Today, in Baseball America's latest round of minor league transactions, a number of notable names were optioned to the Eastern League. And although the assignments aren't final, they allow an approximate glimpse at some of the prospects that the Thunder should face this season.

Here's what BA reported this afternoon:

Baltimore Orioles
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Brandon Erbe, RHP Chorye Spoone, LHP Troy Patton, LHP Pedro Viola, 1B Joe Mahoney

Optioned to Double-A: RHP Luis Lebron, SS Pedro Florimon

Boston Red Sox
Signed: C Matt Spring
Released: RHP Doug Wogee
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Stolmy Pimentel, 2B Oscar Tejeda

Cleveland Indians
Signed: 1B Nick Johnson
Released: 1B Chris Kersten
Voluntarily retired: 1B Andrew Kinney
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Corey Kluber, RHP Zach McAllister, RHP Hector Rondon, 3B Jared Goedert, OF Nick Weglarz
Optioned to Double-A: LHP Kelvin de la Cruz, LHP Nick Hagadone

Detroit Tigers
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Lester Oliveros, RHP Jose Ortega, LHP Duane Below, LHP Andy Oliver, 3B Audy Ciriaco, SS Cale Iorg, OF Ryan Strieby
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Jacob Turner

Minnesota Twins
Signed: RHP Gerardo Ramirez, RHP Gonzalo Sanudo, LHP Andrew Albers (Quebec (Can-Am))
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP David Bromberg, RHP Eric Hacker, RHP Anthony Swarzak, OF Rene Tosoni
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Deolis Guerra, 1B Chris Parmelee, OF Joe Benson

New York Mets
Signed: RHP Manny Alvarez*
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Manny Alvarez, RHP Josh Stinson, 3B Zach Lutz, SS Ruben Tejada, OF Fernando Martinez
Optioned to Double-A: 2B Jordany Valdespin
Optioned to high Class A: RHP Armando Rodriguez

Philadelphia Phillies
Released: C Ryan Gugel, 1B Robb Quinlan
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Drew Naylor
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Justin De Fratus, RHP J.C. Ramirez, 1B Matt Rizzotti, 2B Harold Garcia, SS Carlos Rivero
Optioned to high Class A: 2B Cesar Hernandez

Pittsburgh Pirates
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Bryan Morris, LHP Daniel Moskos, LHP Tony Watson, OF Gorkys Hernandez, OF Alex Presley
Optioned to Double-A: RHP Ramon Aguero, LHP Jeff Locke, LHP Aaron Thompson
Optioned to high Class A: RHP Kyle McPherson

San Francisco Giants
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Henry Sosa, LHP Alex Hinshaw, LHP Clayton Tanner, 3B Conor Gillaspie, OF Thomas Neal
Optioned to Double-A: SS Ehire Adrianza, OF Francisco Peguero
Optioned to high Class A: RHP Jose Casilla

Washington Nationals
Signed: RHP Garrett Mock*, LHP Atahualpa Severino*, C Lou Santangelo
Released: RHP Cla Meredith
Optioned to Triple-A: RHP Adam Carr, RHP Garrett Mock, LHP Atahualpa Severino
Optioned to low Class A: OF Bryce Harper

Every Thursday, Minor Matters will unveil its Top 10 opposing players for the 2011 season. Yes, the Thunder are clearly the most interesting topic on this blog, but wouldn't be nice to hear about the next Matt Wieters, Carlos Santana or Stephen Strasburg to come through the Eastern League. Yeah, I thought so too.

No. 3 - Nick Hagadone

Bio: Hagadone was one of the pieces the Red Sox sent to the Indians in the trade for Victor Martinez. He's an imposing, hard-throwing left-hander who could be top shelf either as a starter or a closer. With his injury history though, the latter role seems more likely.

2010: Between Kinston and Akron, Hagadone went 3-5 with a 3.57 ERA in 29 appearances -- 17 starts -- spanning 85 2/3 innings. He allowed 72 hits, held opponents to a .226 batting average, but issued 63 walks against 89 strikeouts.

What People Are Saying:

"The big question for Hagadone is not about his talent. He absolutely has the stuff to succeed at the big-league level. The question is about his role. I'm believe that organizations should attempt to develop their best arms as starters because they can be moved to the bullpen at a later time if necessary. But in this case, Hagadone has the look of a potentially dominant reliever at the back of a bullpen."-- Frankie Piliere, AOL Fanhouse

"If he stays healthy, Hagadone has closer potential, with one scout calling him "Billy Wagner but with the body you'd expect from a guy with that kind of stuff."
-- Kevin Goldstein, Baseball Prospectus

When You Can See Him: Hagadone and the Aeros come in just once, from August 2nd-4th.

Lineups
Akron
CF - Fedroff
3B - Chisenhall
LF - Weglarz
1B - McBride
RF - Drennen
SS - Rivero
2B - Phelps
DH - Goedert
C - Toregas

Trenton
CF - Krum
2B - Adams
C - Romine
3B - Laird
LF - Gorecki
RF - Brewer
DH - Smith
1B - Vechionacci
SS - Nunez

Notes: Yes, you read that right, Marcos Vechionacci is playing first base. He's done it four times in his professional career and is doing it again tonight. He's in a utility role with the Thunder, and first base is part of that role. Manager Tony Franklin said before the game that we might see him in the outfield sometime this season.

