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Former MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and Atlanta Braves president and longtime executive John Schuerholz were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday by the Today’s Game Era Committee.

David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the news. The 16-person committee unanimously elected Schuerholz, while Selig received 15 votes.

“To say this is a significant day in my life would be an understatement. I consider myself very fortunate,” Selig said, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

This is the first year of the Today’s Game Era Committee voting, which aims to add deserving names from the modern era who have not been selected on the writers’ ballots.

George Steinbrenner, Lou Piniella, Mark McGwire, Davey Johnson, Orel Hershiser, Will Clark, Albert Belle and Harold Baines were also considered but did not receive enough votes. Piniella was the only person other than Selig or Schuerholz to receive more than five votes, per Baseball America.

Candidates needed 75 percent of the vote to make the Hall of Fame.

Selig, 82, served as MLB’s commissioner from September 1992 (acting) to January 2015. He oversaw some of the sport’s greatest moments of growth and perhaps the lowest moment in MLB history, with the 1994 work stoppage causing the cancelation of the World Series.

Baseball also underwent massive scrutiny under Selig for its lack of performance-enhancing-drug policy, which allowed home run records to be broken in part because of steroid use. The latter half of Selig’s tenure was largely about eradicating those issues and pushing the game into the 21st century. MLB now has perhaps the most stringent drug-testing policy of all four major professional sports in the U.S., and he turned the commissionership over to Rob Manfred after years of steady financial growth.

Schuerholz, 76, is a long-tenured baseball executive who had Hall of Fame-worthy runs with the Kansas City Royals and Braves. He spent the formative part of his career in Kansas City, moving up in the organization to eventually serve a successful general manager term. He was instrumental in building the Royals’ 1985 World Series team before joining Atlanta in 1990.

With the Braves, Schuerholz built a dynasty throughout the 1990s with a successful pitching staff. The Braves reached the World Series four times and won it in 1995, their first and only title since moving from Milwaukee.

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Outfielder Carlos Beltran will spend his 20th MLB season in Houston after signing a one-year, $16 million contract with the Astros on Saturday. 

ESPN’s Buster Olney was the first to report the move, while Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports added the terms, which include a full no-trade clause.

The 39-year-old veteran is coming off his best season in recent memory, as he hit .295 with 29 home runs and 93 RBI in an All-Star campaign split between the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers.

That marked his best production since All-Star years in 2012 and 2013 with the St. Louis Cardinals, and his 151 games played were his most since 2012 as well.

Both the Yanks and Rangers kept Beltran fresh by using him often at designated hitter, as 73 of his starts came at DH.

Beltran hit .280 with seven homers and 29 RBI in 52 contests down the stretch for the Rangers last season and added some punch to their lineup.

According to Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News, Beltran spoke positively of his experiences with the Rangers after they were ousted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALDS: “I really did enjoy myself here. The time I spent here with a special group of guys was amazing. There was a great chemistry that I was able to be part of. Right now, I want to go home and take a mental break and decide what’s next for my career.”

Per MLB.com’s TR Sullivan, the nine-time All-Star also expressed interest in returning to the Rangers for the 2017 season:

The switch-hitter and potential Hall of Famer has produced at every stop during his MLB career, including stints with the Kansas City Royals, Astros, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Cardinals, Yankees and Rangers.

Despite never having won a World Series, Beltran is among the best postseason performers of all time with a .323 batting average, 16 home runs, 41 RBI, 11 stolen bases and 45 runs scored in 55 career postseason games.

His resume is matched by few, and it is easy to see why the Astros, with their championship aspirations, pushed to sign him.

Although he only spent a short amount of time with the Rangers, his absence will undoubtedly be felt in 2017, since he made the middle of the order far more dangerous.

The Astros will now reap the benefits of Beltran’s big bat, and Beltran will attempt to make at least one more run at the championship ring that has eluded him.

Houston has loaded up offensively this offseason by trading for catcher Brian McCann and signing outfielder Josh Reddick, and the addition of Beltran makes its lineup even more dangerous.

The Astros are stacked with young talent, so bringing in a veteran with a track record of playoff success like Beltran may be exactly what they need to take that next step.

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Los Angeles Angels star Albert Pujols‘ status for Opening Day in 2017 could be up in the air after undergoing surgery on his right foot.

Continue for updates.

