• Jeff Francoeur, who recently underwent LASIK surgery, is seeking a job as a backup outfielder, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (Twitter link). Frenchy will also abandon his use of a 35-ounce bat in 2013 — a weight only utilized by Orioles slugger Chris Davis.
• Felix Pie is nearing an agreement with Korea's Hanwah Eagles, according to Jon Morosi of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Pie hasn't seen much big-league action in the last two years, recording just 31 plate appearances in 27 games with the Pirates in 2013.
• ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that the Royals' offer to Carlos Beltran was slightly less than the Yankees' three-year, $45MM offer but would technically have paid Beltran more due to the tax differences between Missouri and New York.
• The Dodgers have not been involved in negotiations with Omar Infante, tweets Mark Saxon of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
• As they search for starting pitching help, the Orioles will be open to multiyear contracts rather than just one-year deals, GM Dan Duquette confirmed today (Twitter link via Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com).
• The Twins pursued a catcher before the market dried up, but had no interest in going to three years for any of the free agents they targeted, tweets Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Minnesota "made that clear from the start," according to Berardino.
• Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker passes along word, in a translated tweet, that Japanese right-hander Kenta Maeda has expressed interest in playing in MLB, perhaps as soon as 2015.

Luke Adams contributed to this post.

• The Braves have added two minor league relievers — lefty Ryan Buchter and righty Wirfin Obispo — to the club's 40-man roster, per the International League transactions page. The move was designed to prevent both pitchers from qualifying for minor league free agency. Buchter, 26, fanned 15 batters per nine innings last year in 62 Triple-A innings to go with a less-flattering 7.4 BB/9, and ended up with a 2.76 ERA. The 29-year-old Obispo, meanwhile, put up 9.9 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9 in Gwinnett over 63 2/3 innings of 3.53 ERA ball. Both could get a look for an MLB bullpen role in Spring Training.
• The Pirates have outrighted Felix Pie off their 40-man roster, and the outfielder has elected free agency, according to Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune (Twitter link). The 28-year-old former top prospect hit just .138/.194/.172 in 31 plate appearances for the Pirates in 2013 and slashed .251/.321/.390 in 396 plate appearances at Triple-A Indianapolis.
• The White Sox have outrighted right-hander Simon Castro to Triple-A Charlotte, removing him from the 40-man roster, the team announced on Twitter. Castro twice appeared on Baseball America's list of Top 100 prospects as a Padres farmhand and found himself headed to Chicago as part of the Padres' trade for Carlos Quentin. Though he was sharp in his big league debut this season, totaling 6 2/3 innings in the Majors, Castro limped to a 5.83 ERA in 92 2/3 innings at Charlotte.

Jeff Todd contributed to this post.

• The White Sox signed catcher Bryan Anderson and left-hander David Purcey to minor league deals, Eddy reports (on Twitter). 
• The Diamondbacks signed Kila Ka'aihue, Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports (on Twitter). The 28-year-old appeared in 39 games for the Athletics this past season, posting a .234/.295/.398 batting line.
• The Blue Jays announced that they signed outfielder Ricardo Nanita and left-hander Alex Hinshaw to minor league contracts. Nanita played for the Blue Jays' Triple-A team in 2012, hitting 12 home runs. Hinshaw appeared in 33 games for the Padres and Cubs in 2012, posting a 6.04 ERA. The team also confirmed its minor league contracts with infielder Jim Negrych and right-hander Neil Wagner.
• The Chunichi Dragons have agreed to sign utility player Hector Luna to a one-year, $450K deal that includes $200K in incentives, Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com reports (on Twitter). Luna, 32, appeared in 28 games for the Phillies this past season, playing first base, third base and left field. In seven seasons at the MLB level, he has a .262/.314/.385 batting line.
• The Pirates announced that they’ve agreed to sign right-handers Brooks Brown and Erik Cordier to minor league contracts with invitations to Spring Training. The club also announced minor league deals with right-handers David Bromberg and Luis Sanz, and infielder Alex Valdez. Finally, the Pirates officially announced their minor league deal with former MLB outfielder Felix Pie.

