Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: OF Archie Gilbert

Boston Red Sox
Signed: RHP Ross Ohlendorf

Chicago Cubs
Removed from 40-man: 2B Blake DeWitt (outrighted to Triple-A)

Waiver claim Adrian Cardenas (formerly of the Athletics) essentially takes Blake DeWitt's place on the 40-man roster, aspiring to be a bat-first utility player who can hit for average and fill in at second or third base. Cardenas also learned to play left field last year with Triple-A Sacramento, for whom he batted .314/.374/.418 in 545 PAs last year. [...] Continue Reading »

The Minor League Free Agent Tracker allows readers to track free agents by position or by organization. Check it out.

Atlanta Braves
Signed: RHP Peter Moylan (re-signed)

The Braves non-tendered Peter Moylan and Brooks Conrad last December, and while they lost Conrad to the Brewers (minor league deal) they re-signed Moylan.

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: RHP Greg Burke, 1B Nick Johnson

The Orioles have signed enough righty relievers to minor league deals this offseason to stock multiple bullpens. This time we see Greg Burke, who grew up in Camden, N.J., attended Duke and then signed in the independent Atlantic League in ’05. The Padres signed him for the ’06 season, and he advanced quickly to make 48 appearances for the big league club in ’09. Burke did not receive an invitation to big league camp with the Orioles, however, like Willie Eyre, Jon Link, Pat Neshek, Miguel Socolovich and Oscar Vallarreal did. Instead Burke will head to minor league camp along with Winston Abreu, Robert Hinton, Kyler Newby, Raul Rivero and Ross Wolf. [...] Continue Reading »

The Minor League Free Agent Tracker features up-to-date signings for all 30 organizations. Get caught up as we near the beginning of spring training.

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: RHP Armando Galarraga, RHP Stuart Pomeranz, LHP Yoshihiro Doi, LHP Casey Fossum, C Ronny Paulino, C Dane Sardinha, 1B Jeff Larish, OF Juan Aguilar

The Orioles have signed a trio of lefthanders with extensive Nippon Professional Baseball experience this offseason. Wei-Yin Chen and Tsuyoshi Wada signed big league deals, while 35-year-old southpaw Yoshihiro Doi signed a minor league pact at the end of January. He pitched in the Japanese majors from ’98 through ’10, starting and ending his time there with Seibu. Doi signed on to play in the independent Atlantic League for ’11, though he did not secure a work visa. He'll try again with Baltimore this season.

Boston Red Sox
Signed: 1B Mauro Gomez
Removed from 40-man: RHP Scott Atchison (outrighted to Triple-A)

Playing in the Rangers and Braves systems, Mauro Gomez has bashed 16 homers or more in four of the past five minor league seasons. The 27-year-old batted .304/.356/.522 with 24 homers and 90 RBIs in 506 at-bats for Triple-A Gwinnett last season. He led the International League with 264 total bases, finished runner-up with 60 extra-base hits and ranked third in homers. [...] Continue Reading »

Not to be outdone by 49-year-old Jamie Moyer signing a minor league pact with the Rockies last time, ageless infielder Omar Vizquel signed with the Blue Jays. If he's playing in the big leagues on April 24, Vizquel will be 45 years old and in his 24th season.

Elsewhere, we see grizzled veteran lefty relievers Trever Miller (age 38) and Brian Tallet (34) sign minor league deals with the Cubs and Pirates, respectively. Both went from the Cardinals to the Blue Jays last July as part of the Colby Rasmus-for-Edwin Jackson blockbuster.

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: RHP Pat Neshek, 2B Chris Tremblay
Released: LHP Nate Nery, 2B Pedro Rodriguez, SS Moises Ciriaco, OF Rojean Cleofa, OF Martin Serrata

Boston Red Sox
Signed: RHP Sean White

Chicago Cubs
Signed: LHP Trever Miller
Removed from 40-man: RHP Manny Corpas (outrighted to Triple-A) [...] Continue Reading »

You know spring training is just around the corner when veteran pitchers begin settling for minor league deals with invites to big league camp. A bevy of veteran starters came to terms recently, including Vicente Padilla (age 34), Kevin Millwood (37), Oliver Perez (30), Nelson Figueroa (37), Tim Redding (33) and, of course, Jaime Moyer (49). For good measure, well-traveled lefty reliever Dennys Reyes (34) signed with the Orioles.

Track all the comings and goings with the Minor League Free Agent Tracker.

