WINTER MEETINGS DAY ONE RECAP

The first day of the Winter Meetings is coming to an end, but there haven't been too many concrete deals yet. Some smaller ones have occurred, and many rumors are circulating, but there could be some big ones coming. Also, today was day that players had to accept or reject arbitration. First to the real deals.

The Yankees made the first trade of the week, sending reliever Brian Bruney to the Nationals for their Rule 5 draft pick this Thursday. Interesting trade off here. While Bruney didn't get any love down the stretch, he was OK overall, and on a team like the Nats he could easily work his way up to closing; so a good deal for Bruney and Washington. The other significant deal saw Brad Penny sign with the St. Louis Cardinals. Penny wasn't very good for the Red Sox, but after being dropped and subsequently picked up by the Giants he did very well. Enough for a guaranteed 7.5 million with another 1.5 in incentives?! Maybe not, but the plus side is he still throws very hard, and with the added help of Dave Duncan, he could very well be the best in a long line of Cardinal reclamations. Also, Adam Everett resigned with the Tigers, and it looks like the Nats have a surprising 2 year deal in place with Ivan Rodriguez.

Amongst the major arbitration cases, the following players have accepted: Carl Pavano, Rafael Soriano, and Rafael Betancourt. I'm surprised Pavano accepted, as he could've tried to pursue a longer deal, but maybe his above 5.00 ERA made him think twice. Even with that, his line wasn't so bad, but maybe another year past Tommy John surgery will help him land a longer contract. As I talked about yesterday, Soriano could be dealt if he accepts a trade, which I think he would. I won't talk about individual rejections, but I will say that I'm surprised more guys didn't accept it, especially after what went down last off-season. Egos never learn, do they?

On the rumor front, there may be a major three way blockbuster in the works. The Yankees, Tigers, and D'Backs were exploring a deal that would land Curtis Granderson and prospects in NY, Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy in Arizona, and Max Scherzer, Austin Jackson, and a couple Yankee relievers in Detroit. Clearly, the Tigers would get the best part of this deal. Austin Jackson may be ready to replace Granderson already, Scherzer may be better than Edwin Jackson, and they would also get Phil Coke and Mike Dunn, two good, young relievers. As of tonight, it sounds like things have halted, but some form of this may happen. Seems like the Yanks really want Granderson, but maybe not at that price.

In other news, Randy Wolf appears ready to sign with the Brewers for three years. If so, this would be a great pick-up for a team in desperate need of good starters, and Wolf has been very good the last couple of years. I applaud Milwaukee for going three years with him, something the Dodgers should've done. The Angels appear to be in on Jason Bay, which would make that outfield very scary offensively. The Mets could be offering Bengie Molina a year and an option, and have interest in Adam Kennedy, Kevin Millwood, Gil Meche, Kelvim Escobar, Josh Willingham, and Juan Rivera. Millwood would be a good fit, as would either of the outfielders. I think Willingham or Rivera would be a more cost effective solution to their left field problem, and one Mets fans could live with.

That's it from BT on Day One. If anything major happens we'll let you know, and either way we'll recap tomorrow night.