Top News:
Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:
Mike Maddux, Dale Sveum take center stage in Cubs' search — Texas Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux is a candidate for the Cubs' managerial job. Leon Halip~Getty Images — It took more than three months for the Cubs to get their new front office team in place.
Discussion:
Boston Globe, Gaslamp Ball, NESN.com, ESPN, HardballTalk and Yahoo! Sports
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Paul Hoynes / Plain Dealer:
Cleveland Indians grant Boston permission to interview Sandy Alomar Jr. for manager's job; are Cubs also interested? — CLEVELAND, Ohio — Boston has received permission to interview Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. to be their manager. But the Red Sox may have company when it comes to Alomar.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports and SI Tracking Blog
Rob Bradford / WEEI:
RED SOX TO INTERVIEW MADDUX, ALOMAR JR. — A source has confirmed that the next two candidates to be interviewed by the Red Sox for their vacant managerial opening will be Mike Maddux and Sandy Alomar Jr. Both the Rangers (Maddux) and Indians (Alomar Jr.) have granted the Sox permission to talk to the coaches.
Discussion:
HardballTalk, MLB Rumors and NESN.com
Peter Abraham / Boston Globe:
Dale Sveum discusses interview with Red Sox — and other notes from Fenway
Discussion:
joy of sox, Yahoo! Sports and MLB.com
Atabey / DominicanToday.com:
Baseball great Matty Alou dies in Miami — Santo Domingo.- One of the most inconic Major League Baseball greats from the Dominican Republic, Mateo Rojas Alou (Matty Alou) died early Thursday in Miami of unspecified ailment. — Alou, one of the famous brothers Jesus and Felipe …
Discussion:
HardballTalk, Baseball Nation and Yahoo! Sports
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Duk / Yahoo! Sports:
Dominican baseball legend Matty Alou dies at age 72 — There's great sadness in the house of one of baseball's greatest families as Dominican Today reports that Matty Alou has passed away at age 72 from an undisclosed ailment. — That's Mateo Rojas Alou in the middle of the above picture …
Discussion:
Batter's Box Interactive … and WasWatching.com
Associated Press:
Matty Alou, once part of an all-Alou outfield for the San Francisco Giants with brothers Felipe and Jesus, died Thursday in his native Dominican Republic. He was 72. — He died of diabetes complications, according to his former Dominican team, Leones del Escogido.
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
Baseball Hall of Fame:
Ten Named To Golden Era Ballot for Baseball Hall of Fame Election — Eight Players, Two Executives from 1947-'72 Era to Be Considered at Winter Meetings — Watch a video about the Golden Era ballot — COOPERSTOWN, NY - Eight former major league players and two former executives comprise …
Discussion:
Dodgers Blog
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Mark Bowman / Bowman's Blog:
Braves willing to trade Jurrjens and Prado — The Braves gained some financial flexibility by trading Derek Lowe to the Indians earlier this week. They are now exploring the possibility of gaining more flexibility while talking to clubs interested in trading for Jair Jurrjens and/or Martin Prado.
Discussion:
Talking Chop, HardballTalk and MLB Daily Dish
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Mark Polishuk / MLB Rumors:
Braves Open To Trading Jurrjens, Prado — The Braves have told some teams they would be willing to move Jair Jurrjens and Martin Prado in a trade, a Major League source tells MLB.com's Mark Bowman. Atlanta is known to be looking for a power-hitting outfielder and possibly a new shortstop …
Ken Gurnick / MLB.com:
Kemp touches on contract, Prince, NL MVP — Dodgers star wants to stay in LA, hopes club can lure Fielder — LOS ANGELES — Matt Kemp took time out from an offseason of collecting awards Thursday to talk about some really big awards he still might collect.
Discussion:
True Blue LA
RELATED:
Los Angeles Times:
Peter O'Malley joins list of potential bidders for Dodgers
Discussion:
Los Angeles Times and Dodgers Blog
Bill Shaikin / Los Angeles Times:
Peter O'Malley wants to run Dodgers
Discussion:
Dodgers Blog, ESPN and Mike Scioscia's tragic illness
Ramona Shelburne / ESPN:
Steve Garvey prepping proposal to purchase Los Angeles Dodgers
Discussion:
Associated Press, MLB Daily Dish and BBTF's Baseball Primer …
Doug Miller / MLB.com:
MLB All-Stars earn hard-fought win in Taiwan — Major Leaguers go ahead late to take Game 2 vs. Chinese Taipei — TAICHUNG, Taiwan — The quality of baseball in Taiwan is getting better quickly, and the stars of the Major Leagues got a good taste of that improvement Thursday night.
Discussion:
Federal Baseball
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Rob Bradford / WEEI:
RED SOX FIRE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING COACH — The Red Sox have let go strength and conditioning coach Dave Page and assistant trainer Greg Barajas, according to multiple sources. — Page had been with the organization since 2006, serving as the strength and conditioning coach …
Discussion:
Boston Globe, HardballTalk and NESN.com
Derrick Goold / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Furcal willing to wait on manager search — ST. LOUIS • The agent for shortstop Rafael Furcal said he's told Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak that his client is willing to wait until the Cardinals' search for a manager is complete before making a final decision on where he'll play in 2012.
Discussion:
HardballTalk
Duk / Yahoo! Sports:
Would Pujols really agree to a statue if he were leaving St. Louis? — Should Albert Pujols(notes) bolt town through free agency this hot stove season, at least St. Louis Cardinals fans will have an awkward memento to remember him by. — A 1o-foot, 1,100-pound statue of the two-time World Series winner …
RELATED:
Joe Strauss / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Cardinals start manager interviews Thursday
Discussion:
NESN.com, HardballTalk, SI Tracking Blog, FenwayNationWorld and MLB Rumors
