Top News:
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Cardinals Sign Brayan Pena To Two-Year Deal — 3:37pm: Pena's $5MM guarantee will be spread out evenly, paying him $2.5MM in each season of the contract, MLBTR has learned. — 3:35pm: Pena's contract guarantees him a total of $5MM, according to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Twitter link).
Discussion:
Red Reporter, Viva El Birdos, MLB Daily Dish and Yahoo Sports
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Derrick Goold / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Cardinals sign Pena to back up Molina — ST. LOUIS • The Cardinals finalized a two-year deal with veteran catcher Brayan Pena on Monday and installed him as the latest backup for Gold Glove-winning catcher Yadier Molina. — Pena's contract is worth $5 million over its two years, a source confirmed.
Discussion:
Associated Press, FOX2now.com and Cards Diaspora
Chicago Tribune:
Man charged in threat at University of Chicago linked to Laquan McDonald shooting — University of Chicago security officers patrol the Hyde Park campus quad on Nov. 30, 2015. … Federal officials charged a University of Illinois at Chicago engineering student with making the threat …
Discussion:
UChicago News, Associated Press, NOLA River, Independent Journal, The Daily Caller and Hit & Run
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Red Sox, Chris Young Agree To Two-Year Deal — 5:43pm: Young will receive a two-year guarantee, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets. — 12:29pm: The Red Sox and outfielder Chris Young are in agreement on a multi-year contract, pending a physical, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link).
Discussion:
Pinstripe Alley, CBS Boston, FanGraphs Baseball and The LoHud Yankees Blog
Jeff Todd / MLB Trade Rumors:
Braves Sign Jim Johnson — 5:28pm: The deal is for $2.5MM, MLB.com's Mark Bowman tweets. — 5:04pm: The Braves have signed righty Jim Johnson to a one-year deal, the club announced via press release. Johnson, 32, is a client of Moye Sports Associates. — With the move …
Discussion:
Yahoo Sports, NBCSports.com, MLB Daily Dish, True Blue LA and Baseball Essential Shop
Jon Heyman / CBSSports.com:
Barry Bonds is under consideration to be a Marlins hitting coach — In what promises to be a bombshell move, if executed, all-time great slugger Barry Bonds is under consideration to become Marlins hitting coach. — Team higherups have quietly been discussing this possibility for weeks.
Discussion:
Yahoo Sports, USA Today, Free Winning Picks, McCovey Chronicles and NESN.com
Nick Piecoro / Arizona Republic:
Hunt for starter has Diamondbacks chasing Johnny Cueto — Though they've been saying all offseason they wouldn't be able to afford the top tier of free-agent pitchers, that hasn't stopped the Diamondbacks from pursuing one of them. — General Manager Dave Stewart said he met …
Jeff Todd / MLB Trade Rumors:
Royals Avoid Arbitration With Tim Collins — The Royals have agreed to contract terms with lefty Tim Collins to avoid arbitration, the club announced. Collins will earn $1.475MM for the 2015 season, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports on Twitter. — That's exactly what he made last year …
Discussion:
Royals Review
Jon Heyman / CBSSports.com:
Young righthander Shelby Miller is creating quite a feeding frenzy on the trade market, and it's to the point it's got to be record interest for a pitcher who went 6-17. — Of course, by now we know pitchers' won-loss records aren't a very useful tool in deciphering a pitcher's value.
Discussion:
MLB Trade Rumors, Talking Chop and MLB Daily Dish
Jason Beck / MLB.com:
Free-agent righty a model of durability over past 4 seasons — MLB.com Tigers reporter Jason Beck discusses the Tigers reportedly agreeing to a five-year deal with Jordan Zimmermann — DETROIT — Al Avila's first offseason as Tigers general manager is about to feature baseball's …
Discussion:
Pinstripe Alley, Baseball Prospectus and BBTF's Baseball Primer …
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Travis Sawchik / Baseball America:
Organization Of The Year: Pirates Prove Building A Team Takes Blending — The Pittsburgh Pirates were not the most successful major league team in 2015. — The Kansas City Royals of course won the World Series. For a second consecutive season, the Pirates failed to advance beyond the NL wild card game.
Discussion:
Bucs Dugout
Owen Watson / Fox Sports:
Mike Hessman: A true baseball life — OW — Usually, the retirement of a 37-year-old journeyman who spent the vast majority of his 20-year career in the minor leagues is not a cause for reflection by most fans of Major League Baseball. A cause of wonderment, perhaps …
Discussion:
Minor League Ball, The Crawfish Boxes, MiLB News and CBSSports.com
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Phillies Claim Michael Mariot From Royals — The Phillies announced that they have claimed right-hander Michael Mariot off waivers from the Royals. Mariot was designated for assignment 10 days ago when the Royals set their 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.
Discussion:
The Good Phight
Jon Heyman / CBSSports.com:
Tony LaCava, Ross Atkins are finalists for Blue Jays GM job — Indians executive Ross Atkins and Blue Jays interim general manager Tony LaCava are finalists for Toronto's GM job, sources familiar with the situation said. — It isn't known for certain that they are the only two finalists for the job …
Discussion:
Halos Heaven, Let's Go Tribe and MLB Trade Rumors
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Ben Nicholson-Smith / Sportsnet.ca:
With rotation set, Blue Jays must find a way to augment bullpen
Discussion:
Yahoo Sports, NBCSports.com, National Post and MLB Trade Rumors
