(si) Edgar Mercedes has made a fortune taking bets. So when the bookie saw 13-year-old Michel Inoa throw 78 mph off a mound in 2005 he knew that the lanky, 6-foot-3 right-hander was worth the wager. He's workable. He's workable, Mercedes kept saying to himself as he thought of the adjustments he would make to Inoa's delivery: the flick of his wrist, the angle of his waist. Mercedes, whose own career as a catcher had been derailed by injuries, had found the next best thing to being a professional ballplayer -- developing them.  More...

(espn) Willie Randolph is out as manager of the New York Mets, fired in the middle of the night 2½ months into a disappointing season that has followed the team's colossal collapse last September. The Mets had Willie Randolph manage the team Monday night in L. A. -- and fired him early Tuesday morning. Bench coach Jerry Manuel takes over on an interim basis for Randolph, who led the Mets to within one win of the 2006 World Series.  More...

(foxsports) Charles Barkley is known for running his mouth about anything related to the NBA. In the March issue of Playboy, Sir Charles it taking the next step, revealing his opinion on everything from his choice for president to which TNT co-host he'd safe from a sinking ship. "I'm voting for Barack Obama," he said matter-of-factly. "We are so lost and confused in the black community right now. All our kids want to be rappers or entertainers.  More...

(cbsnews) Jesse Jackson criticized Major League Baseball on Thursday for sending investigators to the hometowns of umpires to ask neighbors questions that include whether the ump belongs to the Ku Klux Klan. "Major League Baseball has done a disservice to its progressive social history by equating southern whites with white supremacists," Jackson said in a statement. "I am surprised the professional league which helped change social attitudes in all sports leagues about segregation, by championing Jackie Robinson, would make such a destructive move. " World Umpires Association president John Hirschbeck and union spokesman Lamell McMorris said Wednesday that Tom Christopher, the Milwaukee-based supervisor of security and investigations in the commissioner's office, had asked questions about Klan membership to neighbors of umpires Greg Gibson and Sam Holbrook, who reside in Kentucky. In addition, Hirschbeck said similar questions had been asked to neighbors of umpire Ron Kulpa, who lives in suburban St.  More...

(sfchron) The true believers still believed. The skeptics were still skeptical. It takes more than a federal indictment to shake a Barry Bonds fan. "I don't think it's an important issue for a federal court to bother with," said Kim Deasy, sitting at the bar at MoMo's restaurant, across King Street from the Giants ballpark, only moments after baseball's career home-run leader was indicted Thursday on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "He brought me a lot of fun times over there," Deasy said, pointing across the street at the brick edifice.  More...