Baseball

Roger's son failed to progress after his promising 2009 season and wasn't able to make the transition behind the plate. The 25-year-old batted .234/.331/.424 with 16 homers, 55 RBI and a .756 OPS with the Astros' Triple-A affiliate last year while making starts at first base, third base and left field. He'll serve as organizational fodder with Toronto.

Cordero added, "They explained to me what my role is going to be, I agreed to it, and I'll be more than happy to do it." The 36-year-old has been a closer for most of his career and is 12th on the all-time saves list. With anointed closer Sergio Santos amassing eight blown saves in 39 career chances, Cordero could accrue more value as the season progresses.

Mastroianni was cleared to make room for the newly-signed Francisco Cordero on the 40-man roster. The 26-year-old outfielder had three plate appearances with the Blue Jays last season, but spent the majority of the year in the minors, batting .268/.353/.377 with three homers, 36 RBI, 10 stolen bases and a .730 OPS between Double- and Triple-A. There's a chance he'll slip through waivers.

The deal was reported last week, but wasn't made official until Wednesday. Cordero struggled to find a job this winter and ultimately settled for a set-up role with the Blue Jays after the Reds signed Ryan Madson to serve as their closer. The 36-year-old right-hander posted a 2.45 ERA and 37 saves as the Reds' closer last season, but his fastball velocity and strikeout rate were both on the decline. He likely won't be relevant in mixed leagues unless Sergio Santos struggles or hits the disabled list.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports was told by a source that Bautista was "not even in the ballpark" with his claim that he was tested 16 times, but the slugger stands by recent comments that were printed in Hoy, a newspaper in the Dominican Republic. "Whoever is saying that I wasn't tested might have their reasons," said Bautista. "I don't know why somebody would feel they have to defend themselves. I'm part of the program, and the program says you have to be tested once during the season and once mandatory during Spring Training. Since it's random, you can be tested multiple times, and if that's what happened to me, I'm fine with it. I don't see why somebody needs to be so defensive about it and make it sound like I wasn't. I know what happened. I know how many times I was tested, and I don't really care if anybody says I wasn't." Bautista, 31, has led the majors in home runs in each of the past two seasons.

Dominican newspaper Hoy reported last week that Bautista recently said at a banquet that MLB tested him 16 times for PEDs between 2010-2011, but a source told Passan that the number is "not even in the ballpark." It's not clear whether the number wasn't accurately stated by Bautista or there was some confusion on the part of the newspaper, but Passan's source claims that the slugger was tested the normal amount by MLB.

Bautista claims that he was drug tested 16 times over the past two seasons, compared to three times in 2008 and 2009. Per MLB rules, players face two mandatory tests (one in spring training and one during the season), and can be tested an additional two times. Random drug tests are also distributed throughout the year, indicating a computer "randomly" chose Bautista at least eight times.