Winter Meeting Roundup: Day 1

Okay so it was a pretty exciting day 1 in Orlando, Florida and in case you didn't get to spend all day surfing the web for updates like me here is what you missed:

• Phillies, Rockies, and Royals are all interested in the services of... (drumroll please)... Jeff Francouer! The rumor is that the Royals are the favorite given the fact that they can offer him the most playing time this season. I know that everyone expects the Royals to sign Francouer and I jokingly have even stated that I will go ahead and write the post regarding the signing, but with each passing day I am becoming more and more unsure about this. The fact that Francouer has not already signed a deal with Kansas City is very telling to me. First, that the Royals aren't overpaying because I believe he would of already jumped on it and also that either the Royals are waiting for other options that they like better or the Royals aren't even interested and their name pops up just because of the Dayton Moore connection.
• Greg Schaum at Royals Prospects has a list of the top Rule 5 prospects available and his top pick for Kansas City is Wynn Pelzer. In the article Pelzer is compared to Joakim Soria. The Royals did leave a spot open so I imagine that they will select a player when the time comes. I know that it is extremely old information but I heard several months ago that Royals scouts were very intrigued by 2B prospect Matt Lawson while he was a member of the Texas Rangers organization. Now he is in Seattle and was left unprotected. Lawson also appeared on the list at Royalsprospects.com
• It appears that the Yankees I becoming more hesitant about a Greinke deal due to their fear that he wouldn't be able to handle the New York scene.
• Texas continues to disappoint the Royals with their proposed packages. I think Texas could be the best fit and could offer the most as far as a return goes, but I believe it is going to take Cliff Lee signing in New York before Texas loosens the grip on their prospects.
• The big news today was that Milwaukee and Toronto have become the most agressive teams in their pursuit of the Royals ace.
• There was mention of a Braun for Greinke swap. I can't imagine the Brewers parting with the face of their franchise for two years of Greinke.
• There is a rumor that the Royals and Blue Jays have discussed Travis Snider and Kyle Drabek. Both of these palyers are very intriguing from a Royals perspective, however they wouldn't be enough to get it done. Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos hasn't been afraid to pull the trigger on a deal in his young tenure so I don't have a hard time at all imagining Greinke going to Toronto.
• Toronto also acquired top Brewers prospect Bret Lawrie today. Lawrie is currently a second baseman though some suggest that he could handle centerfield. If the Royals believe that is the case then Lawrie could be the missing piece to a Greinke to Toronto exchange.

It has been an exciting day one at the winter meetings. It is Christmas time for baseball fans and bloggers, but unfortunately we are now that much closer until the end of the week. Hopefully Royals fans can wake up on Friday and be happy with what has filled their stockings.