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: RHP Robert Hinton, RHP Oscar Villarreal, LHP Chris George (re-signed), LHP Seong-Min Kim, LHP Dennys Reyes, C Scott Thomas (Shreveport-Bossier (American Assoc.)), 1B Pita Rona, OF Cory Aldridge

The Orioles' international scouting effort began this offseason with the signings of Nippon Professional Baseball lefties Wei-Yin Chen and Tsuyoshi Wada to big league deals. The effort continued with the signings of a pair of 17-year-old Pacific Rim amateurs to minor league deals. The Orioles agreed to terms Korean high school lefty Seong-Min Kim, who reportedly sits in the high 80s with a quality curve and changeup. (Or if you prefer the Korean news account.) Baltimore also signed New Zealand softball standout Pita Rona, and he'll begin his pro career in the Australian Summer League this year.

The Orioles have been just as busy on the domestic front, signing enough minor league free agents to fill out a team's roster. Robert Hinton, Oscar Villarreal, Chris George and Dennys Reyes join a robust field of more than a dozen minor league imports that also includes Winston Abreu, Willie Eyre, Armando Galarraga and Jon Link.

Boston Red Sox
Signed: RHP Vicente Padilla, C Max St. Pierre [...] Continue Reading »

Players listed with an asterisk (*) re-signed on a minor league deal with the same organization following a removal from the 40-man roster.

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: RHP Winston Abreu, LHP Will Startup (re-signed), C Zach Booker (re-signed), 2B Travis Adair, 2B Tom DiBenedetto, 2B Peter Fatse (Pittsfield (Can-Am)), OF Edgardo Baez

Boston Red Sox
Signed: RHP Aaron Cook, RHP Justin Germano (Samsung (Korea))

The Red Sox signed both Justin Germano and Doug Mathis from Korea's Samsung Lions this offseason. Germano put up a 2.78 ERA and 1.13 WHIP over 45 1/3 innings, while Mathis finished with a 2.52 ERA and 1.45 WHIP over 64 1/3 innings. [...] Continue Reading »

Players listed with an asterisk (*) re-signed on a minor league deal with the same organization following a removal from the 40-man roster.

Atlanta Braves
Released: RHP Willie Kempf, RHP Robert Roth, 3B Nick Popescu, OF Trent Baker

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: RHP Francis Beltran, RHP Willie Eyre (re-signed), RHP Ross Wolf, C Allan de San Miguel

The Orioles non-tendered Willie Eyre in December, but they brought him back on a minor league deal to provide bullpen depth at Triple-A, much like Francis Beltran and Ross Wolf as well as Jon Link and Kyler Newby from earlier this month.

Boston Red Sox
Acquired: 2B Brad Emaus from Rockies for cash considerations

Brad Emaus did not play after June 30 last year because of a thumb injury, but he batted .313/.389/.564 in 163 at-bats for Triple-A Colorado Springs prior to that. He still has two seasons before he qualifies for minor league free agency. [...] Continue Reading »

For a look at the bigger picture, check out Trade Central and the Minor League Free Agent Tracker.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: C Mark Reed (re-signed), 1B Mike Jacobs

Atlanta Braves
Signed: SS Emerson Landoni
Released: LHP Matt Crim, LHP Dustin Richardson, 2B Marcus Lemon, OF Willie Cabrera

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: RHP Eun Chul Choi, RHP Jon Link, RHP Kyler Newby, RHP Raul Rivero (re-signed), SS Carlos Rojas (re-signed), OF Lee Cruz (Amarillo (American Association)), OF Antoan Richardson [...] Continue Reading »

As always, keep tabs on your favorite organization's offseason activity with the Minor League Free Agent Tracker.

The Blue Jays and Rays acquired useful role players at the Dec. 12 non-tender deadline simply for the willingness to tender ’12 contracts to Ben Francisco and Burke Badenhop. Two other players re-signed on minor league deals with the same club after not being offered a major league contract: Chris Gimenez (Mariners) and Fabio Castillo (Rangers). Trade Central provides a comprehensive overview of all the offseason's wheeling and dealing.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Released: RHP Reid Mahon

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: LHP Ryan Edell, OF Carlos Larez

Boston Red Sox
Released: RHP Miguel Gonzalez

This is the same Miguel Gonzalez whom the Red Sox drafted in the ’08 Rule 5, following a year lost to injury in the Angels system. He repeated the trick with the Red Sox in ’09, missing the entire year after having Tommy John surgery. Gonzalez returned to make 35 total appearances in ’10 and ’11, topping out in Double-A last year. [...] Continue Reading »

J.J. Cooper and John Manuel supplied you with the cure for Rule 5 fever as they reported from the Winter Meetings. Elsewhere, John laments the paucity of intriguing talent in the Rule 5 draft these days.

