Yankees bounce back, Burnett beats Jays

Angels optioned Rafael Rodriguez to Triple-A Salt Lake. With Ervin Santana coming off the disabled list, someone had to go down. He is 0-0 with a 6.97 ERA and 2.03 WHIP in 20 2/3 innings through three separate callups this season.

Dodgers activated RHP Claudio Vargas from the 60-day disabled list. Vargas has been sidelined since Opening Day with right elbow tendinitis. He'll join the bullpen as a long reliever.

Cesar Izturis (appendicitis) may return to the lineup prior to the All-Star break, according to manager Dave Tremblay. Tremblay said Izturis could head out on a rehab assignment early next week. This is a big change from earlier in the week when it was thought that Izturis would be lost until late July.

Angels activated RHP Ervin Santana from the 15-day disabled list. Santana has been sidelined since June 11 with right elbow tendinitis. He gets the start Friday against the Orioles. Santana still hasn't shown that he has the stuff that made him great in 2008, so it's wise to lower your expectations for Santana the rest of the season, but he'll still be a serviceable fantasy player.

Magglio Ordonez was benched again Friday. Ordonez is 2-for-20 over the past five games and it seems his benching a few weeks back hasn't helped him at all. He can no longer be considered an everyday player, as he will sit at least once or twice a week until he snaps out of his season-long slump, which may not happen anytime soon.

John Buck (back) may be back in the lineup by the weekend, according to manager Trey Hillman. He was scheduled to catch his second consecutive game Friday at Triple-A Omaha. If his troubled herniated disc holds up, he will likely be activated Saturday. Unfortunately, he'll have to battle Miguel Olivo for playing time, as he's taken advantage of Buck's injury to put up solid offensive numbers with 12 home runs and 32 RBI in 57 games.

Profootballtalk passes along a report that the Raiders are shopping DT Terdell Sands. There were whispers two months ago that Sands was candidate for release during training camp, so this is no surprise. The issue is now pressing with a $1 million roster bonus due July 3, which the Raiders are loathe to pay.

The Cowboys are reportedly toying with the idea of using Marion Barber and Felix Jones on the field together. Jones has the ability to split out wide or motion into the backfield, and the team wants to find more touches for their most explosive playmaker. It's worth noting that the Cowboys made similar noises last summer, but the duo rarely played together.

Bills first-round DE Aaron Maybin reportedly has a chance to start if he plays well against the run this summer. More likely, Maybin will be a situational player as a nickel rusher this season. Still, the progress is good to hear after reports describing his performance early in OTAs as "brutal."

Cowboys WR/KR Isaiah Stanback (meniscus surgery) says he'll be fully healthy for training camp. A personal favorite of owner Jerry Jones, Stanback has struggled with a lisfranc injury, a twice separated shoulder, and now the knee surgery. Still, the team's lack of depth leaves him with a shot at No. 4 receiver duties.

Chiefs beat writer Kent Babb observed that RT Damion McIntosh was beginning to "develop some rust" last season. Babb had the right side of the offensive line high on the list of priorities this season, but the team did little to upgrade. For Matt Cassel's sake, the Chiefs better hope McIntosh and right guard Mike Goff have one more season of adequate play left.

Brett Favre is reportedly close to purchasing a condominium in the Minneapolis area. It's not a done deal, but Favre is believed to be "settling" on the condo in Edina. Profootballtalk's latest educated guess has the Favre signing being announced during the week of July 13-17, after the wedding of Brad Childress' daughter and before single-game tickets go on sale July 20.

Rick Nash has agreed to an eight-year contract extension with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Nash will earn an average of $7.8 million per season over the length of this contract. Since the Blue Jackets originally selected Nash with the first overall pick of the 2002 NHL entry draft, Nash has become the most iconic player in the franchise. He's one of the best goal-scorers in the league, finishing the 2008-09 campaign with 40 goals and 79 points in 78 games. Nash was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent following the conclusion of the 2009-10 season.

Shaun Heshka has signed a one-year contract with the Phoenix Coyotes. The financial terms of the deal have not yet been revealed. Coyotes acquired the rights to Heshka from Vancouver in exchange for their seventh round pick in the 2009 entry draft. Heshka scored three goals and 26 points in 77 AHL games last season.

Senators owner Eugene Melnyk appears to be furious over the situation with Dany Heatley. Heatley refused to be traded to Edmonton twice this week, which forced the Senators to pay Heatley a $4 million bonus Wednesday. Heatley wants the Senators to deal him, but he also doesn't consider Edmonton to be a suitable destination. "I've never, ever seen something like this in my life," Melnyk said, "where somebody says, `I want to be traded,' but . `No, I don't want to be traded to them.' I've never seen anything like this in my life." Melnyk is particularly angry with the people who leaked Heatley's trade request and Heatley's agents accusations that Senators GM Bryan Murray has not done enough to deal Heatley. For now, Heatley is an Ottawa Senator and if the team can't trade him, Melnyk expects Heatley to show up for next season's training camp.

