Winter Meetings--Day Three Update

With this year’s winter meetings shaping up to be a huge disappointment, the rumors are starting to lose some steam. It seems that everyone is waiting around for the Twins to make a Johan Santana deal, even those teams that won’t be directly affected by such a blockbuster deal. Unfortunately, every year seems to produce a different excuse as to why there isn’t much activity at the meetings. It may be time to consider bringing back a trading deadline at the end of the meetings. That way, teams would feel some pressure to make trades during the winter confab, or else they'd have to wait until spring training to make deals without first needing waivers.
Back to this year's swapmeet. The general feeling is that Santana won’t be traded during the meetings. Still, the Mets feel that they have an outside shot at Santana, even though they continue to insist that Jose Reyes is an untouchable. The Mets’ idea is to bulk up a prospective package with as many as four prospects, from a group that includes pitchers Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Mike Pelfrey, and outfielders Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez. The Mets might even throw Aaron Heilman into the mix; he could be attractive to the Twins as a potential closer, freeing up Joe Nathan to be traded. That would be Minnesota’s next piece of business, after the never-ending Santana talks come to some kind of a conclusion...

Dontrelle Willis may not be done packing. The Tigers could spin him off to another team, principally the Mets, assuming they fall short on Santana. Here’s the rub: the Tigers might insist that the Mets take on Ivan Rodriguez’ $13 million contract for 2008. If that’s the case, why did the Tigers pick up Pudge’s option in the first place? If Rodriguez is included in a deal, that would give the Mets a fourth catcher, including three off-season acquisitions. Of course, that would leave the Tigers without a catcher, unless they ask for either Brian Schneider or Johnny Estrada to be included in the deal. Confused yet? I am…

On the free agent front, the Mets continue to show interest in Freddy Garcia, Livan Hernandez, and Bartolo Colon. Regardless of whether the Mets make a major trade for pitching, Omar Minaya is likely to sign one of those three for the back end of his rotation. The Mets might also take a flyer on Jon “Big Daddy” Lieber, who has received from the Reds and Astros among others. Somewhat surprisingly, the Yankees have shown no interest in Lieber, even though he is good friends with new skipper Joe Girardi… The Yankees would like to sign lefty reliever Ron Mahay, but don’t want to go three years. The Rays like Mahay strongly enough that they might be willing to give him a three-year deal…

Having failed to sign Kaz Matsui to a bloated contract, the Cubs are having talks with the Orioles about Brian Roberts. Not satisfied with a combination of Mark DeRosa and Mike Fontenot at second base, the Cubs apparently covet Roberts because of his ability to lead off. I would assume that either Rich Hill or Sean Marshall would be part of any package going back to Baltimore. Another possibility would be Felix Pie, who would fill Baltimore’s open wound in center field…

The Brewers and Cardinals could be coming close on a deal that would send Scott Rolen to Milwaukee for left-hander Chris Capuano. Some other lesser players would likely fill out the deal on both sides. The Cardinals remain stubborn about wanting the Brewers to pick up the balance on Rolen’s two remaining contract years, but if they give a little, a deal could get done.