Ryan Howard and Phillies agree on contract

Ryan Howard has had a pretty good 12 months.

He led the majors in HRs (48) and RBIs (146) in 2008. The Philadelphia Phillies won the 2008 World Series. Now add a 3-year, $54 million contract to go with it.

In either case, Howard would not have become eligible for free agency until 2011 due to his MLB length of service (4 years). But now the Phillies and Howard will avoid arbitration during that span.

"We're very pleased to have avoided the arbitration process, not just for this year, but also for the next two," general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. said. "Ryan is clearly one of the top power hitters and run producers in the major leagues and is a very important part of our championship club."

Howard had asked for $18 million and the Phillies offered him $14 million for 2008. Last year, Howard earned $10 million.

Howard will now earn $15 million (2009), $19 million (2010) and $20 million (2011).

From "A-Rod" to "A-Fraud" to "A-Roid"

According to SI.com, NY Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003, his last season with the Texas Rangers.

The tests in 2003 were supposed to remain anonymous and were intended to determine whether or not the league needed to test for performance-enhancing drugs on a mandatory basis.

A-Rod appears on a list of 104 players that tested positive in 2003.

"This is a mess," one Rodriguez associate told the Daily News. "I'm not sure how he's going to take this. He's never had to deal with anything like this before."

Larry Bowa, who was the Yankees third-base coach, was surprised by the report.

"I'm shocked, I really am," said Bowa. "He's the last guy I would've thought would've done anything. Hopefully, this is a mistake."

Mistake? Yeah, he got caught.

Jose Canseco wasn't surprised as he had called out A-Rod in his book.

"I may not have seen [A-Rod] do the deed, but I set the whole thing up for him, just like he wanted. I saw the changes in his body in a short time," Canseco wrote. "Hell, if you ask me, I did everything but inject the guy myself."

A-Rod had previously told Katie Couric that he never took nor was tempted to take performance-enhancing drugs.

However, when asked about the failed steroids test, A-Rod wasn't talking.

"You have to talk to the union," Rodriguez said. "I'm not saying anything."

A-Rod, who is so concerned with his image, has seen his image get battered in the past month by Joe Torre's book and now the SI report.

I'm interested to see whether he lets the damage to how he's perceived destroy his 2009 season. Or if he puts aside his obsession with his image since it's already destroyed and finally just plays baseball, in which case he might have a monster year.

I think it will be a feast or (more likely) famine year for Rodriguez, who has 553 career homeruns and ranks 12th all-time.

Garrett Atkins signs 1-year deal to avoid arbitration

Garrett Atkins of the Colorado Rockies signed a one-year contract to avoid arbitration. The contract is worth $7.05 million with a 700-plate appearance incentive that could earn him another $125,000.

"I am excited. Now I can just focus on getting ready for spring training and not going to Arizona (Friday for an arbitration hearing)," Atkins told The Denver Post.

The Rockies 3B hit .286 with 21 HRs and 99 RBIs in 2008.

Orioles, Wigginton reach deal

The Baltimore Orioles and Ty Wigginton have agreed to a 2-year, $6 million contract.

Last year with Houston, Wigginton batted .285 with 23 HRs and 58 RBI.

Wigginton will provide the Orioles with versatility. Last year, he played 3B and LF. But he has also played 1B, 2B and RF.

Manny says no thanks to 1-year, $25 million

The L.A. Dodgers initially offered Manny Ramirez a 2-year contract worth $45 million this off-season. The offer was later withdrawn.

With no apparent interest in Manny, the Dodgers most recent offer of 1-year, $25 million made on Sunday was rejected by Ramirez again.

It's obvious that Manny, who had a phenominal second-half of a season in L.A., was purely motivated by the prospects of a big contract and must have dogged it while in Boston.

According to the L.A. Times, the Mets, Giants and Nationals are teams that may be interested in Manny, but not at more than $20 million per season.

If you were a Manny-hater already, his rejection of $25 million when the rest of the economy is tanking (a la Manny in Beantown), you hate him even more. What an ass!

Mets sign Oliver Perez to 3-year deal

The New York Metropolitans and Oliver Perez have agreed to a 3-year, $36 million contract, which is pending a physical.

Last year, Perez was 10-7 with a 4.22 ERA. While Perez struck out 180 batters in 194 IP, he also walked 105 batters, which was the highest total in baseball last year.

The Mets starters will be Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, Oliver Perez and either Tim Redding, Freddy Garcia or Jon Niese.

Pujols says Cards should purse Manny

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols says the Cards should pursue Manny Ramirez. Less than 2 weeks before pitchers/catchers report to camp, Manny is still unsigned.

