Odds And Ends: Mahay, Hudson, Wagner

Some links to distract you from the Brad Penny rumors... Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune hears indications that the Twins could consider dealing for Ron Mahay, who the Royals just designated for assignment. ESPN passes along an AP report informing us that Tim Hudson will make his 2009 season debut on Monday. It would be a surprise if the Braves turned out to be the team that claimed Rich Harden given their pitching depth. Newsday's Ken Davidoff points us to an interesting wrinkle in the rulebook. Teams that offer their free agents arbitration don't have to offer them anything close to the salary they made the previous season. So if the Red Sox decide they want to offer Billy Wagner less than $8MM next year, they can do so. This is not the case for players who don't yet have six years of service time.