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Ramon Hernandez Opts Out Of Deal With Royals

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Catcher Ramon Hernandez will opt out of his minor league contract with the Royals, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Hernandez, however, will remain with the team to work out, but can leave for another MLB job with no compensation due the Royals.

Hernandez, who signed in January to compete with Brett Hayes and Francisco Pena to be Salvador Perez's backup, batted just .208/.291/.438 in a career-low 55 plate appearances with the Dodgers in 2013, but the 37-year-old did hit three home runs showing he still has some pop left in his bat. The Eric Goldschmidt client is a lifetime .263/.327/.417 hitter in parts of 15 Major League seasons with the Athletics, Padres, Orioles, Reds, Rockies and Dodgers.

Carlos Pena, Chad Tracy Granted Release

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The Angels announced that Carlos Pena and Chad Tracy have been granted their unconditional release.  Earlier today, Yorvit Torrealba opted out of his deal to become a free agent rather than stay with the Halos.  Today was the deadline for the club to add all three to the 40-man roster.

Pena, a 13-year MLB veteran, was an everyday player until last season.  Spending most of 2013 with the Astros, Pena slashed .207/.321/.346 in 328 plate appearances.  As that line would indicate, Pena has hung his hat on his ability to get on base via the walk, which he has done at about twice the league-average rate throughout his career.  Once a major power threat – he hit 172 home runs between 2007 and 2011 – Pena's HR/FB rate has dropped from a peak of 29.1% down to around the 15% level in recent seasons.  Pena, who signed with the Angels in late January, does not plan on retiring because "I love the way it feels when you square up a ball, when you make a good play in the field" (per MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez on Twitter).

Even though Tracy batted just .202/.243/.326 in 136 plate appearances with the Nationals in a pinch-hitting role last season, he batted .269/.343/.441 in a similar role in 2012.  Tracy broke through with an outstanding sophomore campaign with the Diamondbacks in 2005 when he belted 27 homers and slashed .308/.359/.553.  However, he's been unable to replicate that form in his subsequent big league seasons.

Orioles Sign Brett Wallace

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The Orioles announced that they have signed corner infielder Brett Wallace.  Wallace will report to minor league camp.  The one-time top prospect was released by the Astros on March 12th.

Wallace, 27 and now with his fifth organization since being selected 13th overall less than six years ago, is coming off a season in which he batted just .221/.284/.431 with 13 homers in 285 plate apperances for the Astros. Wallace has never hit much in 1077 PAs at the big league level, but he's crushed Triple-A pitching to the tune of a .308/.375/.500 triple-slash in more than 1600 PAs.

Yorvit Torrealba To Opt Out Of Angels Deal

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Yorvit Torrealba is set to opt out of his deal with the Angels and become a free agent today, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.  The veteran was waiting to find out if he would be on the Angels' big league roster and it appears that he wasn't going to make the cut.

Torrealba, 35, hit .240/.295/.285 in 196 plate appearances as the backup to Wilin Rosario in Colorado in 2013.  He gunned down 29 percent of attempted base stealers in 2013, which is right in line with his career mark of 30 percent. A career .256/.315/.379 batter, Torrealba was brought aboard to provide Halos with some veteran depth behind primary catchers Chris Iannetta and Hank Conger.  Now, he'll try and find a big league opportunity elsewhere.

Jose Mijares Opts Out Of Deal With Red Sox

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Jose Mijares has opted out of his deal with the Red Sox, a source tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).  Mijares signed a minor league deal with Boston in late January.

As MLBTR reported at the time of the signing, Mijares' deal included an March opt out clause that he could trigger if he did not like his prospects in Boston.  Had things worked out, the 29-year-old would have earned $1MM on the major league roster with another possible $1MM tied to games pitched.

Mijares spent last season with the Giants and even though his 4.22 ERA in 49 innings was the second-highest of his career, his rate statistics (9.9 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9) were strong.  Unfortunately, the left-hander suffered from a staggering .410 BABIP, the highest mark in all of baseball among pitchers with at least 40 innings.  Advanced metrics like FIP (3.05), xFIP (3.90), and SIERA (3.45) indicated that Mijares outperformed his ERA last year.

