All's quiet on the winter meeting front

The Royals wrap a subdued Winter Meetings this morning with the annual Rule 5 draft.

With the flurry of baseball activity prior to these meetings, it's not really a surprise at the lack of tasty action. The big business was settled early with the starting pitching market for what would be the top tier of free agents, slow to develop. The Mariners stayed active and a couple of free agents signed, but the big news of the day was agent fisticuffs. It happens.

From MLB Trade Rumors, here are the top unsigned free agents:

Shin-Soo Choo
Masahiro Tanaka
Ervin Santan
Matt Garza
AJ Burnett
Ubaldo Jimenez
Stephen Drew
Nelson Cruz
Omar Infante

Those are the remaining guys from their top 20 that was posted prior to open season on free agents. It's an interesting group.

Of course, it was quiet as far as trade talks go. Remember last winter, when the Wil Myers to Tampa rumors started rumbling? Nothing happened and we breathed a collective sigh of relief. Only to be punched in the gut less than a week later when the rumors came to fruition. No rumblings this year, but as Dayton Moore warned:

"Oftentimes, (the meetings) are a precursor to another deal or an opportunity to make a deal. More than anything else, you’re able to dissect your team and get a good evaluation of the other 29 teams."

As mentioned, the Rule 5 draft is this morning, but the Royals are expected to sit this one out. You see, they are contenders now and contenders don't usually have room to stash a Rule 5 guy on their bench for the entire season. Plus, the odds there is another Joakim Soria out there seem long.