NL Executive of Year

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1. Omar Minaya, Mets. Almost everything seemed to work, from the big-ticket items (Wagner, Delgado, Beltran, Pedro Martinez) to the smaller ones (Endy Chavez, Chad Braford, John Maine, Jose Valentin, El Duque).

2. Larry Beinfest, Marlins. It's virtually impossible to build a better team on a $17 million.

3. Kevin Towers, Padres. Ned Colletti and Pat Gillick made great moves during the year, but none was better than Towers' trade of Doug Mirabelli for Meredith and Josh Bard. And let's not forget his deal for Chris Young and Adrian Gonzalez.

Ed Wade Award (Worst NL GM). Jim Hendry, Cubs. After his big-market team showed early that it didn't have the depth to overcome injuries, he spent the year saying how he would handle the Dusty Baker situation. First he was evaluating Baker, then he wasn't. Recently, he answered "not necessarily'' when asked whether he'd made up his mind regarding Baker. I guess that final weekend series with the Rockies was key, huh?

Around the majors

• Today is D-day for Dusty as a Cub, which means that after Andy MacPhail's shocking resignation Sunday as Cubs president, Hendry is alone as baseball person atop their hierarchy. MacPhail said it was time for fresh ideas (and after two playoffs in 12 years, he is probably right), and Tribune Co. corporate big John McDonough should surely bring just that as MacPhail's replacement, since folks around the team say McDonough knows nothing about baseball.

• Mike Hargrove overcame odds to survive another year in Seattle. But the implication of the message is clear: He and GM Bill Bavasi have to turn things around, and soon.

• Buck Showalter gets a Tuesday meeting with Rangers owner Tom Hicks and GM Jon Daniels, which sounds more and more like something that's in lieu of more time with the team.

• Trey Hillman of the Nippon Ham Fighters is a solid managerial candidate from all reports. Texas looks like a potential landing spot.

• Giants GM Brian Sabean came out and said Barry Bonds would have to take less money to stay. No kidding. Bonds made $18 million this year and he's not that sort of player anymore. The news of Sabean saying what he said is really that the Giants are willing to take Bonds back, not that I ever really doubted it.

• The A's gambled by waiting for Rich Harden, and it appears to have paid off. It'll be a big bonus to have him available for the playoffs. The A's are 8-0 in games Harden has started this year.

• An amazing stat: The Indians have a plus-88 run differential, inspiring GM Mark Shapiro to say it's obvious to him what they need to do. I immediately thought "manager.'' But Shapiro was thinking bullpen. Cleveland had the best relief corps in baseball last year with a 2.80 ERA but was almost exactly two runs worse this year.

• The Chicago Tribune reports that the Cubs are getting close on a revamped deal to keep Aramis Ramirez in Chicago. If he takes less than the $64 million, five-year deal Adrian Beltre got two years ago, he's underselling himself.

• The Dodgers were very aggressive at the deadline, and James Loney was floated in a package for Soriano and again for David Wells. Some wonder whether he'll have enough power, but he became another Dodgers rookie to make a difference with a nine-RBI game the other day, tying the club record set by Gil Hodges.

• All the Mets coaches are returning to the team, SI.com has learned. All the coaches' contracts were expiring, but Minaya told them within the past few days that they were invited back. The next step is extending Randolph, who's due for a major salary increase from the $700,000 he is to make in 2007 (a doubling would not be unreasonable).

• Thanks to quite a cold streak, Adam Dunn tied his own strikeout record with his 195th whiff Sunday (he also had 195 in 2004). It took a horrific last two months in which he hit .183 (33 for 181) with 75 Ks.

• MLB set an attendance record for the third straight season. With attendance up and a new TV deal (especially the new TV deal), it's a good year to be a free agent. Most teams are predicting they'll have money to spend, even teams that usually sit on the sidelines.

• Things were going so well in collective bargaining talks that some folks thought there might be a new deal by today. But alas, not quite yet.

• Good news for Pedro Martinez: no new injuries yesterday. The Mets' new estimate of eight months off after surgery to fix a torn rotator cuff sounds like a best-case scenario. It may take them that long just to inventory all his ailments.

• What do you think of this season: 35 home runs, 113 runs, 121 RBIs, .392 on-base percentage, .290 BA (.311 at home, .358 in September and .302 with RISP)? Well those are the final figures of the most criticized and booed player of 2006, Alex Rodriguez.