Bonds, Giants finally complete deal  —  SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants completed a $15.8 million, one-year contract Monday night after the slugger spent hours at the ballpark being examined by team doctors.  —  A baseball official confirmed the deal …

Rockies end talks to trade Helton  —  Red Sox won't give up a top prospect, ending trade talks  —  Todd Helton dropped by Coors Field on Monday and went through his normal winter workout with several other Rockies players.  —  Nothing had changed for Helton.  —  "Just a normal day," he said.

Pittsburgh Pirates Roundtable #10  —  Hello all, and welcome to the first PPR hosted at MVN.  We're still trying to work out a few bugs, but I figured I'd post our most recent effort now for your viewing pleasure.  —  You can visit http://mvn.com/mlb-pirates/roundtable for the most recent roundtables.

Yankees reach agreement with Chinese  —  The Yankees are busy today, sending out another release, this time on their agreement to develop players in China.  The talks were rocky at first but went quickly once Cashman backed away from insisting the Chinese had to take A-Rod and Pavano.

Nats' Winter Caravan - The Final Day...  Today, I spent much of my day in between work, and meetings following around the team of the Nationals' Capital in not only Maryland, but also Washington D.C.  —  My first stop was the University of Maryland, my alma mater in College Park, Maryland.

Rangers move Arias to outfield  —  Sammy Sosa expected to sign minor league deal with Rangers today  —  egrant@dallasnews.com  —  ARLINGTON - The switch is officially on.  —  On the first day of the Rangers' mini-camp, prospect Joaquin Arias traded in the infield dirt for the nearly frozen tundra of center field.

County cries foul at Royals' new pitch  —  The team wants to use public funds to purchase a $900,000 high-tech video coaching system.  —  When St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols just misses launching a home run, he can dash into his clubhouse and scrutinize his at-bat before the next batter digs in.

Pitchers Sanchez, Johnson slowed by sore arms  —  Two of the five members of the Marlins' starting rotation, right-handers Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez, are dealing with throwing arm injuries that could put a crimp in their spring training plans.  —  Though the injuries aren't considered serious …

The HBP Explosion (That Almost Nobody Seems to Have Noticed)  —  It is a violent event.  It's inherently dangerous: Always it causes pain, often it causes injury and sometimes it causes serious, career-threatening injury.  It remains the only play ever to have taken the life of a major league player …

Weaver finalizes deal with Mariners  —  SEATTLE (AP) — Jeff Weaver passed his physical on Monday and finalized a one-year contract with the Seattle Mariners worth $8,325,000.  —  The deal with the includes $1 million in performance bonuses for the 30-year-old right-hander …

Dodgers finalize one-year deal with reliever Tsao  —  LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers finalized a one-year contract Monday with reliever Chin-hui Tsao, the Taiwanese right-hander plagued by arm injuries throughout his brief career with the Colorado Rockies.

Best Young Catchers of 2007  —  Welcome to a new feature here at The Hardball Times.  Over the next two months, I will contribute a position-by-position prospect list.  These will differ from traditional lists in two ways.  First, anyone under 25 is eligible.

UNDERPAID SLUGGER TO GET JUST REWARDS SOON  —  MANY PHILLIES fans seem to be exuding a sense of dread that Ryan Howard will not be adequately rewarded for the most spectacular second-year slugging performance in baseball history.  —  On the face of it, there is room for fans with long memories to be concerned.

Williams stocks Sox's pen with Cell-friendly power arms  —  No more gimmick pitches or attempts to trick team officials or trainers.  —  In a span of two years, the White Sox's bullpen has undergone a dramatic transformation that borders on an in-your-face, hard-throwing style similar …