White Sox Sign Derek Holland  —  The White Sox have officially agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent starter Derek Holland that pays him a reported $6MM.  The 30-year-old southpaw, a client of Martini Sports Management, can also earn $2MM in incentives, $1MM apiece upon reaching 150 and 200 innings pitched.

New MLB hazing rules ban dressing as women, offensive costumes  —  NEW YORK — That baseball hazing ritual of dressing rookies as Wonder Woman, Hooters Girls and Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders is now banned.  —  Major League Baseball created an Anti-Hazing and Anti-Bullying Policy that covers the practice.

Brewers Sign Tommy Milone  —  The Brewers announced on Wednesday that they've signed left-hander Tommy Milone to a one-year, Major League contract.  His addition gives the team a full 40-man roster, though Milone did not receive a fully guaranteed contract, tweets Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Chad Bettis says he expects to make full recovery from testicular cancer  —  Colorado Rockies pitcher Chad Bettis has been diagnosed with testicular cancer and underwent surgery to have one of his testicles removed in late November, he said in a statement to ESPN on Monday night.

2017 Philadelphia Phillies Top 10 Prospects  —  Chat it up: Phillies Top 10 Prospects Chat with Ben Badler  —  Knowledge is Power: Phillies Top 10 Insider  —  Want More?  Complete Top 10 Prospects Rankings  —  Go 30 deep: Order the 2017 Prospect Handbook!

Brewers Acquire Jett Bandy  —  3:38pm: The Brewers have announced the trade.  —  3:07pm: Righty Drew Gagnon is the other piece of the deal, Hudson Belinsky of Baseball America tweets.  The 26-year-old spent most of 2016 at the Triple-A level with Milwaukee, converting mostly relief work …

Tigers closer Francisco Rodriguez not on trade block — for now  —  It seems he'll be a Tiger to start 2017, but if Detroit falls out of postseason race, he'd made for an attractive option  —  Francisco Rodriguez isn't on the trade block this winter.  —  But if the Detroit Tigers are trailing …

Yankees, Mets floating vets in deals as only way to tweak rosters  —  More On:  —  The price for Aroldis Chapman and Yoenis Cespedes went beyond their contracts.  Both the Mets and Yankees are currently in holding patterns, and unless they can remove salary from their payrolls …

So about the Cardinals' free draft pick ...  Wednesday, the Cardinals lucked into a “competitive balance” draft pick, and a pretty good one.  The last-place Cubs weren't even in the lottery, and someone was smart enough to ask Theo Epstein about that ...  A curated snippet of his measured response:

David Ross is adding a few more chapters to his World Series legacy  —  Grandpa Rossy has a book coming out in early May  —  “Grandpa Rossy?”  That's “Author Rossy” to you, buster.  —  Yes, retiring Cubs catcher David Ross is writing a book — co-writing one, actually, with Don Yaeger …

Royals believe Jorge Soler will bring a ‘presence’ to their lineup  —  The Royals introduced their new right fielder on Tuesday, and for close to two minutes, the visual optics of the event were more or less customary.  —  Jorge Soler, the 24-year-old outfielder by way of the Chicago Cubs …