Winter drifts by, the jobs too, and Mike Napoli is a Boston Red Sox player in MRI alone.

The Red Sox say they have nothing to report. Napoli's agent, Brian Grieper, says, as he did again Thursday afternoon, "We just don't feel the need to comment until this gets resolved."

Adam LaRoche (and a forfeited draft pick to the Washington Nationals) has become Plan B. Meantime, at the top of the Red Sox depth chart at first base: Mauro Gomez. At catcher: Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

Thirty-two days since they agreed to a three-year, $39 million contract, almost that long since the required physical, the Red Sox and Napoli remain in limbo. The issue, according to sources, is a hip condition Napoli may or may not have known about before the Red Sox got into his medicals, and then how the club can protect itself from it.Mike Napoli and the Red Sox haven't come to an official agreement as of Thursday. (AP)

The team's preference is Napoli over LaRoche, both for the preserved draft pick and the right-handed power bat. Napoli's preference, presumably, is the Red Sox and Fenway

Read More »from Red Sox, Mike Napoli in contract stare down; Adam LaRoche appears Plan B for Boston

In an intra-division trade between the third- and fourth-place teams in the AL West, the Los Angeles Angels dealt first baseman/DH Kendrys Morales to the Seattle Mariners for left-handed starter Jason Vargas on Thursday.

Having signed outfielder Josh Hamilton, the Angels had offensive players in excess and not enough starting pitching. Having failed to sign Hamilton and other power bats, the Mariners had too little pop and a surplus of starters. Kendrys Morales hit 22 homers last season for the Angels. (Getty Images)

Vargas joins an Angels rotation that got thready after Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson. He was 14-11 with a 3.85 ERA over 217 1/3 innings last season, his fourth with the Mariners.

[Related: Can Mike Trout become a $300 million man?]

After missing most of 2010 and all of 2011 with severe leg and ankle injuries, the switch-hitting Morales batted .273 with 22 home runs and an .833 OPS in 2012. Morales suffered the injury in '10 when he landed poorly on home plate after a walk-off grand slam against the Mariners.

Both players can

Read More »from Angels get pitching with Jason Vargas, Mariners acquire needed bat in Kendrys Morales

LOS ANGELES – I swear, because of this Hall of Fame ballot I have finished my Christmas shopping, done the laundry, gotten in two extra workouts and stopped at the shoe repair store, post office, bank, Staples and Barnes and Noble. I didn't even know the neighborhood had a shoe repair store.

I got around to filing an expense report (or three), jabbed at my year-end review and learned some variations off the G-chord. When I went for sushi the other night with colleague Jeff Passan and his 5-year-old son, Jack, I thought it would be good for Jack to get his first look at the Pacific Ocean, so we stood on the Venice Pier for a while. It really wasn't about Jack, so I felt a little bad about his blue lips and chattering teeth.

Barry Bonds is up for consideration for the Hall of Fame. (AP)

I'm also available for dog walking, gutter dredging, cuticle stripping and whatever else will get me away from this ballot.

But I ran out of other stuff to do. So here I am, staring it down. And it, me.

I was a hard-liner. There were great players and then,

Read More »from Steroids era muddies Hall of Fame ballot, forces lines to be redrawn

Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and the Toronto Blue Jays have come to an agreement on contract terms, the last obstacle in a trade that will send the Cy Young Award winner and catcher Josh Thole to Toronto. The New York Mets are to receive three prospects – including catcher Travis d'Arnaud and right-hander Noah Syndergaard – and veteran catcher John Buck.

R.A. Dickey will be pitching in Toronto next season. (AP)The Mets and Blue Jays on Sunday struck the deal, contingent on the Blue Jays negotiating a contract extension with Dickey, who, at 38, was under contract for one more season for $5 million. Granted 72 hours, the Blue Jays agreed to extend the contract for two years and $25 million, pending a physical. The Toronto Star first reported the sides had reached the agreement.

