Voice of Yankee Stadium Retires  —  The new Yankee Stadium will sound much different than the old one.  Bob Sheppard, the public address announcer for the Yankees since 1951, has retired.  —  Paul Doherty, a friend and agent who has represented Sheppard, said Sheppard's son, Paul, told him about Sheppard's plans on Wednesday morning.

Royals trade Gload to the Marlins and finalize their rotation  —  The Royals moved to trim their roster Wednesday morning by trading veteran first baseman Ross Gload to the Florida Marlins and asking release waivers on reliever Joel Peralta.  —  Manager Trey Hillman also confirmed Sidney Ponson …

Orioles trade Penn to Marlins  —  FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - With Wednesday's trade of Hayden Penn to the Florida Marlins, the Orioles not only parted ways with their one-time top pitching prospect, but they further solidified their Opening Day roster.  —  In exchange for Penn …

Pirates add Monroe, remove Romulo Sanchez  —  BRADENTON, Fla. — The Pirates just made it official: Outfielder Craig Monroe will be added to the 25-man roster.  —  Monroe has batted .281 with six home runs and 13 RBIs, with half of those home runs — and the last of them - coming with that prodigious …

Taking Joba out of Yanks' bullpen sets up failure  —  Joba Chamberlain had his best outing of the spring Tuesday,, limiting the Reds to five hits and two runs in 51/3 innings.  He was so good, in fact, that he pitched the Yankees almost to the point where, ideally, Joba Chamberlain would come into the game.

Minor League Transactions  —  This time: March 21-30 … Arizona Diamondbacks  —  Released: RHP Santo Baez, C Gerardo Bustamante, 1B Chance Wheeless, OF Jarred Ball, OF Jo Jo Batten  —  Outrighted to Triple-A and removed from 40-man roster: OF Alex Romero

Agent: Teams looking at Sheffield  —  Gary Sheffield doesn't expect to be out of work for long.  —  Rufus Williams, agent for Sheffield, told ESPN's Buster Olney on Wednesday that there are “a number of teams that are expressing interest.”  —  “Gary is going to be able to play this season.

Royals' Hudson hangs it up  —  Pain in right shoulder lingered for fan favorite  —  SURPRISE, Ariz. — Luke Hudson, who became a fan favorite as a pitching sensation in 2006, on Wednesday announced he was giving up his comeback attempt.  —  Hudson, 31, was in the Royals' Minor League camp …

NL West preview: Dodgers and D'backs will duel 'til the end  —  Rejoice, rejoice, the baseball season is almost here!  In an attempt to quickly get some of you slackers up to speed on the year ahead, Big League Stewards Kevin Kaduk and David Brown will look at a division each day this week …

Wednesday morning: Triple-A rotation lined up  —  Pitching coordinator Nardi Contreras revealed the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rotation this morning, but was careful to note that something could change between now and opening day.  “That's in pencil, not in ink,” he said.  The rotation, in order, will be...

Jays release Bush  —  DUNEDIN, Fla. — Matt Bush has not been behaving himself.  —  The troubled former first-round draft choice, who was brought into the Blue Jays camp as kind of a reclamation project, was released outright by the club today.  —  The converted shortstop was released …

Yanks to start season with Jeter in leadoff spot … TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Derek Jeter could be the first New York Yankees player to bat at their new stadium.  —  Manager Joe Girardi said Wednesday that his spring training switch of Jeter and Johnny Damon atop the lineup has worked …

Porcello, Perry make team, Robertson in relief  —  Rick Porcello and Ryan Perry have a combined 38 games of professional baseball experience, none of it above Class A ball.  But they'll have two spots on the Tigers' 12-man pitching staff.  —  In the end, talent won out over the experience.

D-backs waive Rule 5 pick Skelton  —  Battle for final roster spot down to Wilson, Whitesell, Roberts  —  PHOENIX — The D-backs have not made a final decision as to who will win the final spot on the 25-man roster, but one thing is for sure — it won't be James Skelton.

Beckett has final tuneup; Sox edge Pirates  —  BRADENTON, Fla. — Josh Beckett threw 88 pitches today in his final tuneup before his Opening Day start, giving up three earned runs in 3 2/3 innings, walking one, striking out four, and surrendering seven hits in Boston's 4-3 victory over the Pirates.

Texas Rangers cut Frank Catalanotto to make room for Andruw Jones  —  SURPRISE, Ariz. — The Texas Rangers have cleared the way for Andruw Jones to make their roster by releasing Frank Catalanotto.  —  Jones, who won 10 consecutive Gold Gloves as Atlanta's center fielder …

Reds will talk to Sheffield  —  Reds manager Dusty Baker said Wednesday night that he is meeting on Thursday with Gary Sheffield, the slugger who spent the last two years with the Detroit Tigers.  —  Baker made the comments on Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty's Sports Talk radio show on 700 WLW-AM.

The road to success begins with youth  —  Young players at the heart of any sustained run of good fortune  —  Click your TiVo back to last October and the League Championship Series.  —  There were the league champions.  The Phillies were built on layers of the scouting and development acumen …