MLB News Blog

Alex Rodriguez is scheduled to meet with federal investigators probing a Canadian physician on Friday, a person familiar with the session told The Associated Press. The meeting is scheduled to take place in Buffalo and likely will include FBI agents and members of other federal agencies, the person said Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity [...]

Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer made his eight-year, $184 million contract extension official Monday, signing the document in front of his family, team officials and teammate Justin Morneau. The 26-year-old Mauer, the reigning AL MVP and a native of St. Paul, Minn., said he chose to stay with his hometown town team in order to [...]

Seattle Mariners pitcher Cliff Lee will play catch Tuesday then be re-evaluated as he recovers from a lower right abdominal strain. Mariners head trainer Rick Griffin said Monday the former AL Cy Young Award winner was scheduled to do rehabilitation in a swimming pool later in the day. Lee has been suspended for the first [...]

Hideki Matsui was in left field for the first time this spring as the Los Angeles Angels beat a Los Angeles Dodgers split-squad 4-2 on Monday. Matsui, who signed a free-agent deal with the Angels over the winter, hasn’t played defense in a regular-season game since June 15, 2008, for the New York Yankees against [...]

Two-time All-Star Justin Duchscherer threw four scoreless innings while facing major league hitters for the first time in 19 months, then declared himself ready for the season as the Oakland Athletics beat Seattle 7-2 Monday. Duchscherer allowed four hits, walked one and struck out one in a pain-free outing.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre is suspending talks on a contract extension, saying he doesn’t want it to become a distraction with opening day so soon. “We’ll wait until later on in the year,” Torre said. “I mentioned that to Ned. I’ll have a better grip of what I want to do.

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols got an anti-inflammatory shot Monday for tightness in his back and is expected to be out of action for the next couple of days. The three-time NL MVP missed a week this spring because of lower back pain he described as feeling like spasms. Pujols returned to play in [...]

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen made it clear he was upset with his son Oney for comments he made in a Chicago radio interview, the latest twist in a Twitter saga involving the family and the organization. “I do mind,” the elder Guillen said Monday. Oney Guillen told WSCR-AM earlier in the day that he [...]

While Matt Holliday returned for the St. Louis Cardinals, their biggest slugger still is dealing with some back problems. Albert Pujols was scratched from St. Louis’ 13-8 split-squad victory over the Boston Red Sox with back tightness. The two-time defending NL MVP also missed a week this spring because of lower back pain he described [...]

Right-hander Shaun Marcum will be Toronto’s opening-day starter. It will be the first time in eight years that Roy Halladay won’t take the mound to open the Blue Jays’ season. Now that Halladay has been traded to Philadelphia, manager Cito Gaston said Monday it was an easy decision because of the way Marcum has pitched [...]