Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Geoff Jenkins injured his shoulder this Sunday when he was accidentally hit by the barrel of his broken bat. Jenkins who immediately came out of the game at Florida is expected to be ready for the start of the Phillies’ series starting on Tuesday against the New York Mets. Jenkins bat broke on contact with the ball, and the left-handed hitter was hit on the right side close to his neck. The tickets continue to sell for the Phillies games despite this setback.

The Athletics traded SP Joe Blanton to the Phillies for three minor leaguers. This was the only deal the Athletics could make after Philadelphia insisted they needed a starting pitcher. The three minor leaguers involved are left-hander Josh Outman, second baseman Adrian Cardenas and outfielder Matt Spencer. This trade should make the fans stand in long lines for the tickets just to see how it turns out.

MLB announced yesterday that it had suspended outfielders Jay Gibbons of the Baltimore Orioles and Jose Guillen, of the Kansas City Royals, fifteen days each for violations of MLB’s substance abuse policy. Rich Levin, the league’s spokesman, said the duration of the suspensions reflected MLB’s rules at the times of the violations. The present policy dictates a fifty-game suspension for the 1st positive test for illegal performance-enhancing drugs

Kansas City and José Guillén have reached an agreement on a 3-year, $36 million deal. 31-year-old power hitter Jose Guillén, batted .290 with 23 homers and 99 runs that he batted in for the Mariners this season. The Seattle Mariners declined its $9 million option and Jose Guillén refused a $5 million player option, receiving a $500,000 buyout. The agreement was reported by Foxsports.com. and ESPNdeportes.com.

Pettitte made a decision to pitch for the Yankees in the next season and put off retirement. The player’s agent, Randy Hendricks, said yesterday that the thirty-five-year-old pitcher had started telling teammates on weekend. Randy Hendricks then informed New York GM Brian Cashman of the news. New York captain Derek Jeter and catcher Jorge Posada had lobbied Andy Pettitte to come back, and the player consulted his wife. The positive decision came yesterday.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim owner Arte Moreno had 2 trades for Cabrera cancelled after the Florida Marlins backed out. Arte Moreno says Florida has been dealing the same way with the Los Angeles Dodgers. DiGiovanna has again reiterated that the Los Angeles Angels don’t want to deal 3B Wood. It might mean that he will be given the opportunity to be a contributor in the following season at either 3B or SS. It will depend on the resolution of the Miguel Cabrera issues.

Glavine received an initial offer from Atlanta on Friday and then spent the evening hours at an Atlanta restaurant. After you have waited 5 seasons for this potential opportunity to come home, there is no reason to just sit around the house and count the days until it becomes a reality. It was reported that Atlanta made a 1-year offer that is worth $6.5 million. x On FridayTom Glavine’s agent, Gregg Clifton, provided a counterproposal that he says never would have been submitted if Tom was not satisfied with the starting point of the negotiations.

The Cubs traded Craig Monroe to Minnesota a couple of days ago. Monroe’s departure wasn’t a surprise for the majority, though it’s quite amazing Hendry found a taker. He hit .204 with one home run and four RBIs after being traded from Detroit in August for pitching prospect Clay Rapada, and he knew the handwriting was on the wall when he was left off the Cubs’ postseason roster. Since Monroe was going to be non-tendered and made a free agent next month, the Cubs opted to get a low-level prospect from the Twins instead of nothing.
For a player to be named, the Cubs have shed three veteran outfielders who would have cost nearly $15 million if they had returned in 2008.

US Baseball team has defeated South Africa in the World Cup games and, thus, moved to the quaterfinals. Andy LaRoche contributed immensely to the team’s victory – he scored three runs and two hits. US Baseball players have won the game by the score of 4 to 2.

The quarterfinal games start on Friday. The first rival of the American team will be Chinese Taipei. This match will take place on Wednesday. And if the US Baseball players score the victory in this game they will become the top seed to be included in the final eliminating games.

The Cleveland Indians have recently contracted Paul Byrd, a 36-year-old pitcher, in spite of the fact that he took human growth hormones prescribed by the doctor to treat a disease during 2002-2005. According to the words of the Cleveland Indians manager, Byrd is a very good baseball player and teammate who fits well in the baseball community. Besides, Byrd went 15-8 last season with a 4.59 earned run average in 31 starts, and 2-0 during the postseason with a 3.60 ERA. If to believe the estimations carried our by MLB.com Byrd will make $8 million next season, which is perfect from the financial point of view. Let’s wait and see if the Indians manager had made the right decision to pick up the contract option on Paul Byrd.