WINTER MEETINGS DAY FOUR RECAP

The final day of the Winter Meetings went by rather quick. Usually the GM's start leaving after the Rule 5 Draft, so this is traditionally not a very busy day. The major news was that the Mets have come out of their shell and offered both Jason Bay and Bengie Molina contracts. The Molina offering isn't real news, as they've been talking about this for days, and just finally pulled the trigger. The Bay one, though, was a little surprising. They went from having a little interest to jumping out in front of everyone else. The supposed deal is about 5 million more than the Red Sox offered the left fielder, 4 years and 65 mil. I don't think that particular offer will get it done, but it's a good starting point. Bay wants five years, and I think the Mets will have to go there to get him.

A couple of deals were furthered along to the finish line. The Rafael Soriano to the Rays trade is done, and the Mike Lowell to the Rangers has been agreed upon, if not official yet. The Sox will pay a whopping 9 mil to rid of a good player that's aging and coming off an injury marred season. He still did well, and will more than improve the Rangers taking over Hank Blalock's role. This clears the way for Boston to acquire Adrian Beltre, whom they highly covet. The Red Sox also picked by Boof Bonser who was designated or assignment by the Twins.

The battle for Roy Halladay is heating up, with the Phillies getting back into the fray. The huge advantage they hold over the Angels are that they've been to the World Series two years in a row, and their Spring Training facility is just miles away from where Halladay lives. They also have the prospects Toronto wants, although the package dangled by the Angels is fantastic led by Joe Saunders and Erick Aybar. It seems like more and more he will be traded out of the division, although the Yankees still hold pieces that the Blue Jays love.

The Astros, who have been very active this week, signed former Phillies 3rd Baseman Pedro Feliz to man their hot corner. Feliz, while not the biggest bat, won't kill them, and his defense is rather good. The White Sox did sign JJ Putz, and the Royals locked up catcher Jason Kendall to the all popular two year deal for all backstops this winter.

The Rule Five Draft is interesting and at times has produced superstars, but its very hard to tell if any of this year's crop will be any good. The Yankees decided to try and take an outfielder to help recover the Austin Jackson loss. The player, Jamie Hoffmann, was selected out of the Dodgers system, and appears to be a slighter slower Brett Gardner with more pop. They lost two pitchers: Zack Krozenke and Kanekoa Texeira. The Mets selected a right hander out of the Phillies' system, and promptly sold him to the Dodgers. I guess they need the cash to sign Bay.

That concludes this years Winter Meetings. The Hot Stove is just getting started, though, as the biggest free agents have yet to be claimed. This weekend we will also find out which players may be non-tendered. I hope you dug our coverage, we look forward to following the rest of the off season with you.