LAS VEGAS — Baseball Winter Meetings don’t officially begin until Monday and many are expecting a market moving at the pace of molasses to finally gain some velocity. At the least, all of the chatter stuffed into one city and one hotel will give the illusion of action.

Already, some teams are setting up their suites for the sport’s version of “Wheel of Fortune” and getting ready for what one called “no doubt the busiest week of the year.”

A handful of general managers, like Cincinnati honcho Walt Jocketty, came in late Saturday night. Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry and some of his top lieutenants were on my flight in Chicago. Most of the St. Louis Cardinals’ front office and think tank, including GM John Mozeliak, will arrive this afternoon. The Cardinals’ goals are clear: Dip a few toes in the pitching market and see if there’s a fit for their ninth-inning need and an upgrade or addition for the starting rotation.

Fittingly, those are the first two questions I found from readers as we start the Hot Stove coverage from The Strip. Keep ‘em coming and I’ll field as many as possible while also trying to be your eyes and ears from Vegas all week …

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Q: Is there any interest in us acquiring Aaron Heilman from the Mets? He wants an opportunity to start, but the Mets want him in the bullpen. We could him either in the bullpen or try him as the fifth starter. Thanks for your time.

– Mike

RHP Aaron Heilman

DG: The New York Daily News and other sources have reported that Aaron Heilman would like a chance to start for the Mets or he’s made an Adam Kennedy-like request: Move him to a place he can. Well, like Kennedy he might just find there’s no place to go. In my opinion, Heilman would be a great get, and he has been for a few years. I’d like to see what he could do as a starter, and his experience as a reliever only makes him that much more attractive as a swingman who can cover innings. He’s long been an intriguing figure to me, a prototype change-for-the-sake-of-opportunity pitcher. But the Cardinals cannot offer Heilman the guaranteed rotation spot that he craves.

Heilman has no say in where he’s traded — he can only ask. The Cardinals have said pitching is their priority this week and it’s not difficult to connect the dots. But the pitcher the Cardinals are looking for an upgrade to the rotation more than an insurance arm.

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Q: Just wondering if there was any actual movement behind the thought of obtaining Huston Street. He could be a good bridge to the closers of the future, being signed for only one more year. Although I would rather resign Izzy to an incentive laden deal, a proven vetran who knows his place and is willing to help groom the kids.

– Dan M.

RHP J.J. Putz (Source: MLB.com)

DG: Indications from Colorado have been that the interest in the closer Street is one-sided — teams are calling but the Rockies aren’t shopping him. This morning in the Rocky Mountain News, for example, it says the Rockies see Street as “an alternative to Manny Corpas” if the latter cannot seize the closer role left open by Brian Fuentes’ free agency. In this morning’s Post-Dispatch, Joe Strauss writes that the Cardinals could look into J.J. Putz and Street as trade options for the ninth-inning hole.

Street might take a little more convincing than Putz unless things have changed since the righthander was dealt to Colorado in the Matt Holliday deal. Internally, there are some members of the Cardinals’ brain trust who see Street’s recent performance — he has had injuries, ineffectiveness, and he lost his closing job this past season — as telling signs of decline. Acquiring a pitcher like Street would mean also electing to pay him (Street made $3.3 million and his arbitration-eligible) considerably more than the two young, low-cost prospects the Cardinals already have in place (Chris Perez, Jason Motte).

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This blog and a host of online content will be coming live from the Post-Dispatch’s baseball bureau in Las Vegas all week during the Baseball Winter Meetings. Joe Strauss will ride two tsunamis (twonamis?), swerving around extra exclamation points as he does, with a couple chats this week. Derrick Goold will update this blog repeatedly through the day, continue Bird Land’s daily offseason coverage and, when possible, tweet away on the dgoold feed at Twitter.

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