• Jason Bulger, who was trying to return from shoulder surgery, has retired, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes has learned. The former first-round choice saw action in 7 MLB seasons and put up his best year in 2009 with the Angels, working to a 3.56 ERA in 65 2/3 innings.
• 39-year-old lefty Mark Hendrickson has signed with the independent York Revolution, tweets MASNsports.com's Roch Kubatko. Hendrickson last saw MLB action in 2011. He threw last year for the Orioles' Triple-A affiliate, putting up a 3.06 ERA in 67 2/3 innings.

• Bobby Scales has signed a minor league deal with the Mets and will report to Triple-A Buffalo, according to ESPN's Adam Rubin (on Twitter). The 34-year-old has spent most of his career in the minor leagues, but did see 158 plate appearances with the Cubs in the 2009-10 seasons.
• The Yankees have signed Jason Bulger to a minor league contract, tweets MLB.com's Bryan Hoch. He'll pitch at Triple-A. After signing a minor league deal with the Twins this winter, Bulger disappointed in Spring Training, allowing 10 earned runs on eight hits and five walks in four innings. He last enjoyed success in 2009 with the Angels.

• The Twins released reliever Jason Bulger from minor league camp, La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports. The 33-year-old right-hander appeared in five games with the Angels last year and signed a minor league deal with the Twins in November.
• The Twins released Steve Pearce, according to Dustin Morse of the team's communications department (on Twitter). Pearce, 28, appeared in 50 games for the Pirates last year, posting a .515 OPS in 105 plate appearances. He has MLB experience at all four corner positions.
• The Yankees released Preston Mattingly, according to the Associated Press (via the Miami Herald). Mattingly, the 24-year-old son of Dodgers manager Don Mattingly, signed a minor league deal in January and had been playing with the Yankees' Double-A team.

• The Pirates may end up signing utility man Chris Gimenez, tweets Greg Johns of MLB.com. Gimenez elected free agency from the Mariners earlier today after declining an outright assignment to Triple-A and will be eligible to sign with a new club on Thursday.
• The Pirates will not sign Dmitri Young, whom they worked out at on Monday, according to Tom Singer of MLB.com.
• Phil Mackey of ESPN 1500 Twin Cities radio looks at seven of the Twins' intriguing non-roster players, including infielder Brian Dozier, third baseman Sean Burroughs, catchers J.R. Towles and Chris Herrmann, righties Jason Bulger and Jared Burton, and utility man Steve Pearce. One Twins executive said he's particularly curious about Bulger and Burton, tweets Mackey
• The Cardinals won't have their hand forced into roster decisions based on options this spring, explains Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com, as only Skip Schumaker and Tyler Greene — both projected to be on the Major League roster — are out of options.

Bulger, 33, appeared in five games with the Angels in 2011. He spent most of the season in the bullpen of Los Angeles' top affiliate, where he posted a 4.03 ERA with 11.6 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9. Fien, 28, has MLB experience with the Tigers. He spent the 2011 campaign in the Astros' system, posting a 4.44 ERA with 9.2 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 26 1/3 innings.

Bates appeared in 12 games with the 2009 Red Sox. He spent the 2011 season in the Twins' organization and posted a .316/.408/.439 line at Triple-A. The 27-year-old first baseman/left fielder has a career .378 on-base percentage in the minor leagues.

• Rangers prospect Leonys Martin can opt out of his five-year contract and choose to go through the arbitration process if he has enough service time to qualify for arbitration before the contract expires, MLBTR has learned. Martin, 23, is a Cuban defector whose deal with Texas became official on Tuesday.
• Angels reliever Jason Bulger, who was designated for assignment on April 27, cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Salt Lake, tweets Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.
• Diamondbacks right-hander Daniel Hudson was part of the ill-fated trade between the Padres and White Sox in May 2009 that was vetoed by Jake Peavy, according to Dan Hayes of the North County Times (via Twitter). Peavy later accepted a trade to the South Siders at that season's deadline, but that package did not include Hudson. Instead, Clayton Richard, Aaron Poreda, Dexter Carter and Adam Russell went to the Friars. Hudson was later dealt to Arizona at the 2010 trade deadline in exchange for Edwin Jackson.
• The current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire at season's end, and hard-slotting for draft picks could be implemented in the new CBA, writes Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. Hard-slotting would affix a set price to each draft pick and preclude drafted prep players from using the threat of going to college as bargaining leverage. One scouting director told Mayo he expects to see more players sign this year since it could be their last chance to negotiate a hefty signing bonus.

Bulger, 32, has a sparkling 0.96 ERA in 9 1/3 innings this year. However, he has walked more batters (10) than he has struck out (7). Opponents have hit just .167 on balls in play and Bulger's 7.54 FIP and 6.14 xFIP suggest his ERA should probably be 5-6 runs higher than it is.

Bulger has a 4.33 ERA with 9.3 K/9 and 5.1 BB/9 in 133 career innings, all but 10 of them with the Angels. The seven-year veteran has pitched in manager Mike Scioscia's bullpen every year since 2006.