Official New York Yankees Offseason Thread

[essential1]

One reliever on the market off the board.

"The Los Angeles Angels continued to fortify their bullpen by signing left-hander Scott Downs to a three-year contract Friday worth $15 million."


Relievers we should look at still left:
Kerry Wood (obviously)
Dustin Moseley
Jesse Crain
J.C. Romero
Manny DelCarmen

and long shot Rafael Soriano

 

[essential1]

One reliever on the market off the board.

"The Los Angeles Angels continued to fortify their bullpen by signing left-hander Scott Downs to a three-year contract Friday worth $15 million."


Relievers we should look at still left:
Kerry Wood (obviously)
Dustin Moseley
Jesse Crain
J.C. Romero
Manny DelCarmen

and long shot Rafael Soriano

 

[pysch]

feels like lee is going to pull a halladay and pick the team thats closer to home despite taking less money. we definitely need to address the bullpen and pick up someone

 

[pysch]

feels like lee is going to pull a halladay and pick the team thats closer to home despite taking less money. we definitely need to address the bullpen and pick up someone

 

[debso]

what is taking lee so damn long.

 

[debso]

what is taking lee so damn long.

 

[king x riece]

$#!@ Cliff Lee deadass


Trade for Greinke AND Mat Garza $#%@ it.

 

[king x riece]

$#!@ Cliff Lee deadass


Trade for Greinke AND Mat Garza $#%@ it.

 

[pysch]

Originally Posted by debs 168

what is taking lee so damn long.

As the Yankees and Rangers await Cliff Lee's decision about where he will pitch next season, there is speculation that the longer the process drags on, the more likely it is that the free agent lefthander will choose Texas.

"If it was all about the money, he wouldn't have much of a decision to make," a source told the New York Daily News.


The Yankees reportedly have a seven-year offer worth approximately $160 million on the table for Lee. That offer is believed to be more lucrative in terms of dollars and years than the Rangers' offer, which was made in person to Lee in his hometown of Little Rock, Ark., on Thursday.

SI.com reports one of the Rangers' offers includes an option for a seventh year. However, there is no guaranteed seventh year from Texas.

Yankees general partner/co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner spoke to The Associated Press on Friday and expressed confidence in his team's offer.

"For somebody of that stature, it would certainly behoove him to be a Yankee," Steinbrenner said. "Everything is progressing. We made the offer. It's a very good offer, and we certainly hope he takes it."

The details of the Rangers' offer aren't clear, as team CEO Chuck Greenberg said only that his group included a "menu of offers."

"We talked about a number of different financial proposals that were consistent with our goal of assuring that we put ourselves in the best position possible to get to the World Series," Greenberg told ESPN Radio in Dallas on Friday. "We think we have given Cliff, (his wife) Kristen and (agent) Darek Braunecker a lot to think about. We had an opportunity to really state our case of why we thought we're his best option from a competitive standpoint, a lifestyle standpoint, and very competitive from a financial standpoint as well — especially when you factor in the enormous advantage we have because of the lack of a state income tax here in Texas."

Neither the Rangers nor the Yankees have given Lee a deadline to make a decision, though both clubs must prepare for the possibility of not landing him.

Texas' Plan B is expected to be an attempt to pry 2009 AL Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke from Kansas City, though it remains unclear if New York would follow a similar path if shunned by Lee.
Read more: [url=http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/feed/2010-11/cliff-lee/story/cliff-lees-hesitation-might-be-bad-sign-for]http://www.sportingnews.c...on-might-be-bad-sign-for-yankees#ixzz17pFTVcki[/url]

its gonna feel like july soon.

 

[pysch]

Originally Posted by debs 168

what is taking lee so damn long.

As the Yankees and Rangers await Cliff Lee's decision about where he will pitch next season, there is speculation that the longer the process drags on, the more likely it is that the free agent lefthander will choose Texas.

"If it was all about the money, he wouldn't have much of a decision to make," a source told the New York Daily News.


The Yankees reportedly have a seven-year offer worth approximately $160 million on the table for Lee. That offer is believed to be more lucrative in terms of dollars and years than the Rangers' offer, which was made in person to Lee in his hometown of Little Rock, Ark., on Thursday.

SI.com reports one of the Rangers' offers includes an option for a seventh year. However, there is no guaranteed seventh year from Texas.

Yankees general partner/co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner spoke to The Associated Press on Friday and expressed confidence in his team's offer.

