The National League Evolution Begins

The arbitration deadline has just passed, as has the first day of year's Winter Meetings. Anyone bored yet?

As is the case every winter, there's a lot of smoke and no fire on the first day of the meetings, but this year the dynamic in the National League has been developing ever since the final pitch of the World Series. 

Consider the changes that have already taken place:

• St. Louis signed Brad Penny to a one-year, $7.5 million contract that has incentives all over it that could escalate the dollar amount to around $9 million.
• Jose Valverde declined arbitration and will leave an already weak Houston pitching staff.
• The Braves, on the other hand, have signed free agents Takashi Saito and Billy Wagner, and were surprised on Monday night when Rafael Soriano accepted arbitration.
• The Chicago Cubs have unloaded their failed closer, Kevin Gregg, to free agency and dealt away awful reliever Aaron Heilman (somehow) for prospects. They will also likely lose Rich Harden to free agency, and will be without Ted Lilly until probably the start of May after shoulder surgery in November.
• The Cubs cannot get rid of Milton Bradley fast enough.
• The Nationals signed Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez to a two-year, $6 million contract Monday night (pending a physical). Washington also acquired reliever Brian Bruney from the Yankees for a player to be named later.
• The Brewers signed catcher Greg Zaun.
• The Phillies signed catcher Brian Schneider to a two-year deal.

And that's just day one of the Winter Meetings!

OK, so maybe I'm over stating the impact of players like Schneider and Zaun, and perhaps Bruney and Rodriguez won't right the ship in our nation's capital. But these moves will all impact other moves, and the depth of a free agent class that's already thin.

The National League East is up for grabs, with the Braves stockpiling arms in their bullpen for manager Bobby Cox's final season. The Braves' restructuring of Tim Hudson's deal gives the Braves too many starters and Soriano now gives them three closers, a surplus most teams will envy.

Valverde leaving Houston jumps him to the top of the closer market that's left after Atlanta spent their Christmas money. He'll undoubtedly field offers from all over the East coast, and could see a significant raise coming by the end of the week.

The Cubs have been interesting. They moved Heilman for scrap pieces, and then traded Aaron Miles and Jake Fox to Oakland for a couple pitchers and a minor league outfielder. When the Ricketts family assumed control of the organization, new President Tom Ricketts said he wanted the organization to be committed to growing from within; so far, GM Jim Hendry has dropped almost all of the team's dead weight for younger players.

And then there's Bradley.

The Cubs determination to unload Bradley kept Twitter buzzing on Monday, with rumors flying from San Diego to Arlington, to Kansas City to Tampa, and all the way up to Citi Field in New York. It seems a lot of people might be interested in the volatile outfielder, and the Cubs now will have to decide how much they're willing to take back, or eat, on a deal to get him out of Chicago.

St. Louis made a quiet, yet bold move in adding Penny. They could lose Joel Piniero this week, and Penny dealt with some injury issues last year. The dollar amount he received from the Cardinals indicated they're confident he's healthy and ready to produce, and could be a great pickup if he's indeed 100 percent.

The West coast has been intriguingly quiet. The entire division is looking up at Los Angeles wondering how they can compete with the loaded Dodgers, and the silence from the rest of the division has been awkward. We'll see how long that lasts.

As the rest of this week unfolds, we'll see who makes the first big splash and who makes the biggest mistakes. And then, of course, we'll wait four months for the dialogue to mean something when the teams start playing for keeps.