Brewers offer arbitration to Fielder, K-Rod  —  Club declines same treatment for Type B free agent Betancourt  —  MILWAUKEE — The Brewers offered arbitration Wednesday to Type A free agents Prince Fielder and Francisco Rodriguez, positioning the club to receive four premium picks in next year's …

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 …

Royals To Sign Bruce Chen  —  Piece by piece, the Royals' rotation is taking shape.  They have agreed to sign Bruce Chen to a two-year deal worth $9MM.  The deal also includes a $1MM roster bonus and up to $1MM in incentives.  —  Before agreeing to terms with Chen, Royals GM Dayton Moore told Bob Dutton …

Bobby Valentine Will Be Fun With Red Sox, But It Won't End Well  —  This started Nov. 3 at the Hartford Club.  And make no mistake, it would end spectacularly.  This started with an arranged meeting before a World Affairs Council event on Prospect Street.  And the prospect of it ending …

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 …

Cesar Izturis Drawing Interest  —  Cesar Izturis is looking for a Major League deal and has drawn interest from several teams, according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (on Twitter).  The infielder won't be re-signing with the Orioles, according to Connolly.

Sveum hoping to hire Bosio as Cubs' pitching coach  —  Cubs manager Dale Sveum has asked former teammate Chris Bosio to become his pitching coach in Chicago.  —  Milwaukee general manager Doug Melvin told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel the Cubs asked permission last week to talk to Bosio …

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.

After getting life in order, Hanel helps others  —  Bullpen catcher donates coats through his Koos for Kids charity  —  MILWAUKEE — Everything changed 10 years ago for Marcus Hanel.  —  The Brewers' bullpen catcher had hit rock bottom, realizing at that point that he needed to do something different in his life.

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.

Draft Cap May Not Be So Harsh  —  When Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association announced a new five-year Collective Bargaining Agreement today, including several changes to the draft, reaction from club executives and player agents was as swift as a Justin Verlander fastball.