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.

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 …

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.

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.

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.

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 …

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 …

Sen. Kerry to challenge MLB TV package on satellite  —  WASHINGTON — A proposal to make Major League Baseball's "Extra Innings" exclusive to DirecTV has drawn the ire of Sen. John Kerry.  —  The Massachusetts Democrat said he plans to raise the matter with the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission at a hearing Thursday.

His legacy is thriving  —  Jackie Robinson would have been 88 years old today.  —  Wonder what he would have thought.  No doubt he'd be honored that Major League Baseball permanently retired his No. 42 (Yankee Hall of Famer closer Mariano Rivera will be the last one to wear it).

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.

Caution sign for the Sox?  —  Schilling wants an '08 deal done  —  The Red Sox just got through dealing with trade discussions involving Todd Helton that went public, as the Rockies leaked the names of Mike Lowell and Julian Tavarez, forcing the Sox to telephone the players to explain.