A longtime talent evaluator once described the holiday's effect on MLB executives, and it was as if he was talking about bears finding caves for winter hibernation.
By now (meaning right around Christmas), the evaluator said, almost all teams have filled their primary needs. Most executives have the working framework of the club they will take into next season, and so they're prepared to wait and see if something becomes available for them. But they're not as motivated, not as urgent, to scavenge as they might've been a month ago, and some are already prepared to go into spring training with the group of players they have.