After five seasons in the Majors, outfielder Kosuke Fukudome is reportedly returning home to play for the Hanshin Tigers of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league.

A week after Cleveland designated Jeanmar Gomez for assignment, the club traded the hurler to the Pirates for Minor League outfielder Quincy Latimore, general manager Chris Antonetti confirmed on Wednesday.

First baseman Adam LaRoche made it clear throughout the offseason that he wanted to return to the Nationals, and it happened Tuesday, when he signed a two-year, $24 million deal with a mutual option for a third season.

Mark McGwire, bypassed for a seventh year in Hall of Fame voting, didn’t sound surprised or bitter on Wednesday.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens fell far short of induction into the Hall of Fame in their first time on the ballot. Will they ultimately get more support? We’ll have a better idea in 2014.

At age 39 and coming off right hip surgery, Rockies first baseman Todd Helton will be back for his 17th season in 2013.

Francisco Cervelli’s eyes flooded with a cocktail of rage and disappointment on the final day of Spring Training last season, flinging a chest protector to the floor near his locker.

Move over, Class of 2013. The next group of players eligible for the first time to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame is on its way, a talent-laden group that includes ace pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine, along with slugger Frank Thomas.

The 2013 ballot featured 37 candidates, with 13 returnees and 24 newcomers. Players remain on the ballot for 15 years as long as they receive at least 5 percent of the vote.

After watching his team lose to the Cardinals in the National League Division Series last October, general manager Mike Rizzo made steps to further improve the Nationals for the 2013 season. MLB.com caught up with Rizzo recently to talk about various topics.

Are the most qualified people voting? After 80 years of doing things one way, is it time to consider another? Those are among the questions the National Baseball Hall of Fame ought to be asking itself.

Curt Schilling’s glittering postseason resume — not to mention his 3,116 career strikeouts — was not enough to make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He received 221 votes, which was 38.8 percent.

Craig Biggio, appearing on the National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot for a first time, came up short of being elected Wednesday, garnering 68.2 percent of the vote of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Biggio finished 39 votes shy of become the first player elected to the Hall of Fame to have played the majority of his career in Houston.

Trevor Bauer’s first glimpse of the big leagues was accompanied by some struggles and controversy, but the Indians have assured the promising young right-hander that they are only worried about his future.

Considered one of the strongest candidates on this year’s National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, former Mets catcher Mike Piazza became a victim of the eighth shutout in Cooperstown history. Though Piazza finished in fourth place among candidates with 329 votes, his 57.8 percent of the electorate fell well short of the 75 percent necessary for induction.

Former Astros slugger Jeff Bagwell inched closer toward induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday, but he will have wait at least one more year to perhaps take his place among the game’s all-time great players.

The most highly debated election for entry into the National Baseball Hall of Fame ended Wednesday without a new inductee. Jack Morris, a starter who dominated the American League during the 1980s, didn’t make it, either, on his 14th try.