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 …

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.

Heilman again makes pitch to start for Mets  —  Concerned about his role for next season, Aaron Heilman called general manager Omar Minaya yesterday to talk about possibly moving back into the rotation for the start of spring training.  But Minaya stayed firm in his position that Heilman again …

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.

Carp added to roster  —  The Mets have added first baseman Mike Carp to the 40-man roster, protecting him from selection in the Rule 5 draft on Dec. 11, at the conclusion of the winter meetings in Las Vegas.  The Mets' 40-man roster now has 34 players, leaving room for free-agent additions.

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 …

What Do We Know About the Impending Viciedo Signing?  —  Dayan Viciedo was supposed to be introduced as the newest member of the White Sox in a press conference on Friday, but apparently visa issues—there's always visa issues—may have derailed the event, though not the signing itself.

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.

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 …

O's look at Izturis for shortstop  —  He batted .263 with one home run, 24 RBIs for Cardinals in '08; team doesn't have interest in Furcal, O. Cabrera or Renteria, according to industry sources  —  The Orioles have talked to the representative for free agent Cesar Izturis …

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?

Jays stay in A.J. hunt  —  The Blue Jays may be prepared to roll the dice with A.J. Burnett for another five-year deal.  —  The latest revelation from the Burnett camp came Wednesday when Darek Braunecker, Burnett's agent, stated he had spoken with the Boston Red Sox and he is looking for a five-year deal.

Batting Average, Home Runs, RBIs  —  If you are about my age*, then you grew up as a baseball fan with three statistics and only three statistics.  There was batting average.  There were home runs runs.  And there were RBIs.  That was it. … It would be difficult to overstate how deeply …

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?