Baseball Notes: Pedroia's reward: $40.5 million

Dustin Pedroia has an American League MVP award, a Rookie of the Year award, a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger and a World Series ring.

Now he also has a contract befitting one of the most decorated young players in baseball.

The Red Sox second baseman, who earned $457,000 last season while winning the AL MVP, agreed yesterday to a $40.5 million, six-year contract that will keep him in Boston through at least 2014.

Pedroia led the AL with 213 hits, 118 runs and 54 doubles while batting .326 with 17 home runs, 83 RBIs 20 stolen bases. He is the first AL second baseman to win the MVP since Nellie Fox with the Chicago White Sox in 1959.

The club effectively bought out Pedroia's arbitration years and his first two years of free agency (2013-14). There also is a club option for 2015 that will be voided if he is traded.

Pedroia, 25, will earn an average annual salary of around $7 million. He would be 32 when the contract expires, if the Red Sox pick up the option.

Braves-White Sox trade. Chicago has reached an agreement to send righthander Javier Vazquez to Atlanta in a six-player trade, the Associated Press said.

Atlanta will send Chicago a package of four prospects, including power-hitting minor-league catcher Tyler Flowers and shortstop Brent Lillibridge, third baseman Jon Gilmore and lefthander Santos Rodriguez.

Vazquez, 32, must still pass a physical to complete the deal. He went 12-16 last season. The Braves also would acquire 24-year-old lefthanded reliever Boone Logan.

Giants. San Francisco took another step to bolster its bullpen, agreeing a $2.75 million, one-year contract with free agent Bobby Howry, who was not offered salary arbitration by the Chicago Cubs.

Rays. Tampa Bay closer Troy Percival, 39, had back surgery this week and is expected to be ready to return to the AL champions before opening day.

Mariners. Free-agent third baseman Russell Branyan agreed to a $1.4 million, one-year contract with Seattle. The lefthanded hitter batted .250 with 12 homers and 20 RBIs in just 132 at-bats with Milwaukee last season.

The team also hired Rick Adair as pitching coach and John Wetteland as bullpen coach. They will join bench coach Ty Van Burkleo and first base coach Lee Tinsley on the staff of first-time manager Don Wakamatsu next season.

Cardinals. Lefthander Trever Miller finalized a one-year deal with St. Louis. The 35-year-old reliever was 2-0 with a 4.15 ERA in 68 games with Tampa Bay, which paid him a $400,000 buyout last month.

Mets. New York re-signed former Phillies pitcher Nelson Figueroa. The 34-year-old righthander was 3-3 with a 4.57 ERA last season.

Figueroa, who came to Philadelphia in the July 2000 deal that sent Curt Schilling to Arizona, is 10-20 lifetime in a career that included stops at Milwaukee and Pittsburgh.

Noteworthy. Righthanded reliever Chad Fox and the Chicago Cubs agreed to a minor-league contract. Fox went 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA for the Cubs last season. . . . Oft-injured Mike Hampton, 36, finalized a one-year, $2 million deal with the Astros. The lefty won 22 games for Houston in 1999.