I'm heading out on the road soon and finding it difficult to concentrate, so we're going to do this lazy bullet point style:

• So it turns out that brief love affair with Carlos Beltran ended just as quickly and poorly as we expected. Beltran signed a deal with the Cardinals yesterday for 2 years, $26 million, which is surely more than the Rays were willing to pay. Sigh...so it goes. Luke Scott is still out there, though, so there's that.
• The Nationals acquired Gio Gonzalez from the Athletics yesterday for a large package of prospects: A.J. Cole, Brad Peacock, Derek Norris, and Tommy Milone. It's funny, I remember at least three of those names coming up when discussing potential B.J. Upton trades to the Nationals. Judging from this, there's no way the Rays would have gotten a decent package from the Nats. I imagine most Upton talks probably started with something like Norris and Peacock, and the Nats simply weren't willing to go that high.
• Over at High Heat Stats, they attempted to list out some of the most valuable pitchers in 2011. Shields and Hellickson both made the cut, based on their performance and cost-effective salary.
• Just the other day, I answered some questions about the Marlins' stadium situation and offseason for The Good Point, and they're up on their site right now. It's not technically Rays-related, but I thought some people might be interested.

Happy holidays, all!