Carlos Beltran Rumors: Wednesday

On Tuesday at the Winter Meetings, the idea of the Red Sox acquiring Carlos Beltran surfaced. For the remainder of the day, we heard a few pieces, culminating with a reported meeting between Boston and the Mets to discuss the idea. Here's your early edition of Wednesday's Beltran rumors:

• A source involved in the discussions told Joel Sherman of the New York Post that nothing was close with Boston and Beltran (Twitter link). Sherman was told yesterday that the Red Sox see Beltran as a fallback.
• SI.com's Jon Heyman spoke to one NL executive who estimated the Mets would have to eat about half of Beltran's salary in order to move him (Twitter link).
• Newsday's David Lennon says a deal between the Red Sox and Mets has gained some traction. While a trade is still a long shot, Mets GM Sandy Alderson is not averse to eating salary to move him. Lennon also speculates on a Daisuke Matsuzaka-Beltran swap, as the two are owed nearly the same amount of money ($20MM vs. $18.5MM, respectively). Matsuzaka would need to waive his no-trade clause to facilitate such a deal.