Some links on this Saturday afternoon..
- Astros GM Ed Wade isn't sure yet if pitching coach Doug Brocail will return next year, writes MLB.com's Brian McTaggart. Brocail retired after the 2009 season and was working as a special assistant to Wade this year when he took over as pitching coach when Brad Arnsberg was let go in June.
- Both the Yankees and Mets will have to start making some critical decisions about which prospects they need to protect ahead of the Rule V draft this winter, writes Tim Bontemps of the New York Post. It seems likely that the Mets will roll the dice and leave once-promising right-hander Brad Holt unprotected while the Bombers could leave switch-pitcher Pat Venditte exposed.
- With Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder both hitting the free agent market this winter, the battle between agents Dan Lozano and Scott Boras will be fun to watch, writes Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
- Giants managing partner and CEO Bill Neukom wanted the team to take a more patient approach to hitting when he took over but Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle says that never came to be.