Latest on Pujols’ Timeline to Return

Friday, Dec. 2

The Angels issued a statement announcing Pujols underwent surgery on his right plantar fascia, and the normal estimated recovery time is four months.

This is yet another physical setback for Pujols, who underwent foot surgery in the offseason, which jeopardized his status for the start of the 2016 campaign. He also had arthroscopic knee surgery in 2012 and suffered through plantar fasciitis in 2013.

Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register noted before the 2016 season that Pujols seemed “more open to DHing now,” given his injury history.

Pujols played a career-high 123 games at designated hitter in 2016 because of his foot problems and declining skills in the field. He did hit 31 home runs, but his .323 on-base percentage was the second-lowest mark of his career. 

When healthy, Pujols has been one of the best players in baseball over the course of the last 15 years, and the 10-time All-Star, six-time Silver Slugger, three-time National League MVP and two-time Gold Glove winner gives the Angels power in their lineup alongside Mike Trout. 

Despite that sterling resume, Pujols hasn’t been the same dominant force for the Angels as he was with the St. Louis Cardinals during his prime:

Injuries and age have been factors in the decline in production, and it’s unlikely he will ever return to being anything close to what he was at his peak or even when he had an .859 OPS in his first season with the Angels.

The Angels can use a combination of Jefry Marte and C.J. Cron at first base or designated hitter if Pujols is unable to be back before the season starts in April. 

While the Angels at least have some pieces to help them remain afloat without Pujols, they are a more dangerous offense when he is in the lineup and producing behind Trout.

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The San Diego Padres have made this year’s crop of free-agent pitchers more intriguing by opting not to give right-handed pitcher Tyson Ross a contract for 2017. 

Per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the Padres did not tender Ross a contract, and he immediately becomes a free agent. 

Ross only appeared in one game last season, giving up seven earned runs in 5.1 innings before his right shoulder flared up and caused him to miss the rest of the year with inflammation. 

In October, per MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell, Ross opted to undergo surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome. It’s the same procedure New York Mets pitcher Matt Harvey had in July that ended his 2016 season prematurely. 

Cassavell noted Ross’ recovery timetable is four to six months, which would put him on track to return as soon as February or as late as mid-April. 

Prior to 2016, Ross was one of the best pitchers in the National League the previous three seasons. He posted a 3.07 ERA with 526 strikeouts and 437 hits allowed in 516.2 innings and made a total of 64 starts in 2013-15. 

Per FanGraphs, Ross ranked ninth among all NL starters who had at least 500 innings pitched from 2013-15 with 9.6 wins above replacement. 

Matt Snyder of CBSSports.com noted how starkly things changed for Ross and the Padres from 2015 to the point where the former All-Star was not tendered a contract:

This year’s crop of free-agent pitchers is horrendous, with 36-year-old Rich Hill being the top available arm because he can miss bats, despite having no history of staying healthy. 

Ross’ recent track record certainly makes him a cautionary tale for whatever team wants to take a chance on him, but if he returns to anything close to his previous skill level, the 29-year-old will end up being one of the biggest bargains for anyone in search of a starting pitcher. 

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The San Diego Padres traded away another piece from their 2015 spending spree, sending Derek Norris to the Washington Nationals, per William Ladson of MLB.com.

Per Nationals Communications on MLBlogs.com, the Padres will receive minor league right-hander Pedro Avila back in the deal. 

Norris was one of a number of players Padres general manager A.J. Preller acquired before 2015 in an effort to immediately turn San Diego in to a contender. Preller’s plan was a disaster, as the team finished fourth in the National League West.

After a solid debut season for the Padres in 2015, in which he posted a .250/.305/.404 slash line with 14 home runs, Norris collapsed last season. He posted career lows in average (.186), on-base percentage (.255), slugging percentage (.328) and OPS+ (56). 

Per FanGraphs, among catchers with at least 400 plate appearances in 2016, Norris’ minus-.4 wins above replacement ranked last. 

The Padres had until 8 p.m. ET on Friday to tender Norris a contract for 2017, as he is arbitration-eligible and under team control for two more seasons.  

Moving Norris on allows the team to focus more on the development of Austin Hedges, who is almost certainly the future at catcher. Christian Bethancourt, 25, could be the long-term answer, but Hedges will likely be the front office’s first pick to replace Norris.