The Minnesota Wild have signed Shane Hnidy to a one-year/$750k deal. Hnidy had 12 points and 45 penalty minutes in 65 games last season with the Boston Bruins. He has no fantasy value.

Ryane Clowe has agreed to a contract extension with the San Jose Sharks. The deal is reportedly a four-year contract that will pay Clowe a little over $3.5 million per season. Clowe scored 22 goals and 52 points in 71 games last season and he should build on those numbers in 2009-10 if he can stay healthy.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-signed Ruslan Fedotenko. Fedotenko agreed to a one-year/$1.8 million deal Friday to stay with the Penguins. He scored 16 goals and 39 points in 65 games last season. He also scored 7 goals and 14 points in 24 playoff games during the Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup run.

The Rockets agreement with free agent Trevor Ariza makes it "highly unlikely" that Von Wafer will play in Houston next season, according to Wafer's agent, Mitchell Butler. "None of it made any sense to me," Butler said. "From what I heard, they made a half-hearted effort to keep Ron and no effort to keep Von." He mentioned that several teams are interested in Wafer, but would not name them.

The Oregonian is reporting that free agent Hedo Turkoglu has rejected an offer to sign with the Trail Blazers and has ended negotiations with the team. There is no word yet on what caused Turkoglu's abrupt decision, though details should emerge soon. For the moment, this seems to leave the Raptors as the favorite to sign Hedo.

According to the Toronto Globe and Mail, the Raptors have offered Shawn Marion a four-year contract worth approximately $34 million. ESPN.com reports that "a verbal agreement is not imminent" and Marion is holding out for a five-year deal worth closer to $50 million. There might not be any teams willing to pay $10 million a year for an aging role player, meaning Marion doesn't have much leverage. Most observers feel that he will eventually sign with Toronto, partly because of his longstanding relationship with GM Bryan Colangelo.

The San Jose Mercury News reports that Warriors owner Chris Cohan is "believed to be seriously considering selling his 80% stake in the franchise in the next year or two." There is no indication of who might buy the team, and it should be noted that this isn't the first time these rumors have been floated. Warriors fans are probably hoping there's some truth in it, however, as their franchise has missed the playoffs 14 of the past 15 seasons.

Pau Gasol will play for Spain in the European Basketball Championships, according to the Associated Press. Spain coach Sergio Scariolo will be working with the Lakers to develop a regimen that is "the best for the player," but owners should be concerned that Gasol has played a lot of basketball over the past two years. Expect all parties to play it safe with him, and we wouldn't be surprised if he got a bit less run this year than last.

Rasheed Wallace is not expected to make a decision on the Celtics' offer of a mid-level exception contract for at least a week, according to the Boston Globe. The report says that he will meet with teams next week, which takes a little bit of the luster off of Boston's superstar recruiting session from Thursday. Orlando, San Antonio, Cleveland, and Charlotte are among the interested parties, but the bottom line is that Wallace is going to keep his options open for at least a week.

Clint Bowyer wins the Coors Light Pole Award for the Subway Jalapeno 250 Powered By Coca-Cola with a lap of 49.806 seconds, 180.701 mph. This is the No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet driver's seventh pole in 150 NASCAR Nationwide Series races. It is his first pole and fifth top-10 start in 2009. This is his first pole in ten races at Daytona International Speedway.

Sam Hornish Jr. and Greg Biffle got together during the final Happy Hour practice for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway. Both Hornish's No. 77 Dodge and Biffle's No. 16 Ford were damaged and both drivers will go to backup cars for qualifying and the race.

Greg Biffle and Sam Hornish Jr. got together during the final Happy Hour practice for Saturday night's Sprint Cup Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway. Both Biffle's No. 16 Ford and Hornish's No. 77 Dodge were damaged and both drivers will go to backup cars for qualifying and the race.

David Reutimann was at the top of the speed chart in the Happy Hour practice leading to Saturday night's Sprint Cup Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Reutimann, driving the No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota, put up a 192.135 mph lap in the final practice. No. 07 Casey Mears, No. 29 Kevin Harvick, No. 83 Brian Vickers and No. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya were the rest of the top 5 in that session. Mike Wallace, at 182.994 mph in the No. 64 FRED's Hometown Discount Stores Toyota, was the slowest in this practice.

David Ragan leads the first practice for the July 4th Sprint Cup Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Ragan's lap of 190.714 mph in the No. 6 UPS Ford was the quickest of the 45 cars out on the track for the first practice leading to Saturday night's race. No. 07 Casey Mears, No. 26 Jamie McMurray, No. 20 Joey Logano and No. 83 Brian Vickers were the rest of the top 5 on the speed chart. No. 37 Tony Raines, at 180.926 mph, was the slowest in this session.

