The New York Yankees have signed third baseman Eric Chavez to a one-year major league deal valued at $900K with performance bonuses. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports was first on the signing with FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reporting the salary figures. The move was expected by many and it was all but certain after the Yankees dealt starting pitcher A.J. Burnett to Pittsburgh.

The signing gives the Yankees another bat off the bench and one that can play some backup innings at either corner infield position for the Yankees. The 34-year-old spent 2011 battling injuries throughout the year and managed to hit only .263/.320/.356 in 175 plate appearances.

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The Chicago Cubs are sending right handed middle reliever Chris Carpenter to the Boston Red Sox to compensate for Theo Epstein, according to Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune. The deal, which includes a player-to-be-named-later, is now confirmed by numerous sources.

Carpenter (not the one on the Cardinals) is 26 and has barely 10 innings under his belt in the major leagues. In 2011 he appeared in 10 games, producing a 2.79 ERA, giving up 7 walks and striking out 8.

• Twitter / @PWSullivan: Cubs send Chris Carpenter ...
  Cubs send Chris Carpenter to Red Sox for compensation, according to Cubs source.
• Twitter / @nickcafardo: Ben Cherington said he's h ...
  Ben Cherington said he's happy the Theo compensation story is over.
• Compensation matters « Muskat Ramblings
  "Reports out of Boston are that it’s a pitcher on the 40-man roster. If so, some of the candidates would be Jeff Beliveau, Alberto Cabrera, Chris Carpenter, Casey Coleman, Rafael Dolis, John Gaub, Scott Maine, Marcos Mateo, James Russell. No word yet from Cubs."
  

The Oakland Athletics have signed Manny Ramirez to a minor-league deal, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com. The signing has been rumored for some time now.

The deal is worth $500 thousand, according to Pedro Gomez of ESPN. Ramirez will be required to serve a 50 game suspension before he can play:

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  manny is going to a's
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  manny gets minor-league deal with a's. just wants opportunity
• Manny Ramirez agrees to deal with Oakland A's - ESPN
  "Sources tell Gomez the deal is worth about $500,000. Ramirez is obligated to serve a 50-game suspension without pay before beginning play for the A's due to violating baseball's drug policy for the second time. With no rainouts, the first game Ramirez would be eligible to play is June 2 at Kansas City."

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Update 8:11 PM ET: It's a one-year deal worth $6.15 million that has another $50K Jones can earn through performance bonuses, Connolly adds. If Jones can trigger in the $50K, the two sides essentially agreed to the mid-point in their arbitration differences.

Original: The Baltimore Orioles and outfielder Adam Jones have agreed to terms on a deal thus successfully avoiding salary arbitration, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. The two sides had been $2.4 million apart, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Jones had been seeking $7.4 million, but the Orioles offered only $5 million.

Adam Jones was the only arbitration eligible Oriole that remained unsigned. By reaching an agreement before their hearing date, previously scheduled for this Friday, the two sides won't need to explain their case in front of the third-party salary arbitration panel.

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The Tampa Bay Rays and manager Joe Maddon have agreed to terms on a contract extension that will keep arguably the best manager in baseball with the organization, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. An announcement is expected to come Wednesday.

The move certainly doesn't come as a surprise to anyone, as both sides have had mutual interest in working out a multi-year deal this offseason. Maddon's contract would have expired after the 2012 season, but he's now locked up through 2015. In fact, Topkin reports a deal was close to being finalized last month before Maddon went on vacation.

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According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, the Oakland Athletics have signed free agent Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. Cespedes has been the most coveted Cuban player this off season, and the Athletics kind of came out of nowhere to sign him.

Susan Slusser from the San Francisco Chronicle says that the deal is four years and will be worth about $36 million overall. Cespedes is 26 years old and became a free agent last month after it had been long anticipated.

As late as last night it had been reported that the Miami Marlins were the favorites for Cespedes' services, and they have been in the running the entire time. They made an offer less than $40 million, but the length of that potential deal is unknown. The Chicago Cubs were also rumored to have interest in him.

Brown also reports that Cespedes has just recently been unblocked by The Office of Foreign Assets Control.

The Boston Red Sox and designated hitter David Ortiz have come to an agreement today to avoid arbitration, according to Buster Olney from ESPN. The deal is a one year agreement worth $14.75 million, the middle ground for what the two sides were fighting for.

It was just hours before the two would have to go in front of a judge when this was announced. Since Theo Epstein came to Boston, and has since left, the Red Sox have never gone to arbitration. David Ortiz had been looking for over $16 million, while the Red Sox offered $12 million, his salary from last season.

The Red Sox have not wanted to spend this offseason, even executing a pure salary dump when they traded starting shortstop Marco Scutaro to the Colorado Rockies for nearly nothing in return. The Red Sox are still a favorite for Roy Oswalt, however, so we'll see how this affects that.

FOX Sport's Ken Rosenthal is reporting that the Texas Rangers and SS Elivs Andrus have avoided arbitration and agreed to a 3 year deal worth $14-$15 million.

The 23 year old started 150 games and had a career best .279/.341/.361 split with a 4.5 WAR. With career highs in Runs, RBIs and Stolen Bases, Andrus' new contract comes at a time when Josh Hamilton is entering his final year of his contract with the club.

The Rangers still need to secure Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli for the coming 2012 season to go along with a payroll that has been on the rise in recent years. Although adding on Darvish, the posting fee does not count against the payroll.

Flexibility may no longer be a problem with the Rangers now that Nolan Ryan enters his second full season of full ownership of the team and the rest of the American League teams packing on All-Stars from the National League.