Bonds' contract: Deal or no deal?  —  AGENT: HE WON'T SIGN GIANTS' REVISED PACT  —  Barry Bonds' done deal isn't: The newly signed one-year agreement between the Giants and their home-run star hit a snag Wednesday.  —  The main sticking point appears to be a ``personal-appearances'' provision …

For Rangers, the line forms at the end  —  Competition will be fierce for last spot in rotation  —  egrant@dallasnews.com  —  ARLINGTON - Those Rangers.  Real jokers.  —  Just consider their next scheduled prank: In two weeks, they'll see how many fifth-starter candidates they can stuff into one tiny spring training camp.

Dice-K adjusting quickly to life in America  —  NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. —Daisuke Matsuzaka is quickly putting his off-the-field worries behind him.  Now, the Japanese ace is hungry for spring training with the Boston Red Sox.  —  "One of the things I was most worried about in coming over here was obviously the food.

LaRoche: Braves, fans were spoiled  —  The Braves will hold their FanFest Saturday at Turner Field, and Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur and 15 other players are scheduled to attend and sign autographs.  —  Not on the list, of course, is Adam LaRoche.

DeWitt insists Cardinals made fair offer to Weaver  —  Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. insisted Wednesday night the club's unwillingness to match the Seattle Mariners' one-year, $8.325 million bid for righthander Jeff Weaver had everything to do with the value placed on the free agent …

Negadelphia Sports Writers And The Fans Who Hate Them  —  In case you missed it, the Philadelphia media breathlessly reported on yesterday's Donovan McNabb Chunky Soup press conference with a fervor and zeal usually reserved for coverage of assassinated heads of state.  —  The reason for the intense interest?

Yanks to Stot: Yer out!  —  For the first time time in the Joe Torre era, Mel Stottlemyre won't have a role with the Yankees this season, not even in spring training.  —  After retiring as pitching coach following the 2005 season, Stottlemyre helped the Yankees make the transition to Ron Guidry in spring training last year.

Stealing home  —  Farm talent makes for easy pickings  —  As Rockies fans braced for Todd Helton's potential exit this week, there was a bit of good news.  ESPN.com ranked Colorado's farm system the second best in baseball.  The reality, according to owner Charlie Monfort …

Pittsburgh Pirates Roundtable #11  —  Question #1:  —  True or false: The Pirates are putting too much stock in their top four starting pitchers.  —  Wilbur T. Miller from Pirate Player Profiles:  —  True.  The bullpen figures to be deep but not outstanding, especially with Gonzalez gone.

Stadium to see Stars in finale  —  As first reported in the Daily News on Dec. 10, Major League Baseball officially awarded the 2008 All-Star Game to Yankee Stadium yesterday at City Hall.  —  Commissioner Bud Selig, Mayor Bloomberg, Yankees general partner Steve Swindal and COO Lonn Trost were on hand for the announcement.

Arbitration Hearings for Nats' Cordero, Kearns, Patterson Are Set  —  Hearings have been set for the Washington Nationals' three remaining arbitration cases — closer Chad Cordero, outfielder Austin Kearns and right-hander John Patterson.  The club and the players' representatives have until …

ATLANTA BRAVES  —  Signed RHP Tanyon Sturtze to one-year deal.  [12/3]  —  Acquired RHP Rafael Soriano from the Mariners for LHP Horacio Ramirez.  [12/7]  —  Non-tendered 2B-R Marcus Giles and RHP Chris Reitsma.  [12/12]  —  Signed RHP Buddy Carlyle, LHP Steve Colyer, OF-L Doug Clark …

O's close in on one-year deal with Roberts … While continuing to discuss a long-term contract extension with Brian Roberts, the Orioles are closing in on a one-year deal with the second baseman that, in the short term, will help the two sides avoid salary arbitration.

Barmes intent on seizing opportunity  —  The groundwork is firmly in place, vitally important hitting changes that Clint Barmes had to make after last season.  —  His statistical plunge was bad enough.  Ultimately, Barmes lost his job as the Rockies shortstop and spent most of September watching Troy Tulowitzki play that position.