So I slept in this morning just for my mental and physical health.  Not the greatest idea on the first Monday of the Winter Meetings.  As I scrolled through all 107 and tweets on my baseball list on my phone, I realized why this hot stove will be better than any in years past: Twitter.  When Rosenthal, Olney, and anyone else with their ears open can instantly inform the masses about a whispered rumor, the hot stove gets that much hotter.

But I digress.

Ken Rosenthal let the world know, at 1:15 AM, that Jose Valverde could be accepting arbitration.  Before a panic sets in, Rosenthal never uses a word stronger than could in the discussion.  So it could be a simple as Valverde has the option of taking arbtration from the Astros, Rosenthal can post that and make me Astros fans panic.

I'm probably trying to neuter the rumor so much because it would be a huge blow to this team if Valverde does take the arbitration.  I keep reading figures like $10 million for his award, but I imagine it'd be closer to $8-9 million. Eitherway, that'd be an absurd amount of money to allocate to a guy whose only function is to pitch the final inning of a game in which the team would be winning by less than three runs.

Rosenthal's evidence is just the dynamics of the closer's market in general this year.  Perusing the 2011 Free Agent list, Valverde would be the closer.  So maybe there's some teeth to this rumor after all, even though there was no real attempt to tie this to a source.

Here's to hoping someone steps in and offers Valverde the multi-year deal he's seeking.  As much as I've come to not distrust Ed Wade, I don't trust him trying to leverage the best deal for Valverde at the 2010 trade deadline.  I'd rather us just get the draft picks and put them Bobby Heck's capable hands.