The Royals today claimed outfielder Jai Miller on Outright Waivers from the Athletics and optioned him to Triple-A Omaha. To create a spot on the Major League 40-man roster, the club transferred infielder Josh Fields to the 60-day Disabled List. Miller, whose first name is pronounced ?Jay?, is a 25-year old outfielder who appeared in 10 games for Sacramento (AAA) in the A?s system this April. He was claimed by Oakland off waivers from the Florida Marlins on April 8. The 6-foot-3, 207 pound right-handed hitter and thrower had previously spent his entire career in the Marlins chain since being selected in the fourth round of the 2003 Draft. After appearing in one game for the Marlins on June 22, 2008, striking out in his only at bat, he spent the entire 2009 campaign at New Orleans (AAA) where he hit .289 with 24 doubles, two triples, 16 home runs, 52 RBI and 55 runs in 102 games.

Alex Rodriguez started an around-the-horn gem for the Yankees' first triple play in 42 years. But it was his casual jog directly across the diamond that started all the trouble. Oakland pitcher Dallas Braden screamed at Rodriguez after accusing him of breaching one of baseball's unwritten rules, setting off a shouting match Thursday in the Athletics' 4-2 win over the Yankees, according to an ESPN.com report.

The A's and Brett Anderson have agreed to a four-year contract. Anderson has yet to give up an earned run in 12 innings in 2010. Anderson receives a $1 million signing bonus, payable in equal installments on Aug. 5, Nov. 1, March 1 and Nov. 1, 2011. He gets $500,000 this year, $1 million next year, $3 million in 2012 and $5.5 million in 2013, and Oakland has options for $8 million in 2014 and $12 million in 2015. Click here to read RealGM's look on Anderson's early 2010 success.

By Christopher Reina Brett Anderson came into 2010 with as much buzz as anybody in baseball and he hasn't disappointed with no earned runs through his first 12 innings of work, both coming against Seattle. He has a WHIP of 1.00, a K/9 rate of 7.5 and his BAbip has dropped to .274, which was one of the main reasons why he seemed destined to improve his 4.06 2009 ERA (3.69 FIP). Anderson was acquired by the A's as part of the Dan Haren trade that also netted Carlos Gonzalez. The fact that Billy Beane turned an aging Mark Mulder into three years of Haren, a stud outfielder he flipped to Colorado in the Matt Holliday deal and a 22-year-old lefty starter already putting up impressive starts is nothing short of miraculous. Dave Cameron of the excellent Seattle blog USS Mariner had this to say about Anderson following his start on Tuesday, which I included in my MLB scoop for Wednesday. Brett Anderson is tremendous. If I had to start a franchise with any pitcher in baseball, Brett Anderson would be in the discussion for the guy I would take. I?d probably end up with Felix (Hernandez) or (Tim) Lincecum or (Zack) Greinke, but I?d seriously consider Anderson. He?s that good. For all the problems the offense has had, facing him twice in the last five days hasn?t helped. Cameron also writes for FanGraphs and is one of the better baseball writers out there. He also has seen every pitch Anderson has thrown in 2010, as well as at least the five starts he had against the Mariners in 2009, which gave him a 3.41 ERA in 29 innings. Last season, Anderson had a July streak of 21 scoreless innings when his velocity began to increase and his K/9 numbers began to climb over 8.00 and even 9.73 in September. All the while, he continued to have a BAbip that was unsustainable for hitters. Anderson largely works off of a low to mid 90s fastball (occasionally hitting ab and an excellent slider that rests in the low to mid 80s. In 2009, most of Anderson's success was with the slider, but his fastball was very hittable. This season, Anderson has been far more successful with the fastball while relying a little more on the slider and a little less on the change, which he worked on heavily during the spring and has improved. His ability to get outs at the MLB level is already indisputable and will not go away. My biggest concern with putting him in the category near the likes of Lincecum, Felix and Greinke is his very good, though not yet elite strikeout rate. His K/9 rate in the minors was consistently around 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings, but he had a mark of 7.7 in his first season and has been about the same this season through those first 12 innings. But he has the kind of stuff where his strikeouts will nudge upwards in time, as it did for Steve Carlton, a Hall of Fame lefty who also had an excellent slider. Even though his K/9 rate doesn't approach or exceed 10.0, Anderson is still ranked 18th all-time in this category amongst starting lefties with at least 100 innings at 23 or younger. Number one and two on that list are Rick Ankiel and Oliver Perez and one is now an outfielder in Kansas City and the other is impossibly erratic. Number five on the list is teammate Gio Gonzalez, who strikes out batters at a Cy Young pace and is only a reduction in his walk and homer rates away from being every bit as good as Anderson. I'm not ready to put Anderson ahead of the three pitchers he mentioned, or ahead of Jon Lester, Josh Johnson, Clayton Kershaw and Ubaldo Jimenez, but he has officially joined that party of the game's best young pitchers. Chris Reina is the executive editor of RealGM. Click here to follow his Twitter feed.

Jack Cust has reported to Triple-A Sacramento one week after the Athletics designated him for assignment. "Ultimately, I think given the structure of the team and the need for power, Jack swinging the bat well would be exactly what we need," general manager Billy Beane said. "We hope he goes down there, gets some at-bats, gets his swing going and comes back up here." Cust has led Oakland in home runs in each of the last three seasons. After Cust cleared waivers Wednesday, the only way for him to collect his $2.65 million salary was to accept the assignment.

Jack Cust, who was designated for assignment by the Athletics prior to Opening Day, has cleared waivers and has been assigned to Triple-A Sacramento. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland hasn't yet heard if Cust has accepted the assignment. If he turns it down, Cust will be a free agent and would not be paid the $2.65 million he re-signed for in the offseason. "I'll probably stick around," Cust said earlier this week. "There's not much out there right now, so there's a good chance I'll [clear waivers]."

The Athletics have placed outfielder Coco Crisp on the disabled list with a left pinkie fracture. He was tagged by Juan Uribe while sliding into second base in the third inning of the A's 2-1 loss to the Giants on Friday night when he suffered the injury. Crisp shouldn't miss too much time.

The Athletics designated Jack Cust for assignment, giving the team 10 days to either trade, waive or release him. Cust was Oakland's leading home run hitter in 2009. He was re-signed to a one-year, $2.65 million deal in the off-season.