The Houston Astros and Yuli Gurriel have agreed to a one-year contract with an option for 2022 that guarantees $7 million, a cut of nearly 20% from his 2020 deal.

Gurriel's 2020 contract called for an $8.3 million salary and wound up being worth $3,074,074 prorated.

His new deal includes a $6.5 million salary for 2021 and an $8 million club option for 2021 with a $500,000 buyout.

Video reviews overturned 42.4% of calls checked during Major League Baseball's shortened 2020 regular season, down slightly from 44% in 2019.

MLB said Tuesday there were 468 manager challenges and 58 crew chief reviews among 526 total reviews during 898 games.

The average time of a review was 1 minute, 25 seconds, up from 1:16 the previous season, when there were 1,186 manager challenges and 170 crew chief reviews among 1,356 reviews during 2,429 games.

Major League Baseball started the process of eliminating Minor League affiliates Tuesday.

The Appalachian League has been converted to a college summer circuit for rising freshmen and sophomores.

The agreement between MLB and the minor leagues expires Wednesday. MLB has proposed cutting the minimum guaranteed minor league affiliates from 160 to 120 next year, leaving four per major league organization plus teams at their spring training complexes.

Major League Baseball has yet to confirm the order of selections for the 2021 draft, but the expected order will be determined by the final 2020 standings.

Assuming that will be the order, the first round will look as follows:

1. Pirates

2. Rangers

3. Tigers

4. Red Sox

5. Orioles

6. Diamondbacks

7. Royals

8. Rockies

9. Angels

10. Mets

11. Nationals

12. Mariners

13. Phillies

14. Giants

15. Brewers

16. Marlins

17. Reds

18. Cardinals

19. Blue Jays

20. Yankees

21. Cubs

22. White Sox

23. Indians

24. Braves

25. Athletics

26. Twins

27. Padres

28. Rays

29. Dodgers

The Miami Marlins are in the playoffs for the first time since 2003.

They currently have the longest odds of winning the World Series among the expanded postseason field at 33-1.

"For us, this is a steppingstone," Derek Jeter said. "We didn't come here to chase 'a' championship or 'a' playoff appearance. We want to be sustainable."

Miami will face the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-three wild-card round beginning Wednesday.

The Boston Red Sox announced Sunday that Ron Roenicke will not return as the team's manager for the 2021 season, with a search for a new skipper beginning immediately.

Roenicke took over as interim manager in February following the parting of ways with Alex Cora during the fallout from the Astros sign-stealing investigation. The team removed the interim label from Roenicke's title after Major League Baseball cleared him of any wrongdoing in Boston's own sign-stealing investigation in April.

The Angels fired GM Billy Eppler on Sunday, moments after the team concluded its fifth consecutive losing season.

The firing comes with one year left on Eppler's deal. The Angels quietly extended Eppler through the 2021 season over the summer, a source confirmed to ESPN. Eppler, who finished his fifth season with the organization after joining in 2015, was on an expiring contract when the year began.

In a statement, Angels president John Carpino said: "The Angels organization would like to thank Billy for his dedication and work ethic over the last five years. We wish him and his family all the best."

The San Francisco Giants released veteran right-hander Jeff Samardzija on Saturday, a day after he returned from a lengthy shoulder injury and rehab.

Samardzija, an 11-game winner in 2019, was designated for assignment and placed on unconditional release waivers days before his contract was to expire.

Trevor Bauer pitched the Cincinnati Reds to a victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night, a huge win for the team as regular season winds down.

Bauer allowed one run over eight innings, striking out 12 and walking just one. The Reds entered Thursday's action as the seventh seed in the National League.

When asked if he's done enough to win the NL Cy Young, Bauer said: "I don't know how you could see it any other way."

He leads the NL with a 1.73 ERA and is the only pitcher in the league with 100 strikeouts.

Terry Francona won't return to the dugout for the Cleveland Indians during the regular season but he will join the club's playoff bubble.

Francona, 61, has missed 42 games because of gastrointestinal surgery and blood-clotting issues.

"It gives Tito an opportunity to be around the team, even if it's not in the dugout," Chris Antonetti said.