• The Cubs announced that left-hander Manny Parra has been signed to a minor league deal that includes an invitation to the team’s spring camp.  This is the second straight offseason that has seen Parra sign a minor league contract with the Cubs, though he didn’t pitch at all in 2016.  Originally a starter with the Brewers, the 34-year-old Parra posted a 3.91 ERA, 8.8 K/9 and 2.9 K/BB rate over 115 relief innings for the Reds from 2013-15.
• The Cubs signed right-hander Casey Kelly to a minor league deal, according to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy (Twitter link).  Once considered one of the game’s better pitching prospects, Kelly has managed only a 6.39 ERA over 62 innings in the majors, though his career was interrupted by Tommy John surgery in 2013.  As Eddy notes, the signing reunites Kelly with Theo Epstein (who was the Red Sox GM when Kelly was drafted 30th overall by Boston in 2008) and Jed Hoyer (who was the Padres GM when Kelly was part of the trade package acquired for Adrian Gonzalez in December 2010).
• Parra and Kelly were two of 24 non-roster invitees to the Cubs’ Spring Training camp, as announced yesterday by the club.  The list includes southpaw Gerardo Concepcion and righties Conor Mullee, Christian Villanueva and Zac Rosscup, who were all non-tendered by the Cubs in December to free up 40-man roster space.
• The Blue Jays announced that right-hander Leonel Campos has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A.  Campos was designated for assignment earlier this week when Toronto claimed Juan Graterol off waivers from the Angels.  Campos was himself claimed off waivers back in November following a season that saw him post a 5.73 ERA, 9.8 K/9 and 5.7 BB/9 over 22 relief innings for the Padres.  Control has been an issue for Campos throughout his entire pro career, as the righty also has a 5.0 BB/9 over 250 2/3 career minor league innings.
• The Diamondbacks signed outfielder Jake Goebbert and catcher Willians Astudillo to minor league deals, Matt Eddy reports (Twitter link).  Goebbert has a solid .276/.363/.443 slash line over 3483 career minor league plate appearances, though he hasn’t been able to translate those results into much playing time in the bigs — his MLB resume consists of 115 PA with the Padres in 2014.  Goebbert spent 2016 with the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate and struggled to the tune of a .661 OPS in 364 PA.  Astudillo, a 25-year-old catcher out of Venezuela, has hit .309/.348/.391 over 2026 minor league PA.  He spent his first six pro seasons in the Phillies system before moving to the Braves in 2016 and reaching the Double-A level for the first time.

• Departing the Rockies’ 40-man are righty Matt Carasiti and infielder/outfielder Stephen Cardullo, the club announced. Neither was eligible for arbitration.
• The Braves non-tendered righty Chris Withrow, David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution tweets.
• The Pirates non-tendered lefty Jeff Locke, as had been increasingly expected, as Stephen Nesbitt of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette tweets. Catcher Eric Fryer was also dropped; he was not eligible for arbitration.
• The Cubs non-tendered four pre-arb players to clear 40-man space, MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat tweets. Lefty Gerardo Concepcion and righties Zac Rosscup, Conor Mullee, and Christian Villanueva were all taken off the roster.
• Righty Louis Coleman was not tendered a contract by the Dodgers, per a team announcement.
• The Reds have non-tendered three players, as C. Trent Rosecrans of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Catcher Ramon Cabrera, righty Keyvius Sampson, and outfielder Gabriel Guerrero were all dropped from the roster.
• As expected, outfielder Ben Revere has been non-tendered by the Nationals. (The non-tender was first reported by the TalkNats blog on Twitter.) The club’s other eligible players — including shortstop Danny Espinosa — have been offered contracts. Revere projected to earn $6.3MM despite an abysmal 2016 campaign, his first in D.C. The 28-year-old still offers speed and defense, but will need to improve quite a bit upon his .217/.260/.300 slash. He has been a near-average bat in prior years, so there’s reason for some optimism, but at that rate it proved too costly.
• The Cardinals have cut ties with righty Seth Maness rather than tendering him a contract, MLB.com’s Jenifer Langosch tweets. St. Louis has tendered all its remaining players with arb eligibility. While Maness, 28, has been a steady pen presence for the Cards, he underwent surgery on his UCL in mid-August. He did manage to avoid a full ligament replacement, and comes with another year of control, but evidently the price was too high for the Cards to roll the dice. Maness had projected to receive a $1.6MM salary and would have commanded at least that again in 2018.

