Rangers Sign Evan Meek, Randy Wells

The Rangers signed reliever Evan Meek, starter Randy Wells, first baseman Brandon Allen, and starter Jake Brigham to minor league deals with invites, tweets Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Meek, 29, made the All-Star team during a 2.14 ERA campaign for the Pirates in 2010.  Since then, he's been limited by a shoulder injury.

Wells, 30, made 82 starts for the Cubs from 2009-11, even placing sixth in the NL Rookie of the Year vote in '09.  He spent much of this year struggling at Triple-A Iowa.

Allen, 26, never caught on in the Majors and spent the second half of this season in Japan.

Minor Moves: 28 Players Elect Free Agency

A total of 28 players -- all with big league time under their belts -- recently elected free agency after finishing the year in Triple-A. Here is the full list, courtesy of the International League and Pacific Coast League transaction pages...

• Infielders: Brian Bixler (Astros), Sean Burroughs (Twins), Blake DeWitt (Cubs), Alberto Gonzalez (Rangers), Angel Sanchez (Astros), Nate Spears (Red Sox), Drew Sutton (Pirates)
• Outfielders: Travis Buck (Astros), Ryan Langerhans (Angels), Mitch Maier (Royals), Darnell McDonald (Yankees), Jai Miller (Orioles), Trent Oeltjen (Dodgers), Jason Pridie (Phillies), Mike Wilson (Mariners)
• Right-handed Pitchers: Roman Colon (Royals), Mike Ekstrom (Rockies), Jack Egbert (Mets), Ryota Igarashi (Yankees), Evan Meek (Pirates), Scott Richmond (Blue Jays), Kip Wells (Padres), Randy Wells (Cubs), Dan Wheeler (Indians)
• Left-handed Pitchers: Alex Hinshaw (Cubs), Cesar Jimenez (Mariners), Zach Kroenke (Diamondbacks), Garrett Olson (Mets)

Outrighted To Triple-A: Evan Meek

The latest outright assignments from around MLB... 

• The Pirates outrighted right-hander Evan Meek to Triple-A Indianapolis, according to the team's website. Pittsburgh removed the 2010 All-Star from the 40-man roster one week ago, designating him for assignment. Meek, 29, made 12 relief appearances for this year’s Pirates team but spent most of this year with Indianapolis, where he posted a 2.74 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 5.1 BB/9 in 46 innings of relief work.

Pirates Designate Evan Meek For Assignment

The Pirates announced that they have designated right-hander Evan Meek for assignment. The move creates 40-man roster space for right-hander Rick VandenHurk, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Indianapolis. Pittsburgh also recalled infielder Chase d'Arnaud and right-hander Bryan Morris in related moves.

Meek, a 2010 All-Star, has been in the Pittsburgh organization since the Pirates selected him in the 2007 Rule 5 draft. He has spent time on the MLB roster in each of the last five seasons, and made 12 relief appearances in 2012. The 29-year-old spent most of this year with Triple-A Indianapolis, where he posted a 2.74 ERA with 8.0 K/9 and 5.1 BB/9 in 46 innings of relief work. In five MLB seasons, he has a 3.34 ERA, 7.5 K/9, 4.7 BB/9, a 52.1 % ground ball rate and an average fastball velocity of 94 mph.

Players Avoiding Arbitration: Tuesday

Dozens of arbitration eligible players have agreed to deals with their respective teams today and we've been tracking all of the developments right here.  Several teams, including the Rays, Nationals, Marlins, White Sox, Blue Jays, Braves, and perhaps Astros, are known for committing to going to hearings if they get to the point of filing.  Keep track of all the madness with MLBTR's arbitration tracker, which shows settlement amounts, filing figures, and midpoints.  Today's players to avoid arbitration on deals worth less than $4MM:

• The Cardinals avoided arbitration with pitcher Kyle McClellan, tweets B.J. Rains of FOX Sports Midwest. Joe Strauss of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports (on Twitter) that the one-year deal is worth $2.5MM with incentives based on starts. MLBTR projected a $2.7MM for the Steve Comte client.
• MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith reports (on Twitter) that the Padres and Chase Headley agreed to a one-year deal worth $3.475MM, avoiding arbitration. Earlier this evening, the Padres announced that they avoided arbitration with Luke Gregerson, Edinson Volquez, Carlos Quentin and Will Venable. They also avoided arbitration with lefty reliever Joe Thatcher on a deal worth $700K, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports.  CAA announced catcher John Baker has signed for $750K.  Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune first reported that the Padres reached agreements with Hundley, Chase Headley, and Tim Stauffer. Hundley will earn $2MM in 2012, MLB.com's Corey Brock tweets.  Dan Hayes of the North County Times tweets the salaries for Volquez ($2.2375MM), Venable ($1.475MM), Gregerson ($1.55MM)
• The Rangers avoided arbitration with Matt Harrison, tweets Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News. The ACES client gets $2.95MM on a one-year deal. MLBTR had projected a $2.9MM salary.
• The Cubs announced that they have avoided arbitration with Jeff Baker ($1.375MM), Blake DeWitt ($1.1MM), Ian Stewart ($2.237MM) Chris Volstad ($2.655MM), and Randy Wells ($2.705MM). MLB.com's Carrie Muskat tweeted the salary figures.

Rosenthal On Nolasco, Rays, Upton, Jimenez

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports brought us another edition of Full Count today while sporting yet another fantastic bow tie.  Here are some highlights..

