Late-inning relief remains an issue for the Tigers, even though Jose Valverde has allowed just one hit in seven innings since returning. ...more

Hanley Ramirez's thumb injury could have happened just as easily in a spring training game, but you can bet some will blame it on the World Baseball Classic. For all the talk about star players shunning the WBC, the bigger problem the tournament faces is that many major-league teams quietly encourage players not to participate. ...more

Michael Saunders' spring hasn't been much -- except for the three games where he starred for Canada in the World Baseball Classic. Saunders was so good in the WBC that he was named the MVP of the Phoenix pool, even though Canada was eliminated. Now, can he be anywhere near that good for the Mariners? ...more

The numbers on the stat sheet aren't great, but Jeremy Bonderman has already hit 93 mph on the radar gun, and Mariners pitching coach Carl Willis said he has no doubt Bonderman will succeed in his comeback attempt. Still open is the question of whether he can make it into the Mariners rotation. ...more

The Mariners are closing in on a record $175 million deal with Felix Hernandez, which means yet another of baseball's biggest stars won't get to the free-agent market. The financial playing field isn't level, but there's so much money in the game that most teams can find a way to sign their best players. ...more

Chase Headley heads a list of players who filed arbitration numbers on Friday. Headley asked for $10.3 million, with the Padres countering at $7.075 million. ...more

The winter meetings are over for another year, but there's a lot more than just loose ends still to be wrapped up. Most of the winter's big-ticket items are still to be unwrapped, after a week in which everything revolved around the Rangers and Zack Greinke, and everything stalled. ...more

The Blue Jays just added big-name players, big salaries and big expectations. They made their managing job more attractive, but they also made the decision on hiring a new manager even more crucial. ...more

As crazy as it seemed, even to him, the White Sox were right to hire Robin Ventura. The Cardinals were right to hire Mike Matheny. Does that mean the Rockies are right to hire Walt Weiss? Maybe he'll prove them right, but is this trend really worth following? ...more