Burning your fingers on the hot corner

I'm packed and getting ready to head back home after a nice, relaxing, food-filled weekend in Ocean Pines. The general manager meetings - not to be confused with the organizational, owners and winter meetings - take place Tuesday and Wednesday in Orlando. They're regarded as a primer for the winter meetings. Parameters of deals are discussed and executives vow to resume talks next month. They also eat lunch. These meetings could be more important now than previous years because president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail might need to go the trade route to fill some holes. I'll ask again: Who plays third base if the Orioles don't sign Adrian Beltre? Here's the list of free agents, which won't leave you breathless unless you ran a marathon or happen to be in really poor physical condition and just got done tying your shoes: Adrian Beltre (32) - Type A Geoff Blum (38) Miguel Cairo (37) Jorge Cantu (29) Eric Chavez (33) Craig Counsell (40) Joe Crede (33) Greg Dobbs (32) Pedro Feliz (36) Jerry Hairston Jr. (35) Jeff Larish (28) Felipe Lopez (31) - Type B Andy Marte (27) Melvin Mora (39) Miguel Tejada (37) - Type A Chad Tracy (31) Juan Uribe (31) -Type B Ty Wigginton (33) Feliz didn't excite many of you last winter, and I doubt that your emotions have shifted. For some reason, I thought Uribe was older than 31. It just seems like he's been playing since I graduated from kindergarten. Uribe hit 24 homers this year for the Giants. He also batted .248 with a .749 OPS. He's played for two World Series winners. He's really not a big bat for the middle of the order. He can play three infield positions and would fill the hole at third base. He also could move over to second if Brian Roberts is shelved. You can see the value here, and the flaws. Kevin Kouzmanoff is a non-tender candidate, and the Orioles discussed him at last year's winter meetings before the Padres traded him to the Athletics in January. Yahoo's Tim Brown says the White Sox will listen to offers for Gordon Beckham, who can play third and second. It feels like the Orioles traded Doug DeCinces all over again. About the only certainty right now is the Orioles don't think Josh Bell is ready and they want him to get more at-bats at Triple-A.