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?

Bye, George!  New Yankee Boss is son Hal  —  Hal Steinbrenner officially became “The New Boss” Thursday and his first act sounded an awful lot like the original Boss, his father: He set an unspecified deadline for free-agent pitcher CC Sabathia to take the Yankees' $140 million offer.

METS' CASTILLO DRIVEN TO SECURE 2ND CHANCE  —  This is a story about second base and, Luis Castillo hopes, second chances.  —  To their fans' anguish, Mets officials have persistently said they plan on having Castillo as their second baseman in 2009.  In part that is because the Mets …

White Sox sign Cuban teen to major league deal … ORLANDO — The Chicago White Sox agreed on a major league contract with Dayan Viciedo, regarded as Cuba's best teen talent, his agent Jaime Torres said.  —  Terms of the deal were not disclosed.  It is expected to become official as soon as Viciedo clears a physical examination.

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.

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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

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 …