The MLB Winter meetings have all but wrapped up, and the Red Sox did not make any moves. The Sox were plenty active these past few days here in Las Vegas, but for all their meetings, proposals and offers, the Sox netted nada.

That doesn't mean that discussions started here won't yield results. Theo Epstein and crew seemed pretty upbeat in his discussion with the local Boston media Wednesday night, which one could perceive to mean they were pretty happy with where their discussions were going. Could this mean that the Sox are close to landing the big jackpot, Mark Teixeira? Maybe. 

Here are the latest rumors surrounding the BoSox as the meetings come to a close:

The Red Sox appear to be the front runner for free agent slugger Mark Teixeira. It's going to cost a lot of money to get him (somewhere in the range of $160 million to $200 million over 8-10 years) but he would provide some pop to the Red Sox lineup for years to come.

According to his agent Scott Boras, the Sox have offered Jason Varitek a contract. Specific terms were not disclosed, but Varitek will likely not accept anything less than a two or three-year deal. Since the Sox appear to be no closer to having a starting catcher for 2009 it would seem plausible that the Sox would be willing to meet that.

A.J. Burnett is unlikely to join the Red Sox next season. I doubt if Derek Lowe would be interested either. Epstein said the Sox are pretty solid when it comes to starting pitching, so they don't need to overpay for a starter. Instead Epstein said the best deals are often the one's for a second-tier guy they can get cheap. "The best deals are usually when a team buys low," the Sox GM said.

Speaking of buying low, the Sox have reportedly been given the medical records and video of the Braves' John Smoltz, who is looking for a contending team to play on. The Sox could also be interested in the Dodgers' Brad Penny to fill the back end of their rotation.

ESPN's Steve Phillips is reporting the Diamondbacks may be interested in swapping Eric Byrnes for Julio Lugo. Byrnes could be the fourth outfielder the Sox are in need of, and Lugo would play second base for the D-Backs.

That's all I've got for now. I for one am very interested in how the rest of this month plays out. With so many free agents still on the market, and the Red Sox with a few holes to fill, it will be fun to see what deals Epstein and company can swing to help get the Sox back to the World Series in 2009.

On a side note, I did not see a single Elvis while in Las Vegas this week ... maybe "The King" really is dead.

Things were pretty quiet on the Red Sox front on Day 1 of the MLB winter meetings in Las Vegas. In fact, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein said he wasn't optimistic that the Sox would get anything done before the meetings wrap up on Wednesday.

Epstein said the team is in the early stages of any negotiations with players, and that trades with other teams just didn't match up.

That being said, there was one move that could potentially affect the Red Sox. The Texas Rangers traded catcher Gerald Laird to Detroit for two pitching prospects.

This could mean the Rangers will be less likely to deal Jarrod Saltalamacchia, whom the Red Sox have had their eye on. At the very least, this means the price for "Salty" will go up.

This also has ramifications for free-agent catcher Jason Varitek. Detroit was one of the potential suitors for the Sox captain, but this acquisition takes them off the table, and narrows the market for Tek.

Does this mean that Varitek and the Red Sox may need each other more than initially thought? Not necessarily. Varitek's agent Scott Boras insists there is a market out there for Tek, and it's not just the Red Sox who are interested. Epstein says the catching market is deeper than many think, although he added that the price for catching is pretty steep right now.

The consensus among baseball writers and analysts I've spoken with (and there were plenty available with opinions at the Bellagio on Monday) is that the Sox will bring back Varitek, most likely for a two-year deal, potentially with a third-year option.  

But Epstein said the Sox haven't discussed Varitek with Boras much this offseason, which the GM said was normal. The negotiations with Varitek went pretty much the same way in 2004 -- the Sox and Tek didn't start negotiating until well into December. Most Sox fans, I'm sure, remember the Christmas Eve press conference, when Epstein announced Varitek's four-year, $40 million extension, and the team also named him the captain.

We shall see if the captain returns for 2009. Stay tuned, but as Epstein said, be patient.

The Red Sox made a splash, trading outfielder Coco Crisp to Kansas City for right-handed pitcher Ramon Ramirez. The 27-year-old Ramirez was 3-2 with one save and a 2.64 ERA for the Royals in 2008. Crisp batted .283 with seven home runs and 41 RBI in 118 games for the Red Sox this past season.

I, for one, will miss Coco in the clubhouse next year. He always had a smile for everyone, even when he was frustrated with not getting to play every day.

But that is the business of baseball. So what other business moves will the Red Sox be making this offseason? That's a good question.

The most pressing need for the Red Sox right now is a starting catcher, seeing they don't have one on the 2009 roster. From everything I have heard, the Sox have yet to make an offer to captain Jason Varitek. The Sox and Varitek's agent, Scott Boras, have begun discussions, but for now, they've just talked generalities.

A popular theory out there is that the Sox will try to bring back Varitek for two years and bring in a young catcher for him to groom. That is very important for the Red Sox. If they turn their pitching staff over to an inexperienced catcher, it would not bode well for the pitchers. 

