White Sox and Toby Hall agree to terms on two-year contract with club option for 2009  —  CHICAGO — The Chicago White Sox and free-agent catcher Toby Hall have agreed to terms on a two-year, $3.65-million contract with a club option for 2009.  Under terms of the deal, Hall will receive base salaries …

Yanks, Pirates in talks concerning OF Cabrera, P Gonzalez  —  CBS SportsLine.com wire reports  —  NEW YORK — The Yankees are discussing trading young outfielder Melky Cabrera in a deal that would bring Pittsburgh reliever Mike Gonzalez to New York.  —  The Yankees have talked …

Second opinion on Drew  —  J.D. Drew was scheduled to receive a second opinion Monday on a shoulder issue the Red Sox have concerns about, according to a major league source familiar with Drew's condition.  —  The red flag went up after the Sox right-fielder underwent a physical in Boston …

High stakes for holidays  —  Baseball's big-money game starts the offseason merry-go-round spinning wildly  —  Like Santa's belt, baseball lost elasticity this winter.  Teams viewed free agents much as Mr. T does gold chains or Paris Hilton does shame.  There is no such thing as too much.

JOHNSON, YANKS DENY TRADE TALK  —  Despite the buzz leaking out of the desert, Randy Johnson hasn't asked the Yankees to deal him closer to his Arizona home.  —  "He hasn't called me officially and asked me to trade him, no," GM Brian Cashman said yesterday when asked if the Big Unit requested the Yankees move him.

More talent could hit Mark  —  ARLINGTON — Mark Teixeira is exactly the type of player good franchises build around, which is why it should surprise nobody the Rangers are frittering him away.  —  Not at this very moment.  Not exactly.  —  Tex has another two years as a Ranger …

Here's the deal  —  Why Giants put stock in Bonds  —  From his corner of the Giants' clubhouse last April, the area he forbids the press from entering, Barry Bonds waded forward though the cameras and microphones and said to a team public relations assistant, "Go get Peter Magowan."

Some think Japanese bidding system for players should be explored here in U.S.  —  His cultural impact has been compared to that of the Beatles.  —  There's even a name for it (MatsuzakaMania), and he already has a catchy nickname (Dice-K).  —  Daisuke Matsuzaka's fastball reaches the mid-90s …

Baseball stats guru sees good in Phillies, even Burrell  —  It seems everybody who has read Michael Lewis' Moneyball, the tale of how general manager Billy Beane turned the low-paying Oakland A's into a winning team, became a baseball expert because they understood the importance of on-base percentage.

Wooing of pitcher was wowing  —  Sox had bases covered while chasing, landing Matsuzaka  —  The wooing of Daisuke Matsuzaka began with a small dinner party on a Saturday night at Tom Werner's house, a Cape Cod-style home overlooking the green at hole No. 5 at the famed Riviera Country Club …

Theo's solo gig ends  —  The Red Sox won the World Series in 2004 and there was no hotter executive in all of sports than Theo Epstein.  He was the boy wonder of Boston, the baseball prodigy who got most of the credit for the Red Sox winning it all for the first time since 1918.

Too much is a good thing  —  Teams should think before trading pitchers  —  Beware of a thing called excess.  —  The Red Sox thought they had it with Bronson Arroyo last spring so they took a chance, rolled the dice, and went after a slugger with upside in Wily Mo Peña.

'Not that crazy': Redbirds believe Looper can be a starter  —  Consider the climate of the Cardinals bullpen when Braden Looper was first presented with a peculiar idea.  —  Rookie Anthony Reyes had recently found hanging in his locker an empty sunflower seed bucket, relabeled "Hair Gel" by a reliever.

Only war could keep him from Hall of Fame  —  Had he not come down with a severe case of frostbite while serving his country at the Battle of the Bulge, Cecil Travis' plaque might already be in Cooperstown.  —  "He'd be a major Hall of Famer," Bob Feller said.  "No questions asked."

Restocking Of Bullpen Continues  —  Sox Trade For Donnelly, Sign Free Agent Romero  —  The Red Sox continue to explore options at closer but the rest of the bullpen is filling up quickly.  —  The Red Sox added two relievers Friday, getting righthander Brendan Donnelly from the Angels …