LOS ANGELES — Forgotten man Tony Gwynn Jr. tops a list of 17 non-roster players invited to Dodgers Major League camp, the club confirmed on Tuesday.
Gwynn’s “invitation” was no surprise, as the Dodgers still owe him a guaranteed salary of $1.15 million in the second year of a contract he signed last winter.
Despite the contract, Gwynn was taken off the 40-man roster last summer, outrighted to Triple-A Albuquerque after the acquisition of Shane Victorino and finished the season in the Minor Leagues.
The club previously announced the signings to Minor League contracts of pitchers Juan Abreu, Kelvin De La Cruz and Gregory Infante, catcher Wilkin Castillo and infielders Alfredo Amezaga, Nick Evans and Osvaldo Martinez.
The most interesting of the new names signed Tuesday is Ramon Castro, a 36-year-old who has spent parts of 11 seasons in the Major Leagues and becomes the veteran catching insurance policy behind starter A.J. Ellis and rookie Tim Federowicz.
Eliazer Alfonzo, 33, is a catcher that hit 12 homers for the Giants as a rookie, but has bounced around since then and played in Mexico last year.
Brian Barden, 31, is an infielder who last appeared in the Major Leagues in 2010 and played half of the 2011 season in Japan.
Omar Luna, a 26-year-old utility man, played last year for Tampa Bay’s Double-A affiliate in Montgomery.
Infielder Dallas McPherson, formerly a top prospect with the Angels, will be with his seventh organization. The 32-year-old last played in the Major Leagues with the White Sox in 2011 and spent ’12 at Triple-A for Pittsburgh and the White Sox. In 2008, he hit 42 homers for Albuquerque.
Jeremy Moore, a 25-year-old outfielder, is a former Angels farmhand who will participate in next week’s development minicamp in Arizona. He missed the 2012 season with hip labrum surgery, but briefly reached the big leagues for the Angels in ’11 after being a sixth-round pick in 2005. He bats left-handed and throws right-handed.
Matt Palmer, a 33-year-old right-handed pitcher, has pitched parts of the past five seasons in the Major Leagues, including briefly for San Diego last year, and he went 11-2 for the Angels in 2009 as a swingman.
Ken Gurnick is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
