The Royals made an odd move Tuesday, claiming Rule 5 pick Patrick Schuster from the Padres and designating outfielder Carlos Peguero for assignment. As Andy McCullough of the Kansas City Star notes, the Royals did not give Schuster a locker, and manager Ned Yost said he had not talked to GM Dayton Moore about Schuster. McCullough thinks the move was about Peguero — the Royals would like to keep Peguero, and they may feel ten days from now, by which time the season will have begun, is a good time to sneak him through waivers. To designate Peguero for assignment, the Royals needed to claim someone else, and Schuster just happened to be available. It doesn't sound like he'll be with the Royals long. Here are more notes from around baseball.
- Lefty Randy Wolf release by the Mariners was triggered by Wolf's annoyance at the Mariners' insistence on a 45-day advance-consent release, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune writes. Such a clause would have allowed the Mariners to drop Wolf during the first several weeks of the season and only pay a prorated portion of his big-league salary. "I principally objected to that because we negotiated in good faith in February on a very team-friendly contract," says Wolf. Wolf would have broken camp with the team if he had been willing to sign the release. Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik says he wanted the clause in case Wolf, who did not pitch at all in 2013 while recovering from Tommy John surgery, did not perform well. Dutton reports that many sources within baseball say that clauses like the one Mariners wanted Wolf to sign are not unusual.
- FOX Sports' Jon Morosi, however, asks (via Twitter) whether the Yankees, for example, would have let a member of their projected starting rotation depart over a clause like this. Probably not, Morosi suggests, saying that the Mariners' decision to release Wolf "sends the wrong message."
- The Astros object to the Associated Press' calculation of their payroll, reports Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle. The AP lists their payroll as $45MM, lowest in the Majors, just behind that of the Marlins. "Outside accounting methods are estimates and don’t accurately reflect total payroll costs," says GM Jeff Luhnow. Drellich notes that the AP's calculation does not seem to include a $5.5MM payout to the Pirates for Wandy Rodriguez, for example.
- Freddy Galvis' MRSA infection has the Phillies interested in finding an extra reserve infielder who can play shortstop, Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com reports. That could mean adding an infielder who isn't currently with the team. Galvis hopes to return to baseball activities in around a week, but he will start the season on the disabled list, and starting shortstop Jimmy Rollins, meanwhile, might need a day or two off in April when his wife has a baby. In the meantime, the Phillies will look for alternatives. "We’re still looking inside and outside the organization as far as filling that role," says GM Ruben Amaro Jr. "But we have candidates. We have guys internally and there are some guys we’re looking at outside the organization as well." Reid Brignac, an NRI in Phillies spring training, might be a possibility.
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