"No, I think we're optimistic," general manager Frank Wren said Thursday morning before he and assistants were to fly back to Atlanta. "In the case of A.J., he's still available and out there --- as well as a couple of [other] pitching possibilities that are open to us."

Atlanta's only transaction in Vegas was in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 draft Thursday: the New York Mets took outfielder Carl Loadenthal, 26, who hit .278 with three doubles, no homers and 13 RBIs in 68 games last season at Class AAA Richmond, his only experience above Class AA.

And that was it. No other moves involving the Braves.

They were among the many teams that held meetings, worked the phones and roamed the Bellagio lobby trying in vain to make deals, while the New York Yankees were throwing obscene amounts of money at free agents and the Mets were making trades that refortified their Billy Wagner-less bullpen.

Wren had at least two meetings with Burnett's agent this week, including a brief one Thursday. The Braves have been competing primarily with the Yankees for Burnett, and New York reportedly guaranteed the fifth year of its offer to the pitcher to push the value to $85 million.

The Braves made the first offer to Burnett last week, a four-year proposal believed to be worth close to $16 million annually, with a fifth-year vesting option attainable if he stayed reasonably healthy.

The Braves made it known at the time that it was not a take-it-or-leave-it offer and that they might consider guaranteeing the fifth year if that's what the bidding war demanded.

After the Yankees raised their offer, the Braves might have increased their offer to $80 million. But they might be unwilling to go any higher for Burnett, 31, a pitcher who battled injuries throughout his career and never won more than 12 games before going 18-10 in 2008 while leading the American League with 231 strikeouts.

Wren said Thursday there were deals the Braves could possibly make in the next few days, one contingent on another team first making a trade. He said the Braves have the framework in place for another possible trade and only needed to agree on players Atlanta would include in the deal.

The Braves also have varying degrees of interest in other free-agent pitchers, including Jon Garland and Randy Wolf. Contrary to reports, the team hasn't expressed interest in Derek Lowe, and the Braves are unlikely to pursue Ben Sheets because of his health record and late-season arm injury.

Wren didn't say which pitchers the Braves were pursuing in trades, but they've had discussions with Kansas City about Zack Greinke (a deal not including Jeff Francoeur) and with Pittsburgh about one or more starters.

Then there is the it-won't-die possibility of San Diego coming back to the Braves to see if Jake Peavy talks could be revived. The Chicago Cubs reportedly pulled out of Peavy negotiations as the winter meetings winded down.

Wren said earlier this week that he'd had no contact with Padres GM Kevin Towers regarding Peavy since the Braves pulled out of stalled negotiations four weeks ago.

Just before Wren was to speak to Atlanta reporters Thursday, he got a call on his cellphone and excused himself. He did not return for about 30 minutes, and when he did he wouldn't say if the call had been about a possible trade or free-agent negotiation.

Coincidental or not, it was about the same time word circulated about the Cubs pulling out of the Peavy negotiations.