Winter Meetings, Indianapolis

Dec 7-10. It's actually winter in Indianapolis this year, and there's rain/snow/wind coming Wednesday. It's starting to feel like Christmas, so what does the front office have for us under the tree, as all the GM's, agents, and baseball writers are converging here for the Winter Meetings? So far not a ton of news. Sues and Cruz are off the 40-man roster, so maybe they'll sign one guy, and for sure will take someone in the Rule 5 draft (probably either a SS or a RP). There have been a few notes about "useless to the Pirates" players such as Pierre and Crosby, and the usual trade rumblings around Capps, Doumit, Duke and Maholm. If Neil's to make a big splash this week, I sure hope it's one of the Reclamation 4 (Bedard, Sheets, Duchscherer or Harden), as unlikely as that is. A hitter could be in the works too: I fancied Byrd for awhile, but I've cooled as I have a feeling he's a Gary Matthews Jr - Texas flash in the pan type. His home/road splits are not very promising. That leaves (realistically) names like Ankiel, Blalock and Nady. Of those 3, Nady please. The more I think about RF, the more I like the idea of Tabata and Pedro spending most of 2010 together in Indy, hitting 3-4, learning from each other. Tabata's a patient hitter, who could wear out a pitcher getting on base, and then Pedro can take advantage of that. Should make for a much more exciting September 2010 when Tabata arrives, and June 2011 when Pedro arrives.