I guess "Happy Veterans Day" is the wrong thing to say on the 97th anniversary of the armistice. So I'll take a moment to remember third baseman "Harvard" Eddie Grant, who died in the Argonne Forest in October of 1918. Also Al Bumbry, who was one of the few ballplayers to have served in active duty in Vietnam.
- Starting off with sad news as former Braves and Angels pitcher Tommy Hanson died on Monday at age 29.
- Cliff Corcoran has a recap of Hanson's career. Hanson was the #4 prospect in all of baseball according to Baseball America in 2009. He pitched for Triple-A Sacramento this past season.
- The baseball world reacted to Hanson's passing.
- We got our answer to the winner of the Byung Ho Park sweepstakes and it's the Minnesota Twins! They have 30 days to come to an agreement with Park.
- Chris Cwik has a look at some of the top international players, including Park, expected to come to MLB this offseason.
- Ken Rosenthal talked to a lot of front office people about what to expect from Park in the major leagues and was told no one has much idea what to expect. Also other notes from the GM meetings.
- And good news for fans of the no-fun police. Notorious bat-flipper Park has stopped bat flipping in expectation of coming to MLB.
- Jose Bautista addresses the famous bat flip himself. It's a thoughtful piece about what he was thinking and about changes in the sport, but his piece can pretty much be summed up in one word: "C'mon."
- Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes was arrested on Halloween for domestic abuse.
- Mike Bates thinks Reyes' situation is commissioner Rob Manfred's first big test.
- Manfred is still hopeful to play an MLB game in Cuba. Also, the owners will discuss extending netting behind home plate and take-out slides at second base.
- It's really early in the offseason to start paying the butcher's bill, but Lance Lynn will miss all of 2016 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
- David Schoenfield thinks this injury means that the Cardinals may try to pick up an established starting pitcher through free agency.
- The Royals think they can re-sign Ben Zobrist. They're less optimistic about their other free agents.
- Tom Verducci has lessons other teams can learn from this past postseason.
- Matthew Kory argues that the Royals won the James Shields trade.
- Anthony Castrovince has 15 offseason predictions, including a big bill for the Giants.
- Jerry Crasnick asked 34 front office executives for their predictions on the offseason.
- Will Leitch points out that the majority of big free agent contracts don't work out.
- But Ross Benes points out that teams that do sign free agents improve their chances of making the postseason. On average, at least.
- Bartolo Colon still wants to start, so he'll be looking to leave the Mets this winter.
- Mark Simon thinks David Wright needs to move to first base.
- Grant Brisbee tries to predict where Jeff Samardzija will land.
- The 2015 Gold Glove winners were announced.
- Christina Kahrl predicts young players who will be winning Gold Gloves in future years. Addison Russell is on her list.
- Owen Watson wonders if Jered Weaver will still be able to pitch effectively in 2016 with as little velocity as he has.
- MLB hopes to have an ending to the Cardinals hacking scandal before next season begins.
- After Craig Calcaterra criticized Lance Berkman for his comments about "persecution" and "tolerance," Berkman called him up and the two of them had a very pleasant chat about the issues. One could almost say they were tolerant of each other.
- Calcaterra and Berkman also talked baseball and Berkman made a point that "solo home runs are rally killers." Calcaterra was "tolerant" of Berkman's argument.
- The Marlins say they're going to get more into analytics.
- Matt Williams is returning to being the Diamondbacks third base coach.
- And finally, Williams' old team the Nationals is following up a rough season with a rough offseason. A 2016 Nationals team calendar features the Red Sox and Fenway Park on the cover.
And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.