I remember Daisuke Matsuzaka saying toward the end of the season that a big part of his success this year was feeling more comfortable with Varitek, and that trust/comfort is essential between a pitcher and catcher. Matsuzaka said it usually takes at least two years for him to develop that kind of trust with a catcher.

The Red Sox have also begun talks with starting pitcher A.J. Burnett’s agent. Burnett went 18-10 with a 4.07 ERA for Toronto in 2008. Burnett was lights out against the Red Sox, going 2-0 with a 2.60 ERA in four games. He would be a good addition for the Red Sox, but he may come at a high price with the Yankees also interested.

David Ortiz told me he’d like to see the Sox add a big bat to the lineup. Mark Teixeira’s name has been tossed around, but the problem is the Sox are set at first with Kevin Youkilis. Some say Youk should move to third so Teixeira can take over at first, but Mike Lowell expects to return from hip surgery at full strength, and you can’t take his bat out of the lineup either if he is healthy. Ortiz also told me if Youkilis and Lowell both return healthy and hitting the way he knows they can, he’s not too worried about getting another bat. But the big question is whether Lowell will be 100 percent come 2009.

In the end, I think if the Sox can get healthy, they can field a great team as is. This is a team that was one win away from another pennant, and the team was plagued by injuries. Mike Lowell was out of the ALCS entirely. J.D. Drew was playing through horrible back pain. Josh Beckett was dealing with multiple injuries. Jed Lowrie had a broken wrist. And still they put up a good fight right to the end.

I can't wait to see what happens in 2009.

Happy flights. That’s what Josh Beckett said the team was striving for. Pretty self explanatory. If it’s a happy flight, then the team must have won. And winning the last game of the season is what counts.

We are on the plane now. It is not a happy flight. The 2008 season is over. It ended in a blur of cowbells and catwalks at Tropicana Field. The Tampa Bay Rays won Game 7 of the ALCS and will face Philadelphia in the World Series. The Red Sox couldn’t come back this time.

Jon Lester pitched a great game, but Matt Garza was lights out. The Red Sox were only able to muster one run on three hits in the 3-1 loss.

I’m not going to talk about the mood of the clubhouse … it was exactly what you would expect after the final game of the season ends in a loss.

When I asked players what is the biggest thing they will remember about the 2008 Red Sox, they all said the same thing. It was a team that faced a lot of adversity, and still made it to a Game 7 in the ALCS.

This team started halfway around the world in Japan, and spent the first three weeks of the season playing in three different countries. This team battled injury after injury. This team dealt with trading a future Hall of Fame hitter that had pretty much quit on his teammates. This team still made the playoffs, and beat the team with the best record in baseball in the first round.

As for me, I started my journey with NESN following this team on April 29. I had no idea what I was in store for. It was an amazing year full of memories and experiences I will never forget -- from my first game in Detroit, and my first interview with Sean “The Mayor” Casey, to the final game of the season at Tropicana Field.

I am sad to see the end of the 2008 season; 2009 can’t get here fast enough.

Wow! That’s all I can say. If you turned your TV off with the Red Sox down 7-0 heading into the seventh inning, you missed one of the greatest playoff comebacks ever. 

I was sitting in the press box with Lou Merloni, and as we saw some of the fans leaving the park just before the seventh, he said he couldn’t believe it. Regardless of believing your team can come back and win the game, it’s the playoffs. You can’t leave early in the playoffs.

It was the second greatest comeback in the history of the postseason. This is the kind of win that can completely shift the momentum back to the Red Sox and carry them through the next two games.

After I finished my walk-off interview with Coco Crisp on the field I went through the tunnel to the clubhouse. As I got closer to the door, I could hear the guys yelling, “Unbelievable”, and "That was [expletive] awesome." It really was.

Just about every guy in the clubhouse had a huge smile as they talked about the win, and what this does to shift the momentum to the Red Sox' favor. The biggest thing was getting the offense going. For two games and six innings, the Rays were able to keep the Red Sox bats quiet. That ended in the seventh inning Thursday night, and all the players agreed they need to carry that offense into Game 6 in Florida on Saturday.

Dustin Pedroia said this doesn’t mean the Sox can lay off the panic button. They still are one game from elimination. But this does take a huge amount of pressure off the Red Sox.  Not being able to get the offense going was weighing heavily on this team. You could feel it in the clubhouse. 

We just took off from Boston to Tampa Bay. It is 2:45 in the morning. We will get to the hotel sometime after 6 a.m. Pedroia said he’s never been this happy to get on an overnight flight as he was for this one. Me neither. 

It is 3:45 in the morning on Sunday, and our plane just took off from Florida. What a night.  There were seven home runs -- four by the Red Sox and three from the Rays. The game lasted five hours and 27 minutes, and in the end, the Rays pulled out the 9-8 walk-off win. 

Heading back to Boston, the series is tied at a game apiece. But for the most part, the Red Sox seem to be OK with that. Kevin Cash said he still has confidence in this team, and they are not worried about their position. He said they are happy that they were able to take one game at Tropicana Field.

Mike Timlin spoke about how great the bullpen has been as a whole this postseason. He said he was upset with himself for getting the loss, but that sometimes a pitcher makes bad pitches. 

