Empire State Building lit up in honor of Gary Carter. (Tom Kaminski)The state of New York paid tribute to the late Gary Carter on Friday evening with a special blue and orange lighting display at the very top of the Empire State Building,

The tribute was announced on the Empire State Building Observatory's twitter page late this afternoon, and when darkness fell over Manhattan, the Mets' blue and orange lit up the sky as a symbol of recognition not only for the Hall of Fame catcher's contributions to the New York Mets organization over his five year stint — which included a World Series Championship in 1986 — but his even bigger and more meaningful contributions to the surrounding area off the field.

Indeed a very special and fitting tribute to a very special and inspirational human being.

Well done, New York.

Follow Mark on Twitter — @Townie813 — and engage the Stew on Facebook

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
• Nashville Predators' Stanley Cup pursuit: The future is now
• Pack racing is back at Daytona, and so are the accompanying wrecks
•

Logan Morrison wore the No. 20 in his first two seasons with the Marlins. (AP)You might be thinking what I was thinking when I first saw Logan Morrison's tweets on Saturday afternoon announcing his switch to his team's retired No. 5: The Miami Marlins retired a number other than Jackie Robinson's No. 42? How did I miss that?

Well, the Marlins actually retired the No. 5 prior to their inaugural season when the team's first president, Carl Barger, passed away unexpectedly during the 1992 Winter Meetings in Louisville.

Barger had grown up a big fan of the Yankees' Joe DiMaggio, so the decision was made almost immediately to retire DiMaggio's number in his honor. That ceremony took place before their first game on April 5, 1993.

Now, 19 years later, the number will officially come out of retirement in the Marlins home opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on April 4. A plaque honoring Barger will take its place in the new Marlins Ballpark.

"I understand what an honor it is to have a number unretired," Morrison said via Twitter. "I want to thank Mr. Loria and the Marlins for making it happen."

"I also promise to wear the number with great pride and continue to honor Mr. Barger and his family."

As it turns out, Morrison also had a tribute in mind when he requested the number change. His father, Tom, who passed away after a battle with lung cancer in the December 2010, was a big supporter of George Brett, and often encouraged Logan to emulate the Kansas City Royals Hall of Famer. Now Morrison is one step closer to doing just that, while also honoring the memory of his dad.

Angels GM Jerry Dipoto responds to fans' trade suggestion. (Halos Heaven)Every sports fan has something they would like to personally express to a person in power representing their favorite team(s).

Whether it be a trade suggestion, concern over player salaries, frustrations over loyalty to the manager or coach, ticket prices, or any number of on and off the field issues, they would simply relish the opportunity to be heard, and maybe even acknowledged.

Truth is, most of those thoughts end up being yelled at the television and/or vented to disinterested beat writers on Twitter.

But there's one Los Angeles Angels fan out there — a man named Aaron, who also writes under the moniker of Of Maicer of Men on the Angels blog Halos Heaven — who took the time and put forth the effort to write his well thought out trade suggestion on a piece of paper, placed it in an envelope, licked a stamp, and mailed it to their new general manager Jerry Dipoto.

Like I said, it's something we've all considered at least once or twice in our sports loving lives, but I don't think any of us would anticipate what Aaron would receive: An actual direct response from Dipoto, handwritten on a postcard.

Sam Miller of the Orange County Register transcribes Dipoto's response for us:

Commissioner Bud Selig expects expanded playoffs to begin in 2012. (AP) Those of us hoping for at least one more year of the current playoff structure — and preferably decades more — seem unlikely to get our wish based on comments commissioner Bud Selig made to the assembled media at SoxFest Friday night in Chicago.

From the Chicago Tribune:

"I really believe we'll have the (extra) wild card for this year," Selig said Friday at SoxFest. "Clubs really want it. I don't think I've ever seen an issue that the clubs want more than to have the extra wild card."

"We're working on dates right now," Selig said. "It looks to me like we'll have it, because I've told everybody we have to have it. It will be exciting. A one-game playoff and it will start the playoffs off in a very exciting manner."

In case you haven't heard all of the details, the expanded playoffs will give us five playoff teams in each league — three division winners and two wild cards. The two wild cards will then face-off in a one-game elimination, followed by the usual playoff format. There will also be one-game playoffs to break divisional ties.

The new structure is easy to understand, so it has that going for it. I don't think there's any question the one-game wild card playoff will give us memorable games and moments as Bud suggests. That's also a plus. Unfortunately, as we've documented here on Big League Stew in the past, many times that will come at the expense of truly exciting September pennant races, and it will always make sure the regular season is good and watered down.