• Nick Evans has signed a minor league deal with the Dodgers, according to Andy Martino of the New York Daily News. A broken hand limited the soon-to-be 27-year-old to just 21 games in the Pirates' minor league system last season. Evans has a career .256/.305/.407 batting line in 159 games with the Mets.
• The Pirates signed Felix Pie to a minor league contract that includes an invitation to MLB Spring Training, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports (on Twitter). Pie, 27, spent the 2012 season with the Braves' top affiliate and hit .285/.338/.459 in 365 plate appearances.
• The Indians announced that they signed outfielders Matt Carson and Cedric Hunter to minor league contracts that include invitations to MLB Spring Training. Carson, 31, appeared in 26 games with the Twins this past season, posting a .227/.246/.242 batting line in 69 plate appearances and playing both corner outfield positions. Hunter, 24, spent the 2012 season with the Cardinals' top affiliate, posting a .268/.355/.375 batting line in 412 plate appearances at Triple-A.
• The Blue Jays signed right-hander Bobby Korecky to a minor league contract, according to the transactions page at CBSSports.com. The 33-year-old pitched in one game for the Blue Jays in 2012, then lost his 40-man roster spot early in October. Korecky spent most of this past season pitching in relief for Toronto's Triple-A affiliate, posting a 3.44 ERA with 4.9 K/9 and 2.0 BB/9 in 86 1/3 innings with Las Vegas.

Pie, 27, had been playing with the independent Camden River Sharks this spring. He hit .360/.393/.620 with three homers in 56 plate appearances before landing back in affiliated ball. Pie hit .220/.264/.280 in part-time duty with the Orioles last season and is a .249/.298/.374 career hitter in the big leagues.

Neal, 24, was part of the trade that send Orlando Cabrera from the Indians to the Giants at least year's deadline. He hit .289/.343/.391 in 277 plate appearances split between Double and Triple-A last year. Pie, 27, is a .249/.298/.374 career hitter in over 1,000 big league plate appearances, most coming with the Orioles.

Here's the latest from the AL Central…

• Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik "would love" to have Brent Lillibridge but knows the White Sox aren't going to trade him, tweets Jon Heyman of CBS Sports.
• Right-hander Deolis Guerra is the last player from the Johan Santana trade still with the Twins, and Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune looks at how Guerra has revitalized his career after a move to the bullpen.
• Felix Pie and Ryan Spilborghs can each opt out of their minor league contracts with the Indians on April 3, tweets MLB.com's Jordan Bastian.  Fred Lewis, another non-roster invitee, can opt out on June 1.
• Brandon Inge is going through another year of change as he tries to hold onto his spot on the Tigers' roster by moving to second base, writes Scott Miller of CBS Sports.
• Andy Oliver's struggles don't make it any more likely that the Tigers will look outside the organization for a fifth starter, writes MLB.com's Jason Beck.  Duane Below and Drew Smyly are still contenders for the job and the Nationals' John Lannan, the most plausible trade candidate, may stay in Washington due to Chien-Ming Wang's hamstring injury.

Pie, 26, ranked among Baseball America's Top 100 prospects each year from 2003 to 2007, but has never become a full-time player in the bigs. In parts of five seasons with the Cubs and Orioles, the outfielder hit .249/.298/.374 in 1051 plate appearances.

Dusty Brown (Pirates), Travis Buck (Indians), Armando Galarraga (D'Backs), Jay Gibbons (Dodgers), Edgar Gonzalez (Rockies), Steve Holm (Twins), Wil Ledezma (Blue Jays), Andy LaRoche (Athletics), Felipe Lopez (Brewers), Lastings Milledge (White Sox), Pat Misch (Mets), Pat Neshek (Padres), Mike O'Connor (Mets), Matt Palmer (Angels), Felix Pie (Orioles), Brad Snyder (Cubs), Brett Tomko (Rangers), Wyatt Toregas (Pirates), P.J. Walters (Blue Jays), Randy Williams (Red Sox), and Reggie Willits (Angels).