"For somebody of that stature, it would certainly behoove him to be a Yankee," Steinbrenner said. "Everything is progressing. We made the offer. It's a very good offer, and we certainly hope he takes it."

The details of the Rangers' offer aren't clear, as team CEO Chuck Greenberg said only that his group included a "menu of offers."

"We talked about a number of different financial proposals that were consistent with our goal of assuring that we put ourselves in the best position possible to get to the World Series," Greenberg told ESPN Radio in Dallas on Friday. "We think we have given Cliff, (his wife) Kristen and (agent) Darek Braunecker a lot to think about. We had an opportunity to really state our case of why we thought we're his best option from a competitive standpoint, a lifestyle standpoint, and very competitive from a financial standpoint as well — especially when you factor in the enormous advantage we have because of the lack of a state income tax here in Texas."

Neither the Rangers nor the Yankees have given Lee a deadline to make a decision, though both clubs must prepare for the possibility of not landing him.

Texas' Plan B is expected to be an attempt to pry 2009 AL Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke from Kansas City, though it remains unclear if New York would follow a similar path if shunned by Lee.
Read more: [url=http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/feed/2010-11/cliff-lee/story/cliff-lees-hesitation-might-be-bad-sign-for]http://www.sportingnews.c...on-might-be-bad-sign-for-yankees#ixzz17pFTVcki[/url]

its gonna feel like july soon.

 

[essential1]

Keith Olbermann's post about Cliff Lee and the Yankees not optimistic of getting him
http://keitholbermann.mlb...2010/12/off_a_cliff.html

Off A Cliff

With Carl Crawford already under the Red Sox Christmas Tree, Jayson Werth inexplicably paid as if he'd had the durability of a lesser Albert Pujols, the Yankees having tied themselves to an aging shortstop well on his way to batting 7th, and the Mets having deftly acknowledged without admitting that their biggest free agent signing this winter will probably be D.J. Carrasco, nearly all the baseball questions I'm getting are about Cliff Lee.

What I am hearing is not very specific and not very highly-sourced, but it is consistent: I get the impression that the Yankees are not optimistic that they are going to sign him.

Even before Lee went into his self-imposed exile of no fixed length, the answers the Yankees were getting from him directly and indirectly, in Arkansas and merely from it, were not encouraging. Lee just isn't a New York guy. This is not said insultingly, and is in fact part of the reason the vibe seems so strong: He just doesn't seem capable of giving the generic incomplete truths required of a guy trying to leverage a team he doesn't really want to play for.

You can imagine the drill: the Yankees come calling and they say it'd be great to have you on our side and you say "Wow, the New York Yankees. Every kid dreams of what it must be like to pitch for the New York Yankees!" This sounds, at worst, noncommittal. You can say it and mean you're interested, or you can say it and mean that you dreamt of it when you were a kid and then you grew up and started playing baseball for a living and you realized it would never work for you in a million years. I mean, only once in my three decades in my business have I had to fire an intern and I told the guy just because it didn't work out that was no reason for him to get screwed out of his college credit. I answered every question of his school evaluation form honestly. I remember writing something like "he now understands exactly what is required of somebody seeking a career in broadcasting." By this I meant "he understands this because he completely failed at it," but I didn't write that. The school advised me the guy got a B+.

The "Not A New York Guy" thing is an essential test. Ed Whitson didn't listen to the voice telling him not to come here. Mike Hampton heard it from the Missus and got out after a year. It's very possible A.J. Burnett just began to hear it in Year Two. It's obvious that Greg Maddux heard it from the beginning and listened and will go to the Hall of Fame as a result. It just isn't for everybody, and I say this having been born here lived all but about ten years of my life here or nearby. I still mutter under my breath at New Yorkers and contemplate evacuating to higher ground, on average about once a week.

Anyway, back to Lee. Jack Curry of YES Network tweeted yesterday that he'd heard of Yankee "skepticism" about signing the lefthander. This morning, the New York Daily News reported that the Yanks' offer had been driven up, at least in terms of years, by a previously unreported seven-year bid by the Red Sox, which would explain the constant rumors of the last few weeks that there was a third "mystery" team in the hunt besides New York and Texas.

Put all this together and it would seem this in fact might be a one-team race, and that the month might end the way it began, with the Yankees' nominal third starter being a choice between Ivan Nova and Burnett, and the team getting a very nice school evaluation and a B+.

