Molina wins 7th straight Gold Glove  —  St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina joined Ivan Rodriguez and Johnny Bench in Rawlings Gold Glove lore, while the Kansas City Royals and Baltimore Orioles repeated their golden trifectas Tuesday.  —  Molina won his seventh straight Gold Glove award …

Giants slugger Michael Morse on Mets' radar  —  After eliminating Michael Cuddyer from their list of potential free-agent pursuits, the Mets still have other outfield targets they may consider.  —  Michael Morse is one such name who fits the Mets' criteria, according to a person with knowledge of the club's internal discussions.

Dodgers hire Farhan Zaidi as GM  —  LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers will name Oakland Athletics assistant GM Farhan Zaidi, a Berkeley-educated economist, as their next GM, baseball sources confirmed to ESPNLosAngeles.com Tuesday night.  —  The news will be officially announced later this week.

ISSUES WITH THE MLB QUALIFYING OFFER SYSTEM … The qualifying offer system in Major League Baseball was a well-intended and generally well-executed addition to the CBA prior to the start of the 2013 season.  Ultimately, the system helped remove draft pick compensation attached to most free agents.

Projected Arbitration Salaries For 2015  —  As explained in this series of posts, Matt Swartz and MLB Trade Rumors have developed an accurate model to project arbitration salaries.  We've heard from many MLB teams and agencies that reference the projections in their work.

Cubs, already a big free-agent player, are targeting Russell Martin  —  The Cubs, already the leader in free agency after landing marquee manager Joe Maddon for a $25-million, five-year deal, are going to target top free agent catcher Russell Martin, sources connected to the team said.

Alfonso Soriano Announces Retirement  —  Longtime big leaguer Alfonso Soriano has annunced his retirement from the game, reports Hector Gomez of Dominican outlet Listin Diario (via Twitter).  The 38-year-old played in parts of 16 MLB seasons, including thirteen as a full-time regular.

Former big league lefty Halsey dies at 33  —  Brad Halsey was selected by the Yankees in the eighth round of the 2002 Draft.  (Getty)  —  Former Major League left-hander Brad Halsey died on Tuesday at the age of 33, according to a tweet by Halsey's agency, O'Connell Sports.

Korean pitcher Hyeon-jong Yang, possible Yankees target, to be posted: source  —  Yang, who throws a fastball that sits between 92-95 mph, as well as a curveball, slider and changeup, projects as a No. 3 starter in the big-leagues, although he could develop into a No. 2, according to a scout who has seen him throw.

HRs still rare in San Diego, but ‘fence talk’ is down  —  7/31/14: Jedd Gyorko sends a solo homer to right off Shelby Miller to cut the Cardinals' lead to 2-1  —  SAN DIEGO — The Padres didn't want to draw any definitive conclusions about the field modifications that were made prior …

Kershaw finalist for NL MVP, Cy Young Award  —  MLB Network names Clayton Kershaw, Andrew McCutchen and Giancarlo Stanton as the finalists for the 2014 National League Most Valuable Player  —  With the biggest piece of team hardware handed out, the most coveted individual awards are being prepared …