• Felix Pie cleared waivers and the Orioles outrighted him to Triple-A, according to MLB.com's Brittany Ghiroli (on Twitter). Baltimore had designated the outfielder for assignment on Tuesday. Pie can elect free agency instead of accepting the assignment and has until Saturday morning to decide, according to Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. If he elects free agency, he'll lose what remains of his $985K salary. Pie is expected to accept the assignment, according to Connolly (Twitter link).

Pie, who is out of options, is under team control through 2013 and earns $985K this year. The 26-year-old posted a .220/.264/.280 line in 175 plate appearances for Baltimore this year, playing all three outfield positions. Pie, a former top prospect, has a .249/.298/.374 line in 1051 career plate appearances for the Cubs and Orioles. His most productive years came in 2009-10 in Baltimore (.739 OPS).

MLBTR's Tim Dierkes suggested earlier today that Pie was a candidate to lose his roster spot.

Yesterday, 11 players avoided arbitration. We could see just as many agreements trickle in today and we'll keep you posted on them right here and with our Arb Tracker. The latest updates will be at the top of the post:

• The Angels have agreed to terms with Reggie Willits and Howie Kendrick, tweets Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times. Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register tweets that Kendrick will earn $3.3MM, Willits $775K (on Twitter).
• The Giants agreed to terms with Santiago Casilla on a one-year deal worth $1.3MM with incentives, according to ESPN Deportes' Enrique Rojas (on Twitter). The team also announced that they avoided arb with Jonathan Sanchez and Ramon Ramirez (on Twitter). Sanchez will earn $4.8MM with incentives tweets Hank Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle while Ramirez will earn $1.65MM according to Janie McCauley of The Canadian Press.
• The Braves agreed to terms with Peter Moylan and Eric O'Flaherty, according to MLB.com's Mark Bowman (on Twitter). Moylan gets $2MM, O'Flaherty gets $895K according to Dave O'Brien of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (on Twitter).
• The Mariners agreed to terms with Brandon League, David Aardsma and Jason Vargas, the team announced. Aardsma will earn $4.5MM with plenty of incentives, according to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times (plus Twitter link).
• The Rangers agreed to terms with C.J. Wilson and Nelson Cruz, according to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan (Twitter links). Cruz gets $3.65MM, and Wilson gets $7.05MM with a chance to earn another $100K according to his agent Bob Garber, via email.

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• Jose Julio Ruiz's new agent Mike Maulini tells Jorge Ebro at Nuevo Herald that the Cuban first baseman made the switch from Jorge Luis Toca after realizing that his much-rumored signing with a major league team was "long overdue." Ruiz had a $2MM offer in hand from Tampa Bay in February, but since then, the market has stagnated and the lefty feared he was in danger of missing his opportunity to play stateside.
• While Haitian baseball prospects exist, don't expect to see any of them signing with Major League teams, writes Juan Mercado in the Dominican newspaper El Dia. He talks with two coaches who complain that the MLB office on the island won't allow promising Haitian players to attend teams' academies because of the difficulty in verifying the players' backgrounds and paperwork. One source tells Mercado that the teams simply "prefer not to waste time" in fruitless investigations, while the two coaches call the policy discriminatory, saying many Cuban and Venezuelan players don't receive the same level of scrutiny. The only current Major Leaguer of Haitian descent is the Orioles' Felix Pie, though he was born in the Dominican.
• Several veteran players were signed during this offseason under the justification of mentoring developing players. But lost in the circle-of-life storyline is the idea that those veterans are being paid for their blunt critical eye. New White Sox backup shortstop Omar Vizquel brings the point home to Luis Rangel of Nuevo Herald when he says that mentee Alexei Ramirez "needs to move his feet when fielding. He has the tendency to stand still and not move to the ball." Ramirez committed 20 errors in his first full season at short, tying for fourth most among major league shortstops.
• Who says winter leagues help keep players in shape for the regular season? Yankees reliever Jonathan Albaladejo tells Esteban Pagan Rivera at Primera Hora that he shed 30 pounds this offseason after the team forbade him from playing in his home country of Puerto Rico. At the other end of the scale sits Pablo Sandoval, whose much-ballyhooed "Camp Panda" proved for naught when he came back from the Venezuelan Winter League in January heavier than when he arrived. 
• The Twins signed one of Sandoval's fellow Navegantes of Magallanes in Venezuela, righty reliever Yoslan Herrera, to a minor league deal, confirms Joe Christensen at the Star Tribune. Herrera, who defected from Cuba in 2005, was a highly touted prospect in the Pirates system but disappointed in his only brief showing with the team in 2008. He showed more promise at the Bucs' Double-A and Triple-A levels in 2009 and will start out at Triple-A Rochester for the Twins. The Cuban blog Terreno de Pelota first reported the signing on Tuesday.

