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:
Yahoo Sports, Red Reporter, Viva El Birdos and MLB Daily Dish
RELATED:
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, Washington Post, Chicago Sun Times, The Daily Caller, NOLA River, Independent Journal and Hit & Run
Nick Cafardo / BostonGlobe.com:
Will the Red Sox meet the asking Price for David? — The Red Sox are prohibitive favorites, at least in the eyes of the media and a few baseball executives, to land free agent David Price for two reasons: president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski's relationship with the lefthander …
RELATED:
Jon Heyman / CBSSports.com:
Tony LaCava, Ross Atkins are finalists for Blue Jays GM job
Tony LaCava, Ross Atkins are finalists for Blue Jays GM job
Discussion:
Let's Go Tribe, Halos Heaven and MLB Trade Rumors
Ben Nicholson-Smith / Sportsnet.ca:
With rotation set, Blue Jays must find a way to augment bullpen
With rotation set, Blue Jays must find a way to augment bullpen
Discussion:
Yahoo Sports, NBCSports.com, National Post and MLB Trade Rumors
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, Forbes, Free Winning Picks, McCovey Chronicles, USA Today and NESN.com
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:
NBCSports.com, MLB Daily Dish, True Blue LA and Baseball Essential Shop
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
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 …
Discussion:
AZ Snake Pit, Inside the 'Zona, Red Sox Monster, Full Count, MLB Trade Rumors, Baseball Essential Shop and NBCSports.com
Larry Fine / Reuters:
Royals Players Get $370,000 Bonus for World Series Win — (Reuters) - The World Series champion Kansas City Royals generously split up their Fall Classic players' pool haul of more than $25 million into 55 full shares worth $370,069 apiece, Major League baseball said on Monday.
Discussion:
Yahoo Sports and Amazin' Avenue
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 2016 season, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com reports on Twitter. — That's exactly what he made last year …
Discussion:
Royals Review
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 …
RELATED:
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