The 24-year-old appeared in 56 major league games last year, batting .168 with three homers and 11 RBI. After recovering from a hamate bone fracture in his left hand, he has looked great in Triple-A. In 191 plate appearances, he has a .367 batting average and a .729 slugging percentage to go along with 17 home runs and 61 RBI.

The Padres should feel confident his second promotion to the bigs will go better than the first.

Plus, they got a young arm in the deal who at least offers some upside. Avila will turn 20 in January and spent all of last season in Low-A, holding his own with a 3.48 ERA, 92 strikeouts, 86 hits allowed and 38 walks in 93 innings. 

Given Avila’s small stature—he’s listed at 5’11” and 170 pounds on MiLB.com—starting likely isn’t in his future. But there’s a lot to like about his arm. He was ranked as Washington’s No. 23 prospect in 2016 by MLB.com, with two quality pitches already at his disposal:

The right-hander’s fastball sits at 91-93 mph with some arm-side run and sink, and he’s already adept at commanding it on both sides of the plate. Avila’s curveball is his go-to secondary offering, thrown in the mid-70s with 11-to-5 shape and good depth. His feel for the pitch is advanced, as he’ll throw it for a strike early in at-bats before taking it out of the zone to induce whiffs. 

The Padres embraced their need to rebuild last year when they dealt Craig Kimbrel and Drew Pomeranz to the Boston Red Sox in separate deals to bolster their farm system. It will take time for their new young talent to develop before results show at the MLB level, but the front office finally has them headed in the right direction. 

The Nationals know Norris as well as any team in MLB. They originally drafted him out of high school in 2007, and he spent the first three seasons of his professional career in Washington’s system before being traded to the Oakland Athletics as part of the Gio Gonzalez trade. 

Norris isn’t among the elite at his position, but he was a consistent hitter and defensive catcher in his final two years with the Oakland Athletics and first year with the Padres. If he can get back to that, then this trade will be more than worth it.

The Nationals were in need of a catcher with Wilson Ramos entering free agency. Norris may not be their long-term solution at the position because of his poor performance in 2016, but he gives manager Dusty Baker options and is a good buy-low candidate who didn’t cost any significant assets to acquire.

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Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman Jung Ho Kang reportedly was charged with leaving the scene of a DUI, according to Jeeho Yoo of Yonhap News and Sung Min Kim of Vice Sports.

Kim shared a photograph of the incident in question:

Kim added that “Kang allegedly tried to flee the scene after causing an accident and was caught shortly thereafter.” The incident reportedly took place early Friday morning in Seoul, South Korea.

Rob Biertempfel of TribLive.com offered more details:

Pirates president Frank Coonelly released a statement on Kang, per Stephen J. Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Kang apologized through his management company, courtesy of NBC Sports’ Craig Calcaterra:

I’d like to apologize to everyone who is disappointed with me. Today, I got behind the wheel after drinking and committed an irrevocable mistake. I panicked at the moment of the accident and did something that I never should have done. I am deeply regretting the incident. I will humbly accept whatever punishment is deemed fit for my actions.

Kang, 29, has also been the subject of a sexual assault case. A 23-year-old woman said the pair met at a Westin Hotel in Chicago and Kang gave her a drink. The woman then said she drifted in and out of consciousness, per Andrew Goldstein of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Kang was never charged with a crime in the incident, although he was named as a suspect. Chicago police have said the accuser has not cooperated fully with the investigation.

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Left-handed pitcher Jaime Garcia has spent his entire MLB career with the St. Louis Cardinals, but the Atlanta Braves announced on Thursday they acquired the southpaw in exchange for prospects John Gant, Chris Ellis and Luke Dykstra. 

Mark Saxon of ESPN.com first reported the trade. Gant and Ellis are each right-handed pitchers, while Dykstra is an infielder. 

MLB.com ranked Ellis, Gant and Dykstra as Atlanta’s 17th-, 21st- and 29th-best prospects, respectively, in 2016.

Garcia is the headliner in the trade, though he had mixed results in 2016. On one hand, he appeared in 32 games, which tied for his career high and represented significant strides after an injury-marred stretch. He made 20 starts in 2012, nine in 2013, seven in 2014 and 20 in 2015.

He underwent season-ending surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome and suffered partial labrum and rotator cuff tears during that span. He also dealt with groin issues in 2015.

While Garcia proved he can handle the rigors of an entire season in 2016, he was nowhere near as effective as he was in 2010 and 2011, when he posted 2.70 and 3.56 ERAs, respectively.

