MLB Declares Yoenis Cespedes A Free Agent  —  The bidding for Yoenis Cespedes can begin.  —  Major League Baseball informed teams today that Cespedes, a 26-year-old Cuban outfielder, is now a free agent.  Cespedes recently received his Dominican residency, a prerequisite for MLB to declare …

St. Louis Cardinals' Carlos Beltran tells Met fans: Time to get over 2006 and move on  —  New Cardinal says he has moved on from NLCS failure  —  Carlos Beltran strikes out to end Mets hopes in Game 7 of NLCS against Cardinals, and now that he has joined St. Louis he says it's time for fans to get over it.

Nationals introduce Gio at news conference  —  WASHINGTON — The Nationals introduced Gio Gonzalez to the local media at Nationals Park on Wednesday afternoon.  The news conference came a little over a month after they acquired the left-hander from the Athletics in exchange …

Reds, Masset Sign Extension  —  The Reds signed arbitration eligible reliever Nick Masset to a two-year extension, the team announced (on Twitter).  As MLBTR's Arbitration Tracker shows, Masset had filed for a $2.9MM salary through arbitration, while the Reds had countered with $2.1MM.

Rays close to deal with INF Jeff Keppinger  —  The Rays are closing in on a deal with INF Jeff Keppinger.  —  If negotiations are completed and he passes his physical it is likely to be announced by the end of the week.  —  Keppinger, 31, split last season between the Astros and Giants …

Reds acquire Valdez in swap with Phillies  —  In trade for infielder, club sends left-handed reliever Horst  —  CINCINNATI — The final item on the Reds' offseason wish list — a backup infielder who can play shortstop — appeared to be checked off on Wednesday.

Jose Bautista's drug testing seems something less than random  —  It's from the Dominican newspaper Hoy.  And because I forgot all that Spanish I knew 20 years ago, I'm using Google translate to read it.  —  But the upshot: Bautista spoke at a banquet the other night and noted that in the past two years …

Latest On Roy Oswalt  —  4:35pm: There's mutual interest between the Rangers and Oswalt, but for him to be a fit, it'd have to be on Texas' terms, Heyman tweets.  —  1:33pm: The Red Sox made Oswalt an offer, but are unsure of his interest level, since he has yet to accept, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets.

Orioles sign Andino to avoid arbitration  —  One-year deal with infielder reportedly worth $1.3 million  —  The Orioles' number of potential arbitration cases dropped to three on Wednesday with the signing of infielder Robert Andino.  —  Andino, 27, posted a .263 average with a .327 …