Top News:
Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com:
Sabathia takes home AL Cy Young — Cleveland left-hander beats Boston's Beckett in voting — CLEVELAND — The Cy Young questions sprang up midseason, as C.C. Sabathia consistently put together dominant performances for an Indians team in contention for a division title.
Discussion:
SOX & Dawgs, FanHouse, The Joy of Sox, Knuckle Curve, The Crawfish Boxes and Babes Love Baseball
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ESPN.com:
Sabathia outdistances Beckett to win Cy Young — NEW YORK — C.C. Sabathia won the AL Cy Young Award on Tuesday, beating out several worthy contenders by a comfortable margin and becoming the first Cleveland pitcher in 35 years to earn the honor. — The Indians ace received 19 of 28 …
Mike Fitzpatrick / Associated Press:
Indians' Sabathia wins AL Cy Young Award — NEW YORK (AP) — C.C. Sabathia beat Josh Beckett at last — albeit a few weeks later than he hoped. — Sabathia won the AL Cy Young Award on Tuesday, topping Boston's ace and two other worthy contenders by a comfortable margin to become …
Discussion:
Baseball Etc
Joe / Around the Majors:
Twins trade for Craig Monroe — The Twins and Chicago Cubs have been discussing a trade that would send left fielder Craig Monroe to Minnesota for a player to be named, and an announcement could come as soon as today, the Star Tribune has learned. — UPDATE: It's official.
Discussion:
Associated Press, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports, Bless You Boys, SBG Nation Presents …, FanHouse, MLB Trade Rumors, Hardball, Twinkie Town, 1060west.net and Hot Foot
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Carrie Muskat / MLB.com:
Cubs send outfielder Monroe to Twins — Prior, Guzman activated from 60-day disabled list — CHICAGO — The Cubs continued to shuffle their roster in preparation for 2008, dealing outfielder Craig Monroe to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday for a player to be named.
Mike Fitzpatrick / Associated Press:
Mets close to 2-year deal with C Castro — NEW YORK (AP) — Ramon Castro and the Mets closed in on a two-year contract Tuesday that would keep their second-string catcher in New York. — The deal could be completed sometime soon, according to two people familiar with the negotiations …
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NY Daily News:
With Jorge Posada gone, Mets must unmask new plan — Despite huddling for a power lunch with Jorge Posada and his agents in Manhattan Monday, the Mets will be forced to make a contingency plan to fill their catching vacancy due to the five-time All-Star's pending return to the Yankees.
Tyler Kepner / Bats:
Rivera Has $45 Million Reasons to Stay — Somewhat lost in the excitement of Monday's news that Jorge Posada will return to the Yankees was the team's improved offer to closer Mariano Rivera: three years, $45 million. That should be plenty of cash for Rivera, like Posada, to return to the only team he's known.
Discussion:
MY BASEBALL BIAS
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Tyler Kepner / New York Times:Yankees Persuade Posada to Stay
Discussion:
River Ave. Blues, Ladies, Baseball Musings, MLB Trade Rumors, YanksBlog.com, The MLB Source and MY BASEBALL BIAS
Tom Haudricourt / JSOnline:
New sensation — Award tops Braun's stellar first season — Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, who keeps an open mind on nearly every topic, has read and heard the "suggestions" that Ryan Braun should be moved from third base to the outfield. — At this point, Melvin is ignoring that unsolicited advice.
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David Pinto / Baseball Musings:
Probabilistic Model of Range, Third Basemen, 2007 — The Washington Nationals and Ryan Zimmerman lead the way at third base. — Team Third Basemen PMR, 2007, Visit Smooth Distance Model, 2007 data only — Team In Play Actual Outs Predicted Outs DER Predicted DER Ratio — Nationals — 4591
Chris Kline / Baseball America:
Philadelphia Phillies — Baseball America's Top 10 Prospects lists are based on projections of a player's long-term worth after discussions with scouting and player-development personnel. All players who haven't exceeded the major league rookie standards of 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched …
Discussion:
Phuture Phillies
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Nick Cafardo / Boston Globe:
Market open on Lowell — Sox can't beat clock; others now free to bid — The most lucrative/costly time of the year in baseball - free agency - got under way early this morning for 153 players, one of whom was World Series MVP Mike Lowell. — Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein met …
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Nick Cafardo / Boston Globe:No agreement at deadline for Lowell
Discussion:
WasWatching.com, Over the Monster, American Legends, Yanksfan vs Soxfan, Crooked Pitch and The LoHud Yankees Blog
metronews.ca:
Who wants to be a sportscaster? — So you think you can be a sportscaster, eh? Well, starting in the new year, you'll have the opportunity to learn if you really have what it takes from some of the top sportscasters in Canada. — Details will be announced next week …
Sports Illustrated:
Tom Verducci: Padres build top bullpen cheaply — The $12 million the Phillies will give setup reliever J.C. Romero over the next three seasons should quell the collusion chatter just a wee bit. J.C. Romero? Isn't he the guy who pitched to a 6.70 ERA for the Angels in 2006 and was released by the Red Sox only five months ago?
Tom Haudricourt / Brewers Blog:
Melvin has an offer in to Cordero — Brewers general manager Doug Melvin tried to get to the front of the line by making an offer Monday to the agent of free-agent closer Francisco Cordero. — As of today, however, Melvin probably has plenty of company. Today is the first day other teams …
