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Lots of talk -- and some action -- at end of winter meetings

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Many general managers view baseball’s annual winter meetings as an opportunity to talk about trades and free-agent signings and not as a place to actually get that work done.

‘I think that’s fair to say,’ Angels General Manager Tony Reagins said.

When the get-together ends, however, things really start to get busy with teams acting on the information they gained. And this year is no different, with the winter meetings ending their four-day run in Indianapolis just as things were heating up on a number of fronts.

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  • The Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers have reached agreement on the parameters of a deal that would send all-star third baseman Mike Lowell to Texas in exchange for catcher Max Ramirez, Rangers’ General Manager Jon Daniels confirmed. The Red Sox have offered to pay as much as three-quarters of the $12 million Lowell will make next season, according to some reports, making the financial aspects of the deal subject to the approval of the commissioner’s office. Both teams are still mulling details of the trade and Lowell, 36, must still undergo a physical examination of his surgically repaired right hip, so Daniels cautioned that a number of details could still derail the deal.
  • The long-debated trade that would send reliever Rafael Soriano from Atlanta to Tampa Bay has been completed, pending physicals. Soriano saved 27 games and had a 2.97 ERA last season in Atlanta, but the Braves signings of former closers Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito made him expendable. In exchange, the Braves will get right-hander Jesse Chavez, who will be joining his third organization in a week. The Rays got Chavez from Pittsburgh last week in exchange for second baseman Akinori Iwamura. The Rays also have an offer on the table with the Cubs that would bring Tampa Bay;s oft-troubled outfielder Milton Bradley.
  • ESPN is reporting that contract talks between free-agent outfielder Johnny Damon and the Yankees have intensified. Damon, a free agent, made $13 million in New York last season. Earlier this week the Yankees acquired Tigers’ centerfielder Curtis Granderson in a trade, allowing them to move Melky Cabrera to left to fill Damon’s old spot should talks with the veteran outfielder break down.
  • A pair of veteran pitchers are on the move with free-agent reliever Brandon Lyon leaving Detroit for Houston, joining a bullpen that has already added hard-throwing former Marlin Matt Lindstrom. ESPN is reporting Lyon’s free-agent deal is worth $15 million over three seasons. And the Red Sox picked up Boof Bonser from the Twins in exchange for a player to be named later. Bonser, 28, who missed last season following shoulder surgery, has a career record of 18-25 with a 5.25 ERA.
  • The Royals released first baseman Mike Jacobs and lefty reliever John Bale. Jacobs, 29, who hit 32 homers and drove in 93 runs for the Marlins in 2008, struggled in his only season in the American League, batting just .228 with 19 homers. The 35-year-old Bale was 0-1 with a 5.72 ERA in 28 1/3 innings.

One deal that didn’t get done in Indianapolis was the one everyone’s been waiting for -- the trade of Toronto ace Roy Halladay. It didn’t happen for a lack of trying, however, since the 10th-floor suite of 32-year-old Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos was one of the busiest spots in Indianapolis.

Believed to be among the front-runners for Halladay are the Angels, Phillies, Yankees and Red Sox, followed not so closely by the Dodgers.

‘We didn’t know each other prior to this. So we got a chance to kind of get to know one another,’ Reagins said of Anthopoulos, who was named GM three months ago.

Of the meetings in general, Reagins said he came away with ‘a better idea of where certain opportunities are and how they’re going to progress. So I think the next 10 days should be interesting. I think there could be some activity in that time frame.’

-- Kevin Baxter in Indianapolis

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