Michael Waltrip leads the first practice session for the July 3rd Nationwide Series Subway Jalapeno 250 at Daytona International Speedway. Waltrip's lap of 185.401 mph in the No. 99 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota was the quickest of the 45 cars running in this session. No. 62 Brendan Gaughan, No. 33 Kevin Harvick, No. 05 Jeff Green and No. 29 Clint Bowyer were the rest of the top 5 on the speed chart. Terry Cook, in the No. 91 MSRP Motorsports Chevrolet, at 176.070 mph, was the slowest.

In a piece on North Carolina State wide receivers, ESPN's Heather Dinnich makes mention that wide receiver Donald Bowens (back/knee) likely won't be back "until September or October" Due to the multiple injuries, Bowens doesn't figure heavily in our fantasy plans for 2009.

In a recent piece ESPN's Ted Miller takes a look at the quarterbacks of the Pac-10. Of special note is his write-up on Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli: "Masoli was the best quarterback in the Pac-10 over the final quarter of the season. If he improves, he could end up first-team All-Pac-10... and maybe more." Based on some early draft returns it looks like Masoli is also becoming a trendy mid-round fantasy pick.

Charles Goldberg of the Birmingham News lists seven potential candidates for the starting quarterback job at Auburn: Neil Caudle, Kodi Burns, Chris Todd, Barrett Trotter, Tyrik Rollison (fr), Clint Moseley (fr) and Robert Cooper (fr) Burns and Caudle have a slight lead over the pack heading into fall camp. But keep an eye on wildcards Chris Todd and Tyrik Rollison.

Miami coach Randy Shannon told the Miami Herald that wide receiver Leonard Hankerson is one of the team's most improved players. In the same Herald article Shannon tells of a desire to get the receiving group narrowed down to about 4-5 hard workers. Put these two statements together and Hankerson could make a nice improvement on his 11-140-2 from a season ago.

Miami coach Randy Shannon recently told The Miami Herald that new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple has done "great things" and that he (Shannon) will not stand in Whipple's way in producing a high-scoring offense. While we're intrigued at the possibilities of what Jacory Harris can do in this scheme, it's best to take a wait and see approach to the fellas down in Coral Gables. Harris has the potential to be a good fantasy quarterback in the second half of the 2009 season.

Seth Emerson of The State recently ranked the SEC quarterbacks. Not surprisingly Tim Tebow (Fl) and Jevan Snead (Miss) were ranked one and two. Rounding out the list were: Jordan Jefferson (LSU), Joe Cox (Ga), Ryan Mallett (Ark), Greg McElroy (Al), Stephen Garcia (USC), Mike Hartline (Ky), Tyson Lee(MSU), Kodi Burns (Aub) and Larry Smith (Vandy).

The father of highly sought Kansas basketball recruits C.J. and Xavier Henry said Tuesday his sons may not play at Kansas, after all.Xavier Henry, a 6-foot-6 guard, is considered one of the most talented players Kansas coach Bill Self has ever recruited. Adding him to a deep and experienced squad which returns almost everyone from the team that reached the NCAA round of 16 last year would likely make the Jayhawks preseason favorites for the national championship.Xavier and his older brother, C.J., were headed to Memphis before switching to Kansas in the wake of John Calipari's decision to coach at Kentucky.But their father, Carl Henry, told Kansas City sportstalk station KCSP on Tuesday that the family was upset with a story in The Kansas City Star on Sunday. The story, the father said, portrayed his sons as being disinterested in attending classes at college.Henry said he planned to meet Tuesday night with his sons at the family home in Oklahoma City to see if the boys want to go to Kentucky or keep their commitment to Kansas."We have a meeting set up tonight where we're going to set down and talk about this whole deal," the elder Henry said.Asked if there was a chance his sons would not come to Kansas, Henry said, "Yes. I don't know what they're considering. When coach Self came down, my oldest son, C.J., said, `No matter what, we're going to Kansas.' But a couple of weeks ago, my youngest son tells me he wants to go to Kentucky, said he's thinking about it."The extensive story in the Sunday Star indicated the family was mostly interested in preparing an NBA career for the brothers and that Xavier has no interest in school."If he didn't have to go to college, he wouldn't do it," Carl Henry was quoted as saying.When pressed by the interviewers, the elder Henry said there was nothing factually inaccurate in the story."The guy who wrote that story kind of betrayed my whole family and kind of made us look bad, like my kids are prima donnas, all I do is talk." he said.When Calipari left to be head coach at Kentucky, the brothers switched to Kansas, where their mother, father and aunt all played basketball. Carl Henry said they might have chosen to follow Calipari to his new school but that their mother did not want to live in Kentucky.But he said she no longer feels that way."She told coach Self she's out of it. She don't care where they go," Henry said.