The one thing Pujols and Ramirez share in common is they are devastating hitters and, when motivated, Ramirez certainly would help protect Pujols in the Cardinals' lineup.

Pujols, who hit .357 with 37 HRs and 116 RBI in 2008, has shown amazing consistency in his 8-year career. His career lows: .314 BA (2002), 32 HRs (2007) and 103 RBI (2007).

Ramirez hit .332 with 37 HRs and 121 RBI in 2008, but hit nearly 100 points higher after forcing the Sox to trade him.

But Pujols, who is arguably one of baseball's most stand-up guys and my favorite player, is polar opposites with Manny, who obviously dogged it in Boston last year.

"Maybe St. Louis doesn't have the money to sign him, but he could give them a discount because St. Louis is a great city that supports its players," said Pujols, according to an Associated Press report.

Ramirez wanted out of Boston, which is a also a "great city that supports its players," to make a money grab. In wouldn't be Manny's style and certainly not that of his agent, über-jerk Scott Boras, to give a "discount."

Cardinals GM John Mozeliak says that OF is "clearly one of our strengths" and the team is not going to pursue Ramirez.

Joe Torre shocked at reaction to his book

Joe Torre is shocked by the reaction to his book, "The Yankee Years."

Torre hopes David Wells, who called Torre a "punk" for the tell-all book, will "get a different perspective" if he reads the whole book.

In his book, Torre says: "The difference between Kevin Brown and David Wells is that both make your life miserable, but David Wells meant to."

Not sure what else he needs to read Joe.

Wells believes that A-Rod (called A-Fraud in Torre's book) will be affected by the comments regardless of what A-Rod says. And I couldn't agree more with Wells.

"A-Rod says that he's not worried about it, but deep down, you can't help but think, 'Why did this guy say something? Why is he making these remarks?'"

"Now you're gonna go on the road during the season, you're gonna get bashed by every fan out there. Especially in New York, if you have a bad game, [then it's] 'Joe was right.'

As talented of a player as A-Rod is, no player is more concerned with his image and how he is perceived.

One of the things I admired about Torre was his ability to keep things in house. While I would have preferred that he didn't write the book and took the high road, my opinion of Torre doesn't change much because he wrote the book.

But to act surprised by the reaction? He's either an idiot for being surprised. Or he thinks everyone else is an idiot that would believe he's surprised.

Cubs Jeff Samardzija fighting for fifth spot on rotation

Last year, Chicago Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija pitched well after being called up. He struck out 25 batters in 27 2/3 innings pitched and finished with an ERA of 2.28.

Earlier this week, the Cubs traded for Aaron Heilman by sending Ronny Cedeno and Garrett Olson to the Mariners.

Heilman and Samardzija will fight for the fifth spot in the rotation along with Sean Marshall and Chad Gaudin.

The top 4 starters are Carlos Zambrano, Rich Harden, Ryan Dempster and Ted Lilly.

What about Jake Peavy?

Cubs Asst. GM Randy Bush says there have been "no talks" not once, not twice, but 3 times.

"We've had no talks about Jake Peavy since they were well documented during the winter meetings. There's been nothing to add with that. No talks. There's been no talks with that, and I don't anticipate anything happening with that."

Samardzija wants to do anything possible to "avoid the whole Triple-A stint."

"I've been watching it pretty closely," Samardzija said of the Heilman trade. "All I can do is go to spring training and put my arm in the best shape possible. The way it is shaping up now, there is an open spot for the fifth starter. I'm going to fight tooth and nail for that position..."

Both Samardzija and Heilman are South Bend alums.

"I know Aaron pretty well," Samardzija said. "He came back to Notre Dame once when I was a sophomore. I'm sure he's going to be competing as hard as I am."

Pitchers and catchers report February 14th.

Sox tell Varitek to take it or leave it

The U.S. (and rest of the world for that matter) is experiencing challenging economic times. Moreover, an economic turnaround is not expected any time soon.

While players such as C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira and their new deals seem to defy the current global economic environment, the market for free agents has been affected. Just ask Manny Ramirez. And Jason Varitek.

Varitek, the Red Sox captain, has been offered a $5 million deal from the team. The deal includes an option for a second year that would be worth $5 million if the Sox exercise it and $3 million if Varitek does.

Varitek, who turned down arbitration on December 7th, would have earned somewhere between $10-$12 million for 2009.

Varitek's agent, the uber-jerk Scott Boras, thought he could "create a market" for Varitek.

Varitek had career lows in batting average (.220), OBP (.313), slugging percentage (.359) and OPS (.672) in 2008.

With a little more than 2 weeks to go before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, it would be wise for Varitek to accept the Sox' offer, which the team says is good until Friday.