• Ike Davis has been outrighted to Triple-A, the Yankees announced. The first baseman was designated for assignment over the weekend after struggling in a brief stint in New York. It has been some time since Davis was an effective major league hitter, though he did hit a useful .268/.350/.437 in 163 plate appearances at the Triple-A level earlier this year with the Rangers organization.
• Cubs catcher Tim Federowicz has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune tweets. Federowicz, 28, only received 27 plate appearances with Chicago and didn’t do much with the bat. With Chicago moving to activate highly-regarded prospect Willson Contreras, and already possessing two receivers in Miguel Montero and David Ross, there was no room for Federowicz. Over 298 major league plate appearances in his career, he owns a .194/.245/.297 batting line.
• The Cubs will select the contract of right-hander Joel Peralta and option left-hander Gerardo Concepcion back to Triple-A Iowa, reports Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times (via Twitter). Peralta, 40, inked a minors pact with the Cubs last week after he was designated for assignment and released by the Mariners. The veteran struggled with Seattle this season, logging a 5.40 ERA in 23 1/3 innings despite excellent K/BB numbers. Peralta yielded an alarming seven homers in his 23 1/3 frames, but he also carried a 28-to-7 K/BB ratio in that time, and his 20 percent homer-to-flyball ratio with Seattle was double that of his career rate, suggesting that there’s some regression in store. Because the Cubs’ 40-man roster was at 39 prior to the move, a corresponding 40-man move isn’t necessary.
• The Red Sox announced that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Mike Miller from Triple-A Pawtucket and optioned right-hander William Cuevas in his place. Boston, like Chicago, had an open spot on its 40-man roster, so no corresponding move is necessary. The 26-year-old Miller was a ninth-round pick by Boston back in 2012. He’s never hit much in the minors, and that’s been especially true at the Triple-A level, where he owns a career .233/.284/.302 slash in 448 plate appearances. As the Providence Journal’s Brian MacPherson points out (Twitter link), though, he’s capable of spelling Xander Bogaerts at shortstop. Bogaerts has started 57 consecutive games, so Miller can be inserted into the lineup to give him a much-needed breather. The same is, of course, true of Deven Marrero, who is already on the 40-man roster, but he was just optioned back to Triple-A on Saturday and must spend 10 days in the minors before he’s eligible to be recalled (barring an injury on the big league roster).

Here are some injury notes from around the league:

• Cardinals righty Mitch Harris required significant elbow surgery to reattach his ulnar collateral ligament, he announced on Instagram. The 30-year-old cracked the majors last year for St. Louis, providing 27 innings of 3.67 ERA pitching. MLBTR wishes the best of luck to the former Naval officer, who has one heck of a back story.
• The Rays got some more news on the injury front today, as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter links). Steve Pearce will hit the DL with a hamstring injury, and could miss around three weeks. Fortunately, it doesn’t sound like the type of hammy issue that is terribly likely to require a truly lengthy absence. Meanwhile, outfielder Mikie Mahtook’s broken hand will not need surgery, meaning that he could return within six weeks — which is better than had been feared.
• The Indians were relieved to find that outfielder Michael Brantley’s latest discomfort is only a bout of biceps tendinitis, Paul Hoynes of the Plain Dealer reports on Twitter. There had been some concern that his surgically-repaired shoulder was showing further signs of trouble.
• Blue Jays star Jose Bautista will need “a couple weeks” in a walking boot after being diagnosed with turf toe, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet.ca tweets. That’s largely what was expected when Bautista hit the DL; Toronto will hope that rest and a brief rehab build-up will allow the slugger to return in short order.
• The Giants may be without Matt Duffy for a bit longer than had been hoped, per Andrew Baggarly of CSN Bay Area (on Twitter). He’s expected to wear his own boot for three weeks, and it would seem likely that he’ll need a bit of a build-up from that point on.
• Cubs lefty Clayton Richard hit the DL with a blister issue, per a team announcement. Chicago also optioned righty Adam Warren to Triple-A, where he’ll stretch out as a starter for an upcoming heavy stretch of play. Righty Spencer Patton and lefty Gerardo Concepcion will head up to the big league club to fill in. Of course, it’s fair to wonder how long the Cubs will continue to roll with Richard, who has struggled quite a bit thus far after a solid 2015.
• Adam Ottavino’s rehab has moved to the Triple-A level for the Rockies, Nick Groke of the Denver Post reports on Twitter. That’s good news for the righty as well as the team; Ottavino was emerging as a force in the pen before undergoing Tommy John surgery last year.
• The Mariners announced that righty Taijuan Walker’s foot issue is only tendinitis. He likely won’t require a trip to the DL, as Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune reports.

