The 34-year-old hit .279 with two homers, 50 RBIs and 27 steals for theChicago White Sox final season, beginning 152 games in left field. The left-handedbatter hit .329 against lefties

Pierre leads active players with 554 steals. He has a .296 career battingaverage with 234 doubles, 86 triples, 16 homers and 484 RBIs in 12 seasons forColorado, Florida, the Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers and White Sox.

His agreement was announced Friday.

Adhere to Yahoo! Sports MLB coverage on Twitter.

President Dave St. Peter revealed the decision late Thursday at an annualawards banquet at Target Field, exactly where the 61-year-old Kelly became emotionalafter the announcement. Kelly&#8217s No. ten will be formally retired during aceremony prior to a game against Cleveland on Sept. 8.

Kelly was in charge for each of the team&#8217s World Series titles, in 1987 and1991. He is the team&#8217s all-time leader in manager wins, with 1,140 over 15-plusseasons. He at the moment serves as a special assistant to general manager TerryRyan.

Kelly will be the sixth individual to have his number preserved by the Twins.Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Kent Hrbek, Kirby Puckett and BertBlyleven are the others.

Adhere to Yahoo! Sports MLB coverage on Twitter.

He also knows the abundance of youth signifies a different difficult season liesahead in the Pacific Northwest.

&#8220I believe we have some very talented young youngsters. I consider this is going to bea challenging year at the huge league level for us. Let&#8217s not kid ourselves,&#8221Zduriencik mentioned for the duration of the Mariners&#8217 pre-spring education luncheon on Thursday.&#8220We&#8217ve got a young club no matter how you shake it. We&#8217ve got young players.The positive is we&#8217ve got a lot of young kids coming correct behind them.&#8221

Far more than at any other point due to the fact Zduriencik took over as general managerbefore the 2009 season, the Mariners will rely nearly entirely on their youthduring the 2012 season. His very first two seasons had been filled with moves aimed atmaking Seattle competitive while at the very same time Zduriencik was busy rebuildinga barren farm method.

Last year brought the arrival of manager Eric Wedge and a remaking of theMariners clubhouse that featured 18 rookies finding their very first major leagueexperience at some point of the year although the veterans Seattle planned to relyon underperformed.

This year it&#8217s most likely to be all about the young guys.

Seattle&#8217s present 40-man roster capabilities 33 players with much less than fiveyears of key league encounter&#821231 of those have less than 3 years. Ifthat number isn&#8217t stark enough, 40 of the Mariners&#8217 65 current spring traininginvitees have much less than 1 year of significant league service.

It&#8217s why there is optimism for what the Mariners could be when these playersmature. But they&#8217ll need time. Throw in what the remainder of the AL West did inthe offseason&#8212namely the additions in Texas and with the Angels&#8212and itreinforces Zduriencik&#8217s belief that it could be a bumpy year.

&#8220It&#8217s going to be a challenge simply because of the young youngsters. If you consider aboutit, Dustin Ackley has half a year in the major leagues, Kyle Seager has half ayear in the big leagues, Casper Wells &#8230,&#8221 Zduriencik said. &#8220You startlooking around, hunting around and start off searching at these pieces &#8230 and thenyou look at what takes place in this division. No matter how you shake it, you can&#8217tignore what (the Angels) did and you can&#8217t ignore what Texas did and those clubswere ahead of us prior to these moves. It&#8217s an uphill battle.&#8221

Many Mariners fans pegged the achievement of this offseason to the probabilities ofbringing cost-free-agent slugger Prince Fielder to the Pacific Northwest, largelymaking that connection due to Zduriencik&#8217s history with Fielder in Milwaukee.Fielder signed a $214 million, nine-year deal with Detroit on Thursday.

Zduriencik didn&#8217t go into particulars Thursday about his discussions withFielder&#8217s agent, Scott Boras, other than noting Boras was upfront about what hethought it would take to sign Fielder.

&#8220He had a vision of what the quantity was going to be. He openly shared thatwith me, and he got the number he absolutely thought was going to begin with a`two,&#8217 and it occurred that way,&#8221 Zduriencik mentioned. &#8220That&#8217s a large number anda large quantity of years. The finest to him.&#8221

Though Zduriencik was tempering any expectations for his ballclub, whichopens spring education on Feb. 12 and begins the season in Japan, Wedge made itclear Thursday that the offensive ineptitude of latest seasons won&#8217t betolerated. Seattle&#8217s most significant offseason move was solely to address its offensiveproblems when young All-Star pitcher Michael Pineda was traded to the New YorkYankees in exchange for young slugging prospect Jesus Montero.

