The Minnesota Twins have signed Orlando Hudson to a one-year, $5 million contract, agreeing not to offer salary arbitration next fall if he becomes a Type A free agent, which means he’d rank in the upper 20% of second basemen in the game… which could totally happen.

This move not only takes care of their second base problem (no offense, Nick Punto) it also forms a whole new pairing up the middle with spankin’ new shortstop J.J. Hardy, who was acquired by the Twins early in the offseason in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Hudson, 32, batted .283 with 35 doubles, six triples, nine home runs and 62 RBIs for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season.

In other MLB news, the Seattle Mariners are rumored to be getting close to signing pitcher Erik Bedard to a one-year contract, pending a physical. This information was of course leaked to The Associated Press by an anonymous blabbermouth close to negotiations.

The deal is expected to be much less than the $7.75 million the lefty made last season, but is likely to include incentives.  Once he’s healthy, he’ll make a nice addition to what has become one of the most lethal one-two punches in baseball with Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee at the top of Seattle’s rotation.

Bedard, whose past two seasons with the team were marred by injury, went 5-3 with a 2.82 ERA over 15 starts in 2009. He has been rehabbing up in Canada from an August surgery where he had a torn labrum in his pitching shoulder repaired. The 30-year-old has been working with a physical therapist in Ontario, but Mariners trainer Rick Griffin says he has “a long way to go” and that he’s looking at 3-5 more months of rehabilitation.

Also, the Chicago Cubs have confirmed that they’ll be giving old school first baseman Kevin Millar some minor league action this season, even though they denied the allegations earlier this week. This news makes me happy, cause Kevin Millar is pretty awesome.