Today’s MLB rumor mill includes some news about potential newcomers, as well as about some long-standing veterans. Here is a collection of some of the top Hot Stove stories around baseball.

Hall of Fame ballots were mailed out Monday to eligible voters from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, and Trevor Hoffman and Ken Griffey Jr. top the list of ballot newcomers and join the shortlist of hopefuls for the Class of 2016.

Even while he was playing and cementing his status as a baseball icon, Ken Griffey Jr. was viewed as destined for the Hall of Fame. With his name appearing for the first time on the Hall of Fame ballot, released Monday, it’s not a question of if Griffey will get elected.

During the middle of the season, Royals catcher Salvador Perez openly pondered whether he already had outgrown, in terms of value, the long-term contract he signed in 2012.

In a surprise move given their depth at first base, the Twins placed the winning bid to negotiate a contract with Korean slugger Byung Ho Park, it was announced by the Twins and Major League Baseball on Monday. Minnesota has 30 days to come to terms with the first baseman.

Under voting rules established this past summer by the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the annual Baseball Writers’ Association of America ballot was released Monday on the earliest date in recent history.

The baseball community came alive, stories flowing, on Sunday evening as the National College Baseball Hall of Fame honored Vin Scully with the George H.W. Bush Distinguished Alumnus Award at Bel-Air Country Club.

Major League Baseball’s general managers will conduct their annual retreat this week to discuss issues facing the game, begin serious talks on trades and free agents, and familiarize themselves with colleagues in new positions and new teams after another season of widespread front-office changes.

After a long day of workouts and an Arizona Fall League game, most prospects look for a way to relax and unwind. Chad Pinder, however, hits the books.

Behind six shutout innings from right-hander Shohei Ohtani, Japan blanked South Korea, 5-0, in the opener of the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier 12 Tournament on Sunday night in Japan.

Featuring multiple ace-caliber starting pitchers, this offseason’s free-agent class is shaping up to be not only a star-studded one, but also a historic one.

With the Hot Stove generating plenty of late-autumn warmth, we offer a few words of advice — unsolicited, but sincere — to all 30 Major League Baseball general managers.

With the team title in place, the most coveted individual honors for 2015 are about to find homes. They range from the Most Valuable Player Awards and Cy Young Awards that elevate players into the upper echelons of baseball history, to honors that acknowledge all aspects of the game, shining a spotlight on the very best that this season had to offer.

OK, Dave Dombrowski, you’re on the clock. How’s that for cranking up expectations? Why not? The new Red Sox president of baseball operations has a long history of making large, teeth-rattling trades, and he would surprise no one by pulling off another in his first offseason in New England.

Baseball’s lively past and hopeful present met in the perfect place Saturday night.

San Francisco was one of many cities across the country that joined the collaborative as a way to increase participation in both baseball and softball and to provide avenues for participants of all skill levels.

The USS Hornet was a legendary aircraft carrier during World War II, and in 1969, was the ship that retrieved the Apollo 11 astronauts when they returned to earth after their historic moon landing. On this night, the old carrier, which is now a museum near Oakland, played host to the U.S. Marines, who celebrated their 240th birthday at their annual Marine Ball. Among the hundreds of Marines in attendance was a famous Marine reservist named Rick Monday, who was one of the guests of honor.