The Diamondbacks came closer to filling their center field vacancy as they closed in Wednesday on free agent Eric Byrnes. Byrnes, who agreed to what is believed to be a one-year deal worth about $2.2 million, will undergo a physical examination today in Phoenix. Byrnes, whom the Diamondbacks tried to acquire from Oakland last off-season, gives them a speedy, high-energy player who can man the center field position as prospect Chris Young continues to develop. advertisement The 29-year-old became a free agent last week when Baltimore did not offer him a contract, the end result of a poor second half of the 2005 season.

Troy Glaus got a look at the rebuilt Toronto Blue Jays and waived his right to block a trade up north. The Arizona Diamondbacks dealt the power-hitting Glaus and top minor-league shortstop prospect Sergio Santos to the Blue Jays on Tuesday for Gold Glove second baseman Orlando Hudson and pitcher Miguel Batista. "With the moves that they made, and things that they've been able to do, this team seems poised to make a run. We're young and very, very talented," said Glaus, who had a limited no-trade clause that included the Blue Jays. Toronto, expanding its payroll from $45 million to about $75 million, has been one of the most active teams this offseason. The Blue Jays added front line starter A.J. Burnett and first baseman Lyle Overbay. They also gave closer B.J. Ryan a five-year, $47 million contract -- the most lucrative deal for a reliever. Glaus also weighed whether he wanted to play on turf, but he talked to Toronto's Reed Johnson and Anaheim's Garret Anderson and decided he could play on the new turf at the Rogers Centre. "Once I got that alleviated in my mind and I looked at the roster, the decision became fairly easy," Glaus said.

The Toronto Blue Jays hope to announce this week that they have acquired slugger Troy Glaus from the Arizona Diamondbacks. "Hopefully, soon. But not today," Toronto general manager J.P. Ricciardi said Monday evening. "Right now we're just trying to finish everything off." Ricciardi said Glaus had not yet completed a physical. Glaus and a prospect are expected to be sent to Toronto for reliever Miguel Batista and Gold Glove second baseman Orlando Hudson. Glaus led Arizona in homers (37) and RBIs (97) last year, playing in 149 games despite occasional flare-ups of a strained tendon in the back of his left knee. He was the 2002 World Series MVP for Anaheim, following a regular season in which he had a career-high 111 RBIs. In 2000, Glaus led the AL with 47 homers. Batista, now 34, had 31 saves as last season, his second with the Blue Jays and his first as their closer. He went 29-26 with the Diamondbacks in 76 starts and 44 relief appearances with the Diamondbacks from 2001-03. The 28-year-old Hudson is a career .271 hitter and a spectacular defensive player.

The Toronto Blue Jays put trade talks on hold yesterday but general manager J.P. Ricciardi said he remains optimistic he'd soon have the bat he was looking for in Arizona third baseman Troy Glaus. "I am," Ricciardi said from his home in Worcester, Mass. "But we're taking the day off. Nothing's changed in the past 24 hours. We're still working on a lot of little things."

The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Toronto Blue Jays are on the verge of completing a trade that would send Troy Glaus and a prospect to Toronto in exchange for pitcher Miguel Batista and second baseman Orlando Hudson, a person familiar with the talks told ESPN's Peter Gammons. Arizona signed Glaus to a four-year, $45 million contract last offseason, but the Diamondbacks reportedly would like to free up money and the third baseman has been mentioned in trade talk throughout this offseason. A trade also would free up Arizona's logjam at the corner positions. Chad Tracy could move from first base to third base, while Tony Clark and Conor Jackson, one of the organization's top prospects, could split time at first base. The Blue Jays have made major upgrades to their roster this offseason, signing A.J. Burnett (five years, $55 million) and closer B.J. Ryan (five years, $47 million) for the pitching staff and trading for first baseman Lyle Overbay.

The Diamondbacks, moving aggressively to trade third baseman Troy Glaus, are in serious discussions with the Red Sox, Blue Jays, Orioles and an unidentified National League club, FOXSports.com has learned. The Red Sox and Blue Jays are the front-runners for Glaus, according to an official from one of the interested clubs. The Sox, Jays and Orioles likely would move Glaus to first base, a position he has not played in his eight-year major-league career. Glaus, 29, has limited no-trade protection in the four-year, $45 million contract he signed with the Diamondbacks last off-season. He would need to approve a deal to the Blue Jays, according to a source with knowledge of his contract. It is not known whether the other suitors are on his no-trade list. The Diamondbacks, trying to add pitching, believe they can unload Glaus without paying any of the $32.75 million that he is owed in the final three years of his contract, sources say. The Jays offered second baseman Orlando Hudson for Glaus, and probably would be willing to part with right-hander Miguel Batista as well if they obtained another player in the deal.

The Mets, hopeful of upgrading their starting rotation this winter, missed out on one of their top targets yesterday. According to a major league executive, the Chicago White Sox have an agreement in principle to acquire Javier Vazquez from the Arizona Diamondbacks. In return for Vazquez and money, the White Sox are sending former Yankee Orlando Hernandez, righthanded reliever Luis Vizcaino and outfield prospect Chris Young. The deal is contingent on the players passing physicals. With this move, the World Series champs have upgraded their rotation for next season. Vazquez, 29, had formally demanded a trade from Arizona -- as was his collectively bargained right, as a veteran traded in the middle of a long-term contract. The Yankees, after signing him to a four-year, $45-million extension in January 2004, dealt him and others to Arizona for Randy Johnson this past Jan. 11. The Yankees acquired Vazquez from the Montreal Expos in December 2003, because Omar Minaya, the Expos' general manager at the time, needed to clear Vazquez for payroll purposes. Now with the big-market Mets, Minaya had been working to get Vazquez back under his employ. In return for Vazquez, the Diamondbacks wanted a package featuring Mets reliever Aaron Heilman, whom the Mets refused to surrender. Vazquez went 11-15 with a 4.42 ERA for the Diamondbacks in 2005.

The buzz for the Red Sox at these winter meetings begins and ends with the fate of Manny Ramirez. Last night, a trade looked more likely than not. ?Reasons for optimism are accurate,? said Jed Hoyer, from the Red Sox baseball operations department, after meetings with eight different clubs yielded ?one new entry? in the Ramirez sweepstakes. That brings the admitted total to six teams who have expressed some level of interest in Ramirez, although the leading destination remains the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. With the Angels definitely unwilling to trade their best young pitcher, Ervin Santana, a third team must get involved to get Ramirez to Southern California. The latest front-runners are the Diamondbacks, who would receive a package of prospects from the Angels while the Sox would receive Arizona?s Troy Glaus, who would be used at first base. Since the Angels would have to shed some salary to accommodate Ramirez? $57 million, the Red Sox might also have to take an existing contract off their hands as well, possibly Darin Erstad. A trade to the Mets grew less likely, but it is early still in these meetings and general manager Omar Minaya?s well-known adoration of Ramirez has not vanished. The Red Sox? gang of four ? senior adviser Bill Lajoie, Ben Cherington, Hoyer and Craig Shipley ? intimated that a trade of Ramirez presented significant challenges, not the least of which was filling his spot in the lineup. ?First of all, we?re not going to get fair value in any shape or form (for Ramirez),? Lajoie said. ?This is an A-1 hitter. If you trade him, you are not going to get value, man for man. We will go as far as we can to satisfy him but we also have to satisfy the Red Sox.? As for the concern, repeated frequently, that Ramirez might skip spring training if he were not traded, Lajoie said, ?We?d still be looking for a hitter.? No deal is imminent. The Red Sox were expecting to meet late into the night to have a better idea of which direction to take their talks today.