Top News:
Joe Strauss / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Baseball, union make progress in talks — Major League Baseball and the players association are making significant progress toward a five-year extension to the collective bargaining agreement that could lead to a resolution during the World Series, according to sources familiar with the process.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors and baseballmusings.com
RELATED:
Ben Walker / Associated Press:
La Russa's moves pay off, Cards win Series opener — ST. LOUIS (AP) Sometimes, it seems Tony La Russa wishes he could put a dozen more players in his dugout. Just imagine how many moves he could make then. — The St. Louis manager employed most of his roster Wednesday night …
Discussion:
HardballTalk, Associated Press and Yahoo! Sports
Associated Press:
Rangers Have Power Outage in World Series Opener
Discussion:
TSN.ca, Lone Star Ball and Associated Press
Mike Fitzpatrick / Associated Press:
Rhodes makes World Series debut, Cardinals win 3-2
Discussion:
Baseball Prospectus, Lookout Landing, Lone Star Ball, Twinkie Town and baseballmusings.com
Bruce Levine / ESPN:
Source: Cubs set to hire Theo Epstein — The Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox are finalizing a deal that would make Theo Epstein the Cubs' president of baseball operations at some point Thursday morning, according to a Major League Baseball source. — A source with knowledge of negotiations said …
Discussion:
Boston Globe, MLB Rumors, Bleed Cubbie Blue, WEEI and Baseball Nation
RELATED:
Fox Sports:
Cubs set to close the deal with Epstein — The Chicago Cubs are close to finalizing their hiring of Boston Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, a source said. An announcement could come Friday. — Epstein would take a high-level executive role, above the GM level.
Discussion:
Boston Globe and Full Count
Paul Sullivan / Chicago Tribune:
Source: Epstein signing expected to be made official Friday — Theo Epstein is expected to be announced as the Cubs' president of baseball operations on Friday at Wrigley Field, a source said. — The protracted negotiations over compensation are nearing a conclusion …
NY Daily News:
Beer in the clubhouse is ‘nothing new’ and not the blame for the Boston Red Sox's September collapse — The finger-pointing in Boston began as soon as the regular season was over: The Red Sox, who had gone 7-20 in September, missed the playoffs thanks to yet another epic collapse, and somebody's head had to roll.
Discussion:
ESPN, Subway Squawkers, Babes Love Baseball and NESN.com
RELATED:
Scott Lauber / Boston Herald:
Clay Buchholz: Got to learn from bad decisions — Another day, another Red Sox [team stats] pitcher making a confession. — Taking a page from ace lefty Jon Lester [stats]'s playbook, right-hander Clay Buchholz took to the airwaves today and admitted to drinking beer in the clubhouse during games this season.
Dan Shaughnessy / Boston Globe:
This kind of Octoberfest is leaving a sour taste — When he barged into the studios of 98.5 The Sports Hub last Friday afternoon, Red Sox owner John Henry claimed his ball club has been the target of a “media riot.” — CEO Larry Lucchino, the man in charge of running the ball club, seconds that emotion.
Discussion:
Dan Shaughnessy Watch
Josh Kosman / New York Post:
Potential Astros owner Jim Crane wants $50M discount to move team to American League — Potential Houston Astros owner Jim Crane is looking to cut $50 million from the purchase price of the team in exchange for the Astros switching leagues, The Post has learned.
Discussion:
Ultimate Astros, HardballTalk and Baseball Nation
Jason Collette / DRaysBay:
Breaking: Andrew Friedman Seen Dining With Angels Owner Arte Moreno — Update, 12:30pm: Radio host Toby David from 1010AM CBS is hearing from his sources that the Angels have been in town for two days, with the intention of interviewing Andrew Friedman. So chalk this up as further collaboration …
Discussion:
ESPN, MLB Rumors, HardballTalk, 6-4-2, Baseball Nation, Angels blog and MLB Daily Dish
Rob Bradford / WEEI:
FORGET CRYING, THE RED SOX PROVED WHY THERE SHOULD BE NO CAPTAINS IN BASEBALL — Jason Varitek was on the ‘list.’ It was why so many made it a point to tune into WAAF Wednesday morning to hear the catcher give his side of the story. But why? — By all accounts, Varitek was diligent as ever …
Discussion:
HardballTalk
Alden Gonzalez / MLB.com:
Molina's arm shuts down Texas' running game — ST. LOUIS — Chris Carpenter once read a book that reminded him a lot of his catcher. It was “The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game,” the 2006 novel by Michael Lewis that evolved into a Sandra Bullock-starring movie three years later.
Discussion:
HardballTalk
Jane Lee / MLB.com:
A's eyeing familiar face Young as pitching coach — Staple in Oakland organization could return after Boston stint — OAKLAND — Though A's hurlers were forced to say goodbye to a popular face when pitching coach Ron Romanick was not retained, they may soon be welcoming back a familiar one to fill that role.
Discussion:
HardballTalk and baseballmusings.com
