Arizona, the Toast of Baseball? Bottom’s Up!

Twenty-four hours into its winter meetings, baseball looked up and found its free-agent market being driven not by the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox, but by one franchise that reportedly measures its debt in the hundreds of millions of dollars and another being operated by ... baseball.

The Arizona Diamondbacks, whose contribution to the off-season was going to be the Randy Johnson Sweepstakes, snatched up third baseman Troy Glaus and starting pitcher Russ Ortiz for nearly $80 million, a few weeks after the Montreal/Washington Expos/Nationals scrounged up $23 million -- U.S.! -- for Cristian Guzman and Vinny Castilla.

As Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman noted of the cash-out-your-IRA market upon his arrival Friday afternoon, “It’s a little higher than I thought it would be. But it usually is.”

The big guys, and by that we mean Scott Boras’ guys, have hardly made their rounds, and the heavy spenders haven’t yet shaken the ink into their pens, and already the bargain hunters are hiding amid the palm fronds in the Anaheim Marriott lobby.

Indeed, Boras looked out over the deals already made -- for instance, by the New York Mets for Kris Benson (three years, $22.5 million), by the Diamondbacks for Ortiz (four years, $33 million), by the Yankees for Jaret Wright (three years, $21 million), by the Philadelphia Phillies for Jon Lieber (three years, $21 million) -- and still characterized it a “bottom-up process.”

“It seems as though the clubs now prefer to put a foundation of good players together, then determine where the franchise players fit,” he said. “Those decisions in many cases are ownership-driven.

Like, scream until they cry.

Glaus got $45 million over four years, which, to Boras, confirmed Adrian Beltre’s (greater) worth.

“I think the Glaus signing supports the fact that what we were looking for for Adrian Beltre was well within the marketplace,” he said.

Regardless, in a day otherwise thick on rumor and thin on hard news, there emerged a few solid truths, and a lot of soft, icky stuff.

Carl Pavano appears to have narrowed his choices to the Red Sox, Yankees and Seattle Mariners, which leaves out the Baltimore Orioles.

David Wells has a one-year offer from the Red Sox and wouldn’t mind pitching in Boston, but would love to see the Yankees become more involved. The San Diego Padres remain hopeful.

The Angels never had a shot at Carlos Beltran, and most of baseball is counting the days before Beltran becomes the Yankee center fielder. Boras, on the former, after meeting Wednesday night with Angel owner Arte Moreno: “The Angels are a valued franchise, but from our perspective, they were not somebody we considered were part of the picture.”

A three-way trade proposal -- the foundation of which would have sent Johnson to the Yankees, Paul Konerko to the Diamondbacks and Javier Vazquez to the Chicago White Sox -- is still dead. And yet, the White Sox really like Vazquez and continue to hold out hope.

The Yankees are determined to remake their pitching staff. Cashman was to meet Friday night with the agent for Pavano and today with the agent for Eric Milton. In the scenario that would make them all happy, the Yankees would sign another starter and ship Kevin Brown to Atlanta, whose rotation is hurting after the departures of Ortiz and Wright. The Yankees would pick up most of Brown’s 2005 salary and Brown, who would pitch closer to his Georgia home and perhaps no longer require jet services, would waive his no-trade clause.

Detroit would appear to be the fallback option in the free agencies of Beltre, whose first choice is to stay with the Dodgers, and Derek Lowe, who might land in Texas.

The Padres have offered Ryan Klesko to the White Sox, who would like to add a left-handed bat.

Corey Koskie is considering accepting arbitration from Minnesota. If not, Toronto, Detroit and Seattle are options, as are the Dodgers.

There is consensus the Angels can’t possibly be serious about starting the season with rookie Dallas McPherson and David Eckstein on the left side of their infield, and that they must be talking to Edgar Renteria. The Angels, who are lukewarm on Orlando Cabrera, claim they are comfortable with McPherson and Eckstein.

The Orioles are believed to be the front-runners for Magglio Ordonez.

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Members of the Steve Finley camp already are proving to be loyal and earnest followers of Arte Moreno and his designs for Angel manifest destiny. In an afternoon news conference, agent Tommy Tanzer referred several times to Finley’s remaining in Los Angeles, and then the ex-Dodger said, “I’m still in Los Angeles, right? Just a different color.” The Anaheim City Council’s mailing list just got a little longer. ... The Dodgers have dispatched a scout to Santa Ana College today to observe a workout by free-agent third baseman Norihiro Nakamura.