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Odds & Ends: Paxton, Darvish, D'Backs

Links for Thursday...

• Rays infielder Elliot Johnson is the latest out of options player to hit the waiver wire, reports Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times.
• Lefty James Paxton signed with the American Association's Grand Prairie AirHogs in advance of re-entering the draft, reports Baseball America's J.J. Cooper.  Cooper says the AirHogs' schedule should allow for three weeks of playing time for Paxton before the draft.  The Blue Jays drafted the Scott Boras client 37th overall as an A.J. Burnett compensation pick, but were not able to sign him.  Paxton was involved in some drama with the NCAA and eventually decided to withdraw from the University of Kentucky.
• Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker passes along a clarification from Yu Darvish, who says his recent comments did not refer to moving to MLB.
• Forced to make a pick, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports takes the White Sox as his World Series champions.
• Rosenthal says that with Brandon Webb's return date uncertain, the Diamondbacks are trying to trade for a starter.
• Aaron Gleeman suggests the Twins' new stat guy might have a hard time having his voice heard.
• WEEI's Alex Speier notes that a Josh Beckett extension would give the Red Sox four pitchers with contracts of at least four years, more than any other team.  Still, Jon Lester's contract is quite team-friendly.
• The Red Sox are positioned as long-term contenders, writes Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe.
• Baseball Prospectus' Jeff Euston looks at the concept of contract renewals for zero-to-three players.  Tom Tango responds, saying "the inequity in the front-end helps to drive the salaries on the back-end in free agency."
• Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press feels that Ben Revere would be the most expendable Twins' prospect if they are to go after Padres closer Heath Bell.
• Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that the Brewers released outfielder Tike Redman.

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