Tomorrow will begin an extremely important event for the baseball community, the Baseball Winter Meetings.
All eyes will be on Orlando, Florida at the Swan and Dolphin Resort in Walt Disney World as the meetings will take place from December 6 until December 9 (Monday until Thursday.)
Representatives from all 30 teams will be down in Florida, along with minor league baseball representatives and officials from the Major League Baseball offices as well.
While things like a Job Fair, a Trading Show and Seminars are going on, the General Managers will be looking to possibly make deals.
For Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman, he’s got one target in mind now.
Now, give Cashman credit, he did take care of his own players first this past week by re-signing Mariano Rivera to a two-year, $30 million deal and Derek Jeter to a three-year, $51 million deal.
Both Rivera and Jeter are locked up and good to go for 2011.
Now, Cashman can focus all his efforts into signing Cliff Lee.
This has been the rumored week where Lee and his agent Darek Braunecker are expected to hear offers and proposals from teams interested in him.
The Rangers are rumored to be offering Lee a possible five-year deal, probably around $20-22 million per season.
The Nationals are also interested in Lee, but who knows what kind of money they would be willing to give out.
The Yankees have their massive and steep checkbook ready for Lee.
The number of years shouldn’t be a problem, many have predicted six years.
The dollars will be no problem at all for the Yankees, which could be anywhere from $21-$24 million per season.
Rangers president Nolan Ryan thinks that the negotiations for Lee could take a while, but the Yankees have been known in the past to make quick offers that might be hard for other teams to counter.
If that is the case this week, and the Yankees make their offer to Lee and Braunecker, their offer might knock the Rangers and anyone else interested right out of the process altogether.
Getting Lee would certainly be the big splash of the 2010 Winter Meetings.
Back in the 2009 Winter Meetings, which were in Indianapolis, the Yankees made their big splash through a trade.
On December 9, 2009, The Yankees, Tigers and Diamondbacks made a three-team, seven-player deal that sent Curtis Granderson to New York.
Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy were sent to Arizona.
Max Scherzer, Daniel Schlereth, Austin Jackson and Phil Coke were sent to Detroit.
What was called a bust of a trade for the Yankees ended up working out, as Granderson started to pick up after a slow start in 2010, which included a one-month stint on the disabled list.
In the playoffs, Granderson was one of the hottest hitters for the Yankees, hitting .455 in the ALDS against the Twins and .294 in the ALCS against the Rangers.
With most of the main roster set for 2011, the Yankees may be only looking to make the one big move in Orlando.
Now, surely they could always look to add additional bullpen help, especially if Kerry Wood decides to play elsewhere next season. The Yankees also have Alfredo Aceves out for an extended period of time with a broken clavicle, and Damaso Marte isn’t expected back until after the All-Star Game in July.
But they will probably address the bullpen at a later time in the winter.
Because right now, the Yankees are all in on Lee, and from the statement made by Hank Steinbrenner last week, Yankees fans have to feel good about their chances of acquiring him.
Steinbrenner’s quote of “We want (Lee) and we’ll do whatever it takes to get him and to get it done,” leads you to believe that whatever Lee wants in a contract, the chances are, Lee will get it from the Yankees.
So tomorrow will mark the real beginning of the major part of the offseason for baseball.
For the Yankees, it begins their quest for Lee.
Stay tuned, Yankees Universe.
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