Well, today is Day One of the Famous Baseball Winter Meetings, the time baseball’s general managers gather to talk about fantasy trades and take their stupid pills and offer ridiculous contracts to mediocre players. Getting rush delivery on their pills instead of waiting 5-10 business days, the Blue Jays kicked things off in fine fashion last week by signing BJ Ryan to an absurd 5-year, $47 million contract-- the most money ever awarded to a relief pitcher. Not to be outdone, the Mets, who have always thought the concepts of “value” and “fiscal responsibility” were overrated anyway, guaranteed 34-year-old closer Billy Wagner 4 years and $43 million and a complete no trade clause. The Indians followed suit by signing 35-year-old journeyman Paul Byrd to a 2-year, $14.25 million contract. Needless to say, the market for pitching this winter is outrageous. If Byrd is getting more than $7 million a year, imagine what AJ Burnett and Kevin Millwood will get? My guess is full ownership of a Hawaiian island and naming rights to any planets discovered in the next 15 years.

The rest of the league’s stupid pills should be arriving just in time to make silly deals of their own, and make Sox GM look like even more of a genius for having the best starting pitching in the American League locked up at comparative bargains. So with all the Sox big work done, what will Williams do at the meetings besides laugh at other teams’ scramblings? K-Dub’s aggressive nature will prevent him from standing completely pat with his club, so a few small moves for a utility infielder, utility outfielder and relief pitcher are a possibility. And with Williams a splash is always a remote possibility. But in general, be thankful Sox fans that your 2006 team is pretty much locked up already.

Here are a few names my hunch tells me might be on the Sox radar. Some at point black range, and others way off in the distance.

Infielders:

Bill Mueller - FA

Alex Cintron – Diamondbacks

Tony Graffanino - FA

Mark Loretta - Padres

Sean Burroughs - Padres

Nomar Garciaparra - FA

Outfielders:

Juan Pierre - Marlins

Randy Winn - Giants

Joey Gathright – Devil Rays

Pitchers:

Mike Myers - FA

Miguel Batista – Blue Jays

Chris Hammond - FA

Javier Vazquez – Diamondbacks

Ron Villone - Marlins