The Pittsburgh Pirates today signed 20-year-old left-handed pitcher Rinku Singh and 19-year-old right-handed pitcher Dinesh Kumar Patel as non-drafted free agents. Singh and Patel are the first-ever Indian-born players to sign a professional sports contract outside of the country, which has a population of more than 1.1 billion people. The announcement was made by Pirates Senior Vice President, General Manager Neal Huntington. ?The Pirates are committed to creatively adding talent to our organization. By adding these two young men, we are pleased to not only add two prospects to our system but also hope to open a pathway to an untapped market,? said Huntington. ?We are intrigued by Patel?s arm strength and Singh?s frame and potential. These young men have improved a tremendous amount in their six month exposure to baseball and we look forward to helping them continue to fulfill their potential.? Singh and Patel, who worked out in front of scouts from the Pirates and other Major League organizations on November 12 at the University of Southern California, emerged as the top two participants of the ?Million Dollar Arm? contest in India. The contest concluded its first ever edition this past March and had more than 30,000 entries. The winner of the contest was based on what person could throw the most pitches 85 miles per hour or faster for strikes.

The White Sox have signed Dayan Viciedo, regarded as Cuba's best teen talent, to a Major League contract. "We feel happy because of the new development, but it should be the White Sox who publicly announce the terms of the contract," agent Jaime Torres said. The four-year deal, reportedly worth $11 million, is expected to become official once Viciedo passes a physical.

The Cardinals have agreed to a deal with left-handed reliever Trever Miller, pending a physical that is scheduled for Thursday. According to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals have a tentative agreement with Miller to be the team's left-handed specialist.

The Orioles signed righthander Brad Hennessey and infielder Donnie Murphy to minor league contracts for the 2009 season on Monday, as reported by Yahoo.com. Terms of the deals were not disclosed.

Reliever Jeremy Affeldt became the first of 171 free agents to agree to a contract, signing a two-year deal Monday with the Giants, according to an Associated Press report.

The New York Yankees announced today that they have signed left-handed pitcher Damaso Marte to a three-year contract with a one-year club option for 2012. Marte, 33, was acquired by the Yankees from the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 26 along with OF Xavier Nady in exchange for RHP's Ross Ohlendorf, Jeff Karstens, and Daniel McCutchen and OF Jose Tabata. In 72 combined relief appearances with the Pirates and Yankees in 2008, he was 5-3 with a 4.02 ERA, holding opponents to a .214 batting average (52-for-243). The lefthander made 25 appearances with the Yankees, going 1-3 with a 5.40 ERA, but allowed just 2ER over his final 16 appearances (11.0IP) from August 16 through the end of the season and held the opposition to a .135 batting average over the stretch (5-for-37).

The Royals have signed right-hander Brandon Duckworth to a one-year contract. He was sent outright to Triple-A Omaha after the signing. Duckworth spent most of last season with Omaha but went 3-3 with a 4.50 ERA in seven starts for Kansas City. He will make a salary based on $600,000 while he's on the Royals and $300,000 if he's in the minors.

Reliever Scott Eyre signed a $2M, one-year deal Monday to remain with the world champion Phillies, according to an Associated Press report.

The Brewers on Saturday hired former Mets manager Willie Randolph as their bench coach, as reported by Yahoo.com. Randolph has been out of baseball since being fired by the Mets in June.