Francona: Scutaro is the shortstop  —  Red Sox GM Theo Epstein said last week that while Marco Scutaro is the incumbent shortstop, Jed Lowrie could challenge for playing time in spring training.  —  Manager Terry Francona didn't get that memo.  —  “Scutaro's our shortstop,” …

Yankees reach deal with Jones … The Yankees have reached an agreement with veteran outfielder Andruw Jones on a one-year deal worth $2 million plus $1.2 million in performance bonuses.  —  Jones, 33, is a veteran of 15 seasons in which he has made five All-Star teams and won 10 Gold Glove awards.

New Met Young: My arm is ready to go  —  It was with little surprise that Mets manager Terry Collins announced Wednesday that he was handing the ball to Mike Pelfrey as his opening day starter.  And a day later the Mets officially secured the final piece of their rotation when Chris Young passed …

Reds, Cueto Agree To Four-Year Extension  —  6:30pm: Reds GM Walt Jocketty says the deal is not done but confirms that the sides are close, tweets John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer.  —  5:22pm: The Reds and right-handed pitcher Johnny Cueto have agreed to a four-year contract extension worth $27MM …

The Yankees and Bullpen Allocation  —  When the Yankees announced their signing of Rafael Soriano, General Manager Brian Cashman admitted that he wasn't fully behind the move.  Rarely has an announcement of a big-ticket signing come with such an admission from the team's General Manager:

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is damaging its legacy  —  Ray Doswell is on the phone.  You might know that he is the interim president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, and you might know that place is in serious trouble.  —  Ray is a good man.  Smart, passionate, thoughtful.

Molding of Clay advances  —  So now the real journey is about to begin for Clay Buchholz.  —  This is the first season of the rest of his career.  From here on, he begins to answer the question, “Is he an elite starting pitcher?”  —  His numbers last season shouted yes …

Blue Jays Sign Dominican Lefty Labour  —  The Blue Jays have agreed to terms with 16-year-old Dominican lefthander Jairo Labour for $350,000.  —  Labour, who is 6-foot-4, 185 pounds, became eligible to sign when the 2010 international signing period opened on July 2, but he developed …

CBA Year  —  The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between Major League Baseball (MLB) and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) expires on Dec. 11, 2011.  That means from now until a new contract is reached, we will be hearing about negotiations, what the players want to gain, what the owners hope to accomplish.

Four Mets pitchers train with FDNY  —  They wore official FDNY protective gear, not elf apparel.  But four pitchers from the New York Mets got into the act of dropping down the side of a building Thursday, too, pulling a page from Yankees general manager Brian Cashman's playbook.

Reyes likes NYC, but no contract during season  —  Yesterday at Citi Field, Jose Reyes told reporters he is not interested in talking about his contract during the season.  —  “I want to be focused trying to help this team win,” he explained.  “I just want to play baseball for now.”