 

[essential1]

Keith Olbermann's post about Cliff Lee and the Yankees not optimistic of getting him
http://keitholbermann.mlb...2010/12/off_a_cliff.html

Off A Cliff

With Carl Crawford already under the Red Sox Christmas Tree, Jayson Werth inexplicably paid as if he'd had the durability of a lesser Albert Pujols, the Yankees having tied themselves to an aging shortstop well on his way to batting 7th, and the Mets having deftly acknowledged without admitting that their biggest free agent signing this winter will probably be D.J. Carrasco, nearly all the baseball questions I'm getting are about Cliff Lee.

What I am hearing is not very specific and not very highly-sourced, but it is consistent: I get the impression that the Yankees are not optimistic that they are going to sign him.

Even before Lee went into his self-imposed exile of no fixed length, the answers the Yankees were getting from him directly and indirectly, in Arkansas and merely from it, were not encouraging. Lee just isn't a New York guy. This is not said insultingly, and is in fact part of the reason the vibe seems so strong: He just doesn't seem capable of giving the generic incomplete truths required of a guy trying to leverage a team he doesn't really want to play for.

You can imagine the drill: the Yankees come calling and they say it'd be great to have you on our side and you say "Wow, the New York Yankees. Every kid dreams of what it must be like to pitch for the New York Yankees!" This sounds, at worst, noncommittal. You can say it and mean you're interested, or you can say it and mean that you dreamt of it when you were a kid and then you grew up and started playing baseball for a living and you realized it would never work for you in a million years. I mean, only once in my three decades in my business have I had to fire an intern and I told the guy just because it didn't work out that was no reason for him to get screwed out of his college credit. I answered every question of his school evaluation form honestly. I remember writing something like "he now understands exactly what is required of somebody seeking a career in broadcasting." By this I meant "he understands this because he completely failed at it," but I didn't write that. The school advised me the guy got a B+.

The "Not A New York Guy" thing is an essential test. Ed Whitson didn't listen to the voice telling him not to come here. Mike Hampton heard it from the Missus and got out after a year. It's very possible A.J. Burnett just began to hear it in Year Two. It's obvious that Greg Maddux heard it from the beginning and listened and will go to the Hall of Fame as a result. It just isn't for everybody, and I say this having been born here lived all but about ten years of my life here or nearby. I still mutter under my breath at New Yorkers and contemplate evacuating to higher ground, on average about once a week.

Anyway, back to Lee. Jack Curry of YES Network tweeted yesterday that he'd heard of Yankee "skepticism" about signing the lefthander. This morning, the New York Daily News reported that the Yanks' offer had been driven up, at least in terms of years, by a previously unreported seven-year bid by the Red Sox, which would explain the constant rumors of the last few weeks that there was a third "mystery" team in the hunt besides New York and Texas.

Put all this together and it would seem this in fact might be a one-team race, and that the month might end the way it began, with the Yankees' nominal third starter being a choice between Ivan Nova and Burnett, and the team getting a very nice school evaluation and a B+.

 

[king x riece]

%$#@ Cliff Lee. If he doesn't have the balls to play in NY that's his problem

 

[king x riece]

%$#@ Cliff Lee. If he doesn't have the balls to play in NY that's his problem

 

[venom lyrix]

King x Riece...your whining and moaning about Lee along with your stupid mentality of wanting Grienke and Garza is literally astounding...

When/if Lee signs with the Yankees, I hope you either smarten up or don't root for him at all. It's a process, it takes time...but your anger towards him makes no sense.

 

[venom lyrix]

King x Riece...your whining and moaning about Lee along with your stupid mentality of wanting Grienke and Garza is literally astounding...

When/if Lee signs with the Yankees, I hope you either smarten up or don't root for him at all. It's a process, it takes time...but your anger towards him makes no sense.

 

[king x riece]

Originally Posted by venom lyrix

King x Riece...your whining and moaning about Lee along with your stupid mentality of wanting Grienke and Garza is literally astounding...

When/if Lee signs with the Yankees, I hope you either smarten up or don't root for him at all. It's a process, it takes time...but your anger towards him makes no sense.

Whatever, basically your saying if Lee doesn't come here trying to acquire Greinke or Garza would be stupid ?

give me a break

 

[king x riece]

Originally Posted by venom lyrix

King x Riece...your whining and moaning about Lee along with your stupid mentality of wanting Grienke and Garza is literally astounding...

