Red Sox, Rockies discussing Helton trade  —  The Red Sox are in serious discussions with the Rockies about acquiring first baseman Todd Helton, but a trade hinges on how much of Helton's contract the Rockies would be willing to assume, FOXSports.com has learned.

Rangers' Otsuka is OK with old role  —  Rangers' former closer willingly returns to pitch in eighth inning  —  egrant@dallasnews.com  —  For a few minutes Friday evening, Akinori Otsuka awkwardly searched for words to describe his new role as the Rangers set-up man to Eric Gagne.

Players delve into lineup debate, too  —  Focal point is Tracy's decision to bat Wilson second  —  Cherly Karashin of Carnegie gets an autograph yesterday from Freddy Sanchez at the 2007 PirateFest.  —  For all the staged games available at PirateFest, which opened last night …

Buehrle, others talk money at SoxFest  —  White Sox have decisions to make about future free agents  —  CHICAGO — The question was asked of Mark Buehrle maybe once, maybe twice, maybe even a handful of times.  —  Well, in reality, it probably was asked about 15 or 20 times of Buehrle …

Weakest links  —  The Cubs spent somewhere around $300 million in the past few months to overhaul the disaster of '06, and they're still wondering about that big expanse of grass in center field.  The Giants, if you count that $16 million earmarked for Barry Bonds, have forked over better …

Fingers dealing with tax woes  —  He hires attorney in dispute with state  —  dwalker@journalsentinel.com  —  Baseball Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers knows what people are saying and writing about his tax troubles.  —  "I'm not a tax dodger," Fingers said Friday in a telephone interview from his Las Vegas home.

Braves have build a better back end  —  Back in the dying days of September, with his Braves uncharacteristically playing out the string with no hope of making the postseason, Bobby Cox was asked how the franchise would get back on track.  —  The ever-optimistic manager …

Roberson shines in winter ball playoffs  —  Outfielder leads postseason participants in runs scored with 16  —  Chris Roberson certainly has his work cut out for him in Spring Training this year, since he will be competing with Karim Garcia, Greg Dobbs, Chris Coste and Michael Bourn …

Ripken, Gwynn promote Aspire Gala  —  Annual event supports Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation  —  BALTIMORE — Sometime soon, they'll share the stage again.  Recent Hall of Fame electees Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn brought Cooperstown to the Baltimore Convention Center on Friday …

Weaver agrees on deal with Mariners  —  A World Series ring, a restructured one-year contract and his former manager's personal touch were not enough to keep Jeff Weaver in St. Louis.  —  The righthander accepted a more lucrative offer Friday from the rebuilding Seattle Mariners, according to sources familiar with the situation.