Jason Bay and the Mets have agreed to “part ways,” the Mets announced in a statement Wednesday afternoon, ending the embattled outfielder’s time in New York.

For the first time, baseball’s annual individual awards will be presented live on television next week on MLB Network, with the announcement of four major awards as voted by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America taking place on four consecutive nights at 6 p.m. ET, beginning on Monday.

After struggling to produce runs consistently in 2012, the Dodgers are hopeful that new hitting coach Mark McGwire will help to get their star hitters back on track.

After about two weeks of offseason inactivity at home, Hector Santiago decided to start his preparation for the 2013 White Sox season a little bit early.

OK, so Billy Butler didn’t get to compete in the Home Run Derby at the 2012 All-Star Game in Kansas City. He nonetheless hit plenty of homers for the Royals this season when they really counted.

Delmon Young, who spent last season with the Tigers and is now a free agent, pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated harassment in New York on Wednesday for an incident that occurred in April, The Associated Press reported.

For more than a month, the Marlins’ front office has been assessing personnel, evaluating the team’s talent and formulating an offseason strategy. Now they get a chance to exchange ideas with other ballclubs at the General Managers Meetings.

Should Aroldis Chapman be a starter or a reliever? That’s the nagging question that will have a significant effect on the 2013 outlook for the defending National League Central champs.

Doug Melvin has consistently said that he expects Zack Greinke to garner an open-market contract out of reach for the Brewers, though he recently chatted with the pitcher.

Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto has created as much flexibility as possible. Now he needs players — specifically, starting pitchers, as three-fifths of last year’s rotation is now gone.

There will be more highly publicized, more expensive free-agent acquisitions than Torii Hunter this winter. But there won’t be many that are better combinations of playing ability and personal quality.

Alex Rodriguez’s struggles could impact the market for stars like Josh Hamilton and Zack Greinke, as teams have taken lessons away from A-Rod’s mega-deal.

Padres GM Josh Byrnes said that the overhaul of baseball’s previous compensation system could accelerate the speed of business in the industry this month in terms of free-agent signings and trades.

Pirates chairman Bob Nutting, saying he was so disappointed over the finish to the Bucs’ season that he waited four weeks to cool off before addressing the fate of his front office, on Tuesday said the club’s management team would remain intact.

The Yankees claimed a pair of pitchers off waivers on Tuesday, nabbing right-hander David Herndon from the Blue Jays and southpaw Josh Spence from the Padres.

Rockies left-hander Josh Outman has continued his season-ending roll in the Dominican Winter League. In three starts for Toros del Este, Outman is 2-0 with a 1.20 ERA.

Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish has decided not to pitch for Japan next spring in the World Baseball Classic.