West Notes: Beane, Fowler, Blanton

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Baseball personnel believe Billy Beane of the Athletics is the best GM in the game, the New York Post's Joel Sherman writes in a survey of scouts and executives.  "He continues to find ways to be ahead of trends," says one scout. Joe Maddon of the Rays and Mike Matheny of the Cardinals got the most votes for best manager, and the Angels' Mike Trout got the most votes for best player. Here are more notes from around the West divisions.

  • New Astros center fielder Dexter Fowler doesn't understand Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd offseason comments questioning his passion for the game, Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle reports. "I'm still trying to figure out where they're coming from," Fowler says. " 'Passion for the game' – I mean, you see me each and every day. This will never change. So I don't know where that was coming from." Fowler also tells Drellich he didn't know whether O'Dowd was even the Rockies' GM, or whether it was assistant GM Bill Geivett. (O'Dowd runs baseball operations, while Geivett runs big-league operations.) The Rockies traded Fowler to Houston in December.
  • Joe Blanton is bracing for an uncertain future with the Angels, MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez writes. "Whatever happens, happens," says Blanton. "All I can do is just go pitch and try to make the adjustments in-game and keep working hard." Blanton has $7.5MM plus a $1MM buyout remaining on his contract, and does not have a spot in the Angels' rotation after a miserable 2013 season. The Angels could release him, or move him to the bullpen while they wait for their relief corps to get healthy.

Pitching Notes: Johnson, Wieland, Hanson

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The Padres will shut starting pitcher Josh Johnson down for 10 days to two weeks with a strained flexor, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune tweets. Johnson will be out for at least four weeks. It must be a frustrating injury for Johnson, who only started 16 games last season. While the injury doesn't appear to threaten a huge portion of the season, the Padres can feel grateful for an option they built into Johnson's contract — if Johnson starts fewer than seven games this season, the Padres get a $4MM option on his services for 2015. Here are more notes on pitchers.

  • Another Padres pitcher, Joe Wieland, will have minor surgery to address irritation in his elbow, tweets MLB.com's Corey Brock. He is expected to be back by the All-Star Break. Wieland spent last season recovering from Tommy John surgery.
  • The Rangers are facing a decision on Tommy Hanson, MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan writes. Hanson has a split contract that calls for him to receive $2MM guaranteed in the Majors and less than that in the minors. If the Rangers don't option him by Wednesday, they'll be on the hook for the entire $2MM, but if they do option him, he can opt out and become a free agent. The Rangers are trying to figure out what to do in their rotation after Yu Darvish, Martin Perez and Tanner Scheppers.

Erik Bedard Could Opt Out Of Deal With Rays

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8:57pm: Cotillo now tweets that Bedard would be willing to pitch out of the Rays' bullpen if they add him to the 25-man roster. Otherwise, he will opt out of his contract.

4:50pm: Starting pitcher Erik Bedard will opt out of his deal with the Rays, Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish tweets. Bedard lost out on the Rays' fifth starter job, which went to Jake Odorizzi. Bedard has said he is not interested in pitching in relief. "There’s a lot of starters who have been hurt [in spring training] so there’s a lot of chances and I’ll probably go somewhere else," Bedard told Doug Harrison of CBC Sports earlier this year. Bedard is represented by Relativity Baseball.

Bedard pitched 151 innings in Houston last season, posting a 4.59 ERA with 8.2 K/9 and 4.5 BB/9. He has a career 3.94 ERA in ten big-league seasons with the Orioles, Mariners, Red Sox, Pirates and Astros.

Juan Francisco, Brewers Likely To Part Ways

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There hasn't yet been an official announcement, but the Brewers appear to be in the process of parting ways with first baseman Juan Francisco. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Todd Rosiak reports (via Twitter) that Francisco's locker has been cleared out, a possible sign that the Brewers have designated Francisco for assignment. The move likely means the Brewers will have veterans Mark Reynolds and Lyle Overbay play first base.

Francisco was set to make $1.35MM in his first year of arbitration eligibility as a Super Two. He hit .227/.296/.422 in 385 plate appearances with the Brewers last season, not an especially impressive line, given that he is not a strong defensive player.

Odrisamer Despaigne Changes Agents

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Cuban free agent Odrisamer Despaigne has changed agents from Jaime Torres to Charisse Dash of DPX Sports, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes tweets. Dierkes also recently provided a scouting report on Despaigne. It's unclear where the righty will fit on a big-league pitching staff, but he figures to help a big-league team in some capacity. Despaigne, who turns 27 in April, had a 3.70 ERA in 293 games in Serie Nacional in Cuba.

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