MLB

Facing uncertainty, Yankees open meetings Monday

The Yankees won’t be playing in The Bronx next week, but what happens there over the course of the organizational meetings that will begin at Yankee Stadium on Monday will go a long way in determining whether the team will get back to the postseason in 2014.

Despite the team’s early start to the offseason, no decisions have been made regarding personnel as the Yankees look to make changes to a roster that is losing Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte, along with a great deal of uncertainty regarding the infield.

With the hearing of Alex Rodriguez’s appeal of his 211-game suspension on hold until next month, the Yankees figure to be unclear how much of the potential $31 million they will owe the third baseman.

Though people within the organization said they have received no signals from Derek Jeter’s camp that he won’t pick up his option worth $9.5 million for next season, they also have no idea what to expect from him. He will be coming off a season in which he played in just 17 games, because of numerous setbacks from the fractured left ankle he suffered in last year’s ALCS.

Regardless of what happens, the Yankees will no doubt have to address the left side of the infield, as they hope to find a middle ground with Robinson Cano as he approaches free agency.

In the outfield, though some have considered it a foregone conclusion the Yankees would make Curtis Granderson a qualifying offer, even that hasn’t been determined.

Qualifying offers this season are expected to be in the neighborhood of $14 million and teams will receive a draft pick if their player then winds up signing elsewhere.

Granderson’s agent Matt Brown made it clear the outfielder wants to stay with the Yankees and accepting a qualifying offer isn’t out of the question because he was sidelined for much of the season, thanks to a pair of fractured bones, but he still could test the open market in search of a multi-year deal.