Christian Garcia is still here, and was shagging balls and hitting a few fungoes before the game. This came as a bit of a shock to me, just because I thought that, with an injury of that magnitude, just about everything having to do with that arm would cause considerable pain.

I was wrong.

Garcia told me before the game that he can do everything but throw a ball with that arm. If he wanted, he could even flip balls underhand. The only thing he does that causes considerable pain is extending his arm, a fairly critical part of pitching.

John Van Benschoten joined the team today to take the place of Garcia, who was officially placed on the disabled list. Van Benschoten is a former first-round pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

First inning: Mitchell's trademark two-seamer didn't seem to be biting, but he worked around a leadoff hit and a one-out walk to get out of the inning unscathed.

Austin Krum and Austin Romine each fan, and David Adams gets picked off of first by Ryan Edell, who has a fantastic move.

Second inning: A lot of ground balls have gone through against Mitchell, but the big damage came on Jared Goedert's RBI single into the corner in left. He advanced to second on the play. Cord Phelps, who had singled before Goedert, scored on catcher Wyatt Toregas' fielder's choice.

Thunder go 1-2-3. Dan Brewer made a loud out on a long lineout to center field. 2-0 Akron.

Third inning: Matt McBride opened with a single, but the cat-like Marcos Vechionacci turned a swift 3-6-3 double play to help Mitchell escape that jam.

Kevin Smith opened with a walk, but Vechionacci, Nunez and Krum all went down in order to keep it scoreless.

Fourth inning: A wild pitch scored one run, and Rahway native Tim Fedroff's single drove home another. Lonnie Chisenhall made a loud out to center and finished Mitchell's night. John Van Benschoten relieved and allowed a hit before getting out of the inning. 4-0 Akron.

David Adams led off with a hit, but Austin Romine flew to left, Brandon Laird fanned and Adams was caught stealing by catcher Wyatt Toregas.

Fifth inning: Both teams go 1-2-3, with the Thunder flying out to shortstop, second base and left field.

Sixth inning: Van Benschoten gets around a walk and a hit to open the frame, and Luis Nunez hits a long home run to left field to get the Thunder on the board. 4-1 Akron.

Seventh inning: The heart of the Thunder's order -- Austin Romine, Brandon Laird and Reid Gorecki -- went down on a strikeout, a fly to left and a foul pop to catcher Wyatt Toregas, who made fantastic play near the fence.

Eighth inning: With two on and two out, Austin Krum gave one a long ride to right-center field, but it died in the wind and turned into a long flyout.

Ninth inning: Aeros add one on a John Drennen sac fly, Thunder have Adams, Romine and Laird coming up.

Good morning. The Thunder finished off a season-opening sweep of the Erie SeaWolves yesterday, marking the first time since 1999 that the team has started 4-0. Strong pitching was the earmark of the series, along with lots of hitting from second baseman David Adams.

Additionally, Lance Pendleton told reporters after the game that he will replace Christian Garcia in the rotation. Garcia has a torn elbow ligament and is done for a while. A course of treatment for Garcia has not been determined.

Tonight: The Thunder face the Akron Aeros and Ryan Edell, who spent most of last season with Akron. He faced Trenton just once, coming away a winner on one of the Thunder's many bullpen starts.

Edell will breathe a sigh of relief tonight knowing the one man who really got to him that night last June, Edwar Gonzalez, is sitting on the bench. Gonzalez hit two home runs -- half of his season total -- but both were solo shots and the Thunder lost, 4-3.

Marcos Vechionacci was the only other current member of the Thunder to have a hit off of Edell that night.

But Gonzalez's mastery of Edell does not stop there. In May 2008 Gonzalez had a 3-for-4 night off the left-hander. No home runs this time, though, all singles. He faced Edell again in August and went 1-for-4

Another cool note about Edell: In 2006, he played with the Arizona Fall League's Peoria Javelinas. That team included, among others, Jacoby Ellsbury, Yunel Escobar, Trevor Crowe, Kevin Kouzmanoff and Ryan Rowland-Smith.

Dates: April 12-15
Where: Waterfront Park

SCHEDULED STARTERS:

Monday: D.J. Mitchell (NR) vs. Ryan Edell (NR) -- 7:05 p.m.
Tuesday: Lance Pendleton (1-0, 0.00) vs. Zach Putnam ( 0-0, 4.50) -- 7:05 p.m.
Wednesday: Ryan Pope (0-0, 1.80) vs. Scott Barnes (0-0, 8.10) 10:35 a.m.

WHO'S HOT:

Thunder: The starting rotation has limited the opposition to two runs on 11 hits over the first four games. They've walked just three in that time. David Adams is hitting .500 with a team-high five RBIs and has three multi-hit games.

Aeros: Shortstop Lonnie Chisenhall is hitting .455 (5-for-11) with a pair of doubles and RBIs. Catcher Matt McBride is 4-for-12 with a home run and four RBIs. Outfielder Nick Weglarz is hitting .300 with a home run. Reliever Bryan Price has four strikeouts and hasn't allowed a hit in his first 1 2/3 innings.

Note: The Aeros haven't stolen a base this season.