He appeared in first place on 20 of 32 ballots.

Cy Young Justin Verlander also takes home the AL MVP award

I'm going to be pretty frustrated if he chooses Pittsburgh over Milwaukee. EDIT: Jon Heyman is reporting Barmes is getting two years and $11 million. I don't feel as bad about missing out now.

Maury Brown discusses a few of the new Labor Agreement scenarios. In the article, he mentions the possibility of a luxury tax for teams at or below a bottom threshold (yet to be determined). But let's say it is $40M, as suggested in the article. A club would still receive revenue sharing, but if the payroll does not increase after 2 years, they would be taxed. I'm going to get some sleep, and figure this out tomorrow. It's sort of/kind of a salary-cap. Or it has that feel to it. I don't have a problem with this, except that it seems like another poke at teams who - - um - - - rely on the Rule IV draft and international development to not spend, or something. Selig is a real trip, isn't he?

The 40 man roster now stands at 35. Unless the Brewers make another move today, that means they'll be leaving Daniel Meadows and Dan Merklinger unprotected in the Rule 5 draft.

The presser will be streamed live on MLB.com, if you're looking for something to do while you're waiting for the Mug.

There's really not much to see here: The biggest name on the list might be 2010 29th round pick Daniel Britt, who spent 2011 with Wisconsin. Here's the full list: P Charly Bashara P Daniel Britt P Skyler Crawford P Greg Davis C Doug Elliot 1B/OF Steve Felix OF Robbie Garvey P Alex Jones P Jose Oviedo

Sources suggest 3-year deal with an option.

It wiill become official when new CBA is signed. Houston will move as early as 2013. Article on the move can be found here. On wild cards: "Selig says the extra wild cards would be a one-game playoff to advance to next round. "It will be dramatic," he said." Link

Sveum is, of course, likely to accept.