He finished the 2016 campaign with a 4.67 ERA and 1.37 WHIP, which were his highest marks since he made 10 appearances as a rookie in 2008. Home runs were one of the biggest problems for the southpaw, who allowed 26 on a Cardinals team that finished 86-76 and missed out on the playoffs.

However, his strikeout totals increased with more innings of work:

Garcia represents the latest veteran addition for the Braves pitching staff, which has also added 43-year-old Bartolo Colon and 42-year-old R.A. Dickey in the offseason.

At 30 years old, Garcia is younger than those two righties, but injuries have to be a concern as he racks up additional mileage on his arm.

Still, Atlanta needed to make changes to its starting rotation after finishing 28th in the big leagues with a 4.87 ERA. Atlanta has plenty of ground to make up in the National League East after finishing in last place at 68-93, but addressing the woeful starting rotation was an ideal place to start.

Garcia comes with risks, but he also has a track record that includes a handful of notable seasons.

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Japanese star Shohei Otani is bound to be one of the most coveted international stars on the free-agent market. The only question is when the 22-year-old will decide to make the leap to MLB.

Continue for updates.

Latest on Otani, Potential Impact of New CBA

Thursday, Dec. 1

On Wednesday, MLB announced (via Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith) it has tentatively reached an agreement with the players’ union on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan noted the new CBA could have a direct impact on foreign stars such as Otani:

Following up, Passan spoke to sources who indicated the CBA could be amended to get Otani and others into the league before they turn 25.

“There are ways it could happen,” an anonymous MLB official said, per Passan. “I don’t think there is any reason if an international superstar wants to play here we stop it.”

The New York Post‘s Joel Sherman talked to another person involved in the CBA discussion who echoed a similar sentiment: “When the interests of all five parties [the player, Nippon Professional Baseball, MLB, the MLB club and MLBPA] are aligned, things get worked out.”

In 21 games for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, Otani went 10-4 with a 1.86 ERA this season. He averaged 11.2 strikeouts and 2.9 walks per nine innings, according to Baseball-Reference.com. Otani also had 22 home runs and 67 RBI along with a .322/.416/.588 slash line in 382 plate appearances.

Some MLB players got a firsthand look at Otani during the 2014 MLB Japan All-Star Series, which featured MLB and NPB stars.

Altering the CBA rules to incentivize Otani’s stateside arrival before his age-25 season makes sense. By arriving in MLB at an earlier age, he’d have an additional year or two to adjust to playing in a new country before entering the prime of his playing career.

An athlete has a small window of peak earning power, so it also doesn’t make sense to financially handicap top international talent.

Otani’s inevitable free agency will be a good test of the new CBA’s flexibility.

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After some concern about labor strife between Major League Baseball’s owners and the MLB Players Association, the two sides have agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement.

MLB announced the news, adding the two parties are continuing to draft the entirety of the agreement, per Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet on Wednesday.

The MLBPA and MLB released a joint statement on Friday with words from Commissioner Rob Manfred:

“I am pleased that we completed an agreement prior to the deadline that will keep the focus on the field during this exciting time for the game. There are great opportunities ahead to continue our growth and build upon the popularity that resonated throughout the Postseason and one of the most memorable World Series ever. This agreement aims to further improve the game’s healthy foundation and to promote competitive balance for all fans.”

“I thank Tony Clark, his colleagues and many Major League Players for their work throughout the collective bargaining process. We appreciate their shared goals for the betterment of the sport. I am grateful for the efforts of our Labor Policy Committee, led by Ron Fowler, as well as Dan Halem and our entire Labor Relations Department.”

Clark also shared his thoughts on the new deal in the statement:

Every negotiation has its own challenges. The complexities of this agreement differ greatly from those in the past if for no other reason than how the industry has grown. With that said, a fair and equitable deal is always the result you are working toward, and, once again, I believe we achieved that goal. I would like to thank our Players for their involvement, input and leadership throughout. Their desire to protect our history and defend and advance the rights and interests of their peers is something I am truly grateful for.

On Friday, USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale reported that “owners are scheduled to vote on Dec 13 to ratify the new CBA, which should be a formality.”

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports first reported the two sides finalized the deal on Wednesday. 

Joel Sherman of the New York Post noted on Wednesday that under parameters of the new CBA, the luxury-tax threshold will start at $195 million next season and gradually increase to between $210 million to $215 million before the deal ends in five years.

