Two obvious Hall of Famers and a rock-solid left side of the infield make today's Birthday Team a contender.

C: Mike Heath
1B: Lee Thomas
2B: Roberto Alomar
3B: Don Hoak
SS/Manager: Roger Peckinpaugh
LF: Max Flack
CF: Chuck Diering
RF: Hank Aaron

SP: Al Worthington
SP: Jack Lynch
SP: Chris Brock
SP: Roberto Rodriguez
SP: Cy Buker
RP: Eric O'Flaherty

Owner: Joan Payson

Dan, are you going to do anything with all those PDFs? Set up a virtual library?

Well, I'll have them online in the cloud as a backup in case my computer and tablet go kablooey. I'd assume it's illegal for me to provide links to the books.

And I would always respect all copyright laws, even for books that are decades old and can easily be purchased used for $0.01. *looks around nervously for representatives of the book publishing equivalent of the RIAA or MPAA*

But if you're going to digitize your library, I absolutely swear by these guys

I've seen their site and have considered them. Sounds like a great service - I think the biggest reason I decided to digitize myself is that I've carried boxes and boxes of my books and can't even begin to imagine how heavy they are. I know Media Mail is relatively inexpensive, but for the price of shipping and scanning 50 books, I was able to buy a pretty good scanner and won't have to spend another cent on the project. I guess I'll have to buy new blades for my paper cutter.

manny ramirez is thinking about playing in taiwan (per morosi, at FOX)

Minor league deals:

2B Adam Buschini to the Padres
LHP Jonathan Sanchez close to deal with Pirates
IF Andy LaRoche to the Blue Jays
C Miguel Olivo and RHP Kanekoa Texeira to the Reds
OF Marlon Byrd to the Mets. They also signed RHP Brandon Lyon to a big league deal.

LHP Brian Burres to Taiwan

Item from the Sporting News, May 12, 1938:

"Walter Cronkite, sports announcer of Station WKY, Oklahoma City, Okla., has resigned to join Braniff Airways at Dallas, Tex., in a promotional capacity."

Guess I need to read his bio.

-- MWE

From the Cardinals:

Due to continued discomfort from last year's medical issues, it is "very unlikely" that Chris Carpenter will return to pitch in 2013.

From the Cardinals:

Due to continued discomfort from last year's medical issues, it is "very unlikely" that Chris Carpenter will return to pitch in 2013.

Sounds like Carpenter's career has ended

Didn't he have two TJ surgeries early in his career? He's lucky to have pitched this long.

chris snyder to dc on a minor league deal. he looked washed up last year.

Sucks. He had a very good career, but it's just mindblowing and off the charts when you consider he came back from a torn labrum and Tommy John surgery.

There aren't many two-time Comeback Players of the Year in any sport, anywhere. Chris Klein is the only other one I know of.

edit to add: I guess Chad Pennington did it too.

Well, crap, I guess there are six multiple-time winners of the Sporting News MLB Comeback Player of the Year award.

I had no idea.

Other minor league deals:

P Ramon Ramirez to the Giants
C Omir Santos to the Indians

IF Andy LaRoche to the Blue Jays

So, this is a Cubs fans winter...

Getting angry that Andy LaRoche wasn't picked up to at least challenge Luis Valbuena in spring training...

Sigh... the search for Andy Marte continues...

There aren't many two-time Comeback Players of the Year in any sport, anywhere. Chris Klein is the only other one I know of.

In golf, Steve Stricker won back-to-back Comeback Player of the Year awards. That's a record that may never be broken (also one that should never have been set).

Actually, six players have twice won the TSN comeback award, which has been around since the 1960s. No one, including Carpenter, has won two of the mlb.com comeback awards, which have been given for only the past eight seasons.

Six double winners are Carpenter, Galarraga, Norm Cash, Rick Sutcliffe, Boog Powell and Saberhagen.

Six double winners are Carpenter, Galarraga, Norm Cash, Rick Sutcliffe, Boog Powell and Saberhagen.

If anything, seems surprising that this is only two.

dc got accardo too
rays dfa brignac
fish sign rauch, dfa petersen
o's get canzler on waivers, dfa luis martinez

Birthday League Update:

February 4          29  16  .644 ----  
February 6          29  18  .617  1.0  
February 5          30  19  .612  1.0        
January 31          28  20  .583  2.5        
February 22         28  21  .571  3.0  
February 2          28  22  .560  3.5

News and notes:
* Skip Schumaker (February 3) leads the league in batting average at .376. Because of course.
* HR leaderboard: Babe Ruth (February 6) 17, Henry Aaron (February 5) 13, Ernie Banks (January 31) 11.
* Ruth also leads the league in wins (9) and is third in ERA (1.75). Clyde Wright (February 20) still leads the league in ERA, at 1.56.
* Ruth over the last ten days: 11-for-31, 5 HR, 8 RBI, 14 BB, 2 GS, 2 CG, 18 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 Wins.
* Also hot over the last ten days: Ernie Banks 13-for-38, 5 HR, 12 RBI. J.J. Putz (February 22) 6 scoreless IP, 4 saves. Dale Long (February 6) 14-for-33, 4 HR, 13 RBI.
* Struggling over the last ten days: Barry Foote (February 16) 2-for-25. Ed Walsh II (February 11) 7 IP, 16 H, 15 ER, 2 Losses. Miguel Batista (February 19) 10 IP, 24 H, 12 ER, 2 Losses.
* Foote is a strong candidate for Least Valuable Player. He's hitting .122/.165/.139 with 2 XBH and 4 RBI in 115 AB.
* Also in the LVP race is Wiley Dunham of January 30: 44 IP, 65 H, 23 BB, 9.27 ERA. He's fourth in runs allowed without having started a game.
* Ron Santo (February 25) season stats: .170/.260/.248, 3 HR in 153 AB. Ugh.
* February 4 has won nine in a row and has the best record in the league.
* February 21 has lost nine in a row and has the worst record in the league.

Stats, standings, league leaders, and box scores here.

edited to reflect my realization that "Ed Walsh Jr." isn't actually a Junior because he has a different middle name than his dad.

Ryan Braun's name listed in Biogenesis clinic records

By the way zonk, Andy marte signed with an indy team a week or so back...