Don't miss the Minor League Free Agent Tracker, which allows users to filter more than 600 players by 2011 organization, new org, position and signed/unsigned status. We're up to 150 signees and counting.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: LHP Jason Lane, SS Cody Ransom (re-signed)

Note that Arizona signed 34-year-old veteran Jason Lane as a lefthanded pitcher and not an outfielder. A two-way star at Southern California, he picked up the win in the ’98 College World Series finale but didn't log multiple pitching appearances in a season in pro ball until 12 years later. He logged 13 relief innings for the Blue Jays' Triple-A Las Vegas affiliate this year, collecting 12 strikeouts and allowing two walks and 18 hits. The Las Vegas Review-Journal ran a comprehensive piece about Lane and his pitching pursuits in August. It's worth your time if you're interested in Lane, the Diamondbacks or conversion players. [...] Continue Reading »

The Minor League Free Agent Tracker allows users to easily find out which players each organization has signed this offseason.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: RHP Jensen Lewis, SS Wladimir Sutil

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: RHP Jonatan Isenia, RHP Miguel Socolovich, SS Steve Tolleson, OF Victor Medina

Chicago White Sox
Signed: SS Ray Olmedo [...] Continue Reading »

Don't miss the Minor League Free Agent Tracker, which allows users to filter more than 600 players by 2011 organization, new org, position, winter-ball participation and signed/unsigned status.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: C Ryan Budde
Traded: RHP Adam Worthington to Phillies as player to be named for LHP Mike Zagurski

Atlanta Braves
Signed: LHP Dusty Hughes, C J.C. Boscan (re-signed), 1B Ian Gac, 2B Drew Sutton, SS Josh Wilson, OF Luis Durango, OF Brahiam Maldonado, OF Jordan Parraz
Released: C Ramon de los Santos
Added to 40-man roster: RHP Jaye Chapman, RHP J.J. Hoover, LHP Luis Avilan

Slugger Ian Gac mashed 33 homers in ’11 and finished five behind minor league home run champ Bryan LaHair. The 26-year-old Gac batted .279/.358/.535 in 516 at-bats for high Class A Winston-Salem and never has appeared in a Double-A game in nine pro seasons. He has 160 professional homers but would need another 50 to crack the top 10 among active players.

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: RHP Yeizer Marrugo
Added to 40-man roster: RHP Oliver Drake

According to Colombian news outlet El Universal, Yeizer Marrugo is a 17-year-old righty who started for Colombia in the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico. Orioles scout Jorge Franco is quoted in the story as saying Marrugo topped out at 91 mph with an improved delivery. [...] Continue Reading »

Don't miss the Minor League Free Agent Tracker, which allows users to filter more than 600 players by 2011 organization, new org, position, winter-ball participation and signed/unsigned status.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: RHP Chris Jakubauskas, 3B Rusty Ryal (Yomiuri (Japan))

Rusty Ryal spent parts of ’09 and ’10 in Arizona, batting .263/.318/.402 while playing first, second and third base as well as left field. He went 19-for-96 (.198) with Yomiuri of Japan's Central League in ’11.

Atlanta Braves
Signed: C Jose Yepez

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: OF Scott Beerer [...] Continue Reading »

The first wave of minor league free agents began signing with new teams mere days after attaining free agency. For those players who re-signed with the same organization, a distinction is made between those who signed prior to the Nov. 2 free agent declaration date. Those listed with an asterisk (*) re-signed before they actually reached the market.

The Minor League Free Agent Tracker documents the first wave of signees.

Atlanta Braves
Signed: LHP Jose Lugo (re-signed*)

Chicago Cubs
Signed: SS Jonathan Mota (re-signed*)

Chicago White Sox
Signed: C Jared Price (re-signed) [...] Continue Reading »

We published the 537-player strong Minor League Free Agent list on Nov. 4, so check that out if you missed it. Here we present the leftover transactions from an eventful week.

