• According to Newman, the Chiba Lotte Marines made a conditional agreement last offseason to allow Tsuyoshi Nishioka to move to MLB. This explains the otherwise puzzling move to post Nishioka coming off his strongest season, with three years left before he's eligible for free agency. Newman says the decision to post Nishioka will be resolved by the 17th.
• According to this article (translated by Collias), the Twins signed right-handed reliever Yorman Bazardo to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. The 26-year-old has previously been with the Marlins, Tigers, Mariners, and Astros organizations. He's seen 60 1/3 innings in the big leagues, but hasn't duplicated his minor league success (3.89 ERA, 2.6 BB/9, 5.4 K/9 in 1091 innings).
• In a second article translated by Collias, we hear that the Rangers have told Andres Blanco that they view him as either an outfielder or catcher, but no longer as an infielder. The 26-year-old will work out at both positions in the Venezuelan winter leagues to try to earn another spot with the Rangers. In 68 games (185 PAs) this season, Blanco hit .277/.330/.349 while backing up Ian Kinsler and Elvis Andrus.

FRIDAY, 1:24pm: The Astros have reinstated righty Yorman Bazardo from the disabled list and outrighted him to Triple-A Round Rock, according to the team's Senior Director of Social Media Alyson Footer (via Twitter). She notes that because he has a prior outright, Bazardo can elect to become a free agent rather than accept the assignment. He has three days to decide.

The 25-year-old Bazardo was on the shelf with a shoulder strain he suffered in Spring Training. He posted a 7.88 ERA with more walks (22) than strikeouts (17) in 32 innings of relief for Houston last season.

Bazardo has already spent time in the Florida and Seattle organizations as well.  Why is he unwanted?  His strikeout rates have been weak in the minors, but his control is solid.  Baseball America seems fairly fond of him, though they note he’ll probably top out in middle relief.