Phils resign Romero

The Phillies have signed left-handed reliever J.C. Romero to a 1- year deal for 2011. This will probably effect leftys Antonio Bastardo and Sergio Escalona in their quest to make the team. With the strong starting rotation in place in Philadelphia, the odds of the need for another lefty out of the pen seems to be lessened. Once again, it will all come down to performances in spring training and injuries that may or may not occur.

Sanchez, Flande move on

Jesus Sanchez has signed a minor league deal with the Brewers and Yohan Flande with the Braves. Good luck to both, and I will keep my eyes open to see where they land.

Markum trade could open door for Drabek

The Milwaukee Brewers made a splash this week trading for Zack Grienke from Kansas City and Shawn Markum from Toronto. One interesting by-product of this deal is the opening of a spot in the Toronto rotation, which Kyle Drabek will get an opportunity to compete for.

Kyle, who was the Eastern League pitcher of the year in 2010, was very impressive in September for the Jays, and the departure of Markum signals a willingness on the team's part to allow Drabek to make the 2011 team.

Nats sign Bis

Joe Bisenius has signed with the Washington National's system for the 2011 season. "Bis" made 5 appearances for the Nats in September and showed enough to get another look in spring training.

Mets claim Q

The New York Mets selected Quintin Berry from the Padres in the Rule 5 draft this morning, but before I get too excited, I am reminded they selected Carlos Monasterios last year, and traded him just hours later.

Sanchez and Flande released

Yesterday, the Phillies released Jesus Sanchez, who was the only starter to pitch in the Lakewood rotation for the entire 2009 championship season (winning game 2 of the Championship Series), and was the last of the players that the Phillies got for Bobby Abreu.

Also let go was Yohan Flande, a lefty who pitched in the future stars game in 2009 in the midst of a fine season at Clearwater, but apparently 10-8, 4.38 with Reading last year was not good enough.

The reason given was to free up spots on the 40-man roster. Either or both players could be resigned to minor league deals, of course....

1 signed, 1 on the market

Former BlueClaw R. J. Swindle was signed as a free agent by Tampa yesterday, returning to Rays organization where he was for a mere 2 weeks in 2010. R.J. has pitched for the Phillies and Brewers in the majors, and belonged to both the Tampa and Cleveland systems last year.

Taylor Buchholz, who was claimed on waivers by Boston a few weeks ago, was non-tendered by the Sox and has chosen free agency. Taylor has missed most of the last 2 seasons with injuries, but is said to be healthy (as healthy as anyone can be after 2 years of inactivity) and is hoping for a spring training invitation.