Odds and Ends: Livan, Bartlett, Willis, Webb

"The D'Backs will no longer look at annual payroll. Instead, they have a three-year budget to spend. This may allow for a higher payroll in 2008 than 2009. Jack Magruder guesses the number is around $230-240MM for 2008-10."

That's not bad. That's a little more than what the Jays' parent company Rogers had budgeted for them from '05 - '07. With a lineup consisting mostly of young cheap players, ARI can afford to add a big name or two this and the next offseasons.

Mayhay's just shopping for a good offer. He'll get picked up (hopefully by the Braves again).

"Signing Livan would be the same thing as resigning Glavine so not an upgrade."

Which would be fine. There are no upgrades out there. The mets arent getting Santana and Haren is too costly also. Blanton flat out isnt worth Milledge. The Mets SP didnt cost them last year, the lineup and the bullpen did. The Mets underachieved offensively almost the entire season and it caught up with them at the end. The only guy who duplicated his 06 season was Wright. If any of Reyes, Delgado, Beltran(albeit he tore it up the second half), Lo duca put up similar numbers to their 06 lines, the Mets would have made the playoffs easily. The mets rotation had a bunch of bad starts late, but guys like MAine and OP carried the Mets thru almost the whole season. I would expect Perez to be locked up soon also.

I expect better numbers from Maine and PErez. Maine was outstanding for most of the year with a bad 5 or 6 starts that really bumped his ERA up like a full point. It came out at the end of the season he had a hip injury that he played through. Maine also will be going into the season with a pretty good slider, which was still developing this time last year and not very effective at the start of the season. Perez is a little iffy, but with another winter of working with the Jacket, he should be solid. He also is our best big game pitcher(i know, i know not in that marlin game on the last friday night of the year). When he doesnt walk guys, he dominates. It honestly is that simple. He just has to keep his arm angle the same and not drop down with his slider or it will hang. I think he is very solid, and as you know he does well against Atlanta for some reason. I see no reason why Perez wont get better with another season of tutolage from Peterson, and an offseason of knowing his role next year, not an offseason of uncertainty and having to fight for a rotation spot. He is also still only 26, an age where lefties are usually coming into their own. He is also awesome against Ryan Howard for what that is worth. NL East should be fun all year though.

This is just me trying to think up interesting rumors, not real ones, but how does this sound?
D-Backs: Dontrelle Willis, Dan Uggla
Marlins: Carlos Gonzalez, Miguel Montero, Jerry Owens, Danny Richar
White Sox: Orlando Hudson

It'd fill a bunch of holes for Florida, including CF, C, 2B and Gonzalez could take a corner spot from Willingham soon. The White Sox have liked Hudson for a while, and it justs seems to me like fair value all around.