Let the games begin

The Winter Meetings in Dallas kick off today (as if you didn't know that already) and let's face it, everyone needs something to think of besides the fact that the Bengals are going to win the AFC North. Dejan obliges with his Winter Meetings preview, which doesn't really tell us a whole lot we didn't know. Of course the subject of third base comes up (painfully pointing out the difference between Jose Hernandez/Chris Stynes/Rob Mackowiak/Ty Wigginton/Freddy Sanchez and Aramis Ramirez. Since third base is more or less a wasteland at free agency this year (Mueller and Randa don't offer more than a Sanchez/Mackowiak rotation at third and I'm guessing the Pirates will have to seriously overpay for Nomar which isn't something I really would agree with) the topic of a trade comes up and a new name emerges in this article, Troy Glaus. Hmmm, now there's an intriguing possibility. Glaus is due $34 million over the next three years but is three years younger than Nomar. His numbers last year suggest that he's healthy after some serious shoulder problems. Arizona is mostly looking to dump his contract (says KFFL via the Bucs Dugout) so he might not come as costly (in terms of what we need to give up) as he otherwise would. Glaus would really be an intriguing target to go after. If Nomar's price soars, Glaus would only cost a bit more than that and may be a safer bet. He also doesn't have the drastic home/away split questions that Blalock does. If the D'Backs are looking to dump payroll, he also may come cheaper than Oliver Perez. I'd say if Glaus is on the market he's definitely worth a long, hard look.

It also seems that the Pirates are still searching for first basemen or outfielders. Of the mentioned names a bunch of Reds come up though I'd think that only Pena and maybe Dunn are really worth a second looks (Kearns and Griffey get injured a ton, Casey doesn't afford much of an answer at first for the price tage). Other names mentioned are Kevin Mench (who would be more of the same from the Pirates as far as I'm concerned) and Overbay (see Sean Casey).

I guess we'll just have to wait and see what kind of rumors come out of Dallas today before there can be much more speculation.