The Boston Red Sox wrapped up their offseason bargain hunting yesterday by reaching a preliminary agreement with catcher and captain Jason Varitek that pays him half as much in 2009 as he made last season.

Varitek heads into his 13th major league season, all with the Red Sox, with a guaranteed $5 million for 2009 and a player option of $3 million or a team option of $5 million for 2010, two people familiar with the talks said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not yet final.

That's quite a drop from the four-year, $40 million deal that ended after last season and less than he would have made had he accepted the team's offer of arbitration in early December.

But it was in keeping with the Red Sox strategy of conservative contracts while the New York Yankees went on a spending spree amounting to $423.5 million in long-term deals for three free agents: first baseman Mark Teixiera ($22.5 million per year) and pitchers CC Sabathia ($23 million per year) and A.J. Burnett ($16.5 million per year).

The Red Sox handed out cheaper, one-year deals to pitchers John Smoltz ($5.5 million) and Brad Penny ($5 million) and outfielder Rocco Baldelli ($500,000). They signed catcher Josh Bard, who made $2.2 million with San Diego last season, and reliever Takashi Saito, who was paid $2 million by the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.

TRACK AND FIELD

LAGAT WINS RACE AGAIN

Bernard Lagat won the Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games for the seventh time last night at Madison Square Garden in New York to tie Eamonn Coghlan's record.

Lagat finished in 3 minutes, 58.44 seconds. He beat New Zealand's Nick Willis, the Olympic bronze medalist in the 1,500 meters.

Coghlan, who last won the Wanamaker Mile in 1987, was in attendance at at the 102nd edition of the meet.

SPRINTER GIVES UP SILVER

Shawn Crawford confirmed that he gave his Olympic silver medal to Churandy Martina, the sprinter who finished second in the 200 meters but was disqualified for running out of his lane.

"I'm like, if a guy is 10 meters in front of me, I don't care if he stayed in the middle of his lane," Crawford told The Associated Press. "He was going to beat me anyway. He didn't impede in anybody's race."

Crawford, the 2004 Olympic gold medalist, was fourth in Beijing. Teammate Wallace Spearmon was third but was disqualified for running out of his lane.

SKIING

'PERFECT' DAY FOR VONN

Lindsey Vonn won a World Cup slalom, extended her overall lead in the standings and moved within one win of tying Tamara McKinney's American record of 18 wins yesterday at Garmisch-Partenkirchen Germany.

Vonn earned her 17th career World Cup win in a combined time of 1 minute, 47.17 seconds, and best friend Maria Riesch of Germany finished second.

"It's perfect, it's a great day," said Vonn, who moved from third after the first run for her second slalom win of the season.

AND WHAT'S MORE ...

Sumo wrestler Wakakirin was arrested and accused of marijuana possession yesterday, the fourth wrestler in the country's ancient sport to be implicated in a widening drug scandal. ... Left-hander Paul Maholm has avoided an arbitration hearing by reaching a preliminary agreement on a $14.5 million, three-year contract with Pittsburgh.