Chris Coghlan, the 2009 National League Rookie of the Year Award winner, has signed a Minor League contract with the Cubs that includes a Spring Training invitation.

Major League Baseball released game times for the 2014 regular season on Wednesday, a campaign that will kick off with the MLB Opening Series games in Australia.

Being the Opening Day starter is an honor White Sox lefty Chris Sale deserves as the No. 1 man on the staff, but also as one of the game’s top starting pitchers in just his third full season in the rotation. But during a phone interview with MLB.com on Tuesday night, the always entertaining and equally competitive Sale had little interest in claiming that ace crown.

A handful of White Sox players, coaches and executives got their first look at first baseman Jose Abreu on Tuesday at the club’s minicamp for hitters at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Ariz. The takeaway on Abreu — inked to a six-year, $68 million deal in October — was one of impression and excitement.

If the names on our list of top right-handed pitchers look familiar, that’s probably because the top two (Archie Bradley, Taijuan Walker) and two others (Jameson Taillon, Dylan Bundy) have made this Top 10 for the third straight year.

They do everything but wear hard hats and tool kits draped around their waists. Long men and setup men form baseball’s construction crews, earnestly building bridges to the familiar figure working the ninth inning to entrance music and roars.

Escogido clinched a spot in the Dominican Championship Series in style Tuesday night, as four pitchers combined to no-hit Licey.

Robby Hammock’s playing days ended after 2011, but it also served as a beginning for what would become the next chapter in his life. In 2012, Hammock officially began his coaching career working with D-backs hitters in the Arizona Rookie League.

The Hot Stove was quiet Tuesday, with the biggest news that 146 players filed for salary arbitration — a process that continues Friday when players and teams exchange figures.

Bud Selig can’t begin to comprehend what his emotions will be as his term in office winds down next January. No sport has ever had a better Commissioner. Selig’s standing inside the game is so large that dozens of owners and club executives have trouble grasping that he really does intend to retire when his current term is up.

Several of the Astros’ top Minor League prospects will get a chance to impress the Major League coaching staff this spring with invitations to big league camp, a list that includes former No. 1 picks Carlos Correa and Mark Appel, and hotshot prospect George Springer.

Nyjer Morgan, the fiery and speedy outfielder who last played in the Majors with the Brewers in 2012, reportedly has signed with the Cleveland Indians after spending a year playing in Japan.

The Rangers revealed that pitcher Derek Holland underwent microfracture surgery on his left knee last Friday during an operation to repair torn cartilage behind the kneecap.

Brian Duensing is one of only three players in the Twins the last five seasons, so he is now one of the veterans counted on leading a team looking to improve after a few down years.

Dallas Braden, who threw the 19th perfect game in Major League history on Mother’s Day 2010, retired on Tuesday, his left shoulder now just a “shredded mess.”

The first step in the Tigers’ arbitration process came Tuesday, when the half-dozen remaining eligible players filed. That move from starters Rick Porcello and Max Scherzer, outfielders Andy Dirks and Austin Jackson, reliever Al Alburquerque and catcher Alex Avila was procedural and expected.

The World Anti-Doping Agency had high praise for the process that led to Alex Rodriguez’s suspension for the 2014 season. In a statement released Tuesday, WADA president Sir Craig Reedie commended arbitrator Fredric Horowitz for his decision and his means of coming to it.