Kuzul

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Everybody knows the New York Yankees have their hearts set on adding lefty ace Cliff Lee this offseason, perhaps as early as the winter meetings next week. Of late, however, there has been a lot of talk about the interest being shown by the Bronx Bombers in free agent outfielder Carl Crawford.

Much of that talk has centered around the legitimacy of New York’s interest. Specifically, does New York really want to sign him, or are they just driving up the price for Boston—assumed to be one of the teams most interested in Crawford— while also paying that team back for their interest shown in Mariano Rivera?

We might have the answer to that question. The Boston Red Sox are on the verge of completing a trade that would bring them first baseman Adrian Gonzalez. Part of that deal will be a massive contract extension, which likely takes Boston all but out of the bidding for Crawford.

The Yankees, however, appear to remain, which could be the strongest sign yet of their desire to add the speedy outfielder. And New York might have found a clever way to add both Cliff Lee AND Carl Crawford while sticking to their word on “holding the payroll to about the same level as 2010.”

Deferred money. New deals for both Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter, which are all but done, BOTH include deferred money, and both are thought to be worth in the neighborhood of $15 million per year. We don’t know how much of the money is deferred, but $5 million per year on each doesn’t seem like a stretch.

But let’s be conservative. Let’s say the new deal for Jeter, not counting deferred money, pays him $15 million this year and the Rivera deal, after deferred money, pays the closer $12 million. $27 million this year for those two players would represent a decrease of $10.5 million from what New York paid those players in 2010.

If you then trade either Curtis Granderson or Nick Swisher—something that will absolutely happen if the Yankees sign Crawford, and we’re betting on Swisher—you EASILY have the money to sign Crawford without touching the money you’ve set aside for Lee.

All of the talk about the deferred money in the Jeter and Rivera contracts has dealt with saving the Yankees money on the luxury tax. We don’t believe it’s about that at all. We believe it’s about the Yankees getting the pitcher they love AND the outfielder for whom they have held a deep and longstanding infatuation.

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SI.com’s Jon Heyman chimed (oops…make that Tweeted) in with some new info on the Derek Jeter debacle tonight.

According to Heyman, while the New York Yankees are willing to sweeten their offer to Jeter “by a couple mil a year,” the Yankees captain will have to accept a pay cut to remain with the team.

Well, we would certainly hope so. Since when do 37-year-olds who have already hit the wall NOT take a pay cut on their next contract?

Jeter and the Yankees will eventually work out a new deal, and that deal will pay Jeter at least three times more than any other team would even think of offering the now-common-as-they-come shortstop.

And as overpaid as Jeter will be in the first year of this eventual deal, imagine what it’s going to look like when the Yankees are serving up $17-18 million worth of charity three (or four) years from now to the 40- and/or 41-year-old Jeter.

And don’t expect this contract to be the last major issue with Jeter and his massive ego. There will be more problems when Jeter is moved to the bottom of the batting order, and then again when he’s moved from shortstop—both things that should have already happened.

And speaking of Jeter moving from shortstop…Where exactly will he move to? Third base? Left Field? This over-the-hill goof doesn’t hit enough to play a corner anything for anybody NOW. What? He’s going to get his power back three years from now?

Brian Cashman should be taking a page out of his Bernie Williams playbook and just stop answering the phone when Jeter or agent Casey Close shows up on the caller ID.

Heyman also tweets that the Yankees “hope to make inroads with Jeter next week, and maybe even wrap things up by the Winter Meetings.”

Oh, what I wouldn’t give for Jeter to have already reached 3,000 hits. Were it not for that singular milestone sitting out there, waiting patiently for Jeter to limp on past, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.

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According to this Bill Madden column from Friday’s New York Daily-News, Derek Jeter has asked the New York Yankees to give him a six-year contract worth $150 million. Furthermore, while the Jeter camp might be willing to cave a bit on length, “They aren’t budging on $25 million per season.”

And people think Brian Cashman was being harsh when he told the captain of the Yankees he should take the team’s 3-for-45 offer to the market and see if he can do better.

By the way, it’s important to note that this information, according to Madden, is coming from “sources [as in multiple] close to the Jeter/[agent Casey] Close camp.”

Derek Jeter is either delusional or high or both. Regardless of his thinking, even his strongest supporters cannot possibly defend such a demand, not that you’d find any of those people around here. We saw Derek Jeter play last season, and think the 3/45 offer is way too high.

Jeter, at this stage of his career, has no range, no power and a mediocre arm. And he’s insisting that the Yankees gift wrap $25 million a season for him for each of the next five or six years?

