ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Put the executives of 30 major league teams, dozens of agents, and all of their assorted support staff -- we're talking sufficient manpower for three brigades -- and what do you get?
As of the dinner hour last night, exactly one trade, between the Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Devil Rays, involving a catcher with a lifetime batting average of .173 for a pitcher with one major league win. Names were withheld pending notification of next of kin.
Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein, who actually was liberated from his hotel room long enough for a brief stroll yesterday afternoon, assured a small gathering of inquisitors that there was little reason to conduct any vigils on his behalf last night. There was little chance of any white smoke emanating from Sox Central, regardless of how late into the evening Epstein and Co. worked.
No Pedro Martinez signing. No welcome-back party for Jason Varitek. No triumphant announcement heralding the arrival of a new shortstop, Edgar Renteria. Not even the announcement of a new bullpen catcher.
If it hadn't been for Peter Gammons receiving the J.G. Taylor Spink Award from the Baseball Writers' Association of America, it would have been a New England news blackout on the Left Coast.
That surely will be cause of some frustration on the part of fans anxious to see how Epstein retools the defending champions, but Epstein insisted he wasn't frustrated.
"There are so many opportunities," he said. "There are a lot of hurdles yet to climb, but a lot of opportunities out there, too."
One Sox official monitoring Epstein's activities this weekend said there was no reason to question that Epstein will accomplish what he has set out to do, which so far has consisted of adding lefthander John Halama, and a No. 3 starter, David Wells, to take Derek Lowe's place.
"The reason news is coming out in dribs and drabs," the official said, "is that Theo has a lot of balls in the air, and nothing has been settled. These discussions seem to be very fitful, at least as far as I am observing."
One of those balls in the air -- and one not to be taken lightly -- is lefthanded slugger Carlos Delgado, whose agent, David Sloane, talked with both the Yankees and Red Sox yesterday afternoon. Remember back in July when Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi lamented that Delgado had refused to waive his no-trade clause and blocked a deal? Had he given the green light, Delgado would have wound up in a Red Sox uniform, according to a source with direct knowledge of the Jays' talks with Boston.