Atlanta Braves
Traded: RHP Derek Lowe and cash to Indians for LHP Chris Jones
Elected free agency: C J.C. Boscan, OF Wilkin Ramirez
Added to 40-man roster: RHP Todd Redmond
Removed from 40-man: RHP Stephen Marek, C J.C. Boscan, OF Wilkin Ramirez, OF Antoan Richardson (all four players outrighted to Triple-A)

Righthander Todd Redmond has been a fixture in the Triple-A Gwinnett rotation for the past three seasons, putting up a 3.83 ERA and 1.25 WHIP over 83 appearances and 477 innings. He threw a nine-inning no-hitter against Louisville on May 28, 2010, and this year turned in arguably his finest season in the high minors. Redmond led the International League with 169 2/3 innings, while finishing second with a 1.17 WHIP, third with a 2.92 ERA and fifth with 142 strikeouts. He lacks a plus pitch, but he's proven extremely durable, throwing at least 160 innings in five of six full seasons, and he holds velocity on his tailing, low-90s fastball deep into starts.

The 26-year-old Redmond would have qualified for minor league free agency had the Braves left him unprotected. He previously spent time on Atlanta's 40-man roster in ’09.

Baltimore Orioles
Elected free agency: C Jake Fox
Removed from 40-man: RHP Chris Jakubauskas, C Jake Fox (both players outrighted to Triple-A) [...] Continue Reading »

Major League Baseball granted free agency to 537 minor league players on Nov. 2, five days after Game Seven of the World Series heralded the end of the 2011 season. The number of players in this year's free agent class is consistent with totals from 2010 (533 players) and ’09 (536). You can find past free agent classes archived on our blog.

Update: Sort all 600-plus free agents by position, organization or level with out new Minor League Free Agent Tracker. (Nov. 7)

Typically, MLB deems a minor league player a free agent if one of two conditions is met. (A minor league player is one not on a 40-man roster.) In many cases, his initial signing team simply has used all six of its contract renewals. We can illustrate this concept using the example of Orioles 2005 third-rounder Brandon Erbe, who signed weeks after that draft. Baltimore exercised contract renewals for Erbe for the maximum of six years—for the 2006, ’07, ’08, ’09, ’10 and ’11 seasons. To retain him for 2012 they would have had to add him to the 40-man roster—or in his case re-add him to the roster.

In other cases, a player's one-year minor league contract, signed either during the 2011 season or in the offseason, has expired. These players are no longer bound to their signing organization with contract renewals. They simply go year to year on one-year pacts. To cite examples, the Nationals signed veterans Matt Antonelli and Michael Aubrey to such deals last offseason.

New this year, BA subscribers can track players' career transactions and statistics by using our spiffed-up Player Finder pages.

Arizona Diamondbacks (16)
RHP: Gaby Hernandez (AAA), Kyler Newby (AAA), Brian Stokes (AAA), Jason Urquidez (AAA)
LHP: Clay Zavada (AA)
C: Josh Ford (AA), Robby Hammock (AAA), Lucas May (AAA), Mark Reed (Hi A)
1B: Juan Miranda (AAA), Andy Tracy (AAA)
2B: Tony Abreu (AAA)
SS: Angel Berroa (AAA), Ed Rogers (AAA)
OF: Jon Mark Owings (Hi A), Michael Restovich (AAA)

Atlanta Braves (18)
RHP: Mike Broadway (AA), Yeliar Castro (AA), Kenshin Kawakami (AA), Stephen Marek (AAA), Steven Shell (AAA)
C: Wilkin Castillo (AAA)
1B: Mauro Gomez (AAA), Nick Lobanov (R)
2B: Ruben Gotay (AAA)
3B: Shawn Bowman (AA), Diory Hernandez (AAA), Dan Nelson (AAA)
SS: Ed Lucas (AA)
OF: Chris Carter (AAA), Jeff Fiorentino (AAA), Antoan Richardson (AAA), Geraldo Rodriguez (Hi A), Matt Young (AAA) [...] Continue Reading »

A reminder that our player pages now have career stats for all active professionals, and we have transactions for the vast majority of them. You know you want to track David Winfree's trek through pro ball.

Arizona Diamondbacks
Elected free agency: LHP Alberto Castillo, 3B Sean Burroughs
Added to 40-man roster: OF David Winfree
Removed from 40-man: LHP Alberto Castillo, C Robby Hammock, 3B Sean Burroughs (all three players outrighted to Triple-A)

Drafted in 2003, David Winfree has logged nine seasons in the minors, the last three in Triple-A, yet prior to this move by the Diamondbacks had never spent time on a 40-man roster. The 25-year-old righthanded hitter appeared in 39 games for Reno this season, batting .321/.389/.575 with nine homers, but did not play after July 23.