In recent weeks, the Mets had alternately attempted to negotiate their own extension with Dickey and offered him in trade. The Blue Jays stepped forward with d'Arnaud and Syndergaard, two of the best remaining in their farm system after the mid-November trade with the

Read More »from R.A. Dickey, Blue Jays reach deal on extension, paving the way for a trade with the Mets

ANAHEIM, Calif. – The coldest details mean Josh Hamilton is tested three times a week for the substances that would wreck his life, that he travels with a professional companion who serves in the difficult times as his conscience, and that failing either would have dire professional consequences.

The Los Angeles Angels are into that now for $125 million, and so is Hamilton. That's the daily process. He wakes up every morning and tries to put another day between himself and whatever was back there, and they wake up and hope their five-year commitment was a sound one.

It's about accountability and, for Hamilton, God. It's about living up to the contract and the Angels' trust in him. It's about the woman who sits beside him still, that being his wife Katie, who has seen the best and the worst of the last 10 years and keeps showing up, loving more.

So he answers to his faith and his best friend and his paycheck and his game and his accountability overseer. And that's just part of

Read More »from Josh Hamilton gets clean start with Angels

Mike Adams will set up Jonathan Papelbon. (AP)The Philadelphia Phillies fortified their bullpen by agreeing with right-hander Mike Adams on a two-year, $12 million deal with a vesting option for a third season at $6.5 million, major league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Adams, coming off rib-removal surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome, proved healthy enough for the Phillies to hand him their eighth-inning role and a salary commensurate with the game's best setup men.

In the five years since, the 34-year-old Adams has posted a 1.98 ERA with San Diego and Texas, second in the major leagues only to Mariano Rivera's 1.72. Adams also ranks second in opponents' on-base percentage, third in opponents' slugging percentage and has struck out 311 in 295 innings.

[Related: Blue Jays closing in on deal for R.A. Dickey]

The Phillies on Saturday morning also agreed to terms on a one-year contract with free-agent left-hander John Lannan, according to CSNPhilly.com.

While the Phillies' starting rotation remains one of baseball's best,

Read More »from Phillies sign setup man Mike Adams

The Detroit Tigers on Friday agreed to terms with Anibal Sanchez, the right-hander who helped pitch them into the World Series last fall.

Aníbal Sánchez re-signed with the Tigers. (AP) Pushed in the final hours of negotiations by the Chicago Cubs, the Tigers agreed to commit $80 million over five seasons to the 28-year-old Sanchez, who rejoins a rotation of Justin Verlander, Doug Fister and Max Scherzer. USA Today first reported the terms.

Sanchez was considered the second-best starter on the market behind Zack Greinke, whom the Los Angeles Dodgers signed for $147 million over six seasons.

[Related: 2012 MLB free-agent tracker]

The presence and competitiveness of the Cubs was something of a surprise. From the gloaming of a roster overhaul and an organizational plan that is being measured in years, the Cubs have added Scott Feldman and Scott Baker to their rotation, along with Japanese reliever Kyuji Fujikawa. Their pursuit of Sanchez suggests Theo Epstein believes the Cubs, losers of 101 games in 2012, are closer to

Read More »from Tigers hang onto Anibal Sanchez after reaching five-year deal worth $80 million

Working back from a disappointing 2012 season, the Los Angeles Angels reached a contract agreement with free-agent outfielder Josh Hamilton on Thursday, according to industry sources.

The contract is worth $125 million over five years.

Josh Hamilton is heading west for the Angels after receiving a five-year, $125 million deal. (AP)

The Angels released a statement that read: "As per team policy and MLB rules, the Angels will not comment on the status of any contract negotiations with players. With that said, we continue to look for ways to improve our team. As soon as we have something formal to announce, we will do so."

A year after committing nearly $320 million to Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson and then falling to third place in the American League West, owner Arte Moreno and the Angels appeared to strike quickly on Hamilton, whose history of offensive production and personal issues made for a cloudy free agency.

Hamilton's former team, the Texas Rangers, was known to have some interest in having the All-Star and former MVP return, though perhaps not at the terms the

Read More »from Sources: Josh Hamilton to sign with Angels