okajima has no use for reporters: He's married to one.

Hall of Fame Comps  —  Omar Vizquel has been a superb defender but that, and the fact that fellow defensive whiz Ozzie Smith is already enshrined in Cooperstown, does not make him a Hall of Famer.  (Chuck Solomon/SI)  —  One fairly useless (but enjoyable) thing to play is the …