MLB Declares Yoenis Cespedes A Free Agent  —  The bidding for Yoenis Cespedes can begin.  —  Major League Baseball informed teams today that Cespedes, a 26-year-old Cuban outfielder, is now a free agent.  Cespedes recently received his Dominican residency, a prerequisite for MLB to declare …

St. Louis Cardinals' Carlos Beltran tells Met fans: Time to get over 2006 and move on  —  New Cardinal says he has moved on from NLCS failure  —  Carlos Beltran strikes out to end Mets hopes in Game 7 of NLCS against Cardinals, and now that he has joined St. Louis he says it's time for fans to get over it.

GM Melvin: Fielder was the key to Brewers' resurgence  —  Here's what Brewers general manager Doug Melvin had to say about Prince Fielder signing with the Tigers:  —  “People were saying, 'What does [Boras] have?  He doesn't have any offers,'” Melvin said, “Whatever.  You only have to have one team, two teams involved.

Jose Bautista's drug testing seems something less than random  —  It's from the Dominican newspaper Hoy.  And because I forgot all that Spanish I knew 20 years ago, I'm using Google translate to read it.  —  But the upshot: Bautista spoke at a banquet the other night and noted that in the past two years …

Red Sox like Oswalt, but does he like them?  —  The Red Sox like Roy Oswalt.  But is the feeling mutual?  —  The Sox, sources say, have made a significant offer to the free-agent right-hander.  Oswalt has yet to accept, raising some doubt about his interest in going to Boston.

Latest On Roy Oswalt  —  1:33pm: The Red Sox made Oswalt an offer, but are unsure of his interest level, since he has yet to accept, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets.  —  8:13am: Now that Prince Fielder has agreed to terms with the Tigers, Edwin Jackson and Roy Oswalt are the top unsigned free agents.

Orioles sign Andino to avoid arbitration  —  One-year deal with infielder reportedly worth $1.3 million  —  The Orioles' number of potential arbitration cases dropped to three on Wednesday with the signing of infielder Robert Andino.  —  Andino, 27, posted a .263 average with a .327 …

Healthy Hamilton worth more than Prince's ransom  —  Sometimes the best deal is the one you don't make.  —  I forget the name of the general manager who originally uttered that oft-quoted adage.  —  I often wonder, though, what that GM thought when he looked at the lineup card in July and saw Chris Shelton listed at first base.

Lincecum and Giants agree to $40.5M, 2-year deal  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—Two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants reached a verbal agreement Tuesday on a two-year contract worth $40.5 million.  —  The deal includes a $500,000 signing bonus and salaries …