MLB

3:40 PM ET As part of its restructuring of the minor leagues, Major League Baseball formally issued invitations to fill each franchise’s four affiliated slots. The affiliations will not be official until the minor league teams sign agreements. All 30 MLB franchises will have a Triple-A team, a Double-A team, a high Class A team

3:50 PM ET ESPN News Services NEW YORK — First basemen Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves and Jose Abreu of the Chicago White Sox have won Hank Aaron Awards as the outstanding offensive performers in each league as voted by MLB.com. Freeman, 31, was second in the NL in batting (.341), OBP (.462), slugging

2:13 PM ET ESPN News Services First baseman Carlos Santana and the Kansas City Royals are in agreement on a two-year, $17 million deal, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Tuesday. Santana became a free agent after his $17.5 million option for 2021 was declined after the season as part of a payroll purge

12:34 PM ET ESPN News Services The Chicago White Sox and Adam Eaton have agreed to a one-year, $7 million deal that includes a club option for 2022 at $8.5 million, sources confirmed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Eaton is expected to be the every-day right fielder for the White Sox. The deal was first reported

10:38 AM ET NEW YORK — Dick Kaegel, who covered the St. Louis Cardinals and Kansas City Royals and edited The Sporting News during a career of more than 53 years, has won the Hall of Fame’s J.G. Taylor Spink Award for meritorious contributions to baseball writing. He will be honored during induction weekend from

7:00 AM ET MLB InsidersESPN In a normal year, baseball’s winter meetings are a gathering of team executives of all stripes, player agents and journalists where the hot stove starts gaining steam and the trade and free-agent markets start buzzing. This, of course, is not a normal year. Instead of crowding into the lobby of

12:08 AM ET Jeff PassanESPN Close ESPN MLB insiderAuthor of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports” The Chicago White Sox acquired right-hander Lance Lynn in a trade with the Texas Rangers early Tuesday morning, sources told ESPN, bolstering their rotation with a veteran who led the major leagues

3:23 PM ET Former Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago White Sox star Dick Allen died Monday at the age of 78. The Major League Baseball Players Association announced Allen’s death. A cause of death has not been announced. Allen was one of MLB’s most feared sluggers in the 1960s and 1970s, hitting 351 home runs and

3:27 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Longtime St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright has won the Roberto Clemente Award, given annually by Major League Baseball for community involvement and philanthropy. Wainwright’s Big League Impact foundation and recording artist Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation teamed for a Home Plate Project with Texas pitcher

2:08 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Japanese star pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano has been posted by the Yomiuri Giants and is available for bidding to major league teams. The bidding starts at 8 a.m. ET Tuesday and runs through 5 p.m. ET on Jan. 7. A right-hander who turned 31 on Oct. 11, Sugano

1:40 PM ET The Los Angeles Angels, who practically have to remake their entire bullpen this offseason, acquired closer Raisel Iglesias from the Cincinnati Reds for right-handed reliever Noe Ramirez and a player to be named later or cash considerations Monday, the first day of the virtual winter meetings. Iglesias saved 92 games from 2017

1:51 PM ET The UFC has lost another planned fight due to the coronavirus. One day after the promotion had two bouts drop off on fight day due to COVID, women’s strawweight fighter Angela Hill announced Sunday night on social media that she, too, had tested positive for the virus. Hill was scheduled to fight

3:16 PM ET The managing general partner of the Philadelphia Phillies said Sunday afternoon that the team will not trade starting pitcher Zack Wheeler under any circumstances. “If they offered me Babe Ruth, I wouldn’t trade him,” John Middleton said angrily in a phone conversation, adding Ted Williams and Mike Schmidt to Ruth’s name for

10:49 AM ET The Philadelphia Phillies have communicated to other teams that they are facing a financial crunch and are open to offers for their second highest-paid player, starting pitcher Zack Wheeler, according to sources. Slugger Bryce Harper is the team’s highest-paid player, but there is no indication yet that the Phillies will look to

9:55 PM ET Associated Press NEW YORK — Yankees pitchers Zack Britton and Gerrit Cole, free-agent catcher Jason Castro, Cleveland shortstop Francisco Lindor and free-agent shortstop Marcus Semien were elected Friday to the executive subcommittee of the Major League Baseball Players Association. They join St. Louis pitcher Andrew Miller, free-agent pitcher James Paxton and Washington

9:58 PM ET The New York Yankees say infielder Gio Urshela is expected to be sidelined three months after having surgery Friday to remove a bone chip in his right elbow. According the Yankees, Urshela had the surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital by head team physician Dr. Christopher Ahmad. Urshela, 29, dealt with the bone chip

7:49 PM ET Associated Press Major League Baseball and all 30 of its teams are suing their insurance providers, citing billions of dollars in losses during the 2020 season played almost entirely without fans due to the coronavirus pandemic. The suit, filed in October in California Superior Court in Alameda County and obtained Friday by

4:30 PM ET Former major league pitcher Chris Young will be the new executive vice president and general manager of the Texas Rangers, the team announced Friday. Young, a 6-foot-10 right-hander who went 79-67 with a 3.95 ERA for the Rangers, Padres, Mets, Mariners and Royals during his 13-year playing career, had been serving as