Padres pitcher Yu Darvish poised to walk away from his contract  —  Yu Darvish does not plan to pitch again in the major leagues.  —  The 39-year-old right-hander, who has been one of the best starting pitchers of his era, has told the Padres he intends to walk away with three years and $43 million remaining on his contract.

2026 Top 100 MLB prospects from Keith Law: Pirates' Konnor Griffin tops the list  —  Welcome to this year's ranking of the top 100 prospects in baseball.  I've been compiling and writing such rankings for 19 (!) years now, and those of you who've read them before will find the format here similar to those from the recent past.

Can Yankees take AL East back in '26?  Here's what they need  —  The American League East, already a tough division from which three clubs reached the postseason last year, has gotten better even with the departures of Bo Bichette (Blue Jays to Mets) and Alex Bregman (Red Sox to Cubs) in free agency.

As a newbie, Alonso embraces ‘New Oriole Way’  —  BALTIMORE — This week, Pete Alonso has become better acquainted with Baltimore, a city whose people have given the slugging first baseman a hero's welcome for a month-plus now.  —  On Thursday night, Alonso joined new Orioles manager Craig Albernaz …

Tomoyuki Sugano Intends To Stay In MLB  —  Free agent Tomoyuki Sugano is not planning to return to Nippon Professional Baseball, per a report from Yahoo Japan (hat tip here for the translation).  The report cited a recent television interview from Sugano in which he said he's “not considering” coming back to NPB.

Guardians Agree To Extension With Jose Ramirez  —  Longtime Guardians star Jose Ramirez has agreed to another extension with the team, keeping the star third baseman in Cleveland through his age-39 season in 2032.  The new deal (which will be official pending a physical) …

Hanser Alberto Announces Retirement  —  Veteran infielder Hanser Alberto announced his retirement via Instagram earlier this week, bringing a career that saw him spend parts of eight seasons in the majors to a close.  He played for the Rangers, Orioles, Dodgers, Royals, and White Sox throughout his time in the big leagues.

Why the Diamondbacks haven't added a late-inning reliever this winter … Not having added a back-end reliever so far this winter has been a choice, of sorts, for the Diamondbacks and general manager Mike Hazen.  —  He would have liked to have signed one off the free-agent market.

Source: Freddy Peralta open to signing extension with Mets  —  The Mets' new ace is open to signing a contract extension with the team. … The New York Mets acquired ace starter Freddy Peralta and pitcher Tobias Myers from the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night in exchange for top prospects Jett Williams and Brandon Sproat.

Giants rebuffed after making aggressive pitch for Nationals' CJ Abrams: Source  —  With their options thinning out and just two weeks remaining before players report to spring training, the San Francisco Giants recently turned up the aggression to get something done on the trade market.

With Bellinger back, are the Yankees done making moves?  —  NEW YORK — The dance between Cody Bellinger's representatives and the Yankees was deep into a second month, the club having offered five years and the player's side holding out for more, as Aaron Boone held out hope for a speedy resolution.