It was interesting how the game unfolded. When the Sox were at the plate in the eleventh inning, the strike zone seemed to get larger (Mark Kotsay struck out looking on a pitch outside), but when the Rays were at the plate in the bottom of the eleventh, the strike zone shrunk. Same umpire … different calls. I guess that's why pitching coach John Farrell got ejected. Arguing what makes sense.

Some positives from the game: Dustin Pedroia seems to have come out of his little slump with two home runs on a 3-for-5 night. Manny Delcarmen, Hideki Okajima, Justin Masterson and Jonathan Papelbon combined for 5 2/3 scoreless innings. After all the offense in the first five innings, that was really impressive. 

Something to worry about: Josh Beckett. Is he still hurt? The last outing against the Angels was rough for Beckett, but the Sox attributed that to rust. But Saturday night, he had some trouble locating his fastball once again. The Red Sox are going to need him … so let's hope the trouble doesn’t have anything to do with the oblique injury he had a few weeks ago.

We landed in Boston around 6:30 a.m. The Red Sox will have a workout at 4:30, and we will have the latest for you on "SportsDesk" on Sunday night.

There's nothing like a beautiful fall afternoon in Boston. The Red Sox held their final workout at Fenway Park on Wednesday before boarding a plane and heading for Tampa.

Terry Francona announced the Sox' starting rotation. Daisuke Matsuzaka will get the nod in Game 1, followed by Josh Beckett, Jon Lester and Tim Wakefield. Tito said a big reason for doing it this way was to keep the starters on fairly normal rest, without giving anyone too much time in between starts.

He also said a factor in starting Wakefield in Game 4, as opposed to Paul Byrd, was because Byrd was a more flexible option out of the bullpen. With Wakefield, the Sox have to also bring in Kevin Cash to catch for him, so that limits what they can do.

We're now on a plane again heading south to Tampa. Every flight gets more and more crowded as the stakes grow. Our NESN crew grew, too. We are taking two photographers, Bryan Brennan and Patrick Gamere, to make sure we don't miss a thing in the ALCS. We will have the most comprehensive coverage on NESN, from "SportsDesk" to our pre- and post-game shows.

Bryan is sitting in front of me in his typical manner: headphones on. He has the noise- cancelling headphones, and he tunes out the world on flights. Pat is across the plane sitting in front of Mike Narracci, our director. Pat is probably talking to his wife on the phone. They have twin boys that are 21 months old. It must be hard to leave them.

Behind them is our producer, Russ Kenn. He wouldn’t let me take a picture of him, so I took a picture of his card game instead.

We’ll land soon in Tampa. It will be nice to get to bed at a normal hour. 

Funny story: I live at an apartment complex where a lot of the players and Red Sox staff live. In the early hours Wednesday morning, the fire alarm went off in the building, telling everyone to evacuate. I took a peak out my door and window, and didn’t see or smell smoke, so I went back to bed. 

When I got to the field, Paul Byrd asked if I was awoken by the alarm, because when he evacuated, he didn’t see me outside. I told him I didn't go outside. Then, he told me that a few years ago, the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night at his apartment, and he didn’t evacuate immediately, thinking it was a false alarm. But when he couldn’t fall back asleep right away, he flipped on the TV, and there was his apartment building on the news -- on fire. He said that by the time he tried to get out, the hall was filled with smoke, and he put himself in real danger. So I guess the moral of the story is: Don’t ignore alarms.

Well, that’s all for now. I’ll have the latest from Tropicana Field in the next post.

It is 2 a.m., and I just got home from Sunday night's Game 3 of the ALDS. The Angels finally snapped an eleven-game postseason losing streak to the Red Sox, but it took 12 innings to get it done.

The mood in the Red Sox clubhouse was somber, but still confident. I spoke with John Farrell, who thinks Josh Beckett's trouble stemmed from not pitching in a game for two weeks. Beckett had control issues, and lacked command, but that Farrell doesn't think it had anything to do with his sore oblique. Beckett had to pitch out of the stretch a lot, and got behind hitters. He never got comfortable, but Farrell expects him to bounce right back in his next start.

Farrell also talked about how good the bullpen has been this postseason. Jonathan Papelbon has pitched five shutout innings in three games. The bullpen, as a whole, has pitched 13 innings, giving up just three runs. The 'pen accounted for six shutout innings in Sunday night's game, before giving up a run in the 12th inning on a single and a bloop hit.

Farrell said that Javier Lopez (the losing pitcher) didn’t pitch that bad, it was just some good hitting and a little luck for the Angels that plated the run. Lopez was disappointed that he gave up the run, but didn’t feel like he pitched that bad. 

The one concern I have heading into Monday night’s game is how taxed the bullpen is. Everyone but Tim Wakefield and Paul Byrd was used Sunday night, and the 'pen pitched seven innings. 

Still, Farrell said the only questionable player would be Papelbon, who has pitched five innings in three games and went two innings Sunday night. I asked Papelbon if he thinks he would be able to pitch Monday night, and he said it was questionable. They both said the team would have to see how Papelbon feels when he gets in Monday afternoon.

Jon Lester takes the mound again for the Red Sox on Monday night. And I, for one, feel good about a Red Sox win in Game 4.