• It looks like the Washington Nationals have decided to play hard ball (pun intended) with free agent second baseman Orlando Hudson, as MLB.com's Bill Ladson reported Tuesday night, in an article entitled, "Nationals have interest in Kennedy", that 34-year-old former Cardinal, Angel and A, Adam Kennedy, has been on the Nationals' radar "for several weeks" as they've conducted their search for an affordable infield option. FOXSports.com's Jon Paul Morosi wrote on Tuesday in an update to Mr. Morosi and Ken Rosenthal's "Buzz: Latest from the MLB offseason", subtitled, "Nationals looking at Hudson", that, "One person with knowledge of (Orlando) Hudson's market believes Washington would be willing to make him a two-year offer at the right price." Not so, according to MLB.com's Mr. Ladson, who writes:
"...don't look for (the Nationals) to offer Hudson a two-year deal either. In fact, the source believes the Giants set the market for infielders like Hudson when they re-signed Juan Uribe to a one-year, $3.25 million contract on Jan. 5."
• Kennedy earned $4M last season in the final year of a three-year deal the infielder signed with St. Louis in 2006. The Cardinals released the then-33-year-old infielder in February of '09, and he signed a minor league deal with Tampa Bay less than a week later. When Kennedy failed to make the Rays' roster out of Spring Training, he was dealt to Oakland where ended up playing in 129 games with the A's, over which he hit .289 with a .348 OBP, .410 SLG, (.758) OPS, 29 doubles, 11 HR's and 62 RBI's. Kennedy was linked to the D-Backs and Mets earlier this winter, but Arizona eventually signed Kelly Johnson, and New York still has Luis Castillo on their roster...