DALLAS – Another day passed here at the MLB winter meetings with incremental progress on the Albert Pujols(notes) front.

The Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals have offers on the table.

The Marlins are in at 10 years and at least $200 million. The particulars of the Cardinals' counter are unknown, but it is believed to be competitive with the Marlins. The Chicago Cubs, according to reports, had also joined the fray, the mystery suitor other reporters had made reference to earlier in the day.

Marlins officials met with MLB representatives for about 10 minutes Tuesday night to go over the finer details of their proposal. There could be no holdups now.

The rest consisted of the teams meeting with Pujols' agent, Dan Lozano, followed by grim-faced Marlins executives traipsing back to their suite.

"Nothing to report," club president David Samson said mid-evening, after perhaps the last of Tuesday's in-person meetings. "There really is nothing to report."

Trailing behind, Miami's president

DALLAS – The hallways here aren't necessarily pretty.

Pick an alcove.

Bobby Valentine can be found explaining his role if and when the Boston Red Sox release themselves from organizational reorganization stuff and target possibly available Japanese players.

"Well, you know, maybe," he said. "No one's asked."

A young man from somewhere you've never heard of will lay in wait for a director of player development you've never heard of, screw up the nerve to stick out his hand, and get blown off.

And Heath Bell(notes) will wander past wearing a Miami Marlins jersey over his shirt-and-tie, along with a cap with this huge M on the crown. Like, a foot too much M.

Presumably, it stands for Miami. Though, it could be Marlins. Maybe it represents both, which is why they made it so freakin' big. Maybe Miami, Marlins and Morrison, as in Logan. It's a big M.

Anyway, Bell and the Marlins made it official Monday afternoon, holding a news conference in a large ballroom. Bell's parents and wife

DALLAS – Shortstop Jose Reyes(notes), one of the most intriguing players on the free-agent market, also became one of the first big names to change teams, agreeing to terms with the suddenly flush Miami Marlins on a six-year, $106 million contract Sunday.

The news came on the eve of baseball's annual winter meetings as executives were checking into the Hilton Anatole Hotel. On the heels of the signing of closer Heath Bell(notes), the Marlins' acquisition of Reyes gives the team that shifted its affiliation from the broader Florida to the more precise Miami a measure of authenticity.

The Marlins courted nearly every significant free agent in the last month, and perked ears had begun to give way to rolled eyes. But with the move of Reyes from the New York Mets to South Florida, it's clear Miami is a legitimately hot destination.

Sources said Sunday night they expect the Marlins to continue their courtship of a superstar first baseman – either Albert Pujols (whom they’ve offered a

The game is in motion. Its reputation for listlessness is being shot all to Houston and back.

Near the eve of baseball's annual winter meetings, what we have is movement, not NBA crazy movement, but a shift toward almost movement, which, in baseball, often enough counts as movement.

This comes on account of several factors.

The Miami Marlins are wacky.

Seven franchises – including megaliths from Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles – have new general managers or, in the case of the Houston Astros, are in the process of stalking and abducting a new general manager of their own.

New field managers have been hired in a handful of places. Most notably, that means Bobby Valentine in Boston and Ozzie Guillen in Miami. It means Tony La Russa is gone from St. Louis. It means new faces and new ideas from Dale Sveum and Robin Ventura in Chicago, along with Mike Matheny in St. Louis.

[Related: What does Valentine hire say about Cherington?]

Among the free agents and potential free agents, there are

So, Boston, welcome to Bobby V's world.

Based on a 35-minute press conference alone, it's a place of teary entrances, of unapologetic (and slightly resistive) looks back (for the sake of the New Yorkers in the crowd) and of an admission he dared not hope to become manager of the Red Sox because, he said, "I didn't want to be heartbroken."

And, of course, it's already a time for repair.

The man had barely buttoned his jersey before his boss – the young Ben Cherington sitting at Bobby Valentine's right shoulder – was asked if this was really the candidate he wanted to manage his ballclub.

The two of them together at the table – alone, without president Larry Lucchino or owner John Henry – breathed for Cherington, "my guy."

And yet he was going to have to say it. He was going to have to deny that Dale Sveum was his guy, that the Red Sox overlords had insisted on Valentine, that this relationship – fresh young GM, old and hardened baseball man – was doomed from this very moment.

"It's just

Desperate for production out of their catchers since their ill-advised trade of Mike Napoli(notes), the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday acquired Chris Iannetta(notes) from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for pitching prospect Tyler Chatwood(notes).

This would be new GM Jerry Dipoto cleaning up after former GM Tony Reagins.

The Rockies, in turn, were expected to reach a contract agreement with free-agent catcher Ramon Hernandez(notes), who probably will find in Colorado one of the younger rotations in the game.

Among a set of rotation candidates including the likes of Chatwood, Jhoulys Chacin(notes), Jason Hammel(notes), Esmil Rogers(notes), Juan Nicasio(notes), Clayton Mortensen(notes), Alex White(notes), Drew Pomeranz(notes), etc., only Hammel is even close to 30.

Hernandez's contract is for two years. Fox Sports reported it was for $6.5 million.

At the core of this trade, however, is Iannetta. The Angels offense was 10th in the American League in runs last season, and their catchers

The Boston Red Sox on Tuesday hired Bobby Valentine to be their manager, according to numerous reports, so the suits have retaken the clubhouse.

This is what happens when an organization puddles up over a month. This is what comes when an historic decade becomes grounds for gluttony.

Two months from the official end of the freefall, the GM is in Chicago, the manager is bounced, the assistant GM is in the big office and upper management is leaning in.

These are the new Red Sox, cut from consecutive third-place seasons, drawn from $330 million in payroll dollars, in hindsight more wisely used as kindling to warm a stoop on Yawkey Way.

This is the humiliation that chases the epic collapse – a manager search, and then some handwringing, and then a manager search 1B, followed by a Twitter-flood.

This is what it looks like when the adults show up, when the men who spend the money expect a return, and when the men who crave power see an opening.

You get Bobby V.

And, damn, did the Red Sox

Nobody can spend other people’s money quite like a baseball writer.

Well, nobody other than Fred Wilpon.

It’s what happens, maybe, when you have so little of your own.

Point is, Theo Epstein might be gaining fast.

The Chicago Cubs, long believed to be a reasonable landing place for Prince Fielder(notes), both for what he would do to Wrigley Field and what the transaction would do to their NL Central neighbors – the Milwaukee Brewers – on Monday afternoon checked in on Albert Pujols(notes) as well.

Of course they did.

Look, if Epstein and GM Jed Hoyer had any ideas about building from within in a reasonable time frame, the restrictions on amateur bonuses in the new CBA blew that up. What the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays have done over the last several years just got a lot harder to do. General managers across the sport now believe they’ll need to build from the top down, which is bad news for operating budgets but good news for high-end free agents.

Like Fielder and Pujols.

While