NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Baseball's winter meetings wound down yesterday without another significant trade and without snapping the free-agent market out of its monthlong slump.
The New York Mets made what passes these days for a major free-agent announcement late yesterday afternoon, signing left-handed setup man Mike Stanton to a three-year contract worth $9 million, but the Mets have been one of the few teams that have been aggressively seeking to upgrade their roster.
Stanton, who played an important role on three world championship teams with the cross-town rival New York Yankees, beefs up a solid Mets bullpen that is built around former Orioles closer Armando Benitez.
"One of our priorities was to add left-handed relief pitching to our bullpen," Mets general manager Steve Phillips said. "We're very, very pleased about this. We think it really puts an exclamation point on our pitching staff for 2003."
The Mets had made a dynamic move to upgrade their pitching when they signed free agent Tom Glavine to a three-year, $36 million contract before the winter meetings.
Glavine, Al Leiter and Pedro Astacio give new manager Art Howe a solid starting nucleus, and Stanton will join solid right-handed setup man David Weathers to complete the late-inning combination in the bullpen.
"It was a good fit," Phillips said. Stanton "wants to win. It's great for us to get a guy who's been to the postseason for so many consecutive years along with Tom Glavine, who also has been to the postseason for so many years. It adds an element to our clubhouse that we feel is necessary."
The Mets aren't through. They continue to negotiate with the agent for Japanese third baseman Norihiro Nakamura and are looking for a stopgap shortstop to replace Rey Ordonez, who was traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays on Sunday.
There was some speculation yesterday that departing Orioles shortstop Mike Bordick might be an option, because the Mets are interested in plugging in a veteran until promising Jose Reyes is ready to play regularly, but Phillips would not confirm any strong interest.
"He's in that group of guys out there," Phillips said. "We're sort of letting it [the market for a shortstop] come to us right now."
Though the market for free agents is much slower than usual, that has not prevented the Mets from engaging in a spirited offseason competition with the Philadelphia Phillies, who like the Mets finished below .500 in 2002.
The Phillies made just one modest trade during the winter meetings, but waded right into the free-agent market in November to sign third baseman David Bell and later lured first baseman Jim Thome away from the Cleveland Indians with a huge six-year deal.
The defending division champion Atlanta Braves finished 19 games ahead of their closest competitor (the Montreal Expos) last season, but the loss of Glavine and continuing uncertainty about the return of free-agent ace Greg Maddux has created the possibility of a contentious three-team race in the NL East in 2003.
Meanwhile, the big Expos tradefest didn't materialize. General manager Omar Minaya came to Nashville with a list of quality players that figured to interest virtually every team in baseball, but he's going to need some time to sort through all the offers and information he compiled during a busy weekend of meetings.