Yankees baseball blog

Yankees: Await Leiter OK on 1-year deal

The Yankees are ready to sign free-agent left-hander Al Leiter -- as soon as he decides he's ready to join them.

Last week, after Mets GM Omar Minaya announced that the Mets and Leiter had mutually decided to explore other options, the Yankees made contact with Leiter again. According to a baseball official close to the talks, the Yankees told Leiter that, as soon as he decided he was finished with the Mets, he should call the Yankees back and formalize a one-year deal. Continue

Yankees play waiting game with Pedro

Just because the Yankees haven't made an offer to Pedro Martinez doesn't mean they aren't interested in the veteran hurler, who has received offers from the Red Sox and Mets.

There are enough people in the Yankees' camp who would like to see Martinez in pinstripes and he tells anyone who listens he could thrive in the Yankees' universe.

In other years George Steinbrenner would have reacted to his chief rivals making an offer to a free agent of Martinez' caliber by shoving a blank check in the player's face. However, as of yesterday the Yankees hadn't made offers to any free agents other than their own.

Fernando Cuza, Martinez' agent, spoke with the Yankees late last week and is expected to do so again this week when Cashman returns from vacation. Continue

Yanks waiting on Big Unit deal

The holiday weekend is over, but the Yankees' slow offseason continued yesterday as GM Brian Cashman was finishing up a family vacation at Disney World and there was little movement on the Yanks' plans.

"There's nothing hot going on," Cashman said.

The Yankees appear to be in a holding pattern for their major moves. They are close to a deal with backup catcher John Flaherty and are working on a contract for second baseman Miguel Cairo. Continue

Pedro worth a short risk

Suddenly the idea of Pedro Martinez coming to New York provokes wildly different emotions, depending on the borough.

In Queens, if the Mets are now serious about taking a shot at signing Pedro, their fans surely see him as something of a savior for a team that desperately needs his kind of pitching presence.

In the Bronx, meanwhile, it's still hard to tell if George Steinbrenner is serious about stealing Pedro from the Red Sox. In any case, Yankee fans see him as a prima donna in decline. Despite their team's pitching problems, they seem to want no part of Pedro in pinstripes after all these years in which he has played the villain. Continue

Lieber's agent playing hardball

Agent Rex Gary made it clear he wasn't getting into what the Yankees have offered Jon Lieber, or what his client is looking for. However the agent didn't avoid the impact of the Mets giving Kris Benson a three-year deal for $22.5 million.

"Clearly, the Benson deal is part of the market," Gary said yesterday. "It's clearly relevant in the market for a quality starter." Continue

Yankees: Vazquez salary holds up Unit deal

The Yankees may have a match with the Arizona Diamondbacks in an attempt to land left-handed ace Randy Johnson, but there is still some work to do before there is a deal.

A baseball official familiar with the talks said yesterday the Yankees and Diamondbacks had discussed a deal that would send 28-year-old right-hander Javier Vazquez to the Diamondbacks for Johnson, the 41-year-old future Hall of Famer. But the Diamondbacks also appear to be negotiating with other teams, and they have some financial reservations about Vazquez. Continue

Yanks: Al wants to Shea put

The Yankees are continuing to evaluate the possibility of signing longtime Met Al Leiter, but GM Brian Cashman said yesterday that he believes Leiter may still be hoping to keep his baseball home at Shea.

"I know from our one conversation, at least in the smoke signals he sent out, that he feels a very strong loyalty to the Met fan base and that's where he hoped to remain," Cashman said. "That was something that he would explore every way to stay there." Continue

Unit deal tall order

When the Yankees and Diamondbacks get serious about bringing Randy Johnson from Phoenix to The Bronx, they will find a few more stumbling blocks than the money left on Javier Vazquez' contract.

While Vazquez fits the Diamondbacks' wish to get young pitching for Johnson — who is the Yankees' top priority — there are two issues that could kill the deal quicker than the $34.5 million across three years left on the 28-year-old Vazquez' contract. Continue.

Change in fall

As late as September, Jon Lieber wasn't in love with New York. According to a source familiar with his thinking, he missed his family immensely and wasn't close with many of his teammates.

But one month later, much of that changed for Lieber.

"A player can't really come to a decision about whether he likes New York until he experiences the postseason," Lieber's agent, Rex Gary, said. "And Jon loved pitching in that environment." Continue