With just a couple of weeks left in the season, there's plenty of talk giving us a picture of what can expect this winter, so let's run down the week's stories:
- Commissioner Bud Selig restated once again that he will retire after 2012, saying definitively that December 31 next year will be his last day. Selig also said he hopes to have expanded playoffs by 2012, but admitted that it's unlikely.
- Dodgers' GM Ned Colletti said there won't be any major changes to his club for 2012, and that his top priorities this offseason will be extending Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. Clayton Kershaw is less of a priority because he's under team control for three more years.
- As of right now, however, Kemp's agent says the Dodgers have yet to approach him about a multiyear deal.
- Cardinals' GM John Mozeliak is confident he can re-sign Albert Pujols to play out the remainder of his career in St. Louis. Pujols doesn't want to think about the contract talks for now, and a surprise contender for his services was rumored when the Marlins' name came up.
- Lots of chatter this week about players extensions and new contracts this week, starting with a possible deal in the future for Miguel Montero and the Diamondbacks.
- Cameron Maybin and the Padres have mutual interest in hammering out an extension of their own, as Maybin is enjoying a breakout season in San Diego.
- Rafael Furcal hasn't been a member of the Cardinals for long, but both sides have interest in working out a deal for 2012.
- Because of their loyalty to this point, Chien-Ming Wang wants to pitch for tne Nationals once again come 2012.
- Carlos Pena and Aramis Ramirez hope to be manning the corner infield positions for the Cubs at Wrigley Field in 2012 and beyond.
- The Giants released both Aaron Rowand and Miguel Tejada after designating the pair for assignment in the previous week. Tejada plans to play again in 2012, but he'd probably be looking at a minor league deal after this season.
- Tejada's not the only one planning on returning; Jason Isringhausen is also intent on playing again in 2012, but unlike Tejada, Izzy's had a pretty solid rebound season.
- Both Mike Cameron and Hideki Okajima are pondering retirement following the 2011 campaign.
- As usual, the week consisted of many minor transactions such as waiver claims, minor league releases, etc. You can follow all of these transactions on Twitter with @mlbtrtrans, by clicking our Transactions tag, or using MLBTR's Transaction Tracker.
