The winter meetings came to an end with this morning's Rule 5 draft, the Mariners selecting 23-year-old pitcher Kanekoa Texeira from the Class AA ranks of the Yankees system. He made six starts and a bunch of relief outings, going 9-6 with a 2.84 ERA and a 2-to-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio but it's tough to imagine the Mariners keeping him on the major league roster the entire season. If they don't, he either goes back to the Yankes or a deal would have to be worked out.

In bigger news, the Mariners re-signed infielder Josh Wilson to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.

"I liked it there, that's the bottom line,'' Wilson told me by phone from his home in Pittsburgh. "I like the situation there and I feel it gives me my best chance to get back up there, either out of spring training or somewhere down the line during the season.''

The Mariners had taken Wilson off the 40-man roster late last month. He was outrighted to Class AAA but refused the assignment and became a free agent.

"I wasn't just going to accept the (minor league) assignment without exploring what other options there were out there,'' he said. "But at the end of the day, this seemed like the best fit for me and the Mariners made it worth my while.''

Other than that, and being the subject of a juicy, end-of-meetings rumor concerning Adrian Gonzalez, the Mariners come away from here without having added to the Chone Figgins signing they negotiated prior to the beginning of events in Indianapolis.

The whopper rumor of this morning has the Mariners getting into discussions with the San Diego Padres on a Gonzalez deal. The Mariners have liked Gonzalez for a while and have the pieces to take a run at him. You'll remember our blog post about an attempted proposal for a three-way deal last July that would have sent Gonzalez to Seattle, Felix Hernandez to Boston and a ton of prospects to the Padres.

Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik has said ever since that he shot down the proposal before it even got off the ground.

"I didn't even go there,'' Zduriencik told 710 ESPN at season's end. "When someone brought it up, within 30 seconds that thing was put down."

But there has been much speculation since that the M's would look to land the services of Gonzalez in exchange for a package that would undoubtedly include Brandon Morrow, Carlos Triunfel and a host of other young bodies.

But really, nothing appears even close on that front for now. Will the rumors ever become reality? We'll have to wait and see.

For now, Zduriencik leaves here knowing he lost out on attempts to land Curtis Granderson, Edwin Jackson and Rich Harden. What happens with Adrian Beltre remains to be seen, but that deal by the Red Sox to free up third base by trading Mike Lowell appears all done pending a physical.

Zduriencik shrugged when asked if he'd heard any more from Beltre.

"I really don't know,'' he said. "We could all speculate and figure out the x's and o's of everything. That's part of this process. To try to figure out what a club's going to do, or the desires of certain free agents. All we can do is make our case with anyone we're talking to and see where it ends up at.''

Zduriencik tried to downplay any hint these meetings had been a disappointment.

"We're still going to be active,'' Zduriencik said. "Like I said, with these meetings, there's groundwork laid. A lot of discussions as you move forward. There will be some today before the day's over. So, where it ends up at and where it takes us remains to be seen.''

He then added: "I don't walk out of here feeling like we'd have liked to have done a lot more. You want to do the things that you think are the most productive for you. Sometimes, it takes a little longer than other times, so we'll see where we end up at.''