Recent Player News
Date	Player	News
2/9/2010	Brandon Lyon, RP (Hou)	Lyon has had surgery to drain a small cyst in his pitching shoulder but is expected to be ready for spring training. Analysis: The team said in a statement Tuesday that Lyon had the cyst drained two weeks ago and has been throwing without discomfort since. The right-hander is expected to begin workouts with his new club Feb. 20, when pitchers and catchers report for spring training.
2/9/2010	Greg Burke, RP (SD)	The Padres asked for unconditional release waivers on Burke on Tuesday. Analysis: Burke was 3-3 with a 4.14 ERA in 48 games for San Diego last year.
2/9/2010	Yorvit Torrealba, C (SD)	Torrealba and the San Diego Padres have finalized a one-year contract that guarantees the catcher $1.25 million. Torrealba gets a $750,000 salary this year under Monday's agreement, and the deal includes a $3.5 million mutual option for 2011 with a $500,000 buyout. Analysis: Torrealba figures to share playing time with Nick Hundley, who started 71 games last year and hit .238 with eight homers and 30 RBIs. Torrealba, who turns 32 in July, spent the last four seasons with the Colorado Rockies and batted .291 with two homers and 31 RBIs in 213 at-bats last year.
2/9/2010	Mark Hendrickson, RP (Bal)	Hendrickson agreed Tuesday to a one-year contract with the Orioles that guarantees him $1.4 million after pitching well out of Baltimore's bullpen last season. Analysis: The 35-year-old Hendrickson went 6-5 with a 4.37 ERA in 53 games with Baltimore last year. He was most effective in relief, going 4-0 with a 3.44 ERA.
2/9/2010	Jacque Jones, (Min)	Jones has returned to the Minnesota Twins, agreeing to a minor league contract. Analysis: Jones began his major league career with Minnesota in 1999 before joining the Chicago Cubs in 2006. The outfielder's best season came in 2002, when he hit .300 with 27 homers and 85 RBIs while the Twins advanced to the AL championship series. Jones didn't play in the majors last year.
2/9/2010	Jamey Wright, RP (Cle)	Wright and the Cleveland Indians have agreed to a minor league contract. Analysis: The 35-year-old led the Kansas City Royals with 65 relief appearances last season, going 3-5 with a 4.33 ERA. He is 82-115 with a 5.03 ERA in 14 seasons, also pitching for Colorado, Milwaukee, St. Louis, San Francisco and Texas. He has made 246 starts and 174 relief appearances. If added to the 40-man roster, Wright would get a $900,000, one-year contract and the chance to make $700,000 more in performance bonuses.
2/9/2010	Scott Schoeneweis, RP (Mil)	Schoeneweis has agreed to a minor league contract with the Milwaukee Brewers and was invited to major league spring training. Schoeneweis would get an $800,000, one-year contract if added to the 40-man roster and would have the chance to earn $700,000 in performance bonuses under Tuesday's deal. Analysis: The 36-year-old is 46-57 with a 4.97 ERA in his 11-year major league career, making 93 starts among 562 appearances. Schoeneweis has played for six major league teams and was 1-2 with a 7.13 ERA in 45 relief appearances with Arizona last season.
2/9/2010	Brandon Webb, SP (Ari)	Webb threw off the mound on Tuesday for the first time since undergoing right shoulder surgery. Webb said he was pleased with how he felt after throwing between 20 and 25 pitches in the Chase Field bullpen. Analysis: Webb made one start last year, then underwent surgery on Aug. 4. The club exercised an $8.5 million option for 2010 in hopes that the former NL Cy Young Award winner would return to dominance. "I'm right where I expected to be,'' Webb said in a statement. ``Having not been on the mound in a year, I am pleased with how I felt.''
2/9/2010	Willy Taveras, CF (Oak)	Taveras has been released by the Oakland Athletics, eight days after he was acquired from Cincinnati with infielder Adam Rosales for infielder Aaron Miles and a player to be named. Taveras hit .240 with one homer and 15 RBIs for Cincinnati last season. Analysis: General manager Billy Beane decided to designated Taveras for assignment immediately following the Feb. 1 trade. The Athletics owe his $4 million salary in the final season of a $6.25 million, two-year contract that he signed with the Reds, but that would be reduced by the $400,000 minimum if he signs with another team. It doesn't appear like a smart financial move on face value for the low-budget A's, but Beane can never be questioned.
2/8/2010	Cliff Lee, SP (Sea)	The Seattle Mariners say Lee is recovering from minor left foot surgery and will be limited when pitchers and catchers report to spring training this month. The team announced Monday that its biggest offseason acquisition had surgery Friday in his native Arkansas to remove a bone spur that broke loose and was floating in his left foot. Analysis: Lee was acquired from Philadelphia this winter in a complicated four-team deal. His injured foot is not in a cast, and he is continuing his upper-body exercise program. The Mariners says the 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner will "gradually return to all normal baseball activities" over the next two to three weeks. Seattle's first workout for pitchers and catchers is Feb. 18.
