Paul, 30, went 1-for-9 with a solo homer for the Phillies in Spring Training. The left-handed hitter enjoyed a pair of solid seasons at the plate in Cincinnati from 2012-13, hitting .264/.350/.420 in 335 plate appearances, most of which came against right-handed pitching, given his significant career platoon splits. Paul has batted .264/.326/.398 in 681 big league plate appearances against right-handed pitching, but against lefties he’s seen just 86 PAs and hit .138/.198/.150.

After spending much of the 2014 season with Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate, Paul latched on with the D-Backs in the second half, picking up a pair of hits in 21 big league plate appearances in the month of August. The Paragon Sports client will presumably draw some interest elsewhere as a lefty option off the bench.

The list of announced players is as follows:

• Infielder Andres Blanco
• Outfielder Brian Bogusevic
• Infielder/outfielder Russ Canzler
• Infielder/outfielder Chase d’Arnaud
• Outfielder Jeff Francoeur
• Catcher John Hester
• Outfielder Darin Mastroianni
• Outfielder Xavier Paul

Every player on that list has MLB experience, and many have fairly extensive time in the bigs. Francoeur, of course, is a former top prospect and long-time starter who spent time both playing in the outfield and pitching last year in the Padres organization. He is one of several signees who could provide options if the Phillies were to move any of their current outfielders. The infield-capable members of this list may create some flexibility as well.

At various times, all of Marlon Byrd, Ben Revere, and Domonic Brown have found their names as rumored trade candidates. Though shortstop Jimmy Rollins and, to a lesser extent, second baseman Chase Utley have both been named as potential trade chips as well, those players enjoy full no-trade protection and appear less likely to be dealt.

Paul inked a minor league deal with the D’Backs earlier this month, as MLBTR’s Zach Links reported, and his contract was promptly selected from Triple-A Reno. The veteran outfielder picked up 21 plate appearances with Arizona, collecting a pair of singles and a walk along the way.

Paul’s best seasons at the plate came with the Reds from 2012-13, when he batted .264/.350/.420 with nine homers in 334 plate appearances in a part-time role. Overall, he’s a lifetime .250/.311/.368 hitter in 767 PA with the Dodgers, Reds, Pirates and D’Backs.

The 29-year-old Paul enjoyed his best season at the plate with the Reds in 2013, slashing .244/.339/.402 with a career-high seven homers in 239 plate appearances, but he’s spent the entire 2014 campaign in the minors with Baltimore. At Triple-A Norfolk, Paul batted .254/.316/.431 with a dozen homers before Sunday’s release. He’s never received much playing time against lefties, but the corner outfielder is a lifetime .268/.330/.404 hitter against right-handed pitching in 664 PA.

FRIDAY: The Orioles have designated right-hander Ryan Webb for assignment, the team announced.  The newly-acquired Andrew Miller has taken Webb’s spot on the 25-man roster.

While technically a DFA, Webb has only been designated off Baltimore’s 25-man roster.  The Orioles needed to make this procedural move in order to assign Webb to Triple-A since over three years had passed since his first Major League appearance — the O’s performed a similar transaction earlier this season with Evan Meek.  Webb is still on the Orioles’ 40-man roster but is currently on optional assignment waivers.

Webb signed a two-year, $4.5MM deal with the Orioles last winter after the Marlins (surprisingly) didn’t tender him a contract for 2014.  The righty has been shaky in recent weeks but has been a solid contributor overall to Baltimore’s pen, posting a 3.80 ERA, 7.2 K/9 and 3.4 K/BB rate over 42 2/3 innings.  Webb has held opposing batters to a .255/.301/.315 slash line and has actually performed better against left-handed batters (.555 OPS) than righty bats (.649 OPS) this year.

Edward Creech contributed to this post.

Paul, 29 in February, enjoyed a solid season at the plate, batting .244/.339/.402 with seven homers in 239 plate appearances. Paul hit right-handed pitching particularly well in 2013, slashing .253/.349/.426 with all seven of his homers facing opposite-handed pitching. Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs saved are not optimistic about his defense, however, as both grade him as a below-average left fielder.

