EARLY CUTS INCLUDE BIG NAMES

A-ROD: Not in Arizona's plans

February 19: In preparation for the 2012 season, BARB teams decided certain players weren’t good fits for their squads and parted ways with them.

The first news came from the New England Yankee Stompers: righties Derek Lowe, Juan Carlos Oviedo (formerly Leo Nunez) and Clay Hensley and left-hander Andrew Miller were all designated for assignment. The moves lop more than $20 million off the team salary.

Two other teams released players; both organizations parted ways with franchise players. One was the defending BARB champion Frostbite Falls Flying Squirrels saying goodbye to longtime backstop Victor Martinez.

“We would have loved to keep V-Mart around,” Flying Squirrels GM Andrew Friedman said. “But with his salary and the fact that he is out for the season with his knee injury, there was no benefit to having him on the roster. Unfortunately, this is a business as well as a game.”

Martinez was a 19^th round pick by the Squirrels’ predecessors—the Santa Barbara Storm—in the 2003 BARB founding draft. He became the full-time starter in 2005 and hit .278 (923/3350) with 82 home runs and 437 RBI in his nine seasons. Martinez was the primary catcher on four World Championship teams.

One of the most surprising cuts, though, came from Arizona. The newly relocated Rattlesnakes released 2B Jose Lopez, right-handed pitchers Scott Linebrink and Brad Penny, and team franchise player Alex Rodriguez. GM “Trader Ron” Melkonian decided the high-priced third baseman simply didn’t fit into the team’s plans.

All of the released players can be drafted without penalty during the 2012 draft. If they fall through the draft, they will be available as free agents afterward.