ANAHEIM, Calif., Dec. 12 -- The black-draped stage with the carved-wood lectern in Grand Ballroom E of the Anaheim Marriott -- the spot where teams and agents traditionally assemble to announce big deals at baseball's winter meetings -- remained unoccupied and unused Sunday, as the possibility grew that the meetings will conclude Monday without any more major announcements.
However, that does not mean there has been no action. It just means the market for big-name players -- both free agents and trade targets -- is a fluid situation that could break wide open as soon as one of those big names makes the first leap.
_____From The Post_____
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"I think there will be some surprise deals [in the coming weeks], some very creative deals," said agent Scott Boras, whose client list includes many of the market's biggest names. "You never know what might happen with all the offensive talent still out there."
A market that to this point has been built from the ground up -- with second- and third-tier pitchers and position players helping define the markets for the premier talent -- has begun to show signs of shifting, with a handful of star players close to signing deals.
Once first baseman Richie Sexson signs, first baseman Carlos Delgado will almost certainly follow, or vice versa -- as of Sunday night, Seattle and Baltimore were still in the running for Sexson, while Delgado's demands were deemed too high for those teams -- and those signings, in turn, could help define the market for right fielder Magglio Ordoñez and third baseman Adrian Beltre.
In addition, the Chicago Cubs sound increasingly optimistic that the trade market for slugger-in-decline Sammy Sosa is growing as teams fall out of the running for the high-priced hitters on the market. Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry told reporters Sunday that five or six teams are interested in Sosa.
At one point Saturday, it appeared the Boston Red Sox were going to sign shortstop Edgar Renteria to a four-year deal worth around $38 million. But when that deal dissolved, Renteria's market blossomed into a five-team race, with Boston, St. Louis, Anaheim, Detroit and Seattle all alive. And one of the teams that loses out on Renteria almost certainly will wind up with Orlando Cabrera as a consolation prize.
On the pitching side, the Oakland Athletics' dangling of star right-hander Tim Hudson may be holding up the flow of free agent signings, with teams waiting to see if they might be able to land Hudson (who, at $6.75 million in 2005, is a bargain in this bull market).
However, there is still movement on the free agent market. The New York Yankees, according to league sources, have wrapped up the signings of right-handers Carl Pavano (four years, $39 million) and Jaret Wright (three years, $21 million), but will not announce the deals until Monday at the earliest. The deal with Wright came after he took a second physical exam and the Yankees were satisfied with the state of his surgically repaired right shoulder.
The Toronto Blue Jays were close to finalizing a three-year deal with third baseman Corey Koskie worth a total of about $17 million, according to sources familiar with the talks. The Blue Jays, who fell to last place in the AL East last season, were prepared to move Eric Hinske from third base to first.
Carlos Beltran remains the prized catch of the market, and Boras, his agent, has already had at least two meetings with the Yankees.
"We're in play with Beltran," Yankees GM Brian Cashman told reporters. "Whether that takes us anywhere, I don't know."
Note: ESPN analyst Peter Gammons, the longtime baseball writer for the Boston Globe, was named the recipient of the Baseball Writers Association of America's J.G. Taylor Spink Award for 2004, an honor that comes with recognition in the writers' wing of the Hall of Fame.