• The Reds non-tendered outfielders Xavier Paul and Derrick Robinson, according to the AP.  Robinson had been designated for assignment last Thursday to open a roster spot for Skip Schumaker.
• The Rockies have non-tendered reliever Mitchell Boggs, tweets Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post.
• The Dodgers have non-tendered Ronald Belisario, tweets Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times.
• The Marlins have non-tendered outfielder Chris Coghlan and reliever Ryan Webb, the club announced via press release.
• The Pirates have non-tendered Garrett Jones, Michael McKenry, and Kyle McPherson, tweets Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
• The Giants have non-tendered Sandy Rosario and Francisco Peguero, tweets Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle.
• The Cubs have non-tendered Mat Gamel, tweets Chris Cotillo of MLBDailyDish.com. The club has also non-tendered Chang-Yong Lim, tweets Jesse Rogers of ESPN.com. 
• The Mets officially announced their slate of non-tenders, which includes a few new names in Jeremy Hefner and Justin Turner (via tweet from Andy Martino of the New York Daily News).
• The Braves announced that they have non-tendered infielders Elliot Johnson and Paul Janish as well as right-hander Cristhian Martinez (Twitter link). Johnson, 29, batted .209/.255/.283 in 275 plate appearances between the Royals and Braves last season. Janish was less productive in 45 PAs, batting .171/.222/.220. Martinez, 31, missed nearly the entire season due to shoulder surgery. However, he posted a 3.63 ERA in 151 1/3 innings for Atlanta from 2011-12, making him a potential buy-low candidate for another club.
• The Mets have non-tendered Jordany Valdespin, Rubin reports. Valdespin has been a persistent source of drama for the Mets, lashing out at manager Terry Collins after being demoted and also being slapped with a 50-game suspension for his involvement in the Biogenesis PED scandal. The soon-to-be 26-year-old is a career .219/.271/.380 hitter in 350 big league plate appearances. Valdespin's non-tender comes despite him not yet being arbitration eligible, illustrating the Mets' frustration with the second baseman/outfielder.
• The Cubs will non-tender right-hander Daniel Bard, tweets Jesse Rogers of ESPN Chicago. Bard was claimed off waivers in September and never threw a pitch for the Cubs organization. WEEI.com's Rob Bradford notes that Bard was pitching in the Puerto Rican Winter League but walked nine batters while recording just one out. The Cubs could still agree to a non-roster deal with Bard, he adds. Bard's control has vanished into thin air, as the formerly dominant setup man has also walked 56 batters over his past 47 1/3 minor league frames.
• The Mets have informed shortstop Omar Quintanilla that he will be non-tendered, Quintanilla told Jorge Castillo of the Star-Ledger. Quintanilla projected to earn $900K this offseason after batting .222/.306/.283 in a career-high 359 plate appearances last season.
• ESPN's Adam Rubin tweets that the Mets will also non-tender Scott Atchison. The right-hander projected to earn $1.3MM coming off a 4.37 ERA with 5.6 K/9 and 2.4 BB/9 in 45 1/3 innings. Atchison will turn 38 in late March.

• Outfielder Xavier Paul has signed with the Reds and will report to Triple-A Louisville, according to his agency Paragon Sports International on Twitter.  Paul was granted free agency by the Nationals earlier this week.
• Cody Ross told Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter) that he rejected a multi-year offer from ‪the Braves‬ to sign a one-year deal with ‪the Red Sox‬ this winter.  Ross has a .275/.352/.560 slash line in 220 plate appearances this year.
• The Giants signed left-hander Clayton Tanner and assigned him to Triple-A after he was released by the Reds, according to the Fresno Grizzlies' tranactions page.  Tanner, 24, spent several years in the Giants organization before being designated for assignment last summer.
• There is concern for the Angels that there could be distractions if Vernon Wells either grumbles about a lack of playing time upon his return or other players grumble about him taking at-bats away from Mike Trout and Mark Trumbo, writes Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times.  Wells is set to earn $21MM in each season through 2014 and moving him would be far from easy.
• Russell Martin's slump this year could cost him a great deal of money, writes Joel Sherman of the New York Post.  The catcher is believed to have rejected a three-year, $24MM offer from the Yankees this offseason, instead choosing to bet on himself.
• Orioles General Manager Dan Duquette confirmed to Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com that the club won't be signing Korean high school pitcher Seong-Min Kim.  The O's signing of Kim this winter got them in hot water with the Korean Baseball Association which led to their $550K agreement being voided.

Tracy, 31, owns a .278/.337/.445 line in seven big league seasons, but hasn't produced much at the plate since 2007. The corner infielder spent the 2011 season with the Hiroshima Carp, posting a .235/.293/.336 line in 164 plate appearances. Carroll, 29, has big league experience in each of the past five seasons and can play all three outfield positions. In 322 career plate appearances, he has a .203/.281/.322 line. Paul spent the 2011 season with the Pirates and Dodgers, posting a .255/.292/.346 line in 262 plate appearances.

• The Pirates released outfielder Xavier Paul, who cleared waivers, tweets MLB.com's Jenifer Langosch.  She adds that he cannot technically re-sign with the Pirates until May 16th.  Paul, 26, was designated for assignment earlier this month.  He posted a .254/.293/.349 line in 251 plate appearances for the Pirates this year.

