And if it was alarming in the best of times, it's even more frightening in times like these when the harsh realities of America's economic meltdown have turned Baseball into an even more glaringly obvious world of the haves and have-nots. As Baseball's winter meetings got under way in Las Vegas this week, the midmarket Cardinals and the large-market Chicago Cubs could end up becoming a case study in how smart Baseball people will handle their business in this recession.

Even while they are on the verge of being sold, the two-time defending NL Central champion Cubs have not been frightened by the downswing of the economy. While everyone else has apparently been scared off in the Jake Peavy sweepstakes, Chicago has turned it into a one-team auction as the only suitor for the San Diego Padres' 2007 Cy Young Award-winning pitcher.

While the Cubs keep enriching their roster and rotation with flashy moves and expensive top-shelf talent, the prudent Cards are still trying to close the expanding talent gap without draining their farm system or their less lavish expense account.

But there could be, at least we hope, a difference in their tactics this time. It took general manager John Mozeliak one phone message and barely three hours last Thursday to get a deal done with the Padres for shortstop Khalil Greene. Now he's working the room at the swanky Bellagio Hotel to get the most important item on the offseason shopping list, pitching. And it will bear watching to see what and how he acquires those precious arms.

Let's face it, these are the fiscally conservative Cards, so CC Sabathia is already out of the picture. But can Mozeliak continue to play the astute scavenger who can pick up excellent talent at knock-off prices (see: Oliver Perez), or will he go in that familiar Cardinals direction toward acquiring another risky arm that could break down tomorrow (please do not see: Brad Penny)?

The free agent marketplace may have slowed, particularly at the high end, but because there are so many frightened teams sitting out, handcuffed by the bad economy, Mozeliak is working at an advantage. He doesn't have a big budget like Chicago or New York, but unlike a majority of these franchises, he at least has a workable one. And it has been made even more workable by the slow free agent marketplace.

Case in point: Five months ago, not in his wildest dreams could Mozeliak have imagined a situation that would allow Perez, the Mets' talented free-agent pitcher, to fit in the Cardinals budget. During a midsummer broadcast of a Mets game, the Mets broadcast crew was speculating on which soon-to-be Mets free agent, Perez or the aging slugger Carlos Delgado, would be reaping the benefits of ownership's generosity.

The way the debate unfolded, former Mets Ron Darling and David Cone argued that the team could afford one but not both players because they both would command the $10 million-a-year golden ticket this winter.

Fast forward to December, and now there is a sluggish free agent market, Sabathia is still waiting on his earth-shaking contract offer, and Manny Ramirez is getting anxious, too. The wild spending hasn't happened at the high end, and it's trickling down to the rest of the market. So that dizzy $10 million for Perez is probably not going to happen, and guess who's suddenly profiting from this little downturn in the hunt for Perez? Your frugal St . Louis Cardinals .

It's funny to listen to Mozeliak now say that there are "opportunities that we didn't envision four weeks ago." But the truth is, last month after the Albert Pujols MVP news conference, the GM was quietly predicting this very situation where the marketplace would actually come back to the educated consumer.

So now let's see just how much of a wise prognosticator he really is. No more bad-arm experiments, please. Go get the best arm your money can buy, not the riskiest.