Jon Heyman says that they are. Brian Cashman had said yesterday that he was willing to “get serious” once Lee’s camp was ready to take their offer, and Heyman reports that today they’ll offer Lee a “monster” six-year contract, expected to be worth between $140 million and $150 million. That would indeed qualify as serious.
Of course, two unnamed teams are reportedly offering seven years, and the Yankees don’t want to offer more than six for the 32-year-old Lee. (Five teams are reportedly bidding on Lee: the Yankees, Rangers, Angels, an unidentified AL club, and an unidentified NL club.) So what happens if the Yankees do get outbid? We’ll let Joe Girardi talk you through it:
“If you look at our rotation and the way it exists today, we really only have four starters - and one of them is Ivan Nova,” Girardi said. “We need to add to our rotation and build it again. When you start going beyond (Lee), the only way to acquire someone of that talent would be through a trade.”
And speaking of that Plan B, the Yankees met with Carl Crawford last night, and if the Yankees lose out on Lee, Tyler Kepner speculates that signing Crawford could allow them to include Brett Gardner in a potential trade for Zack Greinke. Of course, this being the Yankees, there’s always the possibility, however unlikely, that they might just try to sign them both, and maybe clear a little salary elsewhere.