TUESDAY, 9:36pm: Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun reports that the O's are still exchanging trade proposals with the Rangers for Kevin Millwood. T.R. Sullivan reported that the Rangers wanted Chris Tillman initially, but talks have since developed. The Orioles are among the frontrunners for Millwood.

The O's met with the Marlins about Dan Uggla, but the Marlins want two pitching prospects in return and the Orioles are reluctant to hand that kind of package over. The Marlins have one less suitor for Uggla, according to Andrew Baggarly, who says the Giants aren't serious bidders, so that could lower the asking price for the arbitration-eligible infielder.

Here are even more O's rumors:

• Kevin Kouzmanoff and Garrett Atkins interest the O's to an extent.
• Joe Crede and Pedro Feliz remain options for Baltimore, but Adrian Beltre has priced himself out of reach.
• We heard about their interest in Hank Blalock, Carlos Delgado and Nick Johnson earlier today.
• They also have "tepid" interest in Russell Branyan.
• The Orioles aren't particularly intrigued by Joe Blanton and Derek Lowe, who are both available via trade.
• Vladimir Guerrero, Adam LaRoche, Jose Valverde and Kevin Gregg all interest the O's slightly.
• They do have interest in Rafael Soriano, and spoke with the Braves about him.
• They're not interested in J.J. Putz.
• MLB.com's Spencer Fordin reports that the Royals engaged the O's in Felix Pie trade talks without ever coming close to a deal.

• The Brewers will meet with Mark Mulder's people today, says SI's Jon Heyman.  Ken Rosenthal tweets that a meeting with the Royals already occurred today.
• Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star says the Royals like Felix Pie, but are "finding it tough to meet Baltimore's needs."
• The Brewers are working to re-sign pitcher Claudio Vargas, MLB.com's Adam McCalvy learned.  They view him as a reliever.  UPDATE: McCalvy says the Brewers think they're close.
• Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that Ben Sheets' agent Casey Close will meet with both New York teams, among others.  A throwing audition appears unlikely.  MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan says the Rangers would like a medical update on Sheets, who they almost signed before the season. 
• Newsday's David Lennon says the Mets met with Yorvit Torrealba's agent this morning.  He could be an alternative to Bengie Molina, if the Mets and Torrealba can settle their grievance.  Torrealba had a signed term sheet with the Mets two years ago for a three-year, $14.4MM deal, but the Mets pulled out over concerns with the player's shoulder.  Lennon's colleague Ken Davidoff says the Giants are still involved on Torrealba.
• The Brewers have a meeting with minor league free agent/knuckleballer Charlie Zink this afternoon, says Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe.
• MLB.com's Brian McTaggart says LaTroy Hawkins will meet with the Astros today in hopes of getting a deal done soon.
• ESPN's Jerry Crasnick finds the Brewers likely to tender a contract to righty Dave Bush on Saturday.  Despite a rough year Bush could get a small raise on this year's $4MM salary.
• WEEI's Alex Speier says five to six teams have checked in on free agent outfielder Brian Giles, the Red Sox not among them.
• Joe Crede doesn't expect to sign until late in the offseason, reports Kelsie Smith of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press.