Winter Meetings

Righthander Jake Peavy probably will be traded by the San Diego Padres before the winter meetings next month. After spending 4 days at the annual general managers' meetings in Dana Point, Calif., Padres general manager Kevin Towers said it is unlikely the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner will remain with San Diego, which signed him out of high school in 1999. "The train's kind of left the station," Towers said yesterday. Guaranteed $63 million under a contract that runs through 2012, Peavy is relatively inexpensive when compared with what CC Sabathia is likely to get on the free-agent market.

Barry Bonds and Barry Zito are among the most notable of the unsigned free agents heading into baseball's winter meetings, which begin today in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Already, this off-season has been a spending spree for some teams. In the last two weeks, Alfonso Soriano got a $136 million agreement from the Chicago Cubs and Carlos Lee was guaranteed $100 million by the Houston Astros. Bonds' agent, Jeff Borris, was angry that the Giants did not offer salary arbitration to the 42-year-old leftfielder, coming off a $90 million, five-year contract with San Francisco, and he might step up his efforts with other teams.

One of the best things about my job is that I get to travel to some of the sports gatherings that I once just read about in the newspaper. The one that I looked forward to the most was baseball's winter meetings, held each year in early December. The "winter meetings" meant that baseball fans were in for some red-hot news about their favorite sport. Trades happened. The Rule 5 draft happened. Free agents signed. General managers gathered in the hotel lobby to wheel and deal. It was Disneyland and Christmas wrapped up in one nifty package.

In the old days, Phillies president Bill Giles used to love the winter baseball meetings. He'd roll up his sleeves, surround himself with cronies, cigarettes, refreshments (of a kind), and talk deals until the sun came up. "We were always fighting a deadline," Giles said the other day. "You had to get things done at the winter meetings; it was your last best chance. " This year's winter meetings begin tomorrow in Chicago, and the Phillies want badly to get stuff done: They want an ace pitcher; they want a southpaw reliever; they'd love to strengthen their bench.

Maybe those baseball winter meetings will be nothing more than a big free- agent signing festival. Maybe there won't be five big deals all week. Maybe everyone will come jetting home Thursday, grumbling about what a waste of time the whole thing has become. But then again . . . You never know. So Lee Thomas and 25 other general managers will start roaming the lobby of the O'Hare Hyatt in Chicago when those meetings begin this morning, hoping to start that one conversation that will change the face of their franchise.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - The Phillies baseball people were gathered their third-floor suite yesterday morning when senior advisor Pat Gillick's cell phone buzzed. It might be . . . It could be . . . It was. The call was to inform Gillick that he had been elected to the Hall of Fame by the Expansion Era Committee. An impromptu party broke out. A bottle of champagne with Gillick's face superimposed on the label suddenly appeared, courtesy of team travel director Frank Coppenbarger.

Barry and Manny figure to be mentioned prominently alongside Grumpy and Goofy when baseball's winter meetings open today near Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Barry Bonds and Barry Zito are among the most notable of the unsigned free agents heading into the 4-day session of signings and swaps, and Manny Ramirez once again is being dangled in trade discussions by the Boston Red Sox. Thus far, some general managers have spent nearly as wildly as...

The winter meetings begin Monday in Nashville - they unofficially began Sunday night - and end with the Rule 5 draft early Thursday morning. That's a four-day period in an offseason process that can last almost as long as the season itself. The point is that regardless of what Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. accomplishes during his stay at the Opryland Hotel, there will be plenty of time to do lots of things afterward. Amaro, in fact, has typically made his major moves after the meetings, including the acquisition of Roy Halladay from Toronto in 2009, the signing of Cliff Lee in 2010, and the re-signing of shortstop Jimmy Rollins last December.

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - They shot for the moon, Ruben Amaro Jr. said, but in four days at the winter meetings, the Phillies will likely come away with just a lefthanded reliever. Late Wednesday night, the Phillies and Dennys Reyes finalized a one-year deal, pending a physical, with an option for 2012. Reyes, who turns 34 in April, will become the primary lefty in the Phillies' bullpen in the wake of J.C. Romero's departure. According to a baseball source, Reyes agreed to a one-year contract worth $1.1 million with a mutual option for $1.35 million in 2012.

Baseball's winter meetings, which begin tomorrow in Las Vegas, will be like a trip to Alice's Restaurant. You can get anything you want. Big bats? Manny Ramirez and Mark Teixeira lead a free-agent class that also includes Raul Ibanez, Milton Bradley, Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu, Jason Giambi and Adam Dunn. Big arms? They don't get much bigger than CC Sabathia. A.J. Burnett, Derek Lowe, Ben Sheets and Randy Johnson are also free agents, and Jake Peavy is available in a trade.

