MEXICO CITY - New York Yankees third-baseman Alex Rodriguez appeared in Mexico City on the same weekend as Madonna - a turn of events he called 'very good.' The 33-year-old baseball star spent two hours Sunday teaching kids to bat at a new sports centre

PM EST By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com Jenifer, there are reports that the Pirates are looking to deal Jack Wilson to the Tigers, among other teams. Any idea who the Pirates might be interested in acquiring in such a deal? -- Dan F., Bremerton, Wash. The

PM EST By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com The house, which is one of nine that Habitat for Humanity plans to build along a road in Westwood, Pa., in the next year, is expected to be finished by Christmas. And with the plans calling for drywall plaster on

PM EST MLB.com We certainly would like to bring Doug and Jason back to the Pirates, Jeff. They did provide quality leadership and energy, but it will come down to finding a common ground on role, playing time and salary. We have talked with both players

PM EST By Robert Falkoff / MLB.com In a 14-inning epic that took four hours and 21 minutes, the Pirates used a one-out, walk-off single by Jason Bay to post a 5-4 victory on May 24. Bay, who would go on to the playoffs as a member of the Boston Red Sox,

AM EST By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com It was a one-room house, with a curtain serving as the divider between where his parents slept and where he and his eight siblings lay at night. His father earned a living driving a vegetable truck, with the family

PM EST By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com Pirates infield prospect Shelby Ford fractured the tip of his right middle finger midway through the fall season, but the good news is that the injury isn't expected to linger into Spring Training. Ford, a

PM EST By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com It's not necessarily new in the sense that it is unique across the baseball landscape, but it's certainly a newly revised plan for a Pittsburgh organization that had lacked a broad scouting perspective before the

the Pirates signed two young Indian pitchers, 20-year-old right-hander Dinesh Patel and 19-year-old southpaw Rinku Singh, as non-drafted free agents. Both will participate in the team's Minor League Spring Training next year. 'The Pirates are committed

PM EST By Jenifer Langosch / MLB.com But until one of those two possibilities happen, it's a given that Wilson's name is going to come up in trade talks. It has each of the past few years near the July Trade Deadline, and with the Hot Stove season open,