MLB free agency heating up
The New York Yankees are going to be pretty busy in the coming weeks.
With Derrick Jeter, Mariano Riviera and Andy Pettitte all being free agents things could get drawn out and messy. And reports already suggest the Yankees are ready to pay Jeter more money than he deserves.
"The Yankees are going to overpay him, the question is, how much are they going to overpay him?
“Some people will think the number is unfair, and some are going to think it is way too much,” a source told ESPN.
The Yankees are yet to offer Jeter a contract and though the sources say he’ll be offered a lot of money negotiations could still take quite a while.
In any case the Jeter contract will be the first one to be wrapped up, followed by Riviera and Pettitte, who will likely decide if he’s returning to baseball after Thanksgiving.
Cliff Lee is the best free agent available this winter and no doubt the Yankees will be involved making him their prime target, though Lee’s agent says he isn’t anywhere close to making a deal with any team.
"We are in the infancy stages. When the time is right, when we get the right deal, we will act,” Lee's agent, Darek Braunecker, told ESPNNewYork.com.
Braunecker also admitted that multiple teams had expressed a desire in signing his client. One of those reported teams to express their interest in the left-hander is the Boston Red Sox who might not actually want to sign Lee but will want to bump up the price for other teams.
According to another report on ESPN the Red Sox are looking at signing free agent outfielder Jayson Werth and have already contacted the players’ agent, Scott Boras. But the team is also considering pursuing outfielder Carl Crawford, who is regarded as the second-best free agent on the market.
If that happens the Red Sox might not have the money to sign Lee, having signed John Lackey to a $82.5million five-year deal and extending Josh Beckett for four years and $68 million.
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