Via Jerry Crasnick of ESPN:
LHP Jeff Francis has gotten calls from several clubs. Mets, Nationals, Pirates, Rangers and Yankees have varying degrees of interest.
About a week ago we heard that the Yankees were open to signing some injury risk pitchers and one of the pitchers named as a possibility was Francis. Now we are hearing that the Yankees are indeed interested in signing him.
Francis, 30 in less than a month, actually makes sense more than the other injury risk pitchers. Unlike Brandon Webb or Chien-Ming Wang (who has already signed with the Nationals) Francis has actually pitched in 2010. His numbers weren’t impressive, 5.00 ERA in 104.1 innings, but just coming off an injury, it may take him a while to get back to 100 percent.
Another thing the Yankees would like about him is that he’s a lefty. This gives him an advantage in both Yankee Stadium and against the Red Sox who are lefty heavy.
Those are two pretty big reasons to be interested in him and, with Andy Pettitte looking more and more likely to retire any day now, it’s not impossible to see the Yankees getting aggressive in talks. So far that’s a bit premature, but definitely possible.
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