I don't like the thought of that. In fact, I hate it. Passionately.

Tony La Russa retired third on the all-time wins list with 2,728. (Presswire)Here's an interesting piece of news that flew under a lot of radars amid Tuesday's flurry of impact signings.

From the office of commissioner Bud Selig came word that despite Tony La Russa's retirement as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, the future Hall of Fame skipper would be allowed the opportunity to fulfill his pennant-winning duties as manager of the National All-Star squad this summer in Kansas City.

Admittedly, the announcement caught me a bit off-guard. I was already locked in to the assumption that the runnerup to the pennant— Milwaukee's Ron Roenicke— would be given the nod after La Russa stepped down on Oct 31. Under normal circumstances — which I believed included retirement — that would be the case. However, Selig declared La Russa's circumstances to be unusual, and thus he will join John McGraw — who returned to manage the National League in the first ever All-Star game back in 1933 — as the only retired managers to stand on the top step of a Midsummer Classic.

It's an interesting, historic, and perhaps even controversial decision depending on your viewpoint. But it's one that Selig had no trouble defending:

The Rockies acquired Marco Scutaro to become their everyday second baseman. (Presswire)The trade was on.

Then it was off.

Now it's complete.

As Troy Renck of the Denver Post first reported in all three phases of the deal that took a little over 24 hours to complete, the Colorado Rockies have acquired Marco Scutaro from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen.

No money changed hands in the deal, which means the Rockies will be on the hook for the $6 million Scutaro is owed in 2012. That pushes their projected payroll to just under the $82 million they paid out last season, and could signal the end to their aggressive offseason.

It also means new Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington — who was willing to settle for a minimal return in Mortensen, and will now roll with Mike Aviles and Nick Punto as his shortstop options — really needed that money to make serious push for a free agent starting pitcher.

To no one's surprise, we're already hearing reports that pitcher will be Roy Oswalt.

Assuming the Oswalt signing takes place, the trade will look like a win-win in the eyes of most. For now, though, it's a definite win for Colorado, because Scutaro immediately fills three needs on their major league roster.

Jamie Moyer last pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies on July 20, 2010. (AP)Don't stick a fork in Jamie Moyer, he's not done yet.

The 49-year-old left-hander, who missed the entire 2011 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, insisted he would rehab with an eye towards a return for a 25th season in 2012. And guess what? He's one step closer to making his comeback a reality after joining the Colorado Rockies on a minor-league contract pending the completion of a physical.

Surprised?

I'd hope you'd know better than that by now.

As Big League Stew's own Ian Casselberry wrote one day before Moyer became the oldest Tommy John patient on record:

A rational human being almost certainly would've decided it's time to stop throwing a baseball after straining a ligament and tendon in his left elbow last July.

Without a doubt, any mortal man would surely have chosen to move on to another phase of his life after going on to blow out that same elbow while pitching winter ball in the Dominican Republic.

But Jamie Moyer is no mortal man, no normal pitcher. His left elbow can be rebuilt.

And so the surgery took place on Dec. 1, 2010, and apparently the elbow is feeling as close to 100 percent as an elbow can possibly be feeling after nearly 40 years of wear and tear ranging from little league all the way to the big leagues.

The Oakland A's acquired outfielder Seth Smith from Colorado. He's a career .257 hitter away from Coors Field. …You just knew Billy Beane and Dan O'Dowd — two of baseball busiest general managers this winter — were going to hookup eventually. They found their match on Monday — completing their fourth deal together in a little over four years — as the Oakland A's acquired outfielder Seth Smith from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for pitchers Josh Outman and Guillermo Moscoso.

This deal isn't quite the blockbuster Beane and O'Dowd put together involving Matt Holliday and Carlos Gonzalez three years ago, but if used properly Smith should help Oakland replace some of the production its losing with the departures of Josh Willingham and David DeJesus. And by used properly I mean if only used against right-handers pitchers, because the left-handed hitting Smith still hasn't figured out how to handle southpaw hurlers as his .202 lifetime average and a .588 OPS against them would indicate.

Consistent at-bats against lefties, which he never received under Jim Tracy's management in Colorado, might help Smith in that department, but a platoon situation with Michael Taylor, Collin Cowgill, or another right-handed bat added at a later time would seem like the most sensible plan for manager Bob Melvin.