Paul was picked up on waivers from the Dodgers in April and posted a .254/.293/.349 line in 251 plate appeaarances for Pittsburgh last season.  Fryer, 26, has a career .799 OPS in the minors and he recorded his first 29 Major League at-bats with the Bucs last year.

• The Pirates expect waiver claim Xavier Paul to play all three outfield positions, according to Colin Dunlap of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Manager Clint Hurdle told Dunlap that he's confident Paul can cover lots of ground on defense, a skill the Pirates appear to value more than John Bowker's hitting ability at the moment.
• Hurdle told Rob Biertempfel of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that the Pirates didn't have much use for Bowker. "He was my third left fielder, my third right fielder, my third first baseman," Hurdle said.
• Though newcomer Brandon Wood has started three consecutive games at shortstop, Hurdle told Biertempfel that Ronny Cedeno hasn't necessarily lost his job. Cedeno failed to run out a ground ball this week and has been struggling at the plate.
• Earlier this morning, the Pirates returned Rule 5 pick Josh Rodriguez to the Indians.

Paul, 26, hit .325/.384/.579 in 250 Triple-A plate appearances last year, playing all three outfield positions in his third stint at the level.  The success did not carry over to the big leagues.  Paul last cracked a Baseball America handbook prior to the 2010 season, at which point he was rated a couple of spots ahead of Sands at 23rd among Dodgers prospects.  BA praised Paul's raw talent, but said he doesn't have enough power to compensate for his strikeouts.  He's a good defender with plus speed.

Paul is the ninth player Pirates GM Neal Huntington has claimed off waivers since the beginning of 2010, according to MLBTR's Transaction Tracker.

Anderson signed a minor-league contract with L.A. in March and made the club with the expectation that he would provide veteran leadership, a backup glove in the outfield and left-handed pinch-hitting help off the bench.  While Dilbeck says Anderson is "great in the clubhouse," the outfielder has posted a .470 OPS in 140 plate appearances and his limited time in the field has been shaky (a -8.8 UZR/150).  

Dilbeck thinks L.A. has more to gain by cutting Anderson and keeping rookie Xavier Paul as the left-handed outfield reserve.  Dilbeck notes that Paul himself hasn't performed overly well (a .649 OPS in 94 PAs) but Paul at least has upside, whereas there's little evidence that Anderson will turn things around in the second half.  GM Ned Colletti gave Anderson a vote of confidence in May, but if the problem, as Colletti claimed, was that Anderson hasn't yet adjusted to a backup role, then two more months of struggles would seem to imply that Anderson may never find that comfort zone.  Anderson's career 103 OPS+ is a sign that he may have been a poor choice for the "professional hitter" pinch-hitting job in the first place.

In spite of Anderson's problems this season, he would likely get picked up by another team in the hopes that his experience could aid a playoff contender (and that his numbers would pick up with a change of scenery).  If Dilbeck's prediction of July 24 as the Dodgers' decision day is correct, Anderson would have lots of time to catch on with another team should he actually be released.

• Since the Dodgers called Xavier Paul up from the minors, he should be getting regular playing time with Manny Ramirez out, reasons Steve Dilbeck of the Los Angeles Times.
• Alan Embree told Dan Barbarisi of The Providence Journal that he won't be extending his contract deadline again.  He hopes to be called up by the Red Sox by April 30th.
• The AP has details on Ben Zobrist's $18MM extension with the Rays.
• Though the knuckleballer doesn't say it, Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says "it's obvious [Tim Wakefield] isn't keen on his new [bullpen] assignment."
• Jim Callis of Baseball America explores what might happen if MLB allows trading draft picks.
• Joel Sherman of the New York Post wonders how long Javier Vazquez will be given to get on track.
• With tongue firmly in cheek, Grant of the McCovey Chronicles predicts free agent-to-be Jayson Werth will sign with the Giants next winter.
• ESPN's Keith Law shares his rankings of the top 100 prospects for the June amateur draft.  (ESPN Insider subscription required.)
• Speaking of young players, MLB.com's Jane Lee talks to Athletics director of player personnel Keith Leippman about some of the top prospects in Oakland's farm system.
• ESPN.com's Eric Karabell says that if Matt Capps can keep up his strong start, the right-hander will be a good trade chip for Washington over the summer.  Karabell also notes that if Capps is dealt, it will likely be to a team looking for set-up help, not a closer.
• Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times says it's a close call between Derek Jeter or Manny Ramirez for the title of "best big contract in baseball history."