The Rockies traded RHP Kane Davis to the Mets for RHP Corey Brittan on Thursday. This appears to be a move made in order to find a 40-man roster spot for Pete Harnisch, and Colorado has blundered in their haste.

Davis and Brittan are both 27-years-old relief pitchers. However while Davis debuted in 2000 and had a large roll in the Rockies bullpen last season, Brittan reached AAA for the first time last season. Despite the difference in their situations, with Davis in the majors at the worst home pitching park in baseball and Brittan in a minor league known to favor pitchers, Davis has better overall stats. Davis posted 6 K/9 IP, 8.7 H/9 IP, almost 1.5 K/BB, and only 4.2 BB/9 IP. Meanwhile Brittan had only 5 K/9 IP, and although he had only 2.9 BB/9 IP and 1.7 K/BB, he allowed more than a hit an inning.

New York was in need of some right handed help in the bullpen, and Davis should experience the typical improvement of a player leaving Coors. Brittan has little dominance and will likely struggle even at AAA Colorado Springs to maintain his meager control.

Jim Leyritz signed a minor league deal with the Yankees on Tuesday. At this point he's probably lucky that his catching days are mostly behind him as the competition for back-up backstop in New York is fairly heavy. Bobby Estallela and Alberto Castillo are both on the 40-man, as is Todd Greene although it's unlikely he'll see any time behind the plate even if he makes the team. In camp the Yanks have Chris Widger, Creighton Gubanich, Victor Valencia, and prospect David Parrish. However, Leyritz also has an equally small chance of making the club as a 1B/DH.

Kansas City signed John Nunnally to a minor league contract on Tuesday. The Royals have an abundance of outfielders, so it's unlikely that Nunnally will make the team out of Spring Training, but he should provide them with some depth at AAA in case of injury.

On Wednesday, the Red Sox signed Andy Morales to a minor league contract. Morales certainly didn't live up to New York's expectations or earn the salary he landed last season; however he's an interesting sign for Boston. Third base is one of their weaknesses, so a couple of injuries could leave them searching for warm bodies. Although Morales barely performed at AA last year, a hot start could garner him a mid-season call-up.

Morales should be a lesson to the players in the next section, as the Yankees used the alleged age discrepancy to void the $4.5 million, 4-year contract they granted him shortly after he defected. He is currently awaiting a ruling on the grievance filed on his behalf by the players' union.

Birthday Updates

With players returning to the United States for Spring Training, there have been several more reports of changes in ages and birthdays. Dodger's catcher Angel Encarnacion is 33 and not 29. Encarnacion last appearance in the majors was in 1997, and he hasn't really been tearing up the minors in the meantime. At this age, it isn't likely that he'll see time in the bigs again, unless he happens to be on an organization in which there are numerous catching injuries. Of course, maybe this means he's nearing his power peak and will manage 4 or 5 home runs in the minors this season.

Mario Encarnacion is 18 months older than previously known, which should make him 26 in March rather than 24 in September. Since 24 is a little old for a prospect, the discovery that he will soon be 26 does dim Encarnacion's star a bit, especially for a toolsy prospect with few baseball skills. However for the Rockies' purposes, he should still be able to cream the ball for the next few seasons before they ship him off to some unsuspecting team not in possession of a magical stadium that converts guys with no plate discipline into super-sluggers.

Neifi Perez revealed Wednesday that he is 28 rather than 26. According to Allard Baird, the Royals don't view this as important, so either they know as little about evaluating talent as some of their transactions indicate, they're covering for their mistake in trading for him, or they just don't want to get worked up about a player who they don't intend to keep much longer. Perez was no prize before this discovery and now it looks as though he's already past his peak. Kansas City should certainly attempt to trade Perez to any team blind enough to still have interest, and if he isn't a free agent at the end of the season, they should definitely non-tender him.

Odalis Perez is actually 5 days younger than previously known. Other than a change in the date on his passport, this doesn't mean a lot for Perez. Atlanta just made a mistake filling out his forms.

Timo Perez is also two years older than his recorded age, as he will be 27 and not 25 in April. Unfortunately this probably removes all doubt as to whether Perez is a slow starter with some remaining upside or merely a AAAA outfielder. With the rest of the Mets outfield depth, I really don't expect him to make the team out of camp. The most we should see of him for the rest of his career should be sporadic stints as an injury replacement.

Juan Uribe's age also underwent an adjustment this week. The shortstop is 22 instead of the 21 previously believed. While he may share his predecessor's bad memory for dates, Uribe has little else in common with Neifi. This announcement probably knocks his projected ceiling down a notch or two but doesn't overly affect his upside. He'd probably struggle if suddenly pulled from the hitter-friendly environment of Coors because of his poor plate discipline. However, his youth should give him the opportunity to work on his deficiencies.