Winter Meetings: Monday recap

Slow start to day 1 of the meetings, but I'm sure things will pick up soon.  Some General Managers only arrived in Indianapolis Monday so signings & trade talks didn't really get started until later in the day.  Here is a look at the news of the day:

Yankees traded P Brian Bruney to the Nationals for a player to be named later

Tigers traded P Clay Rapada to the Rangers for a player to be named later

Congrats to Manager Whitey Herzog & Umpire Doug Harvey, who were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee

P Justin Duchscherer declined arbitration from Athletics

Tigers re-sign SS Adam Everett to a 1-year deal

The NY Post reports that P Andy Pettitte declined a 1-year contract offer from the Yankees for around $10M.  He wants to pitch in 2010 though & the Yankees know he would prefer to be a Yankee

The Rays have denied a rumour that they have asked about Roy Halladay with names like P Wade Davis & OF B.J. Upton going to Toronto

Mets are looking to make some big moves with P John Lackey a main priority

P Carl Pavano accepted the Twins offer of salary arbitration

Cardinals sign P Brad Penny to a 1-year / $7.5M deal, pending a physical

The Yankees, Diamondbacks & Tigers talked about a 3-team trade that would have seen OF Curtis Granderson go to the Yankees, P Edwin Jackson go to the D-Backs & P Max Scherzer going to the Tigers

P Rafael Soriano accepted the Braves offer of salary arbitration.  Atlanta, probably shocked with this news, now have Saito & Wagner along with Soriano in the bullpen worth almost $20M for 2010.

C Rod Barajas, OF Jason Bay, OF Matt Holliday only 3 of the many players to turn down their teams offer of arbitration

Nationals sign C Ivan Rodriguez to a 2-year / $6M deal.  "Pudge" has come a long way from last season where he struggled to find a job.

Brewers close to signing P Randy Wolf to a 3-year deal

P Rafael Betancourt accepted the Rockies offer of salary arbitration.

Angels hoping Jason Bay is playing in LA next season along with P John Lackey

Overall: Not a lot of trades or signings, but rumours started late Monday night, a good sign that teams are willing to talk about some potential moves.  The arbitration deadline has come and gone with 3 players accepting their teams offers, last year 2 players accepted the offers (Weathers, Oliver)

Tuesday will provide us baseball fans with more stories, rumours & news from around the league