Atlanta Braves
Signed: OF Jake Rife (Chico (North American))
Released: RHP Paul Bacot, LHP Tyler Stovall, C Nathan Raffle

Poor control undid lefty Tyler Stovall, an ’08 second-round pick out of Hokes Bluff, Ala. He walked 9.4 batters per nine innings in his 42 appearances for low Class A Rome during the past two seasons.

We last heard from Paul Bacot, an ’03 second-rounder from an Atlanta high school, back in June ’06 when the Braves placed him on the restricted list. There he spent the past six seasons. [...] Continue Reading »

Eleven players elect for free agency, bringing the total to 65 thus far this offseason. The full list of so-called declared minor league free agents, i.e. those with no minor league contract renewals remaining, is distributed about five days after the World Series ends.

Atlanta Braves
Released: RHP Evan Danieli, RHP Luis De Luna, RHP Wei Huang, RHP Dan Jurik, LHP Alexis Pinto, C Meng Tsai, 3B Jordan Kreke

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: 1B Darryl Crosier
Elected free agency: RHP Jeremy Accardo, RHP Mitch Atkins
Removed from 40-man: RHP Jeremy Accardo (outrighted to Triple-A)
Reinstated from DL: C Jordan Wolf

The Orioles initially signed Darryl Crosier, a Maryland-Eastern Shore product, in May 2010, only to release him in June. Now he's back with the organization.

Chicago White Sox
Signed: C Adam Ricks (re-signed)
Released: RHP Chase Cooney, RHP Jean Duque, SS Jerry Puentes
Elected free agency: RHP Shane Lindsay
Removed from 40-man: RHP Kyle Cofield, RHP Josh Kinney, RHP Shane Lindsay, LHP Leyson Septimo (all four players outrighted to Triple-A) [...] Continue Reading »

This time: Oct. 4-10

In this installment: 17 players kicked free from 40-man rosters this season elect for free agency. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks and Royals release more than a dozen players each, many of them signed this summer as nondrafted free agents. Each organization operates three short-season affiliates—Arizona for the first time this summer—thus the need for overstocked inventory. 

Arizona Diamondbacks
Released: RHP Sammy de los Santos, RHP Sean Johnson, RHP Mike Lebo, RHP Jason Postill, RHP Greg Robinson, RHP Drew Zizinia, LHP Johan Jaime, LHP Diony Santana, C Jose Alegria, C Jhoan Pimentel, 1B Ramon Castillo, 1B Joe Weik, SS David Narodowski, OF Westley Moss, OF Roberto Rodriguez
Elected free agency: SS Cody Ransom, OF Ryan Langerhans

Chicago Cubs
Removed from 40-man: RHP Justin Berg (outrighted to Triple-A), RHP Brian Schlitter (outrighted to Triple-A)
Assigned to Arizona Fall League: RHP Chris Carpenter, RHP Andrew Cashner, RHP Marcus Hatley, RHP Trey McNutt, 2B D.J. LeMahieu, 3B Josh Vitters, SS Junior Lake [...] Continue Reading »

This week's transaction trends: Teams officially assign players to fill out their Arizona Fall League rosters (season started Oct. 4), and 34 players who got dumped from 40-man rosters elect free agency. Among the shiny new free agents are former prospect darlings like Lastings Milledge (International League No. 2 in ’06) and Felix Pie (Pacific Coast League No. 6 in ’07).

Arizona Diamondbacks
Signed: RHP Mike DeMark (re-signed), RHP D.J. Johnson (re-signed)
Elected free agency: RHP Armando Galarraga

Atlanta Braves
Elected free agency: C Wil Nieves
Recalled: RHP Jairo Asencio, RHP Erik Cordier, RHP Cory Gearrin, RHP Stephen Marek, SS Brandon Hicks, OF Wilkin Ramirez
Added to 40-man roster: SS Tyler Pastornicky
Removed from 40-man: OF Matt Young (outrighted to Triple-A)
Reinstated from DL: LHP Dimasther Delgado, LHP Rowdy Hardy, LHP Andy Otero, LHP Cole Rohrbough

Baltimore Orioles
Signed: RHP Steve Johnson (re-signed)
Elected free agency: OF Felix Pie
Recalled: RHP Chris Tillman, LHP Pedro Viola, 1B Joe Mahoney, 1B Brandon Snyder
Reinstated from DL: OF Kipp Schutz
Assigned to Arizona Fall League: RHP Sean Gleason, RHP Steve Johnson, LHP Casey Lambert, LHP Cole McCurry, C Brian Ward, 1B Joe Mahoney, OF Xavier Avery [...] Continue Reading »