D-Backs unlikely to make waves at winter meeting

 A year after plotting to make a big splash while pursuing Dan Haren at the winter meeting, the Diamondbacks are unlikely to make many waves this time.

When the meeting convenes in Las Vegas today, the D-Backs will have only about $10 million to spend, which may not matter much because they have few (and relatively inexpensive) needs.

Second base, the bench and the bullpen are areas of interest, and the bullpen need may fade if Brandon Lyon accepts the D-Backs’ offer for salary arbitration.

Lyon must decide by today, and it appears likely he will accept, not only because he likes it here but because of the lagging market in the first offseason of the national recession.

“He would have a documentable value in arbitration. It is certainly an option he would have to consider,” agent Barry Meister said.

And while the D-Backs’ needs are relatively minor, general manager Josh Byrnes expects to be active early.

“I’m sure a couple of things will happen,” said Byrnes, who spent the majority of his time last year in meetings with Oakland in an attempt to acquire Haren, a deal that finally came together a week after the meeting ended.

“We’ve looked at a lot of second-base options, and we’ve looked at some bench and bullpen possibilities. Some things are starting to define themselves.”

Ramon Vazquez, Damion Easley, Mark Loretta and Adam Kennedy are options at second base or on the bench, and the D-Backs have offered Vazquez a one-year deal. He is seeking two years, but the sides do not appear far apart.

The D-Backs offered arbitration to second baseman Orlando Hudson and reliever Juan Cruz, but expect both to test the market.

“At the very least, we’ll know whether Brandon (Lyon) will accept,” Byrnes said.

Lyon’s situation is a microcosm of the industry as a whole. At midsummer, Lyon seemed to be in line for a multiyear contract this winter. Now, he may be best served to take a one-year deal at about $4 million and wait for the market to go back up next year.

The economics of the market are the reason the D-Backs did not offer arbitration to Adam Dunn, who conceivably could have been awarded $15 million . Dunn may find his value as a free agent at half to two-thirds of that figure.

Being more frugal “is the reality,” Byrnes said. “The Adam Dunn decision was attributable to the marketplace. But we’re not going to retreat or upset the integrity of our team, however.”

The D-Backs have budgeted about $70 million to $72 million to spend on the 2009 roster — which appears to not include free agent Randy Johnson — while in the second year of a three-year plan as outlined by managing partner Ken Kendrick last fall in which they will spend between $225 million and $240 million.

The D-Backs recently trimmed 31 front-office employees .

“Although any business or sports team will endure challenging times, we have been strategic in our business operations to weather the downturn in the economy as best as we can,” D-Backs president Derrick Hall said.