Pete Mackanin has taken a job with the New York Yankees as a major league scout. Mackanin was Cincinnati’s advance scout when manager Jerry Narron was fired on July 1. The Yankees expressed an interest in Mackanin after baseball’s winter meetings in December.

Paul Byrd, Cleveland Indians pitcher, met with baseball officials Monday to discuss his use of human growth hormone. It is still unclear if Byrd will be imposed with any punishment. Before Game 7 of the AL championship series in Boston, Byrd confessed taking HGH. His name was immediately included last week in the Mitchell Report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

Eric Munson and the Milwaukee Brewers concluded a 525,000 contract for a one-year time that avoided salary arbitration. Munson is known to have played parts of eight seasons with Detroit, Tampa Bay and Houston, hitting .214 with 49 homers and 147 RBIs in 360 games. The Brewers also sent outfielder Laynce Nix outright to Triple-A Nashville, clearing a roster spot for David Riske, who agreed to a three-year deal last week.

While football and hockey referees enjoy the benefit of “going upstairs” in order to review close calls, this kind of practice has no place in MLB. We can study any replay for all eternity, but the fact of the matter is that everything will be decided as the umpire rules. And here lies the beauty of the game. Technically, in practice, umpires could be completely replaced by video cameras and laser sensors, but then we will lose all those quirks that make the wonderful game of baseball the greatest sport in the world.

Glavine received an initial offer from Atlanta on Friday and then spent the evening hours at an Atlanta restaurant. After you have waited 5 seasons for this potential opportunity to come home, there is no reason to just sit around the house and count the days until it becomes a reality. It was reported that Atlanta made a 1-year offer that is worth $6.5 million. x On FridayTom Glavine’s agent, Gregg Clifton, provided a counterproposal that he says never would have been submitted if Tom was not satisfied with the starting point of the negotiations.