Good grief; the Yankees refused to offer Jeter arbitration because they didn’t want to face the possibility of being forced to pay him in the $25 million range for ONE season—Now the 37-year-old shortstop is asking them to do it for SIX?

In an attempt to put Jeter’s request into perspective, ask yourself this question: If you had your choice of Cliff Lee AND another $10-20 million or Derek Jeter, which would you prefer?

For what Jeter is asking/demanding, the Yankees could EASILY cover Lee’s contract AND bring back Andy Pettitte, should he choose to return for one more season.

As far as we’re concerned, Derek Jeter can forget about it and try to find somebody else willing to give him three years and $45 million worth of charity, much less six and $150M!

We’re quite confident Eduardo Nunez (making the minimum) can start at shortstop next season and put up the same .710 OPS Jeter did in 2010, and he’ll do so while making the team’s defense SIGNIFICANTLY better than it was with Jeter.

And the bonuses don’t stop there. You also don’t have to worry about offending Nunez by hitting him at the bottom of the order, which is exactly where THIS Derek Jeter should have been hitting in 2010. The Yankees had MUCH better options than Jeter for each of the top two spots in their 2010 batting order (Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher) but cut off their noses, at least to some degree, to cater to the ego of the Yankee captain.

How can a name on the back of the jersey POSSIBLY matter this much to a team that doesn’t put names on the backs of their jerseys?

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It’s not unusual for New York Yankees great Andy Pettitte to lean towards retirement at this time of year, so his recent statements to that effect might not mean he’s done. This year seems a little different, though.

“Right now I can tell you that my heart’s right here in Deer Park (Texas),” Pettitte told KHOU.com, the website for a Houston-based television station.

That is exactly the type of thing we’ve heard from Pettitte in previous offseasons; not surprising. What the veteran left-hander went on to say, however, has a new ring to it.

“If something happens and I play one more year, that would be it,” Pettitte said.

Pettitte has been going year-to-year for quite some time now, but never before has he issued any sort of “that would be it” deadline.

He has now.

There is a belief among many who follow professional sports—including several who have played—that once you set that type of ultimatum in your mind, you are as good as retired already.

In addition to Pettitte’s own comments, there is also the attitude of general manager Brian Cashman. In previous offseasons, Cashman has always seemed confident that the Yankees would, eventually, re-sign the guy who is arguably the greatest pitcher in Yankees history.

Not this year.

This year, we have yet to hear Cashman even hint that he believes a Pettitte return is possible.

This could all change in a second.

If January rolls around and Pettitte starts feeling the fever to compete again, he’ll probably be back. But as of now, it seems everybody who is in a position to know, including the lefty himself, is preparing themselves for an Andy Pettitte-less 2011.

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According to multiple reports, the New York Yankees (i.e. Brian Cashman) did not make an offer to free-agent pitcher Cliff Lee while meeting today with the free-agent lefty, his wife and agent Darek Braunecker at Lee’s Arkansas home.

That doesn’t mean today only served as a passive meet-and-greet. In fact, the Yankees, it seems, sent Lee a very clear message during their visit with Lee & Co.

According to Mike Silva’s New York Baseball Digest, Cashman told Lee to go through the free-agent process, talk with any team he chooses and then come back to the Yankees, at which point they will top any offer he receives.

Per Silva’s report, the Yankees would like to keep the deal to five years, but might include an option for a sixth year. The team is said to be willing to pay Lee a minimum of $25 million per season on any deal. And the money is just the beginning.

New York, reports Silva, is also believed to be willing to pay Lee’s New York state income tax (offsetting Texas‘ no state income tax advantage), give Lee an opt-out clause in the contract and provide him with a private jet to take he and his family to and from their Arkansas home in style.

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Our long national nightmare is over. According to multiple reports, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman informed Jorge Posada that he will be the team’s designated hitter in 2011—the final season of his contract.

This information should not come as a surprise to anybody who has paid even casual attention to the Yankees these past two years. Defensively, Posada has degenerated and become an horrific catcher. He blocks virtually nothing (be they balls in the dirt or the plate with a throw coming in) and his arm is an absolute rag.

However, Posada can still hit, his bat is needed in the lineup and the idea of risking the loss of his offense an injury suffered while catching makes no sense at all.

Speculation has been that Posada would slide to DH next season, but the first solid word of the move came from the veteran’s wife, via her Twitter account on Tuesday.

“Yes, Jorge will DH next year,” tweeted Laura Posada.

Wednesday morning brought more in the way of details, via this New York Post report.

