Beloved Mr. Cub, Hall of Famer Banks dies at 83  —  MLB Network looks back on the Hall of Fame career of Ernie Banks, who passed away at the age 83  —  The preeminent advocate of two-for-the-price-of-one baseball, the former shortstop who hit hundreds of home runs at a time when shortstops …

Brewers In Serious Talks To Acquire Papelbon  —  8:52am: Papelbon would want his $13MM option for the 2016 season to be guaranteed in order to waive his no-trade clause, Salisbury reports.  That presents an expensive obstacle in trade talks, but Salisbury hears that the Phillies are committed …

Mets' Michael Cuddyer looks to ease David Wright's burden, both on and off the field  —  Wright's longtime buddy has rolled into town as the team's lone major acquisition, and is poised to play a vital role.  Having an old friend around, and one who happens to be a people person, will be a relief.

Marlins To Sign Ichiro Suzuki  —  12:53pm: Ichiro's base salary will be exactly $2MM, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.  —  12:03pm: The two sides are still hammering out the specifics of the performance bonuses that will be built into the contract before the deal becomes official, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.

Ravens plan to release Terrence Cody, who is under investigation for animal cruelty  —  The Ravens intend to terminate veteran nose tackle Terrence Cody's contract after the Super Bowl, the team announced Friday morning.  —  Cody is under investigation for animal cruelty …

Red Sox's Swihart sits atop list, followed by Rangers' Alfaro and Cubs' Schwarber  —  MLBPipeline.com's 2015 Top 100 Prospects list will be unveiled on Friday, Jan. 30, on MLB.com, with the Top 50 revealed during a one-hour show on MLB Network at 9 p.m. ET.  Leading up to that …

White Sox invite 24 players to spring training  —  CHICAGO - The Chicago White Sox have agreed to terms on minor-league contracts with the following free agents: right-handed pitchers Jairo Asencio, Scott Carroll, Jesse Crain, Logan Kensing, Arcenio Leon, J.D. Martin and Brad Penny …

Foul Territory Blog  —  Texas Rangers pitcher Martin Perez, who missed most of the 2014 season after surgery on his left throwing elbow last May, says he is on pace to return in July.  —  The left-hander played catch from 105 feet on Thursday after joining Jurickson Profar and Rougned Odor …

Price comfortable with Tigers, ‘all ears’ for extension  —  David Price is comfortable now.  —  And he was comfortable this afternoon, sitting on a cushioned chair behind a table bearing his name tag during the Detroit Tigers' winter caravan kickoff at Comerica Park.

Dodgers said to be in talks to sell minority share to South Korean group  —  The Dodgers are in negotiations to sell a minority ownership share to a group of South Korean investors, a person with direct knowledge of the discussions said Thursday.  —  There is “zero” chance the Dodgers' owners …

Additional options include Almonte, Cunningham, Terdoslavich and Constanza  —  7/18/14: Jonny Gomes launches a pinch-hit home run to center field, scoring Stephen Drew to give the Red Sox a 5-4 lead  —  ATLANTA — Now that the Braves have restructured their organization through a flurry …

Ranking the top five likeliest suitors for Shields  —  Now that Max Scherzer has signed, Jim Duquette discusses the current starting pitching market, including free agent James Shields  —  And then there was one: The top free-agent pitcher left standing is James Shields.