Baseball's winter meetings start tomorrow in Dallas and O's fans will get their first impressions of Dan Duquette as a wheeler and dealer. He's pulled off some minor moves in the player acquisition department, getting catcher Taylor Teagarden last week, but has been active on assembling a new supporting cast in his office.

The O's could announce the official hire of former Phillies general manager Lee Thomas as a special assistant soon. The O's are not expected to be major players in the free agent market, but Duquette is clearly someone comfortable with trades. Last year the O's used the winter meetings to land J.J. Hardy and Mark Reynolds, and both proved to be major additions.

Cornerstones like Nick Markakis, Adam Jones and Matt Wieters appear untouchable, but pitcher Jeremy Guthrie has been the subject of trade talk. His value is always higher during the offseason, so now might be the time to part with him.

Posted Dec. 4, 2011