Red Sox add three players to 40-man roster  —  This release from the Red Sox: … This protects Britton, Lin and Middlebrooks from the Rule 5 Draft on Dec. 8.  Through Britton had a poor season, a young lefty with a good arm is a typical Rule 5 pickup and the team did not want to take that risk.

Baseball Is to Begin Blood Testing for H.G.H.  —  Major League Baseball's owners and players are close to completing a new collective bargaining agreement that for the first time will include blood testing for human growth hormone, according to two people in baseball briefed on the matter.

Pirates Close To Deal With Clint Barmes  —  2:36pm: The deal is expected to be worth roughly $11MM over two years once completed, Jon Heyman of SI.com tweets.  —  1:02pm: The Pirates and Barmes are close to a deal according to Heyman (on Twitter).  —  12:35pm: The Pirates appear …

Re-evaluating a Gruff, Tough Yankee  —  With 182 victories and 1,423 strikeouts over 13 seasons, the hard-throwing Yankees pitcher Allie Reynolds lacked the shoo-in credentials of 300 wins or 3,000 strikeouts to usher a pitcher into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Sizemore going back to Indians?  —  Grady Sizemore appears to be headed back to the Indians.  —  The free-agent outfielder is in serious discussions with his previous team, according to major-league sources.  —  One source said the odds of the Indians re-signing Sizemore were “70-30.”

Offseason moving slowly for Yankees  —  Late Thursday night — or yesterday morning, to be precise — Brian Cashman finally turned off his phone.  —  It was 3:49 a.m. and unlike other long nights when the Yankees' general manager might be working on a trade or talking with an agent, this time Cashman was just trying to fall asleep.

San Francisco Giants add Angel Villalona to 40-man, designate outfielder Darren Ford  —  The deadline just passed for teams to add prospects to their 40-man rosters, to protect them from the Rule 5 draft next month, and the Giants had a surprise for us.  —  One of the six players they added …

Source: Doumit, Twins reach 1-year, $3M deal  —  Free agent catcher Ryan Doumit has reached agreement on a one-year, $3 million contract with the Minnesota Twins, a baseball source said.  —  Doumit, 30, is a career .271 hitter in parts of seven seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

One Year Later, Yankees' DePaula Still In Limbo  —  It was one year ago today that Dominican righthander Jose Rafael DePaula agreed to terms for a $500,000 bonus with the Yankees, contingent upon his ability to acquire a visa.  —  That paperwork hasn't been easy to obtain for DePaula …

Blue Jays unveil new logo for 2012 season  —  Club undergoes third major redesign in its 35-year history  —  TORONTO — The Blue Jays dipped into their past when looking for inspiration for the club's new logo that was revealed at Rogers Centre on Friday afternoon.

Marlins aggressively pursuing top talent  —  New ballpark, increased revenue leads to new approach  —  MIAMI — Face-to-face meetings and phone calls were made at a rapid pace for the Marlins this week at the General Managers Meetings.  —  Marlins officials met with a number of agents …