Pirates add five to 40-man roster  —  Former top pick Walker could compete for job in Spring Training  —  PITTSBURGH — In preparation for the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 11, Pirates general manager Neal Huntington finalized the team's 40-man roster on Thursday by filling all five open spots.

Utley to undergo hip surgery next week  —  Phillies star could miss Opening Day; Feliz should be ready  —  PHILADELPHIA — Chase Utley will have right hip surgery next week, a procedure that threatens his Opening Day availability and deals a potentially huge blow to the World Series champions' hopes of repeating.

Teixeira could have his pick of offers  —  As many as six teams reportedly in the hunt for slugging first baseman  —  All Mark Teixeira wants for Christmas is a new contract.  —  And who wouldn't, given that the final tally could be in the range of nine figures?

Steinbrenner: Yanks' Sabathia offer has time limit  —  NEW YORK — CC Sabathia will have a deadline to accept the New York Yankees' contract proposal.  —  “We've made him an offer.  It's not going to be there forever,” Hal Steinbrenner said Thursday after he was approved as the team's …

Sox to sign 19-year-old Cuban star Viciedo  —  Dayan Viciedo talks to the media during a press conference in Hialeah, Fla. in June.  He defected and settled in South Florida in May.  (AP photo)  —  The White Sox's collection of talented Cubans is growing.

Hall spot for Moose?  Era, as much as ERA, may help sway  —  Now as long as Mike Mussina stays retired and doesn't pull a Brett Favre ...  Figures that a man most appreciated for throwing one of the best curveballs of his era would throw one last bender in saying goodbye.

Yanks add four to 40-man roster  —  Purchase contracts of Claggett, Garcia, Johnson, Dunn  —  The Yankees added four players to their 40-man roster on Thursday when they purchased the contracts of right-handed pitchers Anthony Claggett, Christian Garcia and Steven Jackson, as well as left-hander Michael Dunn.

Volcker Gives Baseball an Update on the Economy  —  He stands 6 feet 7 inches, the size of a slugger, but Paul Volcker is a towering presence on Wall Street, not in Major League Baseball.  Nevertheless, Commissioner Bud Selig recruited Volcker, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve …

Blackout Policy to Remain Through MLB Network Launch  —  Baseball fans, prepare for more frustration.  —  MLB owners, yet again, tabled restructuring the local and regional television territories for the league at today's quarterly owners meetings in New York, and in doing so …

The boys over at Stick and Ball Guy have been running various Twins blogs through Typealyzer.com and GenderAnalyzer.com, with amusing results.  For instance, the gender analysis is 89 percent sure that AG.com is “written by a man,” so apparently more weight is placed on the constant links …

QUOTE(#8): … ok..since when were they called fantastic 4?  pavano won 18 btw n that was prolly his only 13+ win season.  vazquez has the stuff 2 b good but was never a big-game player like lowe is.  brown was good-grt but was past his prime when the yanks got him.  as 4 jarret wright...does he still even pitch?

No winter ball for Mets' Murphy  —  An MRI of Daniel Murphy's right hamstring revealed a Grade II strain that will cause him to skip winter ball in Puerto Rico.  The injury doesn't figure to affect his 2009 season.  —  Murphy injured himself before a Nov. 11 Arizona Fall League game …

Frank Wren chat transcript  —  Busy GM talks Hot Stove with Braves fans online … Wren: Welcome, everyone.  It seems like the offseason has been going on for six months instead of a month and a half.  I'll try to answer as many questions as possible.  —  glenn1981: What pitchers are you targeting, if any, in the trade world?