Minor MLB Transactions: 3/30/16

As we near the end of Spring Training, it’s a big day — if you can call it that — for minor moves. Here’s the latest from around the league.

• The Royals have released outfielder Travis Snider, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star tweets. They had signed Snider to a minor-league deal after he hit .232/.313/.350 with the Orioles and Pirates last year. He had been looking to compete for a bench job.
• The Royals have also re-signed righty sidearmer Peter Moylan to a minor-league deal, Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star tweets. The 37-year-old came back to pitch for the Braves last season after having Tommy John surgery, and the Royals signed him to a minor-league deal only to release him earlier this week to avoid paying him a retention bonus.
• Third baseman Will Middlebrooks could have refused to let the Brewers send him to the minors, but he’s accepted an assignment to Triple-A Colorado Springs, Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel tweets. Middlebrooks hit .212/.241/.361 in 255 plate appearances last season for San Diego and did not win a job with the Brewers out of Spring Training.
• The Marlins have re-signed utilityman Don Kelly to a minor-league deal, MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro tweets. The Marlins had released Kelly yesterday, likely to avoid paying him a $100K retention bonus as an Article XX(B) free agent. The longtime Tigers bench piece played sparingly in the Marlins organization in 2015.
• The Marlins also released first baseman Tommy Medica today, Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith tweets. Medica played in 102 games with the Padres in 2014, but did not play in the big leagues last year, instead batting .259/.314/.364 in 363 plate appearances for San Diego’s Triple-A affiliate in El Paso.
• The Tigers have re-signed veteran infielder Casey McGehee to a minor-league deal, tweets MLB.com’s Jason Beck. They had released him this week. As with Kelly and Moylan, McGehee would have been owed a retention bonus. McGehee struggled with San Francisco and Miami in 2015, batting .198/.264/.274 in 258 plate appearances.
• White Sox righty Kameron Loe has received an 80-game suspension for PEDs, Stefan Stevenson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram notes (Twitter links). Officially, Loe tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone metabolite and methasterone. He says on his Twitter account that he was caught taking an unapproved product he bought at a nutrition store. Loe was also suspended 50 games last year, although that was for a “drug of abuse,” not for PED use. He pitched in the independent Atlantic League in 2015 before signing a minor-league deal with Chicago.
• The Rays have released first-baseman-turned-knuckleballer Dan Johnson, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets. The 36-year-old Johnson, who briefly played for the Cardinals last year, had been trying for a sort of second career as a pitcher after years spent as a slugger on the fringes of the big leagues.