LAS VEGAS — Gather thousands of baseball executives, player agents and reporters under one roof for four days, and big news is sure to happen.

It did, but not here.

The big news from baseball's winter meetings came from the west, from a small town not far from California's wine country.

Brian Cashman, the general manager of the New York Yankees, escaped the meetings late Tuesday afternoon, to make a sales call. He hopped a flight to Oakland, then drove to the Vallejo home of CC Sabathia.

Sabathia said yes to the richest contract ever awarded a pitcher in major league history. Cashman returned the next morning to Las Vegas, where nothing quite that fascinating took place before or since.

The winter meetings ended Thursday with Mark Teixeira on the verge of saying yes — to someone — and Manny Ramirez forced to wait for his chance to do so.

A look at the story lines:

Vegas winners:

The New York Mets, for fixing a wretched bullpen that blew 16 saves after the All-Star break, worst in the National League.

In three days here, the Mets signed record-setting closer Francisco Rodriguez, acquired his likely setup man in Seattle Mariners closer J.J. Putz, and added two possible middle relievers in Sean Green, also acquired from Seattle, and sidearmer Darren O'Day, selected from the Angels in the Rule 5 draft.

Prince to go?

The Milwaukee Brewers lost their top starters, Sabathia and Ben Sheets, to free agency and closer Salomon Torres to retirement. They can't afford to compete for the best starters remaining in free agency — A.J. Burnett, Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez — and they can't afford to keep slugger Prince Fielder through three years of arbitration, when he could approach $10 million next season and $15 million by 2011.

If the Dodgers don't bring back Ramirez, they could ease a power crisis by swapping first basemen with the Brewers — James Loney to Milwaukee, Fielder to L.A. But the Brewers also would need pitching in return, and the Dodgers have four vacancies on their staff even without trading Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton or James McDonald.

Three and out?

The Angels and Dodgers could get another shot at Sabathia in three years, when he can opt out of his contract with the Yankees. If he and his wife decide New York is not for them, he can say so and bid farewell.

Here's hoping he means what he says. The Dodgers included an opt-out clause in J.D. Drew's contract for the same reason. In September 2006, Drew said he and his wife had wanted the escape clause in case L.A. was not for them — and that he did not plan to invoke the clause because he and his wife loved L.A. He opted out anyway, one month later, and signed a more lucrative deal with the Boston Red Sox.

Halo, Jake?

The Angels are interested in Jake Peavy, but the Padres appear to have exhausted their goodwill with their ace by negotiating publicly, extensively and fruitlessly with the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs. The Padres can't possibly keep the outspoken Peavy amid their latest fire sale, and he might waive his no-trade clause for the Angels, but for now Peavy's agent wishes the Padres would do a deal, or not, without the play-by-play.

"This has been a fairly frustrating exercise," agent Barry Axelrod said Thursday, "to try to sift through what is real and what is not. Frankly, we're pretty tired of it."

Go short

The Dodgers might have been the biggest gamblers in Vegas, betting they can wait out agents and bring back several key players on short-term contracts. They signed Casey Blake for three years and $17.5 million — Blake might have made more over the three years by accepting arbitration for about $8 million, then playing the market again next winter — but they have refused to guarantee more than two years to Ramirez and Rafael Furcal.

Ramirez wants five years and Furcal four, but no team has bitten on either request. If the Dodgers stand firm, they could retain both players with a smart read of the market — or they could start Juan Pierre in left and Alex Cora at shortstop next season.

Tex mix:

The Angels aren't the only ones waiting on Mark Teixeira. The Red Sox leave town as the front-runners for the 28-year-old, switch-hitting first baseman, but agent Scott Boras hasn't given up on luring the Angels, Red Sox or Baltimore Orioles to guarantee eight years — or the Washington Nationals to guarantee nine or 10.

Once Teixeira signs, Boras will start pushing Ramirez as Plan B to teams needing a bat, and then the market will take shape for Garret Anderson, Milton Bradley, Pat Burrell, Adam Dunn, Jason Giambi, Ken Griffey Jr., Raul Ibanez and Juan Rivera — and for Ramirez, who appears to be on the wrong end of the supply-and-demand scale.

All he needs to do is ask Rodriguez, who rejected three years and $34 million from the Angels last year, then set a major league record with 62 saves. His agent, Paul Kinzer, spoke of a five-year, $75-million deal.

"I already did my job," Rodriguez told the Riverside Press-Enterprise toward the end of the season. "Now my agent has to do his."

His agent could not stop the flood of closers coming onto the market. Rodriguez signed for three years — and $37 million.