Former major league umpire Chuck Meriwether, who was behind the plate when the Boston Red Sox ended their championship drought in 2004, died Saturday. He was 63.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said that the league office would continue conversations with the Houston Astros regarding the incident last weekend that resulted in the termination of a member of the team's front office.

Umpire Joe West has sued Paul Lo Duca for defamation after the former catcher alleged West gave pitcher Billy Wagner a bigger strike zone in exchange for letting the umpire borrow a vintage car.

In a complaint filed Tuesday in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, West contends Lo Duca said during an April 18 podcast on The Action Network that he had been ejected 15 times during his major league career -- and eight or nine had been by West.

Eric Cooper, a Major League Baseball umpire who worked the American League Division Series two weeks ago, has died. He was 52.

Commissioner Rob Manfred announced Cooper's death Sunday.

Cooper died after having a blood clot. He had knee surgery earlier in the week and was recuperating at his father's home in Iowa. Popular with his fellow umps, he spoke with some of them Saturday about his recovery.

Cooper made his debut in the majors in 1996 as a minor league fill-in and joined the big league staff in 1999.

Angels communications director Eric Kay, who last month told U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents that he provided opioids to pitcher Tyler Skaggs, said in a statement to Outside the Lines on Sunday that it's "time for everyone to stand up and take responsibility."

"I felt and continue to feel that it is time for everyone to stand up and take responsibility for their respective roles in this," he said in the statement issued by his attorney, Michael Molfetta. "Nothing anyone does will ever provide closure for the Skaggs family. I can't, the Angels can't, and the courts can't, regardless of what happens there. But at least I can help them 'know' instead of '