Jim Hendry (left) is reuniting on the Yankees with Larry Rothschild and Lou Piniella. (AP/BLS Illustration))

By hiring Jim Hendry to work in their front office on Tuesday, the New York Yankees are continuing to cherry pick the brain trust of that unmistakable National League powerhouse, the Chicago Cubs.

Reporter Bruce Levine of ESPN Chicago says that Hendry, who was Cubs general manager from 2002 through 2011, will serve as a special assistant to Yankees' GM Brian Cashman. Hendry joins Larry Rothschild — New York's pitching coach — and Lou Piniella, who is joining the YES Network as a broadcaster and will work as a spring training instructor. Rothschild was pitching coach for the Cubs from 2002-2010, while Piniella was manager from '06-'10.

The Cubs should have a word with the Yankees about this.

And that word is "poachers!"

Jose Bautista slugs one of the 43 homers he hit in 2011. (AP)Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista is aware that some suspect him of using performance-enhancing drugs. In fact, "Jose Bautista steroids" is the third suggestion if you Google his name. The suspicion seems to be based on him hitting 59 home runs in his first 2,038 career plate appearances through age 28, then walloping a league-leading 97 homers over the past two seasons.

But the whispers don't drive Joey Bats the least bit batty, and it doesn't seem bother him one ounce (milliliter?) of urine sample that Major League Baseball tests him over and over again for drugs. He'll pee in Bud Selig's cup whenever he's asked, Bautista recently told TSN Radio in his adopted home country of Canada. Bautista says he has been tested about 16 times over the past two seasons:

"I don't mind it; it's something that is not going to affect my focus and I'm not going to allow it to affect how I play my game," Bautista said. "They are entitled to do whatever they want and test you as many times as they want. If I get picked to be tested a million times, that's fine with me."

A million times! Only after many pots of coffee and/or six packs of beers. All jokes aside, that's what Bautista says — to bring on the lab coats — and to paraphrase a commenter on Baseball Think Factory, one usually urinates at least once a day anyhow, so big whoop. But methinks it bothers him that some assume his prowess to be illegitimate, and that he uses it as motivation.

Sandy Alderson leveled veiled threats at the Dominican Republic in response to identity fraud. (AP)Leo Nuñez of the Miami Marlins is actually Juan Carlos Oviedo, and a year older than we thought. Fausto Carmona of the Cleveland Indians is really Roberto Hernandez Heredia — and three years older. Who will be the next Major League Baseball player from the Dominican Republic to be accused of committing identity fraud? And how many more will come?

Reporter Tyler Kepner of the New York Times asked around, and one unnamed agent said "more than a dozen players could soon lose their contracts because of age and identity issues." It sounds like a big problem for MLB and the Dominican, which has produced 542 major leaguers and counting since Ozzie Virgil debuted for the Giants 56 years ago.

But New York Mets executive Sandy Alderson gave a curious answer when explaining what MLB's response might be if the fraud continues:

"I had personally been burned on a number of occasions by identity fraud," said Alderson, now the general manager of the Mets. "One has to ask if one is prepared to make the same investment again. If you get burned too often, you may decide to go elsewhere. I think that hit home with them."

He wants us to believe that baseball would hesitate to keep farming the Dominican for the next Albert Pujols, Jose Bautista, Manny Ramirez, Robinson Cano, David Ortiz, Vladimir Guerrero, Sammy Sosa, Adrian Beltre, Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Starlin Castro, Tony Fernandez, Pedro Guerrero, Nelson Cruz, Aramis Ramirez — should I keep going?

Cubs players in 1908 gather at West Side Park behind their ferocious mascot. (Chuckman Chicago Nostalgia)

This photograph proves why the Chicago Cubs had a mascot in 1908 but don't anymore. Because such a beast could easily be mistaken for a giant squirrel, or Frank from "Donnie Darko."

What's great about this shot of the most recent World Series winner in Cubs history (aside from the taxidermy project gone wrong in the foreground) are the looks on the faces of a couple of players. Notably (I believe) outfielder Del Howard, the only person in the photo actually acknowledging the mascot's presence. He's standing fifth from the right, with his hands crossed, looking amused.

The other funny face is that of Hall of Famer Johnny Evers, who is behind the bear cub and just to the left of its head. He's obviously very excited to pose for the photo. And if you're wondering where Joe Tinker and Frank Chance are (as in "Tinker to Evers to Chance"), look out below:

Brookens, Bergman, Whitaker and Trammell weighed a combined 675. Fielder and Cabrera: 545. (AP, Getty)

When the Detroit Tigers signed Prince Fielder to a hefty $214 million contract Tuesday and added him to a lineup that already featured Miguel Cabrera, they also drew attention to the girth of those two players.

Multiple sources list Fielder at 275 pounds, and we'll take them at their word. Cabrera, who at 6-foot-4 stands about five inches taller than Fielder, estimated in spring training that he weighed 270. Math tells us that's 545 pounds between the two Tigers who will comprise manager Jim Leyland's infield corners (on occasion) in 2012.

