THURSDAY’S MOVES

* The Yankees made the biggest splash, signing Jason Giambi to a seven-year, $120-million contract (Story, D10). They also traded for outfielder John Vander Wal, who will form a left-field platoon with Shane Spencer, and are close to signing outfielder Rondell White and re-signing starter Sterling Hitchcock.

* The Mets continued an overhaul, signing free-agent outfielder Roger Cedeno and pitcher David Weathers (Story, D10). Earlier in the week, they acquired outfielder David Justice from the Yankees and second baseman Roberto Alomar from Cleveland.

ON HOLD

* Barry Bonds, Juan Gonzalez and Chan Ho Park were among the leading free agents still up for grabs.

* “We’re seeing teams explore the trade market before the free-agent market,” said Scott Boras, the agent for Bonds and Park. “I think we’ll see things start to move.”

* Only five free-agent signings were announced at the winter meetings for a total of $38.15 million, down from $739.2 million committed to 25 players in deals negotiated at last year’s session in Dallas.

* Many trades were discussed, but only 10 deals were completed, involving 37 players, up from five trades involving 14 players last year.