• Phillies 2B Utley may be out until May (AP)

  

  Three-time All-Star Chase Utley, who anchored the middle of the lineup for the World Series champion Phillies, will have surgery and may not be ready for the start of the 2009 regular season. Utley will have surgery next week to repair any bone or cartilage damage he may have in his right hip. He will be able to begin baseball activity in three to four months.

  
  

• Control of Yanks shifts to Boss' son Hal (AP)

  

  For more than three decades, George Steinbrenner's imprints were all over the New York Yankees. Blockbuster trades, pricey signings, hirings, firings -- they all needed his OK. No more. The omnipresent owner's colorful 35-year reign of pronouncements, threats and bluster ended Thursday when he passed control of baseball's most famous and successful franchise to his youngest son, Hal.

  
  

• Yankees' Mussina announces retirement (AP)

  Mike Mussina took a secret to the ballpark every day this season. Maybe that's why he was so successful on the mound, so jovial in the clubhouse. From Day One of spring training, he knew this was his final year -- even if it meant giving up bids for 300 wins, a World Series ring and a better shot at the Hall of Fame.

• MLB: Postseason games can't be shortened (AP)

  Bidders for the Chicago Cubs have until Dec. 1 to submit offers, Major League Baseball said Wednesday after a meeting of its ownership committee. Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said representatives of four bidders have met in New York in recent weeks with officials from the commissioner's office, MLB's Internet company and the sport's new television network.

• Steinbrenner: Offer to CC has deadline (AP)

  CC Sabathia will have a deadline to accept the New York Yankees' contract proposal. "We've made him an offer. It's not going to be there forever," Hal Steinbrenner said Thursday after he was approved as the team's new controlling owner during a meeting at Major League Baseball headquarters. New York offered a six-year contract to the pitcher last Friday, the first day teams were allowed to start...

• Cardinals close to deal with LHP Miller (AP)

  Looking to fill one of their most pressing offseason needs, the St. Louis Cardinals were close to a contract agreement with left-handed reliever Trever Miller. The deal was likely to be finalized Friday. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Thursday that Miller came to the city for a physical and met with team doctors, but a deal had not been completed.

• Mariners hire Wakamatsu as manager (AP)

  

  Don Wakamatsu is proud to be the first Asian-American manager in major league history. He's also keenly aware of what his grandparents endured, generations before he took over the Seattle Mariners. During World War II, the United States government moved his Japanese ancestors across the country from one internment camp to another.

  
  

• Red Sox trade OF Crisp to Royals (AP)

  

  The Kansas City Royals picked up the leadoff hitter they had been seeking, acquiring center fielder Coco Crisp from the Boston Red Sox for reliever Ramon Ramirez on Wednesday. Kansas City was 12th among 14 AL teams in runs last season and added power last month, obtaining first baseman Mike Jacobs from Florida.

  
  

• A's owner: Make 1st round 1-game playoff (AP)

  Lew Wolff has a way to shorten baseball's postseason: Make the first round best-of-one. "I'd make it one-game-and-you're-out for the first series," the Oakland Athletics owner said Wednesday. "It would be exciting. It would be great." Begun in 1995, the division series has been a best-of-five competition.

Show (0) - Add comments: