Bard, 33, had 86 plate appearances for the Mariners this year and another 250 in Triple-A.  His signing was first rumored last week at the Winter Meetings.  Ledezma, 30, briefly appeared in the Majors with Toronto this year.  He struck out 64 batters in 48 Triple-A innings as well.  Castillo, a 36-year-old Cuban, tossed 11 2/3 innings for the Diamondbacks and a strong 42 1/3 frames at Triple-A.  His near-deal was first reported last week.

Ascanio, 26, appeared briefly in the bigs with the Pirates this year and also whiffed 50 in 44 Triple-A innings.  He was part of the July '09 John Grabow-Tom Gorzelanny trade with the Cubs, but he had labrum surgery in October of that year.  Tucker, 25, is a former first-round pick of the Marlins who pitched five innings with the Rangers this year and 68 1/3 more in Triple-A.  Guzman, Sullivan, Nieve, Chico, Baisley, Zawadzki, and Cruz have also spent time in the Majors.  Guzman, notably, was a successful setup man for the Cubs in '09.

Tucker appeared in five games for the Rangers this year, but spent most of his season at Triple-A Round Rock. The right-hander posted a 5.40 ERA with 8.4 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in 68 1/3 innings at Triple-A before getting released. The Rangers claimed Tucker, a first round pick in 2005, off of waivers from the Marlins last October.

Treanor, 35 in March, hit .211/.287/.308 in 272 plate appearances for the Rangers this year, leading the team with 614 2/3 innings caught.  Treanor signed a minor league contract with the Brewers a year ago and was dealt to the Rangers in March.  He missed time in July and August with a knee sprain.  The Rangers signed Yorvit Torrealba in November, so their catching tandem is in place.

Tucker, a 24-year-old righty, was claimed off waivers from the Marlins in October when Rich Harden was designated for assignment.

Tucker, 23, was selected 34th overall by the Marlins in the supplemental round of the 2005 draft. Though Baseball America ranked him as Florida's sixth-best prospect prior to the season, the right-hander struggled in 32 minor league appearances this year, posting a 5.72 ERA over 67.2 innings. Tucker enjoyed his best season in 2008, when he was named the Marlins' minor league pitcher of the year and made 13 appearances for the big league club.

Harden, meanwhile, signed a one-year contract last winter which includes an $11MM mutual option for 2011. Considering the righty didn't even pitch well enough this year to crack the Rangers' ALDS roster, the team figures to have to pay the $1MM buyout.

• Mets owner Fred Wilpon lost some dough.
• The Red Sox expressed interest in Kenshin Kawakami yesterday. Michael Silverman says Kawakami is expected to choose a team and sign in January (the Orioles are also interested).
• John Perrotto says the Marlins like Max Ramirez and are willing to trade pitching prospect Ryan Tucker.
• Bernie Williams will play winter ball in preparation for the World Baseball Classic.
• Paul Sullivan says Cubs manager Lou Piniella was upset at the thought of losing Mark DeRosa.
• Rany Jazayerli weighs in on the Royals’ signing of Kyle Farnsworth.  Joe Posnanski talks about Farnsworth and many other topics.
• Andrew Baggarly says the Giants are not interested in Mike Lowell.
• Bob Elliott says the Blue Jays had an agreement to pay the Braves to take Everth Cabrera seventh in the Rule 5 draft, but the Padres picked him third.