The Post reports that Posada was informed of the decision during a face-to-face meeting with Cashman in Manhattan this week. Cashman did tell Posada to “prepare to catch” this offseason. It figures that Posada will catch some next year, but the team is obviously headed in a new direction at backstop.

The plan, according to today’s Post report and multiple rumors, is to have Jesus Montero take over as the Yankees‘ starting catcher and start about 100 games behind the dish next season. Behind Montero, there will be a spring training battle between Francisco Cervelli and Austin Romine.

Questions remain about Montero’s defensive ability and his future as a catcher, but the Yankees are ready to start getting answers from the 20 year old on all those issues. And honestly, how bad could Montero be behind the plate? You can’t be a worse defensive catcher than Posada in 2010.

For his part, Posada is said to be OK with the decision. Earlier this week, Posada had said he just wanted the team to be upfront with him regarding his role.

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I noticed a new Derek Jeter story in the Tuesday New York Times: “Calculating The Value Of Jeter’s Legacy.” The general premise seems to be that if the New York Yankees can figure out how much Jeter’s “legacy” is worth to them, they will then know how much to pay their hit-the-wall 36-year-old shortstop.

The Yankees, meanwhile, appear to be taking that thought-process to heart. Look no further than this ESPNNewYork report that the team has already decided to give Jeter “Ryan Howard money for Marco Scutaro numbers.”

From that ESPN report: “The Yankees are going to overpay him,” said a source with intimate knowledge of the discussions between the team and Jeter’s agent, Casey Close. “The question is, how much are they going to overpay him?”

Problem is, the Yankees already own Derek Jeter’s “legacy.” Why in the hell would they pay for it again?

Hypothetically, let’s pretend the Yankees did not re-sign Jeter this offseason and went to play in Detroit for three years. He still goes into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee. He still has his number retired by the team at some point after he’s retired. He still, hopefully far into the future, has a monument at Yankee Stadium next to those of Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Miller Huggins, Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio.

The Jeter legacy is more than securely tied to the Yankees for all time. The team already paid for that privilege once, just as they have already paid for previous services rendered.

Want proof? Ninety years later, who is the name still most associated with the “legacy” of the New York Yankees? Did you answer Babe Ruth? I would hope not. After all, the Babe neither began nor finished his career with the Yankees. And that in a time where there was no free agency. Today, any player, even a star player, lasting his entire career with one organization is the exception, not the rule.

Nevertheless, Ruth is tied to the Yankees like no other athlete is to any other team in any other sport in history. The old Yankee Stadium, you might remember, was and will forever be “The House that Ruth Built.” The Yankees still honor his heroics and still sell tons of No. 3 jerseys.

The Yankees and Jeter’s agent can attempt to spin this any way they choose. But to pay a 36-year-old shortstop in steep decline the kind of premium dollars being discussed with Jeter is ridiculous. He has no range, no arm and no power. Intangibles are only worth so much.

Anybody in favor of committing 10 percent of the entire player payroll budget for the next three or four years to Babe Ruth? He used to be really good, don’t ya know.

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According to this report from Mark Feinsand in Thursday morning’s New York Daily News, the New York Yankees won’t be going after either of the top two outfielders in the free agent market—Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth.

“We are better with Crawford, but at that price?” a Yankees source told Feinsand. “I’m not sure it’s that good of an upgrade.”

We’re not the tiniest bit surprised with the news on Werth. The Yankees have never shown any significant interest in him, and he doesn’t fit with the more athletic type of outfielder Brian Cashman has been targeting for the past several years.

Carl Crawford, on the other hand, is EXACTLY the type of outfielder/player Cashman has been after, and the Yankees have had a significant crush on the Tampa Bay left fielder for years. We’d just about guarantee you Cashman has spent time wondering what a Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson and Carl Crawford outfield could mean to his Yankees. Good luck finding a gap between those dudes.

Bringing in Crawford would almost certainly mean the end for Nick Swisher in pinstripes, which would come as no surprise to us.

“Unless they parted with (Gardner, Granderson or Swisher), I’m not sure where they would fit,” Feinsand’s source said of Crawford and Werth.

As we have mentioned in this space before, trading Swisher now makes a LOT of sense. His value, off consecutive strong seasons in New York, has never been higher. Remember that the Yankees bought in VERY low on Swisher. Here’s a chance for Cashman to sell his penny stock as a real premium. Additionally, Swisher is due a salary bump to $9 million next season.

