A few interesting items on the transaction wire from the past day or two...
The biggest move was the Orioles signing Kevin Millar to a one year deal, in the hope that he can regain his power stroke at Camden Yards...given that Millar is 34, and is not the type of player that ages real well, I wouldn't bet on him doing much this year, but Baltimore seems enamored with scooping up old, washed-up power hitters, so I guess this move makes a certain amount of sense.
A couple of older pitchers who used to be grade-C prospects were DFA'd yesterday, Josh Hancock by the Reds and Brian Tallet by the Indians. Hancock was a middling prospect from the BoSox system, who couldn't crack their top ten prospect list when the likes of Paxton Crawford and Sun Kim were making the list. He went to Philadelphia in exchange for Jeremy Giambi, and the Phillies sent him to Cincinnati during the 2004 season. Tallet, meanwhile, was a former second round pick of the Indians from back when John Hart was still the g.m. there, who never really panned out.
They are both 27 years old, but both are interesting guys that would be worth some team taking a look at. I was going to suggest the Rangers might be interested, before I remembered that our g.m. actually rebuilt the rotation this year and that we have better options in-house. Still, Hancock in particular would be worth a waiver claim by a team that is holding open auditions for its 5th starter spot.
In the "old Rangers never die" category, Aaron Myette signed a minor league deal with the Phillies. Myette, of course, was the swag from the Royce Clayton trade, and who got moved to Cleveland as a throw-in in the Hafner deal. He could never harness his pretty impressive stuff, but he's one of those guys I wouldn't be surprised to see turn into an effective reliever at age 30.
And one of our least favorite Rangers ever, Dan Miceli, got a 2 year, $1.5 million deal from the D-Rays. Yay, he's not coming back to Texas!!! Bart Miadich, a guy who was in the Rangers minor league system for a while in 2004, was also signed by the D-Rays to a minor league deal.
The Astros signed Joe Valentine, the busted reliever prospect who went from the ChiSox to the A's as part of the Foulke/Koch trade, and then to Cincy for Jose Guillen. He's still just 26, and another guy I wouldn't be surprised to see have some success this year.
Finally, in the "old lefties never die" category, Terry Mulholland signed a minor league deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
How old is Terry Mulholland? Well, his rookie season with the Giants, his teammates included Steve Carlton, Vida Blue, Dan Driessen, Bob Brenly, and Jeffrey Leonard.