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COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Hall of Fame players Jeff Bagwell, Tom Glavine, Chipper Jones, Ted Simmons and Jim Thome are among 16 members of the contemporary era committee that will consider an eight-man Hall of Fame ballot that includes managers Jim Leyland, Lou Piniella, Cito Gaston and Davey Johnson.

Retired manager Joe Torre and former commissioner Bud Selig, both elected to the hall, also are on the committee that convenes Sunday at the winter meetings in Nashville, Tennessee, along with executives Sandy Alderson, Bill DeWitt, Michael Hill, Ken Kendrick, Andy MacPhail and Phyllis Merhige plus media members/historians Sean Forman, Jack O’Connell and Jesus Ortiz.

The ballot also includes umpires Joe West and Ed Montague, former National League President Bill White and former general manager Hank Peters.

A vote of 75% or more is needed for election. Anyone chosen will be inducted into the Hall of Fame next July 21 along with players voted in by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose balloting will be announced on Jan. 23.

Leyland, 78, won 1,769 games over 22 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Marlins, Colorado Rockies and Detroit Tigers, leading the Marlins to the 1997 World Series title. He was voted Manager of the Year in 1990, 1992 and 2006, and he managed the U.S. to the 2017 World Baseball Classic championship.

Piniella, 80, won 1,835 games with the New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays and the Chicago Cubs, winning the 1990 World Series with the Reds. His 2001 Mariners won an America League-record 116 games. He was voted Manager of the Year in 1995, 2001 and 2008. Piniella was voted the 1969 AL Rookie of the Year and hit .291 with 102 homers and 766 RBIs in 18 big league seasons that includes titles with the Yankees in 1977 and ’78.

Gaston, 79, had 894 victories while managing the Toronto Blue Jays for 12 seasons, earning World Series titles in 1992 and ’93. He hit .256 with 91 homers and 387 RBIs during 11 seasons.

Johnson, 80, had 1,372 wins for the New York Mets, Cincinnati, Baltimore Orioles, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals, leading the Mets to the 1986 World Series title. He was voted Manager of the Year in 1997 and 2012. As a player, he batted .261 with 136 homers and 609 RBIs in 13 seasons.

West, 70, umpired a record 5,460 games from 1976 to 2021, breaking the prior mark of 5,375 set by Bill Klem. West worked six World Series.

Montague, 74, worked 4,369 games from 1974 to 2009 and umpired in six World Series, including four as crew chief.

White, 89, was NL president from 1989-94. He was an All-Star first baseman in five seasons and hit .286 with 202 homers and 870 RBIs from 1956-69 and became a Yankees broadcaster from 1971-88.

Peters, who died in 2015 at age 90, was general manager of the Kansas City Athletics in 1965, moved to the Cleveland Indians the following year, was president of the minor league governing body the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues from 1972-75, then became Baltimore’s GM from November 1975 until October 1987 and helped the Orioles win the 1979 AL pennant and the 1983 World Series. He was president of the Indians from 1987 through 1991.

The Hall of Fame in 2022 restructured its veterans’ committees for the third time in 12 years, setting up panels to consider the contemporary baseball Era from 1980 on and classic baseball era for before 1980. The contemporary baseball era holds separate ballots for players and another for managers, executives and umpires.

Each committee meets every three years, starting with contemporary baseball/players last December, when Fred McGriff was elected. Classic baseball meets in December 2024 and contemporary baseball/players in December 2025.

Managers and umpires were eligible if they had 10 or more big league seasons and have been retired for five years, though people 65 and older are eligible six months after retirement. Executives must be retired for five years, but active executives 70 or older are eligible.

The ballot was picked by a historical overview committee that included Bob Elliott of the Canadian Baseball Network, Steve Hirdt of Stats Perform, David O’Brien of The Athletic, BBWAA secretary-treasurer O’Connell, Tracy Ringolsby of InsideTheSeams, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle and Mark Whicker of the Los Angeles News Group along with Jim Henneman (formerly of The Sun in Baltimore), Jim Reeves (formerly of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram) and Glenn Schwarz (formerly of the San Francisco Chronicle).

Adrián Beltré, Joe Mauer, Chase Utley, David Wright, José Bautista and Matt Holliday are among the players eligible for the BBWAA ballot for the first time in the current vote. Holdovers include Todd Helton, who fell 11 votes short this year, and Billy Wagner, who was 27 shy.

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Sources: Knights land Marner, give star 8 years

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Sources: Knights land Marner, give star 8 years

Mitch Marner was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights — with an eight-year extension in place, sources told ESPN on Monday. Forward Nicolas Roy will go to the Toronto Maple Leafs in return.

Marner’s new deal has a $12 million average annual value, according to sources. Marner, 28, was the biggest name entering Tuesday’s NHL free agency, and multiple teams were hoping to make pitches. Marner was the NHL’s fifth-leading scorer last season with 102 points — 36 more than the next-closest free agent. The winger was drafted by his hometown Maple Leafs with the No. 4 pick in 2015.

The Maple Leafs knew that Marner was looking to test free agency at the end of the season. Over the past few days, Toronto worked with Vegas, which was Marner’s preferred destination, on a trade. The Maple Leafs held Marner’s rights until just before midnight Tuesday.

