MLB report pins Red Sox violations on staffer, issues suspension, takes draft pick  —  Major League Baseball's ruling on the Boston Red Sox's illegal sign stealing in 2018 determined the primary culprit was not the front office, manager Alex Cora or the players, but the team's video replay system operator.

Jordan to the A's?  His Airness had MLB offer  —  Rickey Henderson, Mark McGwire, Dennis Eckersley ... and Michael Jordan?  —  It could have happened on the 1994 A's.  —  When Air Jordan made his bold and bizarre jump from basketball to baseball that year, it was only natural …

Offseason In Review: Chicago White Sox  —  The White Sox made clear their three-year rebuild is over, aggressively pursuing veteran free agents and landing several of them.  They also locked up multiple core pieces with extensions.  —  Major League Signings  — Yasmani Grandal, C: four years, $73MM

Former Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully hospitalized after taking a fall at his home  —  Vin Scully took a fall in his home Tuesday and was taken to the hospital, where he was “resting comfortably,” the Dodgers announced Thursday.  —  “I won't be doing anymore headfirst sliding, I never liked it …

Sources: MiLB Ready To Agree To Significant Reduction In Teams  —  When MLB proposed to MiLB last year its plan to cut the minor leagues from 160 teams to 120 affiliated teams in negotiations for a new Professional Baseball Agreement, such a proposal was greeted by many MiLB teams as unthinkable.

A-Rod, J-Lo retain J.P. Morgan in possible bid for Mets, per reports  —  MLB, New York Mets, New York Yankees  —  NEW YORK — Alex Rodriguez, once again, wants to be like Derek Jeter.  —  A-Rod and fiancée Jennifer Lopez have retained J.P. Morgan to represent them in raising capital …

ESPN seeking free rights to broadcast S. Korean baseball games: sources  —  U.S. sports media giant ESPN was seeking free rights to broadcast South Korean professional baseball games, leading to a stalemate in its negotiations with its counterpart in Seoul, informed sources told Yonhap News Agency on Thursday.

Sources: Majority of MLB teams to pay baseball ops staff through May  —  On the day Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred told a wide swath of the sport's staffers that “I fully anticipate baseball will return this season,” more than half the teams in the league pledged …

Elizabeth Warren's oldest brother dies of coronavirus in Oklahoma  —  Donald Reed Herring, the oldest brother of Senator Elizabeth Warren, died on Tuesday night in Norman, Okla., about three weeks after testing positive for coronavirus.  —  Herring, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, was 86.

Legendary baseball agent Scott Boras has a plan to bring the game back  — Baseball could serve as a great unifier during this time of crisis  — Boras envisions players wearing rubber gloves in dugouts, masks during batting practices  — Games would return spectator free to record ratings

Fans sue over ticket refunds, ask for class action  —  A pair of fans from New York are suing Major League Baseball, each individual club and ticket resellers over tickets purchased for MLB games that haven't been played due the coronavirus pandemic.  —  The complaint, filed Monday in California …

CDC director warns second wave of coronavirus is likely to be even more devastating  —  Even as states move ahead with plans to reopen their economies, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Tuesday that a second wave of the novel coronavirus will be far more dire …