At the moment, business is slow

LAS VEGAS -- Let’s begin by specifying that the winter meetings, like many events, have a certain predictable pace to them. They start slowly and then pick up speed. Every year, baseball executives and scouts float through the lobby of a labyrinth disguised as a hotel, and every year they say the same thing.

It’s slow.

By the time they leave, things have picked up considerably.

That said, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein sat in a recliner of the team’s master control suite yesterday and cautioned against setting any expectations for this week’s event, currently being conducted at the Bellagio resort and hotel. Several hours later, Epstein walked out of the casino and ensured that little had changed with regard to the Red Sox’ position, only magnifying words he uttered at roughly 8:15 p.m. EST.

"You could make the argument [that the winter meetings are] a little outdated,’’ Epstein said. "In terms of trade talk and free agent talk, we can get that done pretty easily with [the advances in] instant communication.’’

Don’t misunderstand. The winter meetings aren’t going anywhere, and within hours baseball could be abuzz with activity. At the very least, the meetings serve as the game’s offseason convention and the publicity alone is worth the trouble for Major League Baseball. There is also the additional benefit of having 30 teams under the same roof, no matter how enormous the structure.

You want to get something done?

Meet face to face.

Still, think of what technology has done for the pace of negotiations and the need for human contact. Years ago, team executives generally were required to work from their desks and could make only so many calls in a day. If they stopped for lunch, they sacrificed valuable time in the work day. Before the age of cell phones and mobile devices, the ability to get people under the same roof acted as a great catalyst with regard to bringing trades and signings to fruition.

Meeting in person was easier and more productive.

Not anymore. These days, like most orchestrations, the winter meetings are frequently nothing more than an opportunity to be seen, particularly for the agents who parade around the hotel lobby with entourages while being hounded by a supersaturated media contingent desperate for any tidbit or morsel. Meanwhile, most of the real work is being done in private, and negotiations can resume at any minute because everyone is equipped with a mobile phone or PDA that qualifies as a human tracking device.

How much does being here really accelerate the process anymore? Does it speed up the market or slow it down? If agents and teams can arrive with the framework of deals already in place, why do they need to come at all?

Publicly, most every baseball official says the same thing. The winter meetings are a great tradition that will be upheld forever and promote the game during the offseason. Privately, most everyone dreads them -- particularly in the absence of news -- because everybody walks around asking everybody else about the latest rumor, the majority of which are something less than truthful. Often much less.

Of course, we’ve seen this before. When Epstein said he did not expect the Red Sox to have any news at the meetings, his announcement came with an obvious disclaimer: unless something changes. The later days of the meetings typically are when activity picks up, partly because productive meetings usually begin Monday night. By then all agents have arrived and all team executives have fulfilled any of their league obligations.

According to one executive from a National League team, many teams have night meetings with agents and other clubs that usually begin on or around 10 p.m., after everyone has taken dinner breaks and respites of the like. In this case, those meetings took place at 1 a.m. EST. Information from those sessions could begin leaking at some point this morning, at which point the true value of the 2008 winter meetings might come into great focus.

Let's hope so. Because for now, the wait for substantive news continues.