• The Marlins could wind up trading Ricky Nolasco if they fail to get back to the .500 mark.  The Rangers have shown interest in Nolasco since last winter and the Yankees could look to reunite him with manager Joe Girardi.  If the Fish make such a deal, it won't be in one of their classic salary dumps, it will be instead for baseball reasons.  They're looking to increase their payroll ahead of their move into a brand new stadium and they could be major players for free agents this winter.
• The Rays still could end up as sellers but right now they appear to be buyers as they were looking to get Francisco Rodriguez before the Brewers swooped in at the final hour.  If Tampa Bay sells, it's doubtful that they'll move any of their starters but B.J. Upton is another story.  In theory, the Nationals, Phillies, and Braves could all be potential destinations for the outfielder.
• The three teams with the best chance of meeting the Rockies' asking price for Ubaldo Jimenez are the Yankees, Tigers, and Reds.  The concerns with Jimenez are that he's not back to his 2009/early 2010 form and that his velocity has dropped.  One scout told Rosenthal that he's not back to his ace form yet but he's getting close.
• The first-place Pirates are after upgrades but they should also improve from within.  They have a number of injured players returning such as Jose Tabata, Evan Meek, and Ross Ohlendorf.  The Bucs continue to search for a bat but they're not terribly interested in the Cubs' Carlos Pena.

Pirates Rumors: Correia, Accardo, Duchscherer

4:05pm: The Pirates are interested in Kevin Correia, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).

3:25pm: The Pirates are aggressively pursuing Accardo, according to Kovacevic (on Twitter).

2:51pm: The latest on the Pirates:

• The Pirates are deeply interested in Jeremy Accardo, reports Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.  The Dodgers are also known to be in on the recently non-tendered reliever.
• A couple of teams have approached the Pirates about center fielder Andrew McCutchen, tweets ESPN's Gordon Edes, but they'd have to be overwhelmed.
• The Pirates and Justin Duchscherer have mutual interest, reports Kovacevic.
• The Pirates have shown some interest in Braves starter Kenshin Kawakami, reports MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch.  She estimates Kawakami would only cost the Pirates $1-2MM and no significant players, as the Braves are just looking to unload part of his $6.667MM salary.
• Langosch says the Pirates have mild interest in Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan.  Kovacevic says the Pirates continue to discuss shortstops with many teams, including J.J. Hardy with the Twins.
• Kovacevic adds that the Pirates would love to trade Ryan Doumit.  He says they'd only trade Evan Meek or Joel Hanrahan for a very significant return.

Relief Rumors: Capps, Jays, Dotel

Bullpen help is always in great demand as the deadline approaches, and 2010 is no exception. With all of the relief rumors circulating today, let's take a look at some of them:

• Earlier today, we heard that the competition for Scott Downs was heating up, but that some executives think the Jays are asking too much. Ken Rosenthal tweets that the Jays are asking a lot for all three of their available relievers -- Downs, Kevin Gregg, and Jason Frasor. The Dodgers inquired but are now looking elsewhere as a result of those demands.
• Buster Olney has heard that several executives think the Nationals will trade Matt Capps. The Washington closer is having a strong rebound season, but makes $3.5MM and will be in line for a large raise through arbitration prior to the 2011 campaign. With the strong results seen from Tyler Clippard and Drew Storen this year, the Nats have quality in-house options to replace Capps. GM Mike Rizzo recently said he's not shopping Capps, but he's getting lots of calls.
• Troy Renck of the Denver Post writes that the Rockies had a scout at Octavio Dotel's last outing, but they're concerned about his durability and switching from a closer to setup role. According to Renck, teams are monitoring the Pirates to see if they'd make Evan Meek or Joel Hanrahan available as well.

Rockies Focusing On Bullpen Help

The Rockies' main focus heading into next Saturday's trade deadline will be on acquiring bullpen help, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post. We heard a few days ago that the Rockies were eyeing starting pitching and corner infielders along with relievers, but Renck indicates that their bullpen is the top priority at the moment.

According to Renck, Blue Jays relievers like Kevin Gregg and Scott Downs interest the Rockies, with SI.com's Jon Heyman tweeting of Colorado's interest in Gregg as well. Renck also expects the Rox to check in on the availability of Pirates' setup men Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan, but wonders if the price for Pittsburgh's and Toronto's relievers could be too high.

Check out our list of potentially available relievers here.

Cafardo's Latest: Arroyo, Carmona, Garza, Lilly

In this week's installment of his Baseball Notes feature, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe discusses the 2006 deal that sent Bronson Arroyo to Cincinnati for Wily Mo Pena. "I'm sure it's not one [trade] that Theo has on his mantle at home," Arroyo jokes, before going on to say that he'd love to stay with the Reds past this season. The team holds an $11MM 2011 option ($2MM buyout) for Arroyo. Here are Cafardo's other notes of interest:

• The Brewers and the Rangers, before they acquired Cliff Lee, were among the teams "sniffing around" Fausto Carmona.
• Cafardo wouldn't be shocked if the Rays were willing to discuss trading Matt Garza, with Jeremy Hellickson waiting in the wings (2.21 ERA in 105.2 Triple-A innings). In exchange for an impact bat, the Rays appear more inclined to deal major league players than prospects. A National League scout tells Cafardo that the team has been "very willing to include B.J. Upton in trade talks" and may even think about moving Wade Davis, if the price was right.
• The Rays also have some interest in Ted Lilly, who could be a fit for the Twins and Tigers as well.
• Cafardo thinks the Red Sox should pursue Evan Meek if the Pirates make him available.
• Lou Piniella's agent Alan Nero says that the Cubs' skipper will definitely finish out the season, but isn't sure about Piniella's future past this year.