• The Astros outrighted infielder Brandon Laird and outfielder Che-Hsuan Lin to Triple-A after the players cleared waivers, Brian McTaggart of MLB.com reports (on Twitter).
• The Yankees announced that they outrighted right-hander Jim Miller to Triple-A. They had designated him for assignment two days ago to create 40-man roster space for Ichiro Suzuki.
• The Red Sox outrighted Pedro Beato to Triple-A after he cleared waivers, Brian MacPherson of the Providence Journal reports (on Twitter). The Red Sox designated the right-hander for assignment two days ago to create roster space for Ryan Dempster. 
• The Diamondbacks outrighted shortstop Gustavo Nunez to Detroit's Triple-A affiliate, the Tigers announced. Nunez, a 2011 Rule 5 Draft selection, spent the 2012 season on the Pirates' disabled list recovering from right ankle surgery. The Diamondbacks claimed him off of waivers from Pittsburgh on October 26th before returning him to Detroit today. 
• The Orioles announced that they outrighted outfielder Steve Pearce to Triple-A. The club now has one open 40-man roster spot.
• The Cubs announced that they outrighted Gerardo Concepcion to Class A Kane County after the left-hander cleared waivers. Chicago's 40-man roster now includes 39 players.
• The Blue Jays announced that they outrighted right-hander Mickey Storey to Triple-A Buffalo. Toronto had claimed Storey off of waivers earlier in the week.

• Detroit has shown some interest in Matt Garza, but Tigers people suggest a deal is fairly unlikely, according to Knobler. The Tigers don’t seem enthused about the possibility of trading for Marco Scutaro, though they’ve shown some interest in him.
• The Phillies have identified about four teams that would be a fit for Cole Hamels and they’re saying they'd want players who are close to contributing in the Major Leagues. However, the Phillies aren’t ready to deal the left-hander yet.
• Scouts believe the Diamondbacks are serious about listening to offers for Justin Upton.
• The Royals had been considering the possibility of becoming midseason buyers this year. They don’t intend to give Jonathan Broxton or other players away because they “badly want” to win games in the second half, Knobler writes.
• The 43-43 Athletics see themselves as sellers, rather than contenders, Knobler reports. A’s people are hoping Brandon McCarthy pitches well and increases his trade value when he returns from the disabled list.
• Scouts are unimpressed by Cubs pitching prospect Gerardo Concepcion, Knobler notes.

• The Cubs have officially announced the signing of 20-year-old Cuban left-hander Gerardo Concepcion to a five-year Major League contract. Concepcion joins the 40-man roster but will report to minor league camp. The deal is worth $6MM, which includes a $3MM signing bonus, according to Doug Padilla of ESPNChicago.com.
• The Cardinals will likely turn to a handful of in-house candidates to take Chris Carpenter's rotation spot if the right-hander misses any substantial chunk of time due to a bulging disc in his neck, according to Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com. The Cards may choose from relievers Lance Lynn, Kyle McClellan, Marc Rzepczynski, and Mitchell Boggs, or perhaps minor leaguers Brandon Dickson and Shelby Miller, so it doesn't seem like they'll explore a trade or signing for now.
• Cubs GM Jed Hoyer declined to comment on the team's pursuit of prized Cuban outfield prospect Jorge Soler with reporters, including Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune, as Soler has yet to officially be designated a free agent by MLB.

Concepcion, 18, established residency in Mexico in mid-January and was declared a free agent last week.  Several teams were interested in the young southpaw, including the Blue Jays, Giants, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox, Royals, White Sox and Yankees.  Torres recently said Concepcion had received as many as 10 contract offers.

The signing is a nice win for Jed Hoyer and Theo Epstein in their quest to rebuild both the Cubs' minor league system and their Latin American scouting and development systems.  The Cubs have also been linked to two other major Cuban free agents this winter, Yoenis Cespedes and Jorge Soler.

Concepcion's agent, Jaime Torres, tells Rojas that the lefty has offers from as many as 10 teams and could sign as soon as this weekend. Earlier this week, Torres said the Rangers, Yankees, Cubs and White Sox have expressed the most interest in Concepcion so far.

The Cuban defector recently established residency in Mexico and was declared eligible for free agency thereafter.

The Rangers, Yankees, Cubs and White Sox have expressed the most interest in Concepcion, agent Jaime Torres said. The lefty worked out in front of Rangers personnel, including Nolan Ryan, in the Dominican Republic today. The Phillies, Giants, Blue Jays, Red Sox and Royals have also expressed interest.

Concepcion has an offer on the table and will likely sign within two weeks, according to his agent. He defected from Cuba last June while playing in the Netherlands.

Concepcion defected from Cuba during a tournament in the Netherlands last June, as did Aroldis Chapman.