baseball official

Free-agent season opened Friday with the New York Yankees planning to give CC Sabathia a record offer for a pitcher.

The Yankees formulated a proposal to the big lefty that would exceed Johan Santana's $137.5 million, six-year contract with the New York Mets both in total and average, a baseball official familiar with the negotiations said.

The New York Yankees have fired two scouts under investigation in a probe of possible skimming from contracts with Latin American players, The Associated Press has learned.

The Yankees terminated the contracts of Carlos Rios, their director of Latin American scouting, and Ramon Valdivia, their Dominican Republic scouting director, a baseball official said Friday.