What's new in baseball's new labor deal?  —  The negotiating path to baseball's new labor deal might have been the smoothest ever between the once-contentious sides.  But it's full of significant changes for fans.  —  Realignment, expanded playoffs, more replay, testing …

Yankees' Rivera hints 2012 could be final season  —  Mariano Rivera, while he waits to find out if he needs a surgical procedure done on his vocal cords, speculated on Tuesday that 2012 could be the final year of his career.  —  “I don't know what will happen,” said the Yankees closer …

MLB deal a dagger to small-market teams  —  The deal got done, and that fact overrides every other.  As the NBA will learn, labor peace alone carries great value, helps a sport achieve continued growth.  —  Unfortunately for baseball, low-revenue teams got trampled in its new collective …

Deadline arrives on arbitration offer for Ortiz  —  There is some baseball business to handle on Thanksgiving eve.  Teams have until 11 p.m. (EST) to offer their free agents arbitration.  —  David Ortiz joins Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, C.J. Wilson, Roy Oswalt, Jose Reyes and Jimmy Rollins …

Answer Man: Pete Rose talks Vegas, Sparky, Kool-Aid Man and exile  —  Can it really be 25 years since Pete Rose retired as a Major League Baseball player?  The man called “Charlie Hustle” collected 4,256 career base hits for the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies and Montreal Expos, more than any other player in history.

PADRES: Team acquires catcher Baker for LeBlanc  —  The Padres have strengthened their catching situation with the acquisition of John Baker from the Miami Marlins on Tuesday in exchange for pitcher Wade LeBlanc.  —  Baker is two-plus years removed from reconstructive elbow surgery …

Writers strike out not choosing Matt Kemp as MVP  —  Dodgers outfielder should have been the National League winner instead of Milwaukee's Ryan Braun, whom voters apparently favored because the Brewers won the Central Division.  —  He didn't play for a division champion …

Sizemore reaches one-year deal with Indians  —  Grady Sizemore's trip into free agency didn't take him far.  —  The Cleveland Indians have agreed to terms with the former all-star outfielder on a one-year, incentive-based contract.  It's a deal that could work for both sides if he can stay healthy and on the field.

The 2011 Yogi Berra Award  —  Awards are presented in November, and for the third time, The Hardball Times is going to name the Yogi Berra Award winner.  —  The great Yankee catcher used to swing at everything, and when asked about his habit of swinging at bad pitches …

Braves don't offer SS Gonzalez arbitration  —  The Braves did not offer salary arbitration to free agent shortstop Alex Gonzalez on Wednesday's deadline, choosing not to risk him accepting and commanding more than $3 million in arbitration.  —  The Braves forfeited a chance at gaining …

Baseball sticks it to Pirates  —  There was an awful lot of backslapping going on Tuesday at Major League Baseball's news conference in Manhattan over a new five-year collective bargaining agreement.  I'll have to presume Yankee Stadium was booked.  —  Twenty-one years of labor peace, the suits crowed.