Papi: Johan not coming  —  Sox DH doesn't see trade for good friend happening  —  FOXBORO - It wasn't the holiday message Red Sox [team stats] fans were looking for.  —  Although David Ortiz [stats]' infectious smile and trademark hugs were spread throughout Gillette Stadium during his visit …

McNamee open to chatting with Roger  —  Brian McNamee hasn't talked to Roger Clemens since the personal trainer's explosive testimony in the Mitchell Report fingered the Rocket as an abuser of steroids and human growth hormone.  —  But McNamee, whose work Clemens credited for years …

It's The Annual NON-DENOMINATIONAL HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE!!!  —  I've been rockin' this bloggity for over two years now (hells yeah my life is that pathetic and I have no other hobbies!  Now you know the truth), and in both 2005 and 2006 I provided a showcase of the absolute worst Yankees-related gifts …

MLB whispers  —  ESPN's stable of baseball reporters linked 14 teams to the pursuit of Mark Prior, but that list drops when teams check out his medical reports.  Texas was the latest to back out.  San Diego makes the most sense, but the Padres ended trade talks with the Cubs after looking at the medical file.

Time is not right to decide on Steroid Era players  —  Ken Rosenthal has been the senior baseball writer for FOXSports.com since Aug. 2005.  He appears weekly on the FSN Baseball Report and MLB on FOX.  —  I am staring at my National Baseball Hall of Fame ballot, looking at the box next to Mark McGwire's name.

The Top Player in This League?  It May Be the Sports Reporter  —  A few teams are rich and getting richer, hunting more avidly than ever for talent, raiding the less-endowed leagues, poaching free agents and bidding the prices of star players to unheard-of heights.

Phils sign Taguchi to one-year deal  —  Outfielder gets $1 million contract, with option for 2009  —  PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies completed some last-minute holiday shopping Sunday, signing outfielder So Taguchi to a one-year contract with an option for 2009.

The wild and wacky from 2007 … Once again this year, the amazing sport of baseball was stranger than fiction, stranger than a Britney Spears trip to the hair salon, stranger even than the Jonathan Papelbon School of Dance.  —  So before the 2008 sign flashes in Times Square, let's look back at the Strange But True Feats of the Year:

Reliever Dan Naulty from 1999 World Series team spills ugly truth on steroids  —  Yankees closer Mariano Rivera got Atlanta Braves designated hitter Keith Lockhart to pop up to left field for the final out of the 1999 World Series - Oct. 27 - giving the Bombers a four-game sweep of the Braves …

Hot Stove: Payroll disparity a Central issue  —  Maybe the Pirates' fate in 2008 might be different if, a couple days from now, a gift card in the amount of, oh, $50 million were to show up under their tree.  —  As it is ...  The $50 million or so that they do plan to spend next season …