Wedge joked that his wife was proud of him final year for biting his tongueat occasions when he could have unleashed a verbal lashing on a far more veteran team.Wedge made a point recently to bring in nine position players to Seattle to holdthem accountable and make positive they had been following by means of with their offseasonprograms. He let them know there would be much less slack this season for notperforming.

&#8220It&#8217s unacceptable the amount of runs we&#8217ve scored the final couple ofyears. Last year I sat back. I get it, believe me. I bit my tongue off a lot more thanonce,&#8221 Wedge said. &#8220It was the proper factor to do. My wife was proud of me.This year is going to be a tiny bit different. You don&#8217t go from zero to 60.We&#8217ve got to let it out a tiny far more this year, raise the bar a tiny bit.&#8221

&#8212&#8212&#8212

Follow Tim Booth on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ByTimBooth

Adhere to Yahoo! Sports MLB coverage on Twitter.

Following luring Fielder to Michigan with the fourth-biggest contract inbaseball history, the Tigers are hoping he will support usher in a new championshipera for the Motor City.

&#8220This is amazing,&#8221 Fielder stated Thursday following finalizing a $214 million,nine-year deal with Detroit. &#8220It&#8217s kind of a dream come correct. I&#8217m excited.&#8221

Detroit began seriously pursuing Fielder right after designated hitter VictorMartinez tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during offseasonconditioning. Now the Tigers have three of baseball&#8217s largest stars&#8212Fielder,Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander&#8212all in their primes. Detroit won the ALCentral by 15 games final year but lost to Texas in the AL championship series.

When the Tigers introduced Fielder on Thursday, the message was clear:

&#8220We&#8217re attempting to win right now,&#8221 general manager Dave Dombrowski mentioned.&#8220We tried to win last year. We were close. I believe we&#8217ve reached a point now,on a yearly basis, we really feel that way. When you look at the core of our group ofplayers, there&#8217s a lot of guys that are on that field right now that are qualityplayers.&#8221

Fielder&#8217s father Cecil became a massive league star when he returned to themajors from Japan and hit 51 house runs with Detroit in 1990. Cecil played withthe Tigers into the 1996 season, and young Prince produced a name for himself withhis prodigious power displays during batting practice at Tiger Stadium.

Detroit plays at Comerica Park now, and instances have changed. The Fielders&#8217strained relationship has been nicely documented, and Prince didn&#8217t elaborate onit Thursday.

&#8220I&#8217m just ecstatic about becoming with the Tigers,&#8221 Prince Fielder mentioned.&#8220I&#8217m just right here to enjoy the day.&#8221

It will be up to manager Jim Leyland to figure out exactly where to play all of hispowerful hitters. He mentioned Thursday the Tigers will move Miguel Cabrera fromfirst base to third to make room for Fielder. He also listed a doable battingorder, with Cabrera hitting third and Fielder fourth.

It&#8217s a lineup based on power, not speed.

&#8220If they hit it where they&#8217re supposed to hit `em, they can trot,&#8221 Leylandsaid. &#8220We&#8217re going back to the old-fashioned baseball. We&#8217ve got large-time poweron the corners.&#8221

Fielder&#8217s contract consists of a limited no-trade provision. He can be tradedto ten clubs without having his consent ahead of 2017, when he gains rights to block alltrades under baseball&#8217s labor contract as a 10-year veteran who has been with ateam for at least 5 years.

He will earn $23 million in each and every of his 1st two years with Detroit, thenwill make $24 million annually in the final seven seasons of his contract,according to terms obtained by The Associated Press.

The move carries a lot of threat for the Tigers. Fielder is 27 and has beenextremely durable during his career, but Detroit is committing to him for almosta decade.

&#8220I go by my instinct, like everybody else does,&#8221 said owner Mike Ilitch,the Small Caesars pizza mogul who signed off on this huge deal following whathad been a quiet offseason for the Tigers. &#8220My instincts told me that this isgoing to work out fine.&#8221

Leyland sounded as taken aback as anybody with his club&#8217s sudden adjust.

&#8220This boggles my thoughts, to be honest with you,&#8221 he mentioned. &#8220I was kiddingsomebody. I said&#8212I&#8217m being funny&#8212`About three weeks ago we were talkingabout maybe acquiring an extra pitcher or bullpen guy or something. Nicely, wedidn&#8217t know if we had the finances to get a guy.&#8217 I said, `I don&#8217t know whathappened in 3 weeks. Little Caesars did good, evidently.&#8221&#8217

The hardest adjustment may be for Cabrera. He&#8217s returning to a position heplayed although with the Florida Marlins, but he&#8217s played only 14 games at thirdbase with the Tigers&#8212all in 2008 proper following he joined the team.

Fielder produced 15 errors final year, the most in baseball by a initial baseman.

