The Mariners on Wednesday unveiled a new logo that will be worn on the right sleeve of players' jerseys throughout the upcoming year to commemorate the franchise's 35th season. The logo has a navy blue background surrounding the number 35, which is above a 1977-2012 banner that includes the Mariners' symbol and letter "S." The Mariners also announced they will be returning the "Northwest Green"-billed caps as part of their home uniforms on Mondays and Fridays next season, to be worn along with the Northwest Green alternate jerseys that were brought back last year. A dark navy top will continue to be the alternate jersey for road games. In one design change for next season, the front of the navy jerseys will now read "Seattle" instead of "Mariners." The road grays already said "Seattle," and home jerseys will continue to say "Mariners" (Mariners).
TO-DO LIST: Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein on Thursday said that compensation talks between the Cubs and Red Sox “have been tabled until after the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 8.” Epstein at the GM meetings this week said that he and Red Sox GM Ben Cherington “agreed that it makes sense to put it off until after the Rule 5 Draft." Epstein said that MLB “will not get involved unless the two teams cannot reach a conclusion” (MLB.com, 11/17). In Boston, Nick Cafardo cited an MLB source as indicating that with the MLB CBA talks going on, the Red Sox-Cubs compensation issue is “low on the to-do list.” That “doesn’t mean the sides can’t decide the compensation in a flash, so MLB continues to encourage them.” It is “difficult to predict whether MLB would want to discourage the future raiding of staffs by making the Cubs surrender a significant player, or whether they would go the midrange prospect route, which may upset the Red Sox but satisfy the Cubs” (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/17).
THE NEXT LEBRON? ESPN's Dan Le Batard said the Marlins view free agent 1B Albert Pujols "as their LeBron for a couple of different reasons." the team has reported offered Pujols a nine-year, $225M deal, and Le Batard said, "Never mind spending lot of money, the idea that they would be offering eight or nine years, they never do that. ... On the front end, the first three or four years, they can make all the money back, so it doesn’t matter what happens on the back end. And they think they can make it (with) Latin American sponsors, international sales. They think they can make money by making him their LeBron” (“Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable,” ESPN2, 11/17).
ON THE UPTICK: MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick reported team owners "formally approved CEO Larry Baer as the control person" of the Giants, “culminating his climb to the upper echelons of the game.” Baer succeeds retiring CEO Bill Neukom (MLB.com, 11/17). Baer said that season-tickets prices “will rise an average of 5-6 percent, though he acknowledged that a handful of customers will see double-digit increases because the team determined that those tickets were undervalued.” He said that single-game ticket prices “will be ‘pretty much in line with last year,’ though they will fluctuate with dynamic pricing” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 11/17).
WEATHER OUTSIDE IS FRIGHTFUL: YES Network's Bob Lorenz reported the Yankees are “taking part in an effort to help the needy stay warm as the weather gets colder in New York City.” New York Cares kicked off its annual coat drive with the help of the Yankees at the Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square. The Yankees “gave out tickets to last Saturday’s Rutgers-Army game” to donors. Yankees Senior VP & GM Brian Cashman said, “Winter is coming and the homeless problem here in New York alone, let alone worldwide, it’s a very serious issues and people need help. So this is a small way people can help” (“Yankees Baseball Daily,” YES, 11/16). Meanwhile, Cashman Thursday night slept outside as part of a charitable effort for Covenant House Int'l.
