Monday Halolinks: Winter Meeting Madness, Untouchable Jeff Mathis

The 2012 Winter Meetings start this morning and we'll have a thread dedicated to covering all of the news, but until then, here is your special Monday edition of Halolinks (I'm on vacation today!):

• It might be hard for the Angels to swing deals this year as their minor league system is pretty bare: Organization Top 10 Prospects: 2013 Los Angeles Angels Top 10 Prospects - BaseballAmerica.com. "There isn't another Trout in the farm system, which is now one of the worst in baseball. Third baseman Kaleb Cowart stands out as the organization's best prospect, but behind him the system lacks both impact talent and depth—though there are reasons for that beyond talent evaluation." There's probably no other Trouts in any team's farm system. The Angels' system isn't bad, it's just been stripped clean by deals (Grienke and Frieri).
• Did you know the Halos could use some starting pitching? Yeah, crazy huh? Angels' focus will be on quality arms at he Winter Meetings - angels.com. "Dipoto will meet with the press every day, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia will have his first formal media session of the offseason at 12:30 p.m. PT on Wednesday." Hopefully he doesn't need to utter the "turn the page" line. "The priority, of course, is to bring back Greinke, who, along with Josh Hamilton, will be the focal point of this year's Winter Meetings. But if Greinke's price tag gets to $150 million, they'll shift their focus to the likes of Anibal Sanchez, Kyle Lohse, Ryan Dempster and Brandon McCarthy."
• Prepare your mind to be blown: Anatomy of the 12-player Blue Jays-Marlins trade - Toronto Sun. "The Marlins insist on Mathis being included. All that money moving from one set of books to the others. All those players switching uniforms. And now the deal might fall apart because of Jeffrey Stephen Mathis, who started 59 games in the his first year with the Jays. "Every proposal the Marlins asked for him and every time we declined because we were uncomfortable including him," Anthopoulos said."
• SB Nation Winter Meeting Simulation Thread - Royals Review. "Over the course of this week, fellow SB Nation editors, writers, and contributors will be making trades, negotiating for free agents, and angering fans." I'll be partaking in this madness. My main goal, a Vernon Wells blockbuster!
• A Comparison of Three Potential Indicators of Power - Beyond the Box Score. "Some metrics that are available that I have both seen used by others and used myself in an effort to form a logical analysis of the potential power of a player include average home run distance as well as average home run plus fly ball distance. It would make sense to me that a player that hits the ball farther, on average, would possess more power and hence could be expected to produce more offensive "power" in the near future."
• Peter Gammons Q&A - MLBTradeRumors.com
  Do you see a power shift in baseball toward the West Coast?
  Yes, oh definitely. I know I anger a lot of my East Coast friends by constantly talking about and writing that the AL West was the best division in baseball, but if you look at their record against each of the other divisions, the run differential, every sign pointed to that being the strongest division.
• Either times are pretty touch for Smith, or he's a cold-blooded bastard: Ozzie Smith sells Gold Glove trophies for $500K - ESPN. "The Hall of Fame shortstop sold his 13 consecutive Gold Glove Awards from 1980-92 for $519,203, SCP Auctions said Sunday. His 2011 St. Louis Cardinals' World Series ring sold for $51,364 and his 2006 ring went for $42,448. Both were gifts from the team."