Glaus Ends Up With Blue Jays

The Arizona Diamondbacks traded power-hitting Troy Glaus and top minor league shortstop prospect Sergio Santos to the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday for Gold Glove second baseman Orlando Hudson and pitcher Miguel Batista.

The Blue Jays had lacked punch since Carlos Delgado left as a free agent after the 2004 season.

“He’s the big bopper we were looking for,” Toronto General Manager J.P. Ricciardi said.

Glaus led Arizona in homers (37) and runs batted in (97) last season, playing in 149 games in his only season with the Diamondbacks despite occasional flare-ups of a strained tendon in the back of his left knee.

He was the 2002 World Series most valuable player for the Angels, after a season in which he had a career-high 111 RBIs. In 2000, Glaus led the American League with 47 homers.

Glaus had a no-trade clause to Toronto but waived it after seeing the rebuilt Blue Jays and talking to Reed Johnson and former Angel teammate Garret Anderson, who have played on the new turf on Toronto.

“Once I got that alleviated in my mind and I looked at the roster, the decision became fairly easy,” Glaus said. “This team seems poised to make a run. We’re young and very talented.”

Batista, 34, had 31 saves last season, his second with the Blue Jays and first as their closer. He went 29-26 in 76 starts and 44 relief appearances with the Diamondbacks from 2001 to ’03.

Hudson, 28, is a .271 hitter in his career and a spectacular defensive player.

Outfielder Jody Gerut signed an $875,000, one-year contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

He earned $356,200 last season with the Cleveland Indians, Chicago Cubs and Pirates. He was dealt by Chicago to Pittsburgh for outfielder Matt Lawton on July 31, but a knee injury limited him to 18 at-bats with the Pirates.

SOCCER

Klein, Wells Are Added

to U.S. Training Camp

Kansas City Wizard midfielder Chris Klein and MetroStar goalkeeper Zach Wells were added to the roster for the U.S. national team training camp that starts Jan. 4 at the Home Depot Center.

The pair replaced Chicago Fire midfielder Justin Mapp and Columbus Crew goalkeeper Jonny Walker, who are injured, the U.S. Soccer Federation said.

The U.S. team is preparing for exhibition games against Canada on Jan. 22 at San Diego; Norway on Jan. 29 at Carson; and Japan on Feb. 10 in San Francisco.

FC Barcelona striker Henrik Larsson will leave the Spanish club after this season but will continue his career in Sweden, media in that country reported.

Larsson, who joined Barcelona last year after seven seasons with Scottish club Celtic, told the newspaper Expressen that he was offered a one-year contract extension in Spain but turned it down.

“Even though I have made the definite decision to move home after the World Cup [next summer], I am fully concentrated on my job in Barcelona,” Larsson told Expressen.

Larsson, 34, said that he has not signed with a Swedish club but that he is open to offers.

OLYMPICS

Italian Authorities Keep

Close Tabs on Terrorism

Fearing terrorism at the Turin Olympics, Italian authorities are conducting surveillance on “numerous” people through telephone wiretaps and other intelligence operations, an Italian security official said.

Luigi Rinella, the Italian police’s liaison with the U.S. government, said those under surveillance included suspected Islamic militants, but he stressed that anti-globalization protesters and anarchists could also make trouble during the Feb. 10-26 Games.

“Clearly at this moment, the sensibility is to groups that we call Islamic terrorist that are connected to Al Qaeda,” he told the Associated Press from Washington.

Rinella said the surveillance involved telephone wiretaps and other forms of interceptions. But he noted that such activities were also used in drug-trafficking intelligence-gathering operations, and not just anti-terrorism operations.

He denied a statement attributed to him in a report by USA Today that at least 700 people were being monitored.

“I confirm that we monitor -- that each nation investigates on numerous targets of interest -- numerous,” he said. “What I can’t confirm is the number because we don’t have numbers to give.”

MISCELLANY

Bourque’s Goals Lead

U.S. at World Juniors

Chris Bourque, son of Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, scored five goals and Phil Kessel had five assists to power the United States past Norway, 11-2, in an opening game at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Vancouver, Canada.

The Americans, the gold-medal favorites, scored five power-play goals and one short-handed goal Monday night while outshooting Norway, 56-19.

Elsewhere, Canada downed Finland, 5-1, at Vancouver; the Czech Republic beat Latvia, 5-1, at Kamloops; and Russia defeated Sweden, 5-1, in Kelowna. Round-robin play in the 10-team event ends Saturday.

Erik Johnson, a 17-year-old defenseman from Bloomington, Minn., had a goal and two assists. T.J. Osie, Jack Skille, Peter Mueller, Robbie Schremp and Kevin Porter also scored for the U.S.

The U.S. has a 5-1-0 all-time record against Norway. The last time the teams played was 1991, when the Americans won 19-1.

The son of soccer great Pele will enter a drug rehabilitation program while he awaits trial on drug-related charges, Brazilian media reported.

Edson Cholbi do Nascimento, 35, was released from prison on Dec. 17 and decided to seek treatment after consulting with his family.