The four-player trade that sent Peter Bourjos to St. Louis was facilitated by the Angels’ confidence in Kole Calhoun as the everyday right fielder in 2014.

The Hot Stove burned quite a bit on Friday, as a handful of various deals went down throughout Major League Baseball.

When D-backs closer Brad Ziegler first learned that Michael Weiner had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, he asked his uncle, who is a pathologist, about the disease. Just by the look on his uncle’s face, Ziegler knew that Weiner faced almost insurmountable odds.

The Angels and Cardinals swapped center fielder Peter Bourjos and third baseman David Freese on Friday, as part of a four-player deal that also saw reliever Fernando Salas go to Southern California and outfield prospect Randal Grichuk move to St. Louis.

The Cardinals and Angels made a four-player trade Friday that sent outfielder Peter Bourjos to St. Louis and third baseman David Freese, the 2011 World Series Most Valuable Player, to Los Angeles.

Jeremy Barfield had pitched sparingly in high school, but he had always been known for his cannon left arm since the A’s plucked him out of San Jacinto College, annually racking up more outfield assists than anyone else in the organization — much like his father did during his 12-year big league career.

Scott Sizemore’s time with the A’s appears to be over. The versatile infielder, who was limited to just two games in the last two years because of knee injuries, cleared waivers and elected free agency on Friday.

The Royals have signed right-handed starting pitcher P.J. Walters to a Minor League contract, but he’ll get a look as the club sorts through its rotation candidates in Spring Training.

Pitching coach Chris Bosio and bullpen coach Lester Strode will return to the Cubs and be part of new manager Rick Renteria’s coaching staff, and they will be joined by former American League batting champion Bill Mueller, who was named the hitting coach.

The math has changed on the Tigers’ payroll with Prince Fielder’s trade to Texas for Ian Kinsler. The math on Detroit’s rotation has not. No amount of payroll shedding is likely to eliminate that issue.

The Red Sox have made their first trade of the offseason, acquiring right-handed reliever Burke Badenhop from the Brewers in exchange for 20-year-old lefty Luis Ortega.

Two years ago, Sergio Santos was the Blue Jays’ prized offseason acquisition, but it wasn’t until the tail end of the 2013 campaign that the hard-throwing reliever finally started living up to expectations.

The Royals’ decision to drop catcher George Kottaras leaves Brett Hayes and Francisco Pena as the two prime candidates to back up All-Star regular Salvador Perez next season.

One of the most fascinating personalities of the Pirates’ 2013 season was Andrew Lambo. Even as the Bucs were lighting up the Majors, fans were enchanted by the faraway Minor League exploits of Lambo — particularly after a midseason upward move from Double-A to Triple-A also upped his game.

The Braves announced on Friday the hiring of former Indians general manager John Hart as a senior advisor in the baseball-operations department.

Having acquired first baseman Prince Fielder from the Tigers, the Rangers have only partly succeeded in addressing their primary goal for the winter.

Switch-hitting infielder Jeimer Candelario, nicknamed “Candy” and “Baby Ruth,” is one of the top Cubs prospects you haven’t heard much about. But you will.