Ex-Duke basketball player Elliot Williams says he'll transfer to the University of Memphis.Williams, a rising sophomore guard, was granted his release Wednesday from Duke because his mom is sick.He told The Commercial-Appeal on Saturday that he's planning to transfer to Memphis, in his hometown, because being closer to his family is the most important thing. It was one of the four schools he'd been considering, along with Vanderbilt, Kentucky and Tennessee.He's declined to be more specific about his mother's illness.He says he's seeking a waiver of the NCAA rule forcing student-athletes to sit out a year after transferring.---Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com

BYU basketball coach Dave Rose is planning on a lot more rest than usual this summer.After all, he's got to prepare for another season.Just weeks after learning he had a form of pancreatic cancer, Rose said Wednesday that doctors appeared to have gotten all the cancerous tumor during emergency surgery to remove his spleen. The tumor had started in his pancreas, but was a slow-growing type of cancer and did not appear to have spread."That was a tough day, but it was a good day because it could have been a lot worse," said Rose, who plans to be back for a fifth season with the Cougars as long as his health holds.Because there are no signs of cancer remaining, Rose said he won't have to go through chemotherapy this summer. He plans resting and being back with his team this fall."I believe that I'm a lucky guy. I believe I've been met with a challenge, but it's a challenge that is manageable," Rose said. "It's a challenge that I can handle and continue to do what I love to do."Rose, 51, spoke for more than 30 minutes in a room at the Marriott Center filled with reporters and his players, who had learned in the last two weeks that their coach had what is often a deadly form of cancer to hearing the best possible prognosis.Rose was obviously relieved, but the only emotion he showed during the news conference was humor - joking that the medication he was on was what made his wife describe him as kinder and gentler."We were kind of sweating a little bit to know what it was," guard Jimmer Fredette said. "He's going to have us running and gunning just like always. We're expecting full-fledged Coach,"Rose said he will leave his assistants to handle the busy recruiting duties through July. He will still meet with his coaches and players, but the days will be much shorter than usual.Dr. Scott Samuelson of the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City appeared with Rose and said the tumor the coach had is a rare form of pancreatic cancer, spreading much more slowly than more aggressive forms.Rose said he began feeling dizzy during a family trip to Disneyland, then flew to Las Vegas for a family reunion. He said he needed to be taken to the hospital shortly after landing and doctors discovered internal bleeding caused by a mass that was pressuring his spleen.Rose was frightened to hear "pancreatic cancer" but was relieved when he learned Tuesday that test results showed no remaining traces of the disease."I get tired, but for 2-3 hours at a time, I feel as good as I've felt in years," he said. "I feel like I got a second chance and this is my time and I'm ready to go."BYU is 97-34 in four seasons under Rose and won at least a share of the last three Mountain West Conference regular-season titles.Rose said although he has gone through a harrowing experience, the Cougars can expect to be pushed just as hard when they report for the preseason this fall."They won't get much of a break," Rose said with a smile.

Michael Jordan's son, Jeff, is leaving Illinois after two seasons.The former walk-on guard surprised nearly everyone Wednesday by announcing that he plans to focus on his studies, just a few months after Illinois coach Bruce Weber said Jordan had a chance to earn more playing time and even a leadership role during his junior year."I loved playing for the Fighting Illini and appreciate the support I was given by my teammates, coaches and the great fans here," Jordan in a statement. "But I have come to the point where I'm ready to focus on life after basketball."Jordan got a scholarship before the 2009 spring semester. In all, he appeared in 59 career games, totaling 58 points, 42 assists and 24 rebounds. A defensive specialist, Jordan averaged 8.4 minutes as a sophomore after playing 5.3 minutes per game as a true freshman.Weber said Jordan will be missed."He brought great work ethic to the gym and pushed himself, as well as his teammates, each and every day to improve. We will miss him, but we fully support the decision he has made," Weber said.Jordan starred in high school at Loyola Academy in Wilmette, a Chicago suburb, but wasn't heavily recruited. He chose to walk on at Illinois rather than accept a scholarship from Valparaiso.At the end of last season, Weber compared the 6-1, 185-pound guard favorably to former team captain Chester Frazier, who played through his four seasons at Illinois with near-constant injuries and was considered one of the Big Ten's best defenders. He helped lead Illinois to a 24-10 record and NCAA tournament berth last season.Illinois spokesman Kent Brown said Jordan wasn't on campus or available for further comment. Jordan, he said, never indicated any unhappiness at Illinois, nor any concern about competing for playing time against highly regarded guards D.J. Richardson, Brandon Paul and Joseph Bertrand, who will join the Illini next season.Michael Jordan's youngest son, Marcus, has committed to playing at Central Florida next season.