Florida Marlins General Manager Larry Beinfest strongly denied Angels owner Arte Moreno's claims that the teams had a deal for slugger Miguel Cabrera in place twice in November, only to have the trades fall apart because the Marlins increased their demands at the last minute.

"There were no deals," Beinfest said during Wednesday's news conference to announce Florida's trade of Cabrera and pitcher Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers ...

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"I think our track record has been that we deal straight up. We know what we want, and if there's a deal to be made, it will be made. . . . We knew what our bottom line was. I've always taken the tack that there's not a deal until there's a deal on both sides."

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Said Beinfest: "We're in a private world here in baseball, there's discussions about players every day; if you don't like the asking price, so be it, no harm, no foul, and you move on. To talk about it publicly, especially with the magnitude of the player we were discussing, is just disappointing, that's all."

Everyone knows what it will take to get Miguel Cabrera from the Marlins: three or four good young players with 0-3 years service time. Now, I do not know why the Angels were willing to at least talk about trading Howie Kendrick and now may have had second thoughts; owner Artie Moreno may have misunderstood how trade discussions were progressing. But I do know that Marlins general manager Larry Beinfest's modus operandi is to identify what he wants and try to build the deal.

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So, now, as he goes to trade one of the most dangerous and prolific hitters in the game, Beinfest knows what he wants, and the Angels should know Beinfest and what it would take.