Baseball's winter meetings officially began Monday in Las Vegas. The meetings usually gain momentum slowly before often ending with a frenzy of moves – and near moves. As always, rumors will fly that the Red Sox are interested in virtually every player available, perhaps even a few who aren't.

"The fun thing from the Boston side of it," said Manager Terry Francona, "is that we're involved in a lot of it. We're players in a lot of it because of who we are, and that's exciting."

It is certainly fitting this year's event is happening in Vegas. The annual gathering of general managers, players and agents has become one of the biggest crapshoots in pro sports.

It's a high-stakes game of poker as GMs try to set the market for top players while agents for second-tier players try to create a bigger market for their clients.

The Red Sox are dealing from a position of strength once again. They know they could stand pat and still come back with a hand strong enough to win the division.

Or they could gamble and move a pile of cash into the middle of the table to see if they can build an even stronger hand.

Mark Teixeira might be the biggest offensive jackpot the Red Sox are eyeing, but bringing him to Boston would create other problems.

Everyone seems to think they could just move Mike Lowell to make room for Teixeira, but what do you really think the market is for an almost-35-year-old infielder coming off hip surgery?

Lowell did everything a team could ask of him this season. He played through injuries that would have knocked most players out of the lineup.

He tried to overcome the medical odds and play deeply into the postseason, but by the end of the American League Championship Series he could barely walk down the steps of the dugout.

What kind of message would it send to the clubhouse if a player like that gets dumped for a newcomer?

On the other hand, GM Theo Epstein and the rest of the Red Sox front office must do whatever they can to improve the club.

And bringing in a hitter like Teixeira once again would give Boston one of the most potent one-two punches in the game, with David Ortiz.

Of course, the Red Sox could bring in Teixeira and keep Lowell, going with the old maxim that "these things work themselves out."

But doing that would mean having Lowell and shortstop Julio Lugo on the bench, a pair of players who consider themselves starters.

That would present problems, one of which would be an inflated payroll.

Having too many player choices is a problem every manager would love to have.

Francona will get to sit in on most of the meetings Epstein has with players and agents, but he is focusing most of his energy on the players currently on his roster.

"This is a time of year when we start getting back in touch with our guys," said Francona.

"You give them a month, six weeks, to kind of get home and get away. Everybody needs to get away from each other, and I'm sure they get tired of hearing from me.

"Then, right about now you start checking in to make sure everyone's healthy because they're starting to get into their workouts for next spring. You want to make sure there are no problems.

"You start checking in with the trainers, just making sure we're doing what we're supposed to do so when we show up at spring training there are no surprises."

Francona doesn't know if there will be any surprises for the Red Sox this week in Las Vegas.

Like the rest of us, he will wait to see how these next few days play out.

Tom Caron is the studio host for Red Sox broadcasts on the New England Sports Network. His column appears in the Press Herald on Tuesdays.