Odds and Ends: Abreu, Millwood, Wigginton

Links for Thursday…

• Luke Hudson agreed to stay with the Royals on a minor league deal.  And because Braves fans keep emailing it…the Braves signed Lance Niekro as a pitcher, as noted in the minor league transactions we linked yesterday.  Talking Chop and Henry Schulman have more.
• Along similar lines, here’s a link to Joel Sherman’s December 12th story about the Orlando Hudson and Adam Dunn being the Nationals’ backup plan for Mark Teixeira.  That came four days before the Jon Heyman report people keep emailing.
• C.C. Sabathia’s preferred teams heading into free agency: the Yankees, Brewers, and Angels.
• Dave O’Brien tries to figure out what the Braves should do with all their money.
• John Fay explains why the Reds may attempt to acquire a young shortstop.
• The Orioles may move on to Gregg Zaun now that Matt Treanor is off the board.
• Geoff Baker speculates on a possible Mariners-Brewers trade match, though nothing seems to be cooking currently.
• RotoAuthority looks at the biggest losers, comparing ’09 fantasy baseball mock draft positions to ’08.
• I did a Q&A with Called Safe At Second.
• ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick writes about how teams view free agent outfielder Bobby Abreu.
• Kevin Millwood has twelve million reasons to pitch 180 innings in 2009.  I never understood that phrase.  Why is each dollar a reason?
• Dejan Kovacevic says Ty Wigginton has no wish to return to Pittsburgh.
• Roch Kubatko is hearing the Orioles may have reached a settlement with Sidney Ponson regarding the grievance.
• Pitcher Jon Leicester is the latest to head to Japan.
• Might not read about this on MLBTR, eh?  Chico Harlan says the Nationals signed 16 year-old Dominican prospects Bill Pena and Gregory Baez.