NASHVILLE - For now, anyway, the Ellsbury and Lester families may want to hold off on ordering tickets to see their sons in Boston next summer.
Baseball's winter meetings, which may still retain some value as a social occasion but were remarkably free of discourse that produced player movement, came to an end yesterday, with Red Sox general manger Theo Epstein one of the first to leave after the Rule 5 draft of players not protected on the 40-man roster (with other players exempt for a variety of technical reasons).
Any further communication between the Sox and Minnesota Twins regarding a trade for pitcher Johan Santana will no longer take place under the same glass roof after talks in four days here produced a good bit of noise but no agreement.
"I think both sides agreed just to have an open dialogue going forward," Epstein said before departing. "I don't see any need at this time to put on a deadline or an ultimatum of any kind.
"I respect the position they're in. They have a lot of big issues facing them and we'll be there to talk."
At the moment, the Santana negotiations fall in the category of the annual Manny Ramírez trade exercise: lots of talk, breathless speculation, late-night hallway stalking, and nothing to report when it was over.
But it's instructive to remember that some business left unfinished at the winter meetings is ultimately consummated. In Orlando, Fla., last winter, for example, agent Scott Boras announced the Sox had come to terms with free agent outfielder J.D. Drew; it wasn't until late January that a contract was struck. Similarly, despite some intense negotiating with Boras regarding Daisuke Matsuzaka, the Sox didn't know they had the Japanese pitcher until he showed up at the tarmac as Epstein was sitting on a plane waiting to take them back to Boston.
Twins GM Bill Smith said a trade for Santana may only be a phone call away, and although the Twins appeared close to taking an offer from the Sox when they requested to see medical reports on pitcher Jon Lester Monday night, it's likely the Sox will not be the only team making a play for the two-time Cy Young Award winner in the next couple of weeks. The New York Mets remain an interested party - they've asked the Twins to let them know what prospects they'd like in return - and the Yankees can't be discounted.
Are the Sox satisfied merely to have kept Santana out of pinstripes? That is an opinion widely voiced in the vast hallways of the Opryland Hotel, but club sources insist their interest in Santana is genuine. Those sources also insist the Sox will not bend from their current negotiating position, that the Twins can have either Lester or outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury, but not both. The Twins, who have time on their side, can afford to wait to see if the Sox' position softens, although even Santana's agent, Peter Greenberg, told reporters earlier this week he thought a deal would be done by now.
The Sox have yet to complete their other shopping objectives: adding a lefthanded reserve corner infielder, a backup catcher, bullpen help, and a backup outfielder. They attracted interest for pitcher Julian Tavarez, and were also shopping around Kyle Snyder, David Pauley, and Craig Breslow, pitchers who are out of options. They have ready options available for some of their needs: re-signing Doug Mirabelli to catch (possible) and Bobby Kielty as a backup outfielder (likely), and using rookie Brandon Moss at first base (long shot). Depending on the Santana talks, they also would look to trade Coco Crisp, the center fielder currently part of the Lester package for Santana, though manager Terry Francona probably could find Crisp plenty of playing time as a fourth outfielder.
Like the Yankees, whose biggest moves were all made to preserve status quo, re-signing Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, and Andy Pettitte, the Sox' best work has been to re-sign Mike Lowell and Curt Schilling. But as the Tigers reminded the more provincial element of Soxdom this week with their acquisition of Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis from the Marlins, the Sox are competing with more than the Bombers. The Sox already have a potentially strong rotation without making a change; adding Santana could make their rotation historic.
Gordon Edes can be reached at edes@globe.com.
