The Phillies and Jose Contreras agree to a $5.5 million, two-year deal that will keep the 38 year-old right-hander in Philadelphia. The one-time starter played a vital role as a reliever for the NL East champions, posting a 6-4 record along with four saves in 67 appearances in his first season in the bullpen.

The Reds and Ramon Hernandez agree to a one-year, $3 million deal. The 34 year-old catcher started in 85 games behind the plate last season, and along with Ryan Hanigan and Corky Miller, was part of a trio that led the National League backstops with 168 hits and a .296 batting average.

The Pittsburgh Pirates name Clint Hurdle as their new manager, replacing John Russell. Hurdle was the Rangers’ hitting coach last year, after skippering the Colorado Rockies from 2002 to 2009.

The Diamondbacks sign utility player Geoff Blum to a two-year deal, while the Red Sox claim P Taylor Buchholz off waivers from Toronto.

A Santa Barbara father-son sports collectors team pays $575,912 for the bat that Kirk Gibson used to hit his dramatic World Series Game 1 home run in 1988. The winning bid was the second-highest sale price ever for a baseball bat, topped only by the $1.265 million paid in 2004 for a Babe Ruth signed bat, which was used by the ‘Bambino’ to hit the first home run at Yankee Stadium.

2010 – The Marlins trade perennial prospect, OF Cameron Maybin, to the Padres for relievers Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb. A former first-round draft pick in 2005, Maybin was the youngest player in the American League in 2007, but has had only a season’s worth of at-bats over four years in the majors, hitting .246.

The Marlins send outfielder Cameron Maybin to the Padres for Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb, who are both right-handed relievers. The 23 year-old outfielder, the 10th overall pick in 2005, was traded by Detroit two years later in a major multiplayer Winter Meeting deal that included Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.

During an auction at the Louisville Slugger Museum, the winning bid for the ball Yankee slugger Babe Ruth hit for his 702nd career home run is $264,500, three times the estimated price. The historic horsehide, hit at Chicago’s Comiskey Park in 1934 off Ted Lyons, had been passed down by three generations of a Minnesota family before being made available to the public.

Boston trades P Dustin Richardson to Florida in return for P Andrew Miller.

The Athletics pick up 3B Edwin Encarnacion on waivers from the Blue Jays. However the A’s will soon let Encarnacion go as a free agent, and he will blossom as power hitter after re-signing with the Blue Jays a few weeks from now.