&#8220Mr. Ilitch and Dave have given me a lot of good pieces to this puzzle.It&#8217s my job, along with coaches, to figure out how to put that puzzle alltogether,&#8221 Leyland stated. &#8220(Cabrera) is not going to have the agility, mostlikely, defensively that Brandon Inge had. You give up a little some thing, butyou get a complete lot in return.&#8221

Leyland said he talked to Inge, who lost his job as Detroit&#8217s everyday thirdbaseman final season.

&#8220He&#8217s not the happiest camper,&#8221 Leyland stated. &#8220He certainlyunderstands.&#8221

Dombrowski indicated he&#8217s satisfied with his roster heading into springtraining, though it&#8217s tough to rule out any more moves after the Tigersshockingly emerged with Fielder.

The pitching rotation is anchored by Verlander, who won the Cy Young Awardand MVP last year, but Detroit&#8217s fifth starter spot is nonetheless uncertain.Dombrowski said the Tigers could bring in some non-roster invites to compete forthat job.

&#8220I consider positional player-smart, we&#8217re pretty well set,&#8221 he said.

&#8212&#8212&#8212

AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

Adhere to Yahoo! Sports MLB coverage on Twitter.

&#8220It&#8217s the greatest trophy I&#8217ve ever gotten,&#8221 Kershaw stated, laughing. &#8220Idon&#8217t know if I&#8217ll be able to carry it on the plane.&#8221

Kershaw, the National League Cy Young winner, led the NL with a 21-five record,248 strikeouts and a two.28 ERA. He also was selected to his initial All-Star gameand won his initially Gold Glove.

&#8220It&#8217s been a progression. I consider a lot of it has to do with getting morecomfortable and getting additional expertise,&#8221 Kershaw said. &#8220It&#8217s just a lot ofthings coming together. Once you have some success you gain some confidence andyou anticipate to do that each time out.&#8221

The Spahn award is based on a pitcher&#8217s wins, strikeouts and ERA. Spahn won363 career games in his Hall of Fame career. He died in 2003.

Kershaw is eligible for salary arbitration. Soon after earning $500,000 lastseason, Kershaw and agent Alan Hendricks have asked the Dodgers for $ten millionnext season. The Dodgers have countered at $6.5 million.

&#8220I&#8217m not worried about it at all,&#8221 Kershaw said. &#8220My court date was set.We&#8217ll see what takes place. Hopefully, it will be settled just before then but you neverknow.&#8221

Follow Yahoo! Sports MLB coverage on Twitter.

The Giants stated Thursday it is a non-guaranteed massive league deal for Hensley,who nevertheless need to pass a physical before the club makes a formal announcement.

Hensley was with San Diego when he gave up Barry Bonds&#8217 755th career homerun on Aug. four, 2007, that tied the eventual household run king with Hank Aaron.

The Miami Marlins declined to tender Hensley a contract in December, makinghim a free agent.

The 32-year-old Hensley went 6-7 with a five.19 ERA in 37 appearances and ninestarts last season for the Marlins.

Adhere to Yahoo! Sports MLB coverage on Twitter.

The $3 million deal for Ross was first reported on Monday, when he told TheAssociated Press in a text message he nonetheless needed to take a physical.

The 31-year-old Ross batted .240 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs for the SanFrancisco Giants last season even though playing at least 22 games at each outfieldposition.

Ross was the 2010 NL championship series MVP for the Giants and helped themwin the World Series that year right after they picked him up off waivers in August.

Follow Yahoo! Sports MLB coverage on Twitter.

Seattle manager Eric Wedge stated Thursday for the duration of the Mariners&#8217 pre-springtraining luncheon that he&#8217s leaning toward moving Suzuki out of the leadoff spotas a way to attempt to bolster the Mariners&#8217 anemic offense.

Wedge doesn&#8217t think that&#8217s a slight on Suzuki&#8217s potential to continue beinga leadoff hitter, even with the 10-time All-Star coming off the worst season ofhis profession.

&#8220It&#8217s as a lot to do with his teammates as it has to do with him with regardto the collective nine that we&#8217re putting down on paper,&#8221 Wedge mentioned. &#8220Ihaven&#8217t created any firm choices. I created it very clear over the winter I wasthinking about it. I&#8217m even further down the road to exactly where I&#8217m leaning in thatdirection to have (Suzuki) hit somewhere else.&#8221

Moving Suzuki out of the leadoff spot was component of an on-once more, off-againdebate in the course of the 2011 season as Suzuki struggled. He hit just .272, failed toreach 200 hits for the 1st time in his career&#8212finishing with 184&#8212and hadan on-base percentage 40 points below his prior profession worst.

