NASHVILLE -- At 4 p.m. Central Standard Time on Monday, it was safe to declare the 2002 winter meetings to be officially defunct.

Oh, a bunch of teams were still on the premises. And rumors continued to battle Christmas carols for the right to hang in the December air. But it was just about then, 4 o'clock sharp, that Omar Minaya, GM of the Montreal Expos (a.k.a., winter-meetings ringmaster), headed out the door of the Opryland Hotel.

And since these were the Expo-palooza winter meetings, dominated start-to-finish by one Expos trade rumor after another, the end of Omar meant the end of any hope that a monstrous Montreal megadeal at these meetings would allow the other 29 teams to resume normal offseason programming.

"I wish I'd been able to get to the podium for you guys," Minaya apologized to one final mass-media gathering.

But his unfinished business was the perfect symbol of a four-day blabfest that produced less major news than Michael Jackson's European vacation.

Except for Erubiel Durazo, Edgardo Alfonzo and a bunch of unsuspecting minor-league draft picks, just about all the business at these meetings went unfinished. Roger Clemens didn't have a job. Greg Maddux didn't have a job. Jeff Kent and Cliff Floyd were still on the unemployment rolls.

And the Expos still had Bartolo Colon, Javier Vazquez, Vladimir Guerrero and everyone else on their roster -- right down to T.J. Tucker and Valentino Pascucci -- exactly where they were last Thursday. So the big story of these winter meetings wasn't really what happened this weekend, it's what happens next. From Clemens and Maddux and the Expos, to the folks who ought to be dominating the course of offseason baseball events, here's a look through our crystal ball at what the future may hold for them:

The Expos
Minaya said he talked to more than 20 teams at these meetings -- in 75 hours. But in the end, his options for making a big deal involving one of his starting pitchers seemed to be down to the Yankees, Red Sox and a "wild-card team," which was almost certainly the Reds.

	Colon

The Yankees have offered him Nick Johnson, Juan Rivera and Orlando Hernandez for Vazquez. But the two sides are hung up by Minaya's insistence that the Yankees pay all of El Duque's salary (which could swell to $4 million in arbitration).

The Red Sox chased Colon, offering Shea Hillenbrand and Casey Fossum. But the Expos want Boston to take third baseman Fernando Tatis, all $6.25 million of him. And that's where their conversations have crashed and burned.

Then there's the third team. Several baseball people said Monday they heard the Reds and Expos had talked about a stunning trade that could have sent Adam Dunn and the just-acquired Felipe Lopez to Montreal for either Colon or Vazquez. But another source said Minaya had asked about Dunn and was turned down.

Minaya wouldn't name the third team, but said he "did make a proposal to that team (on Monday)." He pronounced them to be "one player away," but wouldn't identify the player.

Two baseball men who have been talking with the Reds said some members of their entourage had been buzzing Sunday night and Monday morning about a potential blockbuster that was in the works. But the Reds were also working on a smaller-scale deal with Florida involving Brad Penny, and it seems far more likely they'll make that one.

So if the Reds drop out, the Expos are left to choose between the Red Sox and Yankees, while simultaneously trying to play them against each other. But there were indications those two teams weren't too thrilled by that game.

"Everyone knows what they're trying to do," said an official of one club that had been involved earlier in the Expos bidding. "But that's not going to work. To me, they're in danger of over-reaching here. I know Omar figures what does he have to lose. But here's what he has to lose: If he waits too long, eventually the other teams go do what they have to do and he could get stuck with nothing."

With all the teams interested in his pitchers, it's hard to imagine Minaya would come out with "nothing." But that's exactly what he left Nashville with.

"I'd love to have been able to get a deal done," Minaya said. "But I was prepared to come here, listen to all the offers and find out who was interested in my players. I found out there was a lot of interest in my players. Ideally, I'd have liked to get a deal done. But if we don't get it done here, we're still closer to getting it done than we were before we got here."

Roger Clemens
He owns six Cy Young awards. He's seven wins away from No. 300. He's eminently available for gainful employment. And yet, a month and a half after filing for free agency, Roger Clemens is still looking for a job.

	Clemens

His agents, Alan and Randy Hendricks, continue to talk to the Yankees. But at the same time, the Yankees continue to work on a deal for Vazquez or Colon. If they make that deal -- and don't dump El Duque's salary in the process -- that would be a sure sign Clemens will win No. 300 in somebody else's uniform.

"People keep suggesting that the reason Roger wants to stay with the Yankees is that he has no other options," Randy Hendricks said. "Which is absurd. They should take that statement on face value. His goal is to stay with the Yankees. If he doesn't, nobody has the right to get upset. We made them an offer they haven't accepted. And they made us an offer that we haven't accepted. Hey, that's life."

It still seems more likely Clemens will be a Yankee next year than it is that he'll wind up his career as a Ranger or a Met or a Diamondback. But the Yankees don't want to pay him $10 million a year, and they seem skeptical that anyone else does, either.

Hendricks keeps suggesting, though, that once the Yankees are out of it, he has several teams prepared to pounce. And to those teams, he said, the thought of trotting a future Hall of Famer out there to win his 300th game is a promotional bonanza waiting to happen.

So that's their story, and they're sticking to it. But the Yankees -- whose offseason goal is to get younger in their rotation -- haven't budged in weeks. And their tug-of-war, along with the complete absence of any frenzy by 14 other teams to sign a six-time Cy Young winner, sums up exactly how bizarre this free-agent market has been.