2/8/2010	Skip Schumaker, 2B (StL)	Schumaker and the St. Louis Cardinals have agreed to a $4.7 million, two-year contract, avoiding an arbitration hearing. Analysis: Schumaker will earn $2 million this season and $2.7 million in 2011. The deal also contains performance bonuses that could bring the total value to $5 million over two years. Schumaker, who turned 30 on Wednesday, hit .303 with four homers and 35 RBIs in 153 games last year. He also switched from the outfield to second base.
2/8/2010	Marcus Thames, LF (NYY)	Thames agreed Monday to a minor league contract with the World Series champion New York Yankees. Thames, who turns 33 next month, began his major league career with the Yankees in 2002 and homered on his first big league pitch that June 10 off Arizona's Randy Johnson. Thames was traded to Texas in June 2003 for Ruben Sierra, then let go by the Rangers after the season. Analysis: Thames spent the last six seasons with Detroit and hit .252 with 13 homers and 36 RBIs last year, down from 25 homers and 56 RBIs the previous season. He would get a $900,000, one-year contract if added to the 40-man roster and have the chance to earn an additional $900,0000 in performance bonuses.
2/8/2010	Johnny Damon, LF (NYY)	Randy Winn and the New York Yankees have finalized a $1.1 million, one-year contract. Analysis: The deal, reached Jan. 27 subject to a physical, pretty much eliminated any chance Damon had of returning to the World Series champions.
2/8/2010	Randy Winn, RF (NYY)	Winn and the New York Yankees have finalized a $1.1 million, one-year contract. The outfielder can earn an additional $900,000 in performance bonuses based on plate appearances against left-handed pitchers. He would get $100,000 each for 50, 75 and 100, and $150,000 apiece for 125, 150, 175 and 200. Analysis: Winn, who figures to share playing time in left field with Brett Gardner, hit .262 with two homers and 51 RBIs for San Francisco last season. The 35-year-old was an All-Star in 2002, when he batted .298 with 14 homers and 75 RBIs for Tampa Bay.
2/8/2010	Omar Vizquel, SS (CWS)	Vizquel will wear the No. 11 of former White Sox shortstop and fellow Venezuelan Luis Aparicio this season.The White Sox say they have unretired Aparicio's No. 11 for the 2010 season, with his blessing. Aparicio said Vizquel is the one player he'd like to see don his number. Analysis: The 42-year-old Vizquel signed with the White Sox this offseason. He is a three-time AL All-Star and is considered one of best fielding shortstops of all time. In a statement, Vizquel says he feels ``privileged.'' And Aparicio says if there's one player he'd like to see wear his number, it's Vizquel, the leader among shortstops in games (2,681) and a three-time AL All-Star.
2/7/2010	Brian Giles, RF (LAD)	Giles has signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers said Sunday that Giles has been invited to big league camp. Analysis: A career .291 hitter, Giles batted just .191 in 61 games last season with the San Diego Padres. The 39-year-old Giles did not play after going on the disabled list June 19 with a bruised right knee.
2/6/2010	Dana Eveland, SP (Tor)	The Oakland Athletics have traded Eveland to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named later or cash considerations. Analysis: The 26-year-old Eveland was designated for assignment by the club Monday. While Eveland began and finished the 2009 season in the A's rotation, he mostly pitched for Triple-A Sacramento. He went 2-4 with a 7.16 ERA in 13 appearances and nine starts during three stints with the A's and was 8-6 with a 4.94 ERA in 21 starts at Sacramento.
2/6/2010	Erik Bedard, SP (Sea)	Bedard is coming back to the Seattle Mariners. General manager Jack Zduriencik announced Saturday morning the team and the oft-injured 30-year-old agreed to a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2011. Analysis: The contract is expected to have a base salary a fraction of the $7.75 million Bedard made last season, and it would likely include incentive clauses. He is rehabilitating in his native Canada following surgery in August to repair a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder. The normal recovery time for the procedure would have him making his season debut in June at the earliest.
2/6/2010	Tim Lincecum, SP (SF)	Lincecum is prepared to hear some harsh criticism in an arbitration hearing with the San Francisco Giants - perhaps even delving into his offseason pot bust. The two-time reigning NL Cy Young Award winner is asking for a record $13 million, while the Giants offered $8 million when the sides exchanged numbers last month. Analysis: Lincecum is seeking the richest contract ever awarded in arbitration, surpassing the $10 million that Alfonso Soriano (2006) and Francisco Rodriguez (2008) got after losing cases and Ryan Howard received after winning in 2008. Lincecum's hearing is scheduled for this month in St. Petersburg, Fla. He plans to attend. "With the two Cy Youngs, it just throws a curveball in the mix,'' Lincecum said. ``People were saying I could ask for pretty much anything.''
2/5/2010	Yorvit Torrealba, C (SD)	A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that Torrealba and the San Diego Padres have reached an agreement on a one-year contract worth $1.25 million. Analysis: He figures to be a backup to Nick Hundley, who started 71 games last year and hit .238 with eight homers and 30 RBIs.
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