Top News:
Joey Nowak / MLB.com:
La Russa announces his retirement as skipper — Steps down after three titles in 33 seasons, 16 with Cardinals — Tony La Russa, the third-winningest manager in Major League history and most assuredly a future Hall of Famer, announced his retirement as a manager on Monday …
Discussion:
MLB Daily Dish, Mark My Word and Baseball Nation
RELATED:
Derrick Goold / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Cardinals manager La Russa retires — ST. LOUIS — The Cardinals announced this morning that manager Tony La Russa has retired after 16 seasons with the Cardinals. — “Tony leaves behind a legacy of success that will always be rememered as one of the most successful eras in Cardinals history …
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
Sports Illustrated:
La Russa retiring as Cardinals manager — NEW YORK (SI.com) — Tony La Russa is retiring as manager of the Cardinals, just two days after guiding St. Louis to its 11th World Series championship in franchise history, according to a tweet from Major League Baseball.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors and Yahoo! Sports
Jon Heyman / Sports Illustrated:
Sabathia to opt out of Yankees contract, become free agent … Left-hander CC Sabathia plans to opt out of his long-term contract with the Yankees by the Monday night deadline and become a free agent, SI.com has learned. — Sabathia, 31, has four years worth $92 million left on his current seven-year …
Discussion:
Plain Dealer, Baseball Prospectus, WasWatching.com, NESN.com, Sporting News Feed RSS and Pinstripe Alley
RELATED:
Wallace Matthews / ESPN:
Source says Yankees extend offer to Sabathia — According to a New York Yankees executive, the terms of a renegotiated deal for pitcher CC Sabathia were transmitted to his representatives over the weekend, but the team has yet to receive a response. — “We believe it is a very fair offer,” the executive said.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors and Full Count
Peter Abraham / Boston Globe:
Red Sox exercise 2012 option on Scutaro — Talk about a nice birthday present. The Red Sox today picked up their $6 million team option on Marco Scutaro. — The shortstop, who turned 36 today, hit .299 with a .358 on-base percentage in 2011 over 113 games. He hit .387/.438/.581 in September.
RELATED:
Joe McDonald / ESPN:
Red Sox will talk to Mackanin, Sveum this week — The Boston Red Sox will begin talking to managerial candidates in the coming days, with Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin and Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach Dale Sveum set to interview for the job this week, general manager Ben Cherington confirmed Sunday.
Discussion:
Phillies Nation, MLB Daily Dish, MLB Rumors and Yahoo! Sports
Rob Bradford / WEEI:
MACKANIN, SVEUM TO BE INTERVIEWED THIS WEEK
Discussion:
Boston Globe, Phillies Nation, Over the Monster, HardballTalk and Al's Ramblings
Bill Ballew / Baseball America:
Scouting reports for the Top 10 Prospects (How to subscribe) — The Braves have promoted an impressive group of prospects to Atlanta during the past two seasons, resulting in a subtle youth movement that came together earlier than expected. Jason Heyward and Jonny Venters made significant impacts …
Discussion:
Capitol Avenue Club
Associated Press:
Report: Giants' Javier Lopez to re-sign — SAN FRANCISCO — Left-handed reliever Javier Lopez has agreed to an $8.5 million, two-year contract to stay with the San Francisco Giants, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Sunday. — Lopez
Discussion:
MLB Daily Dish and MLB Rumors
RELATED:
Rob Biertempfel / PittsburghLIVE.com:
Pirates part ways with Maholm, Snyder, Doumit, Cedeno — The Pirates today severed ties with four of their most veteran players — pitcher Paul Maholm, shortstop Ronny Cedeno and catchers Ryan Doumit and Chris Snyder. The team declined to exercise the players' contract options for 2012, making them free agents.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors and Bucs Dugout
Carrie Muskat / MLB.com:
Aramis may be headed for free agency — CHICAGO — Aramis Ramirez appears headed for free agency. — The Cubs announced Sunday night that they will exercise their side of the $16 million option for 2012, and the third baseman has two days to declare his interests.
Discussion:
Bleed Cubbie Blue and Yahoo! Sports
Chris Jaffe / Hardball Times:
Ranking postseasons: 1995-2011 — It was fun while it lasted. The 2011 postseason with its World Series for the ages is now over. Its end brings a question to my mind—where does it rank among all postseasons? — More specifically, where does it rank among other postseasons of the three-round era: LDS, LCS, and World Series.
Discussion:
HardballTalk
Joe Capozzi / Fish Tank blog:
Is Javier Vazquez willing to put off retirement? Marlins will find out — In the days before he left Sun Life Stadium for Puerto Rico late last month, Marlins pitcher Javier Vazquez continued to strongly hint that he had thrown his last pitch. — Could Vazquez be having second thoughts on retirement?
Discussion:
HardballTalk