That's heavy stuff.

Not counting the pitcher and catcher, all of the Tigers infielders on the field for the last out of the 1984 World Series collectively weigh only 130 pounds more than Fielder and Cabrera combined. Let's look at the numbers, as obtained at Baseball-Reference:

1B — Dave Bergman: 185.
2B — Lou Whitaker: 160.
SS — Alan Trammell: 165.
3B — Tom Brookens: 165.
Total: ........... 675 pounds.

Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star pointed this out first, sort of, on Twitter.

But what does it mean?

Former White Sox slugger Bill Melton (left) and manager Robin Ventura model the team's new/old red pinstripes. (@mlb)

The Chicago White Sox have a notorious uniform history. They've worn tuxedos. They've worn pajamas. They've even worn shorts. Shudder.

Amid a virtual minefield of fashion, the team has announced it is reaching into history to pull a retro look forward. And it's not horrifyingly ugly.

The White Sox will wear red pinstripes for home Sunday games in 2012, replicas of uniforms they sported in the early 1970s when franchise icons Dick Allen, Wilbur Wood and Bill Melton ruled the South Side of Chicago. From 1971-1975, the White Sox hit on a sharp look that combined their iconic "Sox" logo and a red pinstripe color scheme, rarely used at that time in Major League Baseball. So what if it looked like something the Boston Red Sox might wear at Fenway Park?! It was better than what came next.

It will also provide a nice weekly break from the regular uniforms they wear.

Aside from the aesthetic, fans old enough or just familiar with Sox history also associate these uniforms with sluggers Allen and Melton, two of the best players the team has ever had. (That's Melton on the left with new manager Robin Ventura in the photo.) Under manager Chuck Tanner, the Sox won in these uniforms. Or, at least they lost less.

[Related: Nine former college hoops champs will don gray uniforms]

It's impossible to say for sure based on the photo, but the only way the retro look will be complete is if the Sox wear GIANT numbers on the backs. How giant?

Jonah Hill gave an understated performance playing Peter Brand in 'Moneyball' and it resulted in an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor."Moneyball" the movie continues to surprise and excel. It received six Academy Award nominations on Tuesday, including four biggies: best picture, lead actor (Brad Pitt), supporting actor (Jonah Hill) and adapted screenplay. It was also nominated for film editing and sound mixing.

It's a shame that Bennett Miller wasn't nominated for directing, and the real snub was Wally Pfister missing for cinematography, yet it's still amazing that Hollywood even produced a nonfiction project about a baseball team that doesn't win the World Series. Not only has "Moneyball" been a box office hit, but it's also on the verge of being an Oscar winner in one or more categories. But what are its actual chances of winning?

The Bovada sports book in Las Vegas is taking bets on the elite categories and they give "Moneyball" 30-to-1 odds to win best picture. It could shock the world — as there isn't a crystal-clear frontrunner — but the only longer shot among the nine nominees is "Tree of Life" at 50-1. Pitt, at 10-to-1 for lead actor, is the third choice after George Clooney and Jean Dujardin. It seems like Clooney's moment.

Bovada is not taking bets on supporting actor or the writing categories, but that's where "Moneyball" has the best chance to win.

New owner Jim Crane is considering calling the Houston Astros something else. (AP)When the Houston Astros switch to the American League in 2013, they also might undergo a makeover that includes new uniforms (whatever) and a new name (gasp!). The franchise has a history of fiddling with both.

New owner Jim Crane, at a Monday event to announce several fan-inspired initiatives, said the team was "highly considering" altering its uniforms — which hopefully means a return to the polarizing rainbow jerseys once favored by presidential candidate Ron Paul. Hey, if they were good enough for him and J.R. Richard...

Crane seemed less certain that the Astros would be renamed, but he definitely was floating a trial balloon when reminiscing about the Colt .45s, the name of the franchise from its inaugural season in 1962 until 1965. The likes of Rusty Staub, Joe Morgan and Jim Wynn played for the franchise when it was called the Colts, so there's some history there. And the space program isn't what it once was so...

As quoted by the Associated Press:

"We had the Colt .45s and everybody liked that one," Crane said. "So you can imagine how upset they were when we switched that. What you get when you look at the fan base is the older we get and I'm old, you don't like to change. But the younger fans are very receptive to change and the older ones aren't, so that's what we saw with the American League."

I'm not sure how true any of what Crane said is, but if they're going to rename the franchise of Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Nolan Ryan and Jose Cruz, they won't do it without a few of our suggestions.

Here are 10 possible new names for the Houston Astros:

1. Bush: Before you say "Not gonna do it," hear me out. The team's most visible season ticket holders are former U.S. President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara Bush. They appear at a freakish number of games and seem to actually love baseball. George I played ball at Yale, just like Lou Gehrig did at Columbia. Well, not JUST like him. The logo could be Bar's hairdo. Or a thousand points of light.