St. Louis Cardinals rumors: Winter Meetings Day 1 brings talk of outfielders, relievers

The St. Louis Cardinals rumor mill has been just this side of silent for weeks now, and on Day 1 of the 2012 Winter Meetings in Nashville they didn't make any moves. It wasn't all quiet for John Mozeliak and company, though—the Cardinals were insinuated into the periphery of a few new free agent bidding wars on Monday, with outfielder Scott Hairston chief among them.

We like Hairston, who hits right-handed for power and can stretch to play center field; he would make a great complement to Jon Jay, and the Cardinals' outfielders are all some combination of injury prone and aging. We do wonder, though, whether the Cardinals have enough at-bats to keep him away from the Detroit Tigers, who are reportedly offering him a two-year deal.

Elsewhere, the Sean Burnett derby didn't much move on Monday, though StanGraphs took the opportunity to make an extended case against the Cardinals signing him. The Milwaukee Brewers were the only team connected to the left-handed reliever, and in this kind of strange way—

#Brewers GM Doug Melvin was aware LH reliever Sean Burnett just had a baby. "So, you can tell I talked to them."

— Tom (@Haudricourt) December 3, 2012

So it could be that his rumored multi-year contract expectations are driving GMs away. Burnett's a great reliever at his best, but the year-to-year variance in his numbers makes it hard to imagine any team will go more than two years on his behalf. It could go fast, though—Fox Sports's B.J. Rains caught Mozeliak saying that he expects the market to move quickly, as soon as this week.

For more on the Cardinals' Nashville haul, stay tuned to our special Winter Meetings hub. For rumors and news around baseball, check out MLB Daily Dish.