GM Terry Ryan, who is recovering from cancer treatments, made a recent visit to Twins spring training and talked about his current role with the team, Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. Ryan says he sometimes hears information that might be useful, but since he isn't in camp with the team, he merely relays it to assistant GM Rob Antony and the rest of the Twins' staff. "It would be unfair for me to sit in Minnesota not having seen one game and start dictating to Rob and Mike (Radcliff) and Wayne (Krivsky) and Jack (Goin) and Bill (Smith) and people around here that have seen a lot of baseball," Ryan says. "I say, ‘Here’s what I’ve heard. Here’s what they’re looking for.’ And I pass it on." Here are more notes from around the American League.
- Michael Bourn's contract is unlikely to end up hurting the Indians to the degree that Travis Hafner's did, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer writes. Although there are reasons to worry about how Bourn will age, his defense means he isn't a "one-way player" the way Hafner was.
- Reliever Mark Lowe's contract with the Rays allows him to opt out on March 31 if he does not make their 25-man roster, MLBTR's Chris Cotillo tweets. Lowe appeared in just 11 games for the Angels in 2013, but he received plenty of playing time out of the Rangers' bullpen in 2011 and 2012. He has a 4.17 ERA with 7.7 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in parts of eight big-league seasons.
- Catcher Yorvit Torrealba can ask to be released tomorrow if the Angels do not add him to their roster, tweets MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez. Torrealba does not want to go to the minor leagues, and will instead wait for an opportunity in the bigs. Torrealba, 35, hit .240/.295/.285 in 196 plate appearances as the backup to Wilin Rosario in Colorado in 2013.