Had Marner become an unrestricted free agent, he couldn’t have signed a deal for more than seven years.

Marner finished a six-year deal that paid him $10.9 million annually. Marner, who played for Team Canada at Four Nations and likely will make their Olympic team, has 221 goals and 741 points in nine NHL seasons.

Toronto general manager Brad Treliving has stayed busy this week, re-signing John Tavares and Matthew Knies while trading for Utah forward Matias Maccelli earlier Monday.

Roy, 28, is a center who is entering Year 4 of a five-year deal that pays him $3 million annually.

Ahead of the Marner trade, the Golden Knights created cap space by sending defenseman Nicolas Hague to the Nashville Predators on Monday.

The deal makes Marner the highest-paid player on Vegas, however, center Jack Eichel ($10 million AAV) is entering the final year of his contract and is eligible to sign an extension this summer. The Golden Knights might not be done this offseason. According to sources, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is expected to go on long-term injured reserve, which could create more flexibility.

Sign-and-trades ahead of free agency are becoming a trend for NHL teams that know they will not sign their coveted player; last season, the Carolina Hurricanes dealt Jake Guentzel‘s rights to the Tampa Bay Lightning before he signed a seven-year deal.

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Sources: Panthers keeping Marchand, Ekblad

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Sources: Panthers keeping Marchand, Ekblad

Hours after re-signing Aaron Ekblad, the Florida Panthers kept another integral piece of their Stanley Cup team by re-signing Brad Marchand to a six-year contract extension, sources told ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.

Marchand’s deal has an average annual value of $5.25 million, sources told Kaplan.

Coming to terms with Ekblad on an eight-year extension worth $6.1 million annually left the Panthers with what PuckPedia projected to be $4.9 million in salary cap space.

There was the possibility that Marchand, 37, could have left the Panthers for a more lucrative offer elsewhere considering there were teams that had more than enough cap space to sign him.

Instead? Marchand, who arrived ahead of the NHL trade deadline from the Boston Bruins, appears as if he will remain in South Florida for the rest of his career.

Acquiring defenseman Seth Jones from the Chicago Blackhawks and then adding Marchand were two decisions made by Panthers general manager Bill Zito with the intent of seeing the Panthers win a second consecutive Stanley Cup as part of a run that now has included three straight Cup Final appearances.

Marchand, who was a pending UFA entering the final day before free agency begins Tuesday, used the 2025 postseason to further cement why the Panthers and other teams throughout the NHL would still seek his services. He scored 10 goals and finished with 20 points in 23 playoff games.

For all the contributions he made, his greatest came during the Cup Final series against the Edmonton Oilers.

Marchand, who previously won a Cup with the Bruins back in 2011, opened the series with a goal in the first three games. That includes the two goals he scored in the Panthers’ 5-4 double-overtime win to tie the series with his second being the game-winning salvo.

He scored two more goals in a 5-2 win in Game 5 that allowed the Panthers to take a 3-1 series lead before returning to Sunrise, Florida, where they closed out the series with an emphatic 5-1 win.

Capturing a consecutive title created questions about whether the Panthers can win a third in a row. But there was the understanding that it might be difficult given there was only so much salary cap space to re-sign Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett, Ekblad and Marchand.

Knowing there was a chance they could lose one, or more, of them, Zito laid the foundation to retain the trio. He began by signing Bennett to an eight-year contract worth $8 million annually on June 27 before using Monday to sign Ekblad and Marchand.

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Sources: Provorov nets 7-year deal from Jackets

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Sources: Provorov nets 7-year deal from Jackets

Ivan Provorov decided to forgo free agency, with the veteran defenseman finalizing a seven-year extension Monday worth $8.5 million annually to remain with the Columbus Blue Jackets, sources told ESPN, confirming earlier reports.

With free agency slated to start Tuesday, the 28-year-old was one of the most notable defenseman who had a chance to hit the open market.

Provorov’s decision to stay with the Blue Jackets comes shortly after it was reported that Aaron Ekblad also avoided free agency by agreeing to an eight-year extension to remain with the Florida Panthers. That now leaves players such as Vladislav Gavrikov, Ryan Lindgren, and Dmitry Orlov among the more prominent pending UFAs who could be available should they fail to strike a deal with their current teams.

Retaining Provorov comes months after a season that witnessed the Blue Jackets shed the title of being a rebuilding franchise to one that could challenge for the playoffs in 2025-26.

Four consecutive seasons without the playoffs created the idea that the 2024-25 campaign could be another challenging one. But a six-game winning streak in January saw Columbus post a 22-17-6 record to create the belief that a turnaround could be in order.

The Jackets closed the season with another six-game winning streak but fell short of the final Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot, which went to the Montreal Canadiens by two points.

Provorov would finish with seven goals and 33 points in 82 games while his 23 minutes, 21 seconds in average ice time was second behind Norris Trophy finalist Zach Werenski.

Re-signing Provorov comes in an offseason that saw the Blue Jackets also strengthen their bottom-six forward corps by adding Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood in a trade with the Colorado Avalanche.

PuckPedia projects that the Blue Jackets now have $20.957 million in cap space ahead of free agency.

TSN was first to report news of Provorov’s decision.

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