Ben Sheets, having missed all of 2009 recovering from elbow surgery, has a new home in Oakland – signing a $10 million, one year deal.  Sheets gets to mentor a young staff while rebuilding his own street cred.  It’s a little expensive, but I like this deal.  My guess is that they’ll give him some extra time to recover between starts and he might only get about 160 innings, but those will be good innings.  Welcome Back!  [FoxSports]

Miguel Tejada returns to Baltimore – the passed physical making it official.  Tejada returns four years older than he was two years ago…  And, despite having a pretty good year at short, Tejada moves to third base where he will replace Melvin Mora.  Still a good contact hitter, Tejada’s power has regularly slid since being implicated in the steroids show.  Where once he threatened 30 homers regularly, he might hit 12 now.  Tejada’s deal?  1 year, $6 million.  [ESPN]

Jim Thome stays in the AL Central – but not with the White Sox.  The Minnesota Twins hired the DH to fill out the bench – pinch hitting and occasionally playing first base or DH as required.  The deal?  1 year, $1.5 million and incentives.  The man can still hit.  [ESPN]

Jon Garland stays in southern California, signing a one-year, $5.3 million deal with San Diego.  Garland is a dependable arm, not a world beater, but usually league average.  He MIGHT be a better fantasy choice this year because of his home park, but he might not get many wins…  I like the signing on the whole, though.  [ESPN]

Xavier Nady may wind up a platoon player with the Chicago Cubs.  Nady is coming off of shoulder injuries, but was making progress as a hitter into 2008 when the trouble struck.  [FoxSports]

Other Quick Hits from the MLB Transaction Wire…

The Dodgers signed Brad Ausmus to back up Russell Martin behind the plate.

Texas traded outfielder Greg Golson to the Yankees for minor leaguer Mitch Hilligoss.  Not a prospect in the group…

St. Louis signed pitcher Rich Hill – and if I were to bet on somebody to make a surprise step up into valued producer, it’s Rich Hill.

Happy Birthday…

Those celebrating with cake, cards, and remembrances include:  Bob Emslie (1859), Otis Clymer (1876) a middling but quick outfielder who was a minor league teammate of Rube Waddell, Milt Gaston (1896), Bob Barrett and Bibb Falk (1899), John Lowenstein (1947), Tom Trebelhorn (1948), Phil Plantier (1969), and Gavin Floyd (1983).