Bottom Line

The Yankees won’t be in on Werth, and they shouldn’t be. It makes no sense to move Nick Swisher so you can give the 32-year-old Werth $100+ million. However, we will be very surprised if the Yankees don’t end up being significant players for Carl Crawford.

Don’t forget. Two years ago, after the Yankees handed out all that money to CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, the New York media kept assuring us all that there was no way the team was in on Mark Teixeira. That worked out pretty well.

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According to the new free agency rules in Major League Baseball, there are only five days (rather than the previous 15 days) between the end of the World Series and open season on free agents.

That means teams can begin negotiating with free agents at midnight, this Sunday morning. If history is any judge, you can expect to hear about a substantial offer made to Cliff Lee by the New York Yankees sometime on Sunday.

“The free agent market is certainly a big thing we look at,” said owner and managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner when asked about Lee. “And we will have money to spend.”

That’s exactly what New York did two years ago with CC Sabathia, opening with a shock ‘n awe initial offer of six years and $140 million on the first day of free agency. That offer dwarfed the then-record deal for a pitcher, which was just over $120 million for the Mets Johan Santana.

If it’s possible, the Yankees appear to value Lee even more than they did Sabathia. In fact, Lee is the only player for whom GM Brian Cashman has been willing to give up both premium talent and dollars. Cash refused to do so when he had the chance to trade for either Santana or Sabathia.

The idea for such a quick and massive initial offer is to intimidate and immediately eliminate as many teams as possible from the Cliff Lee chase. That’s also why news of this offer will be “leaked,” almost certainly by the Yankees themselves. They WANT this information out there.

The plan worked well with Sabathia, who never received any firm offers from the National League teams on the West Coast he was believed to covet. A big offer from the Yankees might not immediately eliminate the Texas Rangers, but it might send just about every other team scrambling for a white flag.

In the winter of 2008, the Yankees eventually bid against themselves to lock up Sabathia. Increasing their already-best offer by another year and another $21 million, admitting they knew they had to pay a “premium” to get Sabathia to give up on the National League and the West Coast.

Back in the middle of the season, Cashman was more than willing to trade a package of prospects, including his very best in Jesus Montero, to Seattle for Lee, and then to pay top free agent dollars to the pitcher, as well.

And now that prospects like Montero are not needed to get Lee? Now that the Yankees need only write the check? Expect them to be extremely aggressive and decisively quick, and expect them to go to whatever financial lengths are required to land the best pitcher to hit the open market in years.

And Cliff Lee (along with the rest of us) can expect to here from the Yankees this Sunday.

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You hear a lot of names mentioned as possible offseason targets for the New York Yankees. Cliff Lee, of course, gets more attention than anybody else, and rightly so. Then there are guys like soon-to-be free agent outfielders Carl Crawford and Jason Werth. Even names like Zack Greinke and Johnny Damon have received some play.

But one you never hear that might make a lot of sense is catcher/first baseman Victor Martinez. This is 100 percent pure speculation, but here’s why we think Victor Martinez-to-the-Bronx makes sense.

1) The Yankees are, according to multiple reports, ready to move Jorge Posada to more of a full-time DH role in 2011, which happens to be the final year of his current contract.Yankees ‘n More

2) Most people who follow this team believe the Yankees will attempt to break in top prospect Jesus Montero as their major league catcher of the future next season. If they do, they will need something more substantial than Francisco Cervelli in reserve.

3) Brian Cashman and the Yankees LOVES them some switch hitters (Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, Lance Berkman, Jorge Posada, Bernie Williams…) and Martinez is one of the very best in the game today.

4) While Martinez is not a great defensive catcher by any stretch, he’s at least as good as Posada is, and the Yankees obviously don’t emphasize defense at catcher. If they did, Posada would have been replaced long ago.

5) Martinez also gives the team some versatility/insurance at first base in the event of Teixeira being forced to again miss time with injuries or the like.

6) If 2011 marks the final season in pinstripes for Jorge Posada (and you have to think there is a good chance it does), Martinez transitions nicely into a fulltime, switch-hitting designated hitter role starting in 2012, when one would certainly hope at least one of the truck load of talented catchers in the system is ready to take over full time.

7) Signing Martinez takes him away from the Boston Red Sox, leaving them with another hole to fill.

8) Martinez was the regular catcher for both CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee when all three were together in Cleveland.

No doubt the Yankees are going after Cliff Lee with both barrels this offseason. And we would not be the least bit surprised to see them make a run at Carl Crawford, as well.

But don’t go to sleep on Victor Martinez. You might wake up one Winter morning to find out he just signed a contract with the New York Yankees.

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