First in a series that looks at the NL East teams.   IT WASN'T all that long ago that a big-market team in the Northeast emptied its wallet each winter in an attempt to win the National League East even before pitchers and catchers reported to Florida. Built around homegrown, All-Star infielders, the team's management aggressively attacked the free-agent market to add future Hall of Famers, former Cy Young winners and fellow All-Stars to the roster. It was an endless pursuit of perfection (and hopefully, the postseason)

For Republicans, it was bad enough to watch, stunned, as their presidential candidate got thumped across all the demographics that will rule the nation's political future en route to his decisive loss. Then last week came a fresh blow, as the GOP caucus that controls the U.S. House split apart in chaos over the patchwork deal to avoid the fiscal cliff, raising questions about its durability as a functioning majority and inspiring a fresh round of soul-searching among party elders.

FOR THE first time in 10 years, the Phillies of 2012 failed to finish a season with a winning record. In the days following the season finale, manager Charlie Manuel was placed squarely into the crosshairs of outsiders seeking a fall guy. Manuel, whose contract expires after the 2013 season, watched his bosses promote Triple A manager and rumored major league manager heir apparent Ryne Sandberg to the Phillies' coaching staff. In a news conference days after the season ended with a series of coaching changes, Manuel answered all of the questions correctly, and with confidence, too. He isn't worried about his job security.

NASHVILLE - Ben Revere was not the only centerfielder the Phillies added to their roster before leaving the winter meetings Thursday. They also selected speedy Ender Inciarte off the triple-A roster of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the annual Rule 5 draft. The 22-year-old Venezuelan had a career .283 average and .347 on-base percentage and 111 stolen bases in five minor-league seasons with Arizona. The lefthanded-hitting Inciarte hit a combined .307 with 28 doubles, 10 triples, two home runs, and 46 stolen bases at low-single-A South Bend and high-single-A Visalia.

NASHVILLE - The Phillies are going to make a move before they check out of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel late Thursday morning. That much is certain. It may be nothing more than the selection of an unprotected player in the Rule 5 draft - but that will still be more than the team accomplished in the first three days at the touristy biodome that has housed this year's winter meetings. A Rule 5 selection will not, however, be enough to appease manager Charlie Manuel and general manager Ruben Amaro Jr., let alone the Philadelphia fans eagerly awaiting news of an upgraded roster.

Former all-star outfielder Lenny Dykstra was sentenced Monday to 61/2 months in prison for hiding baseball gloves and other heirlooms from his playing days that were supposed to be part of his bankruptcy filing, capping a tumultuous year of legal woes. The judge saddled Dykstra with 500 hours of community service and also ordered him to pay $200,000 in restitution. Dykstra, 49, apologized for his actions and promised to turn his life around. "I don't think I'm a bad person," said Dykstra, who was in handcuffs and wearing a white prison-issued jumpsuit.

NASHVILLE - Ruben Amaro Jr. slipped into a sixth-floor suite at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel that doubles as the Phillies' headquarters this week and insisted there was no rush. Less than an hour earlier, Angel Pagan had agreed to a four-year, $40 million contract with San Francisco, and another Phillies outfield target was eliminated. "We move on," Amaro said. On the first day of baseball's winter meetings, the general manager said he still prefers to add a centerfielder via free agency and not trade.

NASHVILLE - At one point during Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr.'s afternoon meeting with the media at the winter meetings, the idea of John Mayberry Jr. returning next season as the starting centerfielder was raised. Before a line forms at the top of the Walt Whitman Bridge or an angry mob shows up carrying torches at One Citizens Bank Way, you should know that Mayberry in center field is no better than Plan Z for Amaro, who said he went into this offseason with 10 Plan B's. Which Plan B comes to fruition between now and opening day in Atlanta remained a mystery on Monday as the winter meetings officially opened inside the vast Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, where holiday tourists, Tommy Lasorda, and John Kruk frequently crossed paths.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Find an empty seat in the press box next to his in the summer or an empty bar stool at Frenchy's in Clearwater in March and he'll tell you stories. They'll be the most engaging baseball stories you're ever likely to hear and you'll be entertained for hours on end. That's what Paul Hagen is at heart: a storyteller. On Tuesday at the Opryland Hotel, Hagen briefly told the stories about the two times he stood at the podium at Cooperstown at the National Baseball Hall of Fame to introduce honorees.

NASHVILLE , Tenn. - About an hour after the latest free-agent outfielder on his radar committed to a home without a Philadelphia-area zip code, Ruben Amaro Jr. found a comfortable seat inside the Phillies' suite at the Opryland Hotel. He leaned back on the couch and answered questions with ease. He didn't look like an anxious general manager in the wake of his latest swing and miss at a free-agent centerfielder. Looks, of course, can be deceiving. "I hope we'll make [our fans]