After a decade with the Cardinals, Chris Carpenter will retire from the starting rotation, where he served as the team’s ace and the staff’s clubhouse leader for most of his tenure. But the team hopes he will not be leaving the organization.

The Nationals are good enough to make the playoffs if general manager Mike Rizzo doesn’t do a single thing. In a perfect world, he’d like to add a starting pitcher and upgrade his bench and bullpen. But he can afford to shop carefully and to get players he’s comfortable with. His team is good enough that he doesn’t have to settle.

Ernie Banks might be baseball’s ultimate natural. He climbed to the top of his profession without ever making a plan and learned to be comfortable under any circumstance, a trait that came in handy Wednesday, when he joined 15 others in receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom at a White House luncheon.

After Tim Hudson left Atlanta for San Francisco, general manager Frank Wren’s objective has not necessarily changed. Over the next few weeks and months, he will continue searching for a veteran starting pitcher who has the capability of providing value to his rotation for a year or two.

Australian Baseball League champions Canberra Cavalry completed their historic run on Wednesday, notching the country’s first Asia Series title with a resounding 14-4 victory in the championship game against the Uni-President Lions, champions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League.

Josh Johnson has struggled to stay healthy in recent years, but he has the potential to bounce back in his pitcher-friendly new ballpark.

Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks was honored for his performance on the field and his optimistic approach to life Wednesday, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in a ceremony at the White House.

It shouldn’t be long before top hitting prospect Gregory Polanco joins Andrew McCutchen and Starling Marte in the PNC Park outfield.

The Arizona Fall League was once again chock full of exciting young talent, though the league was younger than it typically has been, as more players who have yet to play above Class A participated. That’s reflected in the Top 20 AFL Prospects list, which includes four teenagers.

Finding a starting pitcher wasn’t the Padres’ main priority of the offseason, but that didn’t stop them from landing one late Tuesday. According to a source, the Padres reached an agreement on a one-year contract with right-handed pitcher Josh Johnson.

Bobby Richardson, Ozzie Smith, Tim Wakefield and Dustin Pedroia were honored at the MLBPAA’s Legends for Youth Dinner in New York.

The Indians headed into the offseason with right field identified as an area to potentially upgrade. Cleveland believes it may have found a solution in veteran David Murphy.

One by one, the 12 players seated at a long table in the U.S. Cellular Field Conference and Learning Center on Tuesday evening read off his name and announced the college or university where he was about to sign a letter of intent.

The Red Sox and free-agent outfielder Carlos Beltran are reportedly in the midst of “serious dialogue,” according to the Boston Herald.

There has been no official decision reached by Paul Konerko regarding his return for a 16th year as part of the White Sox. But general manager Rick Hahn reiterated Tuesday that he expects a decision from the White Sox captain before the Dec. 9 start of baseball’s annual Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla.

The Nationals have decided that Bobby Henley will be the team’s third-base coach, replacing Trent Jewett. Henley was the team’s Minor League field coordinator the past four seasons, and he’s been in the organization for 10 years.

The Tigers are not in quite the same roster crunch this year as last. If they intend to leave a few spots open now for potential free-agent additions later, however, they have some choices to make on the players they have, either at the big league level or in the Minors.