Suzuki, who turned 38 in October, is entering the final year of a contractthat will pay him $17 million in 2012 and will be in a lineup that will beextremely young by the time Seattle opens the normal season on March 28 againstOakland in Suzuki&#8217s native Japan.

&#8220I know it&#8217s a big deal to everybody. I can&#8217t get caught up in that. My jobis to make positive I communicate that to Ichiro, make positive everyone understandsexactly what the possibilities are and what they&#8217re fighting for and what I&#8217m thinkingabout and that&#8217s what I&#8217m going to continue to do,&#8221 Wedge mentioned. &#8220Right now I&#8217mgoing to be incredibly open minded to what we&#8217re going to do but I&#8217m going to headinto spring coaching leaning a particular path and we&#8217ll make the decisionsfrom there.&#8221

If Wedge makes the alter, he said he was taking into consideration young prospect DustinAckley, Franklin Gutierrez and even Chone Figgins as feasible replacements inthe leadoff role. Ackley would seem the most most likely immediately after his debut last year.He played in 90 games, hit .273 with an on-base percentage of .348 and walked 40times. Wedge considers Suzuki a feasible selection to bat second or third.

&#8220Ultimately it&#8217s not just about Ichiro, it&#8217s about our club and his 24other teammates,&#8221 Wedge mentioned. &#8220And Ichiro understands that and I damn sureunderstand that. So what we&#8217re going to do is make sure we put out the bestlineup doable to score additional runs. It&#8217s unacceptable the quantity of runs we&#8217vescored the final couple of years.&#8221

Follow Yahoo! Sports MLB coverage on Twitter.

Arrested last week in the Dominican Republic on false identity charges,Carmona was placed on baseball&#8217s restricted list Thursday by the club. TheIndians had to apply to the commissioner&#8217s workplace in order to have Carmonaplaced on the list due to his unusual legal entanglement. Players on therestricted list do not count against a team&#8217s 25- or 40-man roster and will notbe paid till they report.

Players can stay on the list for two years.

Carmona was arrested outside the U.S. consulate in Santo Domingo last weekand charged with falsifying his name and birthdate so he could play for theIndians, who signed him as a cost-free agent in 2000. Authorities in his homelandrevealed Carmona&#8217s real name is Roberto Hernandez Heredia and that he&#8217s 31&#8212three years older than the Indians believed.

Carmona&#8217s date of birth is listed as Dec. 7, 1983, in Cleveland&#8217s mediaguide, meaning he was 17 when he signed.

He was released from jail on bail about $13,000 Friday and was ordered tostay in the Dominican to complete his judicial procedure. The Indians report totraining camp next month, but it appears unlikely Carmona will have his caseresolved by then. In the meantime, the club will continue to refer to him asCarmona.

Carmona, who is scheduled to make $7 million this season, was slotted be inthe middle of the Indians&#8217 beginning rotation with Ubaldo Jimenez, JustinMasterson, Josh Tomlin and Derek Lowe. In case Carmona&#8217s legal trouble keeps himaway for an extended period. the Indians acquired starter Kevin Slowey in atrade with Colorado.

Earlier this week, Indians manager Manny Acta stated the team is doing all itcan to aid Carmona, who has had an erratic profession due to the fact going 19-8 in 2007. Theclub has been gathering info as it tries to perform through the complexitiesof Carmona&#8217s situation, which came to light 4 months soon after Miami Marlinspitcher Leo Nunez, whose real name is Juan Carlos Oviedo, admitted employing falsedocuments when he was young to sign a professional contract.

Oviedo, too, is on the restricted list. He is cooperating with officials ona bigger investigation of fake documents.

Carmona began the Indians&#8217 opener last season and finished 7-15 with a5.25 ERA in 32 starts. But the Indians only scored 3.8 runs per game for him,third worst assistance amongst AL starters. The correct-hander completed fourth in CyYoung voting in 2007, when he became the youngest Indians pitcher to win morethan 17 games because Hall of Famer Bob Feller in 1938.

The Indians have possibilities on Carmona for 2013 and 2014.

Follow Yahoo! Sports MLB coverage on Twitter.

Final season, the appropriate-hander only threw 19 1-3 innings for the PhiladelphiaPhillies, going -two with a 1.40 ERA and one particular save. He didn&#8217t pitch till lateJuly mainly because of elbow and shoulder complications in his right arm.

Lidge is a two-time All-Star who closed for the Phillies and Houston Astrosduring his 10-year major league profession, going 26-31 with 233 saves and a three.44ERA in 592 appearances general.

In Washington, Lidge joins a bullpen led by setup man Tyler Clippard, whowas an All-Star in 2011, and closer Drew Storen.

The Nationals announced their deal with Lidge on Thursday.

Follow Yahoo! Sports MLB coverage on Twitter.