Quick news and notes from San Diego

SAN DIEGO - We're all set up here at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in beautiful San Diego, right on the water and just a short walk away from Petco Park, home of the Padres.

The Winter Meetings don't technically begin until tomorrow, but that hasn't stopped groups of team employees and reporters from congregating in the lobby as everyone catches up and gets set to check into their rooms.

It isn't just general managers and top team officials that attend the Winter Meetings from the teams' side of things; this is an event for nearly everyone in the baseball world.

Traveling secretaries are here, and meet to discuss the inner workings of their jobs and give friendly tips to their counterparts in other organizations. Trainers from all teams attend this event, both so that they can hold their annual meeting and also so they can advise their GMs, should medical records be exchanged on potential free agent or trade acquisitions. Public relations staffers, scouts, video coordinators - they're all here.

This is really the hub of the baseball world for four days, and it can get pretty chaotic.

Nationals manager Matt Williams has arrived, and caught up with a couple D.C. reporters briefly in the lobby. He's set to formally meet the media on Tuesday, I believe, and so we'll have plenty from him then.

While there has been plenty of talk about the Orioles in the hours since we landed in San Diego, what with the Dan Duquette rumors and all, but I haven't heard much Nationals chatter thus far.

That said, there really does seem to be a large group of people in the industry who expect the Nats to get into the mix for free agent righty Max Scherzer.

Scherzer has ties to Nats general manager Mike Rizzo, who was the scouting director in Arizona when the Diamondbacks selected Scherzer in the first round of the 2006 draft. Scherzer's agent is Scott Boras, who has numerous clients in the Nationals organization and has built a solid working relationship with members of the Lerner family.

There isn't a spot for Scherzer in the Nats rotation as of now, but if either Jordan Zimmermann or Doug Fister are traded, many around the industry feel that the Nats will become a player for Scherzer.

I caught up briefly with former Nationals first baseman Chad Tracy, who is here in a different capacity than you might expect.

Tracy hung up the spikes in April, retiring after a 14-year professional career, but he's since joined Octagon Baseball, the same agency that represented him in his playing days.

Some former players choose to go into broadcasting once they're done playing as a way to stay close to the game they love. Tracy has opted to join an agency, and says he's really enjoying the transition so far.

Also, according to this release, Fister will be going on the USO Holiday Tour, led by General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Adam LaRoche went on the Holiday Tour last year, and Ross Detwiler and Craig Stammen both went two years ago, so the Nats continue to have a presence on the annual trip.

Fister has ties to the military and the service industries in general; his grandfather was in the Air Force, his father was on the SWAT team in Merced, Calif., and then transitioned into a role as a firefighter, and Fister's uncle was a police officer and then became a detective later on in his career.