NL Cy Young winner

The brilliant Tim Lincecum managed to retain his NL Cy Young award. Lincecum (15-7, 2.48 ERA, 261 strikeouts) received 11 first-place votes and 100 points. Carpenter (17-4, 2.24 ERA, 144 strikeouts) finished second with nine first-place votes and 94 points, followed by Wainwright (19-8, 2.63 ERA, 212 strikeouts), who had 12 first-place votes and 90 points. Lincecum joins Zack Grienke as the reigning Cy Young pitchers.

The Giants will be looking to keep their strong rotation throughout free agency with Randy Johnson eligible on Friday

Tracy, Scioscia named top managers

Mike Scioscia of the LA Angels won the AL Manager of the Year award on Wednesday for the second time. Jim Tracy of Colorado was selected for the NL honour.

AL Cy Young winner

Zack Greinke won again on Tuesday - this time taking the Cy Young Award as the American League's best pitcher.

The Royals' right-hander received 25 of 28 first place votes and had 134 total points in the Baseball Writers' Association of America voting. Runner-up Felix Hernandez of the Mariners had 80 points, with two first-place votes.

The brilliant Zack Greinke went 16-8 with a major league low 2.16 ERA this season.

Free Agency Rumours - Peter Gammons' view

ESPN baseball analyst Peter Gammons' has written an interesting piece on Boston's offseason activity.

Free Agency Rumours - Hideki Matsui

Hideki Matsui put on quite an offensive show in Game 6 of the World Series as his New York Yankees made the final push past the Philadelphia Phillies to become champions. And the Boston Red Sox appear to want a piece of that.

Matsui has made about $13 million a year for each of the last four years, but he is apparently ready to lower his price for his next deal to $8 million annually.

There is plenty of doubt in Boston that this story has any truth to it, but it's always fun when a Yankees or Red Sox player switches sides.

Free Agency Rumours - Vladimir Guerrero

Big slugger Vladimir Guerrero is now a free agent and it appears that the Texas Rangers would like to bring the former Angels DH to the Lone Star State.

It is believed that Vlad will have to take a significant paycut to sign for the Rangers. The Rangers had a poor season offensively in '09, they will look to Vlad to boost it.

Free Agency Rumours - John Lackey

The Boston Red Sox have moved to try and enhance their starting rotation by bringing in the Angels' ace John Lackey. Lackey won 11 games last season dspite starting on the Disabled List.

The Red Sox already have Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, Tim Wakefield and Daisuke Matsuzaka penciled in for the starting rotation next year, and the addition of Lackey would give them one of the best staffs in the Majors.

However the Milwaukee Brewers are looking to gazump the deal by attempting to sign Lackey. The Seattle Mariners are also said to be interested.

Free Agency Rumours - Ken Griffey Jr.

Ken Griffey Jr. has reached agreement on a one-year deal to return to the Seattle Mariners in 2010. Griffey will be playing in his 22nd season in the major leagues.

Griffey, who turns 40 on Nov. 21, ranks fifth on Major League Baseball's career list with 630 home runs. "I'd like to thank the Mariners organization for inviting me back to play in 2010," Griffey said in a statement. "While 2009 was an awesome experience for me, my ultimate goal is for the Mariners to get to and win the World Series. To that end, I look forward to contributing in any role that Don sees fit on the field, and any manner I possibly can off the field."

Free Agency Rumours - Jason Varitek

Red Sox captain Jason Varitek has exercised his $3m player option to remain at Fenway for a further season. The Red Sox on Monday chose not to pick up their $5 million team option on the 37-year-old, leaving Varitek with the decision about his player option. Varitek hit .209 last season and saw his playing time decline in the second half after the acquisition of Victor Martinez.

"We're happy to have Jason back and we look forward to a good year from him in 2010," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein told reporters. "He means an awful lot to the organization on and off the field. He helps solidify our catching position also and is a big asset to the pitching staff."

With Epstein saying earlier this week Martinez will be the team's primary catcher in 2010, it is clear that Varitek will be returning as the backup.

Varitek has played 13 seasons with the Red Sox.

Free Agency Rumours - Joe Mauer

The Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer is looking likely to sign a longterm contract with the Twins.The 26 year old's current contract expires at the end of the 2010 season and Twins obviously want to keep the best catcher in baseball. Rumours have flown that the Angels and the Yankees have been looking to pick up Mauer.

Having led the American League in batting average (.365), on base percentage(.444)and slugging (.587), Joe Mauer is certainly a worthy candidate for this year's AL MVP.

Coming Up on The Extra Innings

In next few days, there will be blogs reviewing each of the MLB teams. These will analyse each teams successes and failures from the '09 season. We will start with the NL East and continue onwards.

Also there will blogs on the free agents and players filing for free agency this off-season.

And lastly there will more reviews of baseball literature. With another book on the great Jackie Robinson

Yankees win Game 3

Ok the yankees won again. Despite going 3-0 quickly, they went to win 8-5, now its Game 4 time. CC Sabathia is pitching on short rest against Joe Blanton. The Phillies really need to win or face losing their championship very soon.