FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2011 file photo, Heath Bell of the San Diego Padres baseball team is shown. A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that All-Star closer Bell has agreed to a $27 million, three-year contract with the Miami Marlins _ their first free-agent deal since beginning courtships last month with several top players. The person spoke Friday, Dec. 2, 2011 on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not yet been announced. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 23, 2011 file photo, Heath Bell of the San Diego Padres baseball team is shown. A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that All-Star closer Bell has agreed to a $27 million, three-year contract with the Miami Marlins _ their first free-agent deal since beginning courtships last month with several top players. The person spoke Friday, Dec. 2, 2011 on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not yet been announced. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 29, 2010, file photo, New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes reacts after hitting a double during the first game of a baseball doubleheader against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field in New York. A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that Reyes and the Miami Marlins have agreed to a $106 million, six-year contract. The deal includes a club option for a seventh season that, if exercised, would make it worth $120 million. The person spoke Sunday Dec. 4, 2011 on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been announced. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
FILE - This Sept. 7, 2011 file photo shows construction underway at the Miami Marlins' new downtown stadium in Miami. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the financing of the stadium. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
DALLAS (AP) ? Jeffrey Loria watched the news conference from the second row, beaming like a proud parent as Heath Bell talked about his new love for the Miami Marlins and reuniting with Jose Reyes.
Trying to make a quick getaway, the owner was surrounded by reporters in the corridor who wanted to know who else would be migrating to South Florida: Albert Pujols, C.J. Wilson, Mark Buehrle?
Instead of trading away their stars, the Marlins have become the biggest player in the offseason market, the riches from their new ballpark a free-agent attraction.
"I want our team to be important," Loria said Monday as the winter meetings opened. "It's an energy city, and I think that's one of the things that brings the players there. They see the energy."
Bell's $27 million, three-year contract was finalized, giving the renamed Marlins an All-Star closer. Reyes' $106 million, six-year deal is a satisfactory physical from conclusion.
Pujols, who already has toured the new ballpark, would join Hanley Ramirez, Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison in the batting order ? if the three-time NL MVP is willing to leave the St. Louis Cardinals, the only major league team he's played for.
"One big hitter?" Loria said out loud, his 2003 World Series ring flashing from his hand. "Well, I don't know about that, but there's a possibility of another player or two we're looking at."
Morrison, among others, was wondering.
"Just out of surgery. Everything went well," he wrote on Twitter after a minor knee operation, adding: "Have we signed Pujols yet??"
On the mound, Wilson or Buehrle could be added to a rotation that includes Josh Johnson (if healthy), Ricky Nolasco, Anibal Sanchez and Chris Volstad. While the Marlins are being aggressive, traditional big spenders such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are moving cautiously, both with free agents and in the trade market.
"It's hey, take my older, expensive, over-the-hill guy for your young, better-performing guy," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "Let me think about that and get back to you, buddy."
Not that he's acting any differently with opening day four months away.
"I'm sure my ideas are as distasteful as the ones that I've received," he said.
As the four-day swap session began, the first piece of formal business was the annual meeting of the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee, which elected late Chicago Cubs third baseman Ron Santo. He'll be inducted in Cooperstown on July 22, along with any players elected by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Jan. 9.
Pujols and Prince Fielder are the big bats on the market, and it remains unclear whether Pujols is willing to leave the World Series champions, where he's joined Stan Musial as a franchise icon.
"I always use the word hopeful," Cardinals chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. said. "I think it's presumptive to say that I'm optimistic because we obviously have continuing discussions and have a good dialogue going."
No longer watching players like Josh Beckett and Miguel Cabrera getting hooked by other teams, the Marlins now have the bait to attract baseball's best. They drew a major league-low 1.52 million fans to Sun Life Stadium, also home to the NFL's Miami Dolphins, last season. But Loria expects his team will draw 2.5 million to 3 million at the new ballpark.
"When you have a ballpark that seats 78,000, there's no great demand ? and in the middle of nowhere in a football-configured stadium," he said. "But with a ballpark half the size of that and a baseball-only ballpark, you create a different kind of experience and we've seen it in our sales already."
The rest of baseball has taken notice of a team that hopes to overtake Philadelphia and Atlanta in the NL East.
"Good for the Marlins. I'm happy for them, and it's something, of course, I'd like to see happen for us. But in the meantime, you can't cry about it," said Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon, whose team along with Oakland are the last two trying to get new ballparks.
Calling Reyes an "exciting young man" and Wilson a "very intelligent and very interesting guy," Loria said he thinks the Marlins can become a consistent winner in their retractable-roof ballpark, not far from downtown Miami.
"With the roster that we have and the things we hope we can do, the outlook is very good," he said. "I'm not going to make any predictions. But we certainly want to be in position to compete seriously."
While the Marlins are poaching, other teams want to retain their stars. Texas may want Wilson back after he helped it come within one strike of the team's first World Series title.
"We basically felt they were going to test the market and we'd circle back to each other," general manager Jon Daniels said.
The Mets, plunging to losing records in all three seasons at Citi Field and plagued by losses from the Bernard Madoff Ponzi scheme, are cutting payroll from the $140 million range in 2008 and 2009 to about $100 million next year. General manager Sandy Alderson said the team lost $70 million but wouldn't say whether it was all this year.
"When I took the job, my understanding was the payroll was not at a sustainable level, that it would have to come down somewhat," he said. "Perhaps it's had to come down a little more than I would have expected."
Reyes returns to Citi Field when the Marlins visit April 24. He'll be in their new uniforms with garish colors.
"Well, I was a little surprised they had that much money to burn," Mets manager Terry Collins said.
Elsewhere, the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed to a $6 million, two-year contract with utilityman Jerry Hairston Jr. and neared an agreement with pitcher Aaron Harang.
Minnesota agreed to a $4.75 million, one-year deal to keep closer Matt Capps, a person familiar with that deal said on condition of anonymity because it had not yet been announced.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-05-Winter%20Meetings/id-b8c6b415f0464600ba2f0e0a7f5c3db0
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