"I don't know why anybody would be surprised by this," said one AL executive. "That's what this new labor deal was supposed to produce. This is the consequence of the labor deal. Why wouldn't everybody understand that?"

But Hendricks isn't so sure this is business as usual.

"The big story of this offseason is how many players aren't signed," he said. "A lot of teams out there are trying to bait people to sign what would be considered, historically, to be record-low offers. And that seems to be the predominant game."

That's why it seemed like everywhere you turned in Opryland this weekend, some agent was muttering about collusion. But Hendricks wasn't quite yet ready to point that finger -- publicly, at least.

"There's nothing inherently wrong with teams trying to get what they see as a good deal, from their point of view," he said. "We're trying to be philosophical about it. People like to go shopping this time of year. And if they can get something at 25-percent off, they will, right? It's human nature. Whether it's anything more than that, time will tell."

And in a related development, time will also tell us where baseball's only active 293-game winner will throw his next pitch.

Greg Maddux
Speaking of Cy Young winners looking for work ...

	Maddux

Everybody in baseball -- including the Braves -- seems to expect Maddux and agent Scott Boras to inform the Braves on Thursday that he is accepting their offer of arbitration, which would bind him to return to Atlanta for a salary to be named later.

But it's also amazing how many people in baseball expect that decision to lead Maddux and the Braves to the most fascinating arbitration hearing of all time. "There's never been a guy like Greg Maddux in arbitration," said one agent. "Who's the most comparable player you'd compare him to -- Cy Young? He'd probably file for $20 million."

The Braves, on the other hand, would be likely to compare Maddux to someone like Randy Johnson, whose salary this year -- for arbitration purposes -- was $13.35 million (factoring in his prorated signing bonus).

That would leave them nearly $7 million apart. And even if they split the difference (at close to $17 million), it would still make Maddux the highest-paid pitcher in history -- for a year, anyway.

So they could wind up in the hearing room. Or they could wind up settling on a one-year deal. But in the meantime, Boras will undoubtedly use the threat of getting $20 million in arbitration as leverage to ask for the five-year contract he has been looking for elsewhere -- with zero success.

However this works, the Braves seem to be planning now on having Maddux back. Whether they can afford him, and still keep together the kind of team they're used to, is a question that might not be answered for weeks.

Jeff Kent
He was gone. He was staying. He had one offer. He had "alternatives."

	Kent

This was the confusing saga of Jeff Kent's free-agent journey -- a journey heading for a highly uncertain end.

When he walked out of the Giants' clubhouse for the last time in October, there seemed to be next to no chance Kent would ever return. But by Saturday -- when the Giants told Kent he had one more day to say yes or no to a three-year, $24-million offer that had a chance to grow to four years, $32 million -- indications were that he would relent and come back for less money than he had in mind.

Instead, Kent and his agent, Jeff Klein, tried one last time to extract more dollars from the Giants. And San Francisco's response was to dial Edgardo Alfonzo's number and make the ex-Met a four-year, $26-million offer he couldn't refuse.

So it's Alfonzo or their other big free-agent catch, Ray Durham, who figure to be playing second base for the Giants next Opening Day. Meanwhile, there's no easy answer to the question of where Kent will be playing that day.

Technically, he could still take the Giants' offer of arbitration and try to force them to squeeze him into their picture for one more year. But Giants officials seemed skeptical Kent would take that option.

Unfortunately, his other options don't look anywhere near as attractive as Kent had in mind after averaging 114 RBI a season over the last five years.

Talk that the Cubs would like him to play third base for Dusty Baker appears now to be a mirage. And the Dodgers clearly have other ideas. So Kent may be forced to veer toward one of the teams that didn't sign Alfonzo -- particularly the Red Sox or Padres.

The Padres just signed Mark Loretta to play second base. They have Ryan Klesko at first, and an overcrowded infield to begin with. So Kent's best bet could be Boston, where Alfonzo had tentatively accepted a two-year, $13-million offer before the Giants swooped in Sunday afternoon with twice as many years and dollars.

Kent could wind up in far worse destinations than Fenway. But it's another sure sign of baseball's strange new times that an RBI machine like Jeff Kent could have so few alternatives -- and a prospective paycheck lower than the Cubs will pay Eric Karros to not play every day.

Cliff Floyd
He's a 30-year-old, 30-homer, 40-double-a-year man who can play left field, right field or first base. So you'd think Cliff Floyd would have job offers from coast to coast about now. Instead, he had to quasi-threaten the Red Sox this weekend that he was considering accepting arbitration.

	Floyd

If he does, Floyd could easily make $9 million next year in Boston. But if he accepts, it also takes him off the free-agent market. So essentially, that creates a Thursday deadline for any of the other teams interested in him -- particularly the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets.

The Dodgers have stepped up efforts to trade Andy Ashby in the last week, in a clear attempt to jettison some or all of his $8-million salary and create space for a bat. There is every indication that the bat they prefer to add is sitting in Cliff Floyd's bat rack.

Floyd's agents, Seth and Sam Levinson, negotiated with the Dodgers deep into Sunday night -- and were back at it Monday. They could play Floyd either at first base or in right, if they decide to take up Shawn Green's offer to move to first.

The last time Floyd played regularly at first base was a decade ago, in Double-A, and his manager that year was a fellow named Jim Tracy, who now manages a certain team in Los Angeles.

Floyd was then the minor-league player of the year for Tracy. Now, it appears Tracy is pushing for Floyd, and Floyd would love to play for Tracy.

So, there's only one reason that wouldn't happen-- and that is because this is the offseason in which nothing happens the way you expect it would.

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.