Minor-League Signings

It’s been largely quiet on the transaction front thus far in the offseason, but there were a couple of signings released in this week’s dispatch from Baseball America for the week of Oct. 16-23:

• C Carlos Maldonado re-signed

• C Jeff Howell re-signed

Maldonado, along with erstwhile OF Brett Carroll, had elected free agency earlier this month.

Maldonado has twice been recalled then outrighted to AAA for the Nationals in the past three seasons, playing four games in late May/early June of 2010 and four games this past May when the Nationals catchers were doing their best impersonation of Spinal Tap drummers.

Howell saw time at each level from High-A to AA to AAA in 2012, playing a total of 53 games — not bad for a guy that spent 52 games in the independent American Association in 2011. Both catchers can be described as glove-first backups, with fielding averages of of .990+ for both backstops.

Other former Nationals that have recently re-signed include Michael Martinez and Pete Orr with Philadelphia and Shairon Martis and Aaron Thompson with Minnesota.