Rosenthal reported the potential threshold increments over the course of the new CBA:

Sherman also reported there will be a greater penalty of about 60 to 70 percent for teams in excess of $250 million in payroll, compared to the previous CBA penalty of 50 percent.

MLB and the players have gone 21 years without any serious labor strife. There were eight different work stoppages from 1972 to 1995, including the 1994-95 labor dispute that led to the cancellation of the 1994 World Series and limited the 1995 season to 144 regular-season games.

Rosenthal reported on Nov. 22, nine days before the previous CBA expired, that there was growing concern about a lockout due to owners’ frustration with the “slow pace of the discussions” and two key negotiations the sides didn’t agree on:

The owners offered to resolve two of the biggest issues by offering a straight exchange, telling the players they would eliminate direct draft-pick compensation in free agency in exchange for the right to implement an international draft, sources said. The players, however, rejected the proposal, wanting no part of an international draft.

Per MLB Network’s Jon Morosi, teams will no longer have to give up a first-round pick to sign free agents who receive a qualifying offer. However, draft compensation won’t completely go away, as teams over the luxury-tax threshold would lose a second- and fifth-round pick, while teams under would lose a third-round pick, per ESPN’s Jayson Stark.

Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reported an international draft is not part of the new CBA, and teams will be limited to between $5 million to $6 million for international signings.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports added the new CBA includes the “death penalty” for teams caught cheating internationally, allowing the league to penalize up to 50 percent of international money through 2021.

Passan noted the international signing age will be raised to 25, meaning Japanese star Shohei Otani will not be coming to MLB until 2019.

The new CBA reportedly also eliminates the All-Star Game as the deciding factor for home-field advantage in the World Series, with Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reporting the change.

Blum also reported the minimum stay on the disabled list will go from 15 days to 10 days.

Another wrinkle will be that new MLB players will be banned from using smokeless tobacco, with current players being grandfathered in, per Sherman.

Sherman also reported rosters will remain the same with 25 active players and September call-ups.

Morosi added that all of the changes in free-agent compensation structure will go into effect next season, with prior rules still applying to this year’s class.

While Rosenthal’s report did raise questions about a potential work stoppage with the winter meetings scheduled to begin Dec. 4, Mark Armour of the Society for American Baseball Research tried to ease those fears.

“Most CBAs have been signed [weeks] or months after expiration, with no intervening labor strife,” Armour wrote. “Seriously, people, the deadline means nothing.”

Up to the point Rosenthal’s report came out, there was nothing about potentially difficult or disastrous labor negotiation to suggest a stoppage was going to happen.

Maury Brown of Forbes reported MLB revenue in 2015 reached $9.5 billion, the 13th straight year the league saw a revenue increase. The league’s new television contracts with ESPN, Fox and TBS, which began in 2014, pay a total of $12.4 billion through 2021.

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Terry Ryan needed only five months to find a new job, with the Philadelphia Phillies hiring the former general manager as a special assignment scout. 

The Phillies announced Ryan’s hiring in a press release on their official website. 

“I have known Terry for more than a decade and have enormous respect for all that he accomplished during his tenure with the Twins,” Phillies general manager Matt Klentak said in the release. “Terry’s work ethic, loyalty and track record as a talent evaluator are simply unparalleled in our game.”

Ryan previously worked with the Minnesota Twins, serving 19 years as general manager in two different stints from 1994 to 2007 and 2012 to 2016. He helped lead the franchise to four American League Central titles between 2002 and 2006, including an appearance in the American League Championship Series in 2002. 

The Twins became one of the American League’s worst teams since 2011, losing at least 92 games five times in the previous six seasons. The team fired Ryan in July due to a reported disagreement with owner Jim Pohlad over how to go about improving the club, per Phil Miller of the Star Tribune.

The role of a special assignment scout can vary depending on the team. Typically, he will be used as one of the last channels of communication to a general manager before the GM decides to make a talent acquisition. 

Even though things fell apart with the Twins, Ryan did oversee a front office that led to the franchise having the best farm system in MLB before the 2014 season, with talent like Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano among the top prospects. 

The Phillies are still in rebuilding mode with a promising farm system that will likely start to pay dividends as soon as 2017. Adding another sharp scouting mind to the mix like Ryan will ensure the talent pipeline in Philadelphia continues to stay strong. 

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