When/if Lee signs with the Yankees, I hope you either smarten up or don't root for him at all. It's a process, it takes time...but your anger towards him makes no sense.

Whatever, basically your saying if Lee doesn't come here trying to acquire Greinke or Garza would be stupid ?

give me a break

 

[essential1]

Originally Posted by KING x RIECE

Originally Posted by venom lyrix

King x Riece...your whining and moaning about Lee along with your stupid mentality of wanting Grienke and Garza is literally astounding...

When/if Lee signs with the Yankees, I hope you either smarten up or don't root for him at all. It's a process, it takes time...but your anger towards him makes no sense.

Whatever, basically your saying if Lee doesn't come here trying to acquire Greinke or Garza would be stupid ?

give me a break

I think he is talking about Lee's unwillingness to come here.....  Is really no different than Greinke....  So you are giving a break for one and saying well it is in the past, and saying %$#% you to Cliff Lee

I could be wrong.

Or he could be saying you are saying $#%! Cliff Lee.. Let's get Garza or Greinke when Lee is the better pitcher.

 

[essential1]

Originally Posted by KING x RIECE

Originally Posted by venom lyrix

King x Riece...your whining and moaning about Lee along with your stupid mentality of wanting Grienke and Garza is literally astounding...

When/if Lee signs with the Yankees, I hope you either smarten up or don't root for him at all. It's a process, it takes time...but your anger towards him makes no sense.

Whatever, basically your saying if Lee doesn't come here trying to acquire Greinke or Garza would be stupid ?

give me a break

I think he is talking about Lee's unwillingness to come here.....  Is really no different than Greinke....  So you are giving a break for one and saying well it is in the past, and saying %$#% you to Cliff Lee

I could be wrong.

Or he could be saying you are saying $#%! Cliff Lee.. Let's get Garza or Greinke when Lee is the better pitcher.

 

[king x riece]

FWIW

[h1]Manager: Lee Will Return To Rangers[/h1]

Dec 12, 2010 11:39 AM EST

Rangers manager Ron Washington believes that left-hander Cliff Lee will re-sign with the team.

Lee is being strongly recruited by both the Rangers and Yankees.

"That he'll be here," Washington said Saturday when asked if he had a gut feeling.

"I think everything that needs to be done has been done. ... We just have to wait," he said.

Via ESPN


Read more: http://www.realgmbaseball.com/src_w...ger_lee_will_return_to_rangers/#ixzz17vzPfmN4

 

[king x riece]

FWIW

[h1]Manager: Lee Will Return To Rangers[/h1]

Dec 12, 2010 11:39 AM EST

Rangers manager Ron Washington believes that left-hander Cliff Lee will re-sign with the team.

Lee is being strongly recruited by both the Rangers and Yankees.

"That he'll be here," Washington said Saturday when asked if he had a gut feeling.

"I think everything that needs to be done has been done. ... We just have to wait," he said.

Via ESPN


Read more: http://www.realgmbaseball.com/src_w...ger_lee_will_return_to_rangers/#ixzz17vzPfmN4

 

[essential1]

But what is Ron Washington going to say.. "The Sky is falling.. Cliff Lee won't come back" before he has officially made his decision..

 

[essential1]

But what is Ron Washington going to say.. "The Sky is falling.. Cliff Lee won't come back" before he has officially made his decision..

 

[king x riece]

Originally Posted by Essential1

Originally Posted by KING x RIECE

Originally Posted by venom lyrix

King x Riece...your whining and moaning about Lee along with your stupid mentality of wanting Grienke and Garza is literally astounding...

When/if Lee signs with the Yankees, I hope you either smarten up or don't root for him at all. It's a process, it takes time...but your anger towards him makes no sense.

Whatever, basically your saying if Lee doesn't come here trying to acquire Greinke or Garza would be stupid ?

give me a break

I think he is talking about Lee's unwillingness to come here.....  Is really no different than Greinke....  So you are giving a break for one and saying well it is in the past, and saying %$#% you to Cliff Lee

I could be wrong.

Or he could be saying you are saying $#%! Cliff Lee.. Let's get Garza or Greinke when Lee is the better pitcher.

Basically i was saying if Lee doesn't want to come here %$#@ em. Obviously we offered him the most money and years like what else can we do ? No way am i saying lets pull our offer and trade for the other guys no way in hell