40  —  I want to share this with you today on my 40th birthday, because I want the focus this season to be on the team and bringing a championship back to the city of Boston.  Thanks to everyone for the support, and see you in Spring Training.

Tigers Acquire Francisco Rodriguez  —  The Tigers have officially acquired reliever Francisco Rodriguez from the Brewers.  Infielder Javier Betancourt will head to Milwaukee in the swap.  Detroit will also send a player to be named in the deal.  Detroit's announcement mentions that it …

Maddon, Banister Named Managers Of The Year By BBWAA  —  First-year manager Jeff Banister is the BBWAA AL Manager of the Year, the first rookie manager to win the AL award.  —  The other four first-year winners were in the National League: Hal Lanier with the Astros in 1986 …

Mets express interest in Ben Zobrist and Gerardo Parra, sources say … VOTE  —  Swing or take: Mets and potential free agents  —  VOTE  —  Mets 2016 keep 'em or dump 'em?  —  INTERACTIVE  —  Will these MLB free agency predictions happen?

Athletics To Sign Rich Hill  —  The Athletics have agreed to terms with free agent left-hander Rich Hill, reports Robert Murray of Baseball Essential.  The deal is pending a physical.  Yahoo's Jeff Passan tweets that it's a one-year deal with a $6MM guarantee.

Braves remain steadfast as critics grow: ‘We are not tanking’  —  DALLAS - Atlanta Braves general manager John Coppolella is on the other end of the telephone, seething, offended by all of the accusations.  —  “I know it's hard for our fans, but I'm not running for office.

Syndergaard finishes fourth in NL Rookie of the Year voting  —  Mets pitcher Noah Syndergaard finished fourth in the National League Rookie of the Year voting, the league announced Monday.  —  Syndergaard made his debut in May and finished the regular season with 9-7 with a 3.24 ERA and 166 strikeouts in 150 innings.

Angels Sign Cliff Pennington To Two-Year Deal  —  The Angels announced today that they've signed infielder Cliff Pennington to a two-year contract.  Pennington, a client of Sosnick, Cobbe and Karon, will receive $1.5MM in 2016 and $2.25MM in 2017 for a $3.75MM guarantee, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick reports (via Twitter).

Giants Sign Brandon Crawford To Six-Year Extension  —  6:11pm: Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports the breakdown of Crawford's contract (via Twitter).  He'll receive a $1.2MM signing bonus $5.8MM in 2016 and $8MM in 2017 before earning $15MM per season from 2018 through 2021 — his would-be free-agent years.

A Tennessee mom to Cam Newton: Here's what my 9-year-old saw … Dear Mr. Newton,  —  Congratulations on your win in Nashville today.  Our team played well, but yours played better.  Kudos to the Panthers organization.  —  That game happened to be my nine year old daughter's first live NFL experience.