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).

• The Cubs announced that Brad Snyder has been outrighted to Triple-A Iowa.  The outfielder was designated for assignment on the weekend.
• Catcher Wyatt Toregas was outrighted to Indianapolis by the Pirates, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.  He'd been designated for assignment on Sunday to open a spot for Mike McKenry.
• Lefty reliever Dusty Hughes was outrighted to Rochester to open a 40-man spot with the Twins for infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, according to the team's transactions page.  They'd claimed Hughes off waivers from the Royals in January.  The Twins will need another spot for Joe Mauer soon.
• Righty Kevin Pucetas, designated for assignment by the Royals on Friday to open a 40-man spot for Mike Moustakas, was assigned outright to Omaha today according to the Royals' Twitter page.
• The Brewers outrighted catcher Wil Nieves to Nashville, writes MLB.com's Adam McCalvy.  George Kottaras' contract was selected.  The Brewers' 40-man roster count remains at 37.  The White Sox are the only other team under 38.

In 135 career Triple-A games, Toregas has a .235/.301/.355 slash line with eleven homers.  Prior to this season, the 28-year-old catcher had just 19 major league games to his credit, all of which came with the Indians in 2009.

• Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review hears that the Pirates will not release Ryan Doumit if they can't work out a trade (Twitter link). Though Doumit will earn $5.1MM this year, the Pirates like his bat.
• GM Neal Huntington told Pat Lackey of Where Have You Gone Andy Van Slyke that the Pirates haven't focused on pitching in recent drafts, even though it might appear that way. The Pirates have just been selecting the players at the top of their draft board, according to Huntington. Pittsburgh picks first overall in 2011.
• In a separate post, Lackey points out that John Bowker's strong spring has likely assured that Rule 5 selection Josh Rodriguez will be returned to the Indians. 
• Huntington told reporters this morning that the goal for McCutchen at the Major League level would be for him to pitch multiple innings as a reliever. The right-hander may return to the Triple-A rotation.

• The Pirates signed catcher Wyatt Toregas to a minor league contract with an invitation Spring Training according to a team press release. The 28-year-old spent the 2010 season in the Indians' farm system, hitting .227/.311/.383 in 148 plate appearances.
• The Cubs signed outfielder Lou Montanez to a minor league deal according to Baseball America's Matt Eddy (on Twitter). They drafted him third overall back way back in 2000. Montanez hit .223/.257/.323 in 266 plate appearances with the Orioles over the last three seasons.
• Former Indians manager Mike Hargrove is back with the team as a special advisor, the club announced today.
• The Marlins project to have an Opening Day payroll around $58MM according to MLB.com's Joe Frisaro. It will be the franchise's highest payroll since opening the 2005 season at $60.4MM.
• The Twins, meanwhile, project to have an Opening Day payroll around $105.4MM according to Joe Christensen of The Star Tribune (Twitter links), but he says that a Carl Pavano signing could push that up to $115MM.
• The Royals are now projected to have a payroll around $40MM after Gil Meche's surprise retirement, tweets Bob Dutton of The Kansas City Star. In a separate pair of tweets, Dutton says the team is unlikely to use the payroll savings from Meche's retirement on free agents, but will instead boost their draft and international free agent budgets.

SATURDAY, 7:27pm: The Indians have designated catcher Wyatt Toregas and infielder Anderson Hernandez for assignment, according to Paul Hoynes of The Cleveland Plain Dealer. The moves free up 40-man roster spots for Austin Kearns and Mark Grudzielanek.

The 27-year-old Toregas hit .176/.267/.196 in 60 plate appearances for Cleveland last year, but owns a .264/.331/.408 career batting line in the minors. Hernandez, 27, hit .252/.315/.370 in 149 plate appearances with the Mets last season, and is a .245/.303/.324 career hitter in close to 600 big league plate appearances. He doesn't grade out too well with the glove either.