Andy Pettitte declined his $16 million option with the New York Yankees while he decides whether or not he wants to pitch next season.

The Padres have reportedly come to terms with veteran right-hander Greg Maddux on a one-year deal worth $10 million.

The Houston Astros today named Felix Francisco as their director of Latin American scouting.  Francisco will oversee all of the Astros Latin American scouting efforts, with particular emphasis in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Mexico.  He will also have involvement with the Astros’ academies in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Colombia.

The Minnesota Twins today announced the Diamond Awards, their annual awards for the 2007 season based on voting conducted by the Twin Cities Chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America. 

Twins’ All-Star centerfielder Torii Hunter is the winner of the Calvin R. Griffith Award (the Twins’ first owner) given to the Most Valuable Twin.  Hunter hit 28 home runs and drove in a career-high 107 runs in 2007.  He ranked tied for fourth in the American League with a career-high 45 doubles, while his three grand slams tied Alex Rodriguez for the most in the Majors.  He finished the season with a .287 batting average, which included a career-long 23-game hitting streak.

For the fifth consecutive year, lefthanded pitcher Johan Santana is the winner of the Joseph W. Haynes Award (Former Twins’ Executive Vice-President) given to the Twins’ Pitcher of the Year.  Santana, 28, was 15-13, 3.33 (219.0 ip, 81 er) allowing 183 hits with 52 walks and 235 strikeouts in 33 starts in 2007.  Santana was named to his third career American League All-Star team and finished the season ranking second in the American League in strikeouts, third in opponents batting average (.225), sixth in innings pitched and seventh in ERA.

Cleveland Indians’ Executive Vice President and General Manager Mark Shapiro has been honored by Sporting News as the 2007 MLB Executive of the Year. Shapiro was presented with the award at the MLB general managers’ meetings Monday night.

In voting by 47 Major League executives, Shapiro received 13 votes. Rockies G.M. Dan O’Dowd was next, with 11.

In his sixth season with the Indians, Shapiro’s moves, both in-season and off-season, along with his patience, resulted with the Indians in a tie with the Red Sox for the best record in the regular season (96-66), and got the team within one win of the World Series. Shapiro also won in the award in 2005 after the Indians posted 93 wins.

The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced that John Russell has been hired as the 38th manager in team history. 

Russell, 46, spent the last two seasons as the Triple-A manager in the Philadelphia organization.  He was named the International League Manager of the Year after guiding Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to the Northern Division title in 2006.  Russell, who served as manager at the 2007 International League All-Star Game, managed Ottawa last season.

“John is absolutely the best choice to lead our ballclub.  His positive energy, intense passion for the game and strong managerial experience set him apart from every other potential candidate we considered,” said Huntington.  “John has been extremely successful getting the most out of his young players in his 10-plus years of managing.  He is a great teacher of the game, an exhaustive communicator and tireless worker.  He will ensure that our players continue to improve at the Major League level and play the game with the pride and passion of Pirate baseball.”

After retiring as a player, Russell spent eight years (1995-2002) as a minor league manager in the Minnesota organization.  He was named 2002 Minor League Manager of the Year and “Best Managerial Prospect” by Baseball America when his Edmonton club captured the Pacific Coast League crown.  In addition, John was tabbed as the Eastern League's "Top Managerial Prospect" by Baseball America after guiding his New Britain club to a first-place finish in 1998.