One day after telling The Post he strongly believed the Yankees’ three-year, $45 million offer to Derek Jeter was fair, general manager Brian Cashman encouraged Jeter to hawk his services outside The Bronx if the captain believes he can do better.
“Shop, that’s what free agency is all about,” Cashman said yesterday. “He is a free agent, he can talk to anybody at any time. What his market value is, we don’t know but what we offered we are comfortable with.”
It’s highly unlikely there is a team willing to top the Yankees’ offer. Experts predict Jeter’s market value in another uniform tops out at $10 million per season. So, it’s to the Yankees’ advantage if Jeter sees what’s out there.
“The Yankees want him back and they know nobody else will match their offer,” a source familiar with the situation said.
Jeter’s agent, Casey Close, refused to confirm or deny if he has talked to teams beside the Yankees about Jeter and also refused to comment about Cashman’s remarks.
“I am not discussing anything about other clubs,” Close said.
If Jeter, who is believed to be looking for more than $20 million a year over possibly five years, sticks to his asking price, Cliff Lee could be fitted for a pinstriped jersey before Jeter returns.
“There is more substance,” Lee’s agent Darek Braunecker said of his talks with teams about the pitcher, who will likely decide between the Yankees or Rangers. “It’s a process. You can’t get to the next stage without completing the previous stage.”
Braunecker refused comment on a report the Yankees offered six years and $140 million to Lee, something The Post discovered wasn’t made.
So, could Lee be a Yankee before Jeter come back to The Bronx?
Braunecker told The Post yesterday that “We are starting to advance the process,” so it certainly sounds like the jewel of this year’s free-agent class is making progress toward an endgame that could land the 32-year-old lefty in the area of $23 million a season for six or seven years. From the start, the Yankees have been the favorite to sign Lee.
The same can’t be said of the talks between Jeter and the Yankees. As reported in yesterday’s Post, the Yankees didn’t offer Jeter salary arbitration by last night’s midnight deadline.
Asked if Lee could be signed before the Dec. 6 start of the Winter Meetings in Orlando, the agent didn’t rule it out but didn’t sound optimistic.
“Since everybody is going to Orlando a week from Sunday it would be surprising if something got done,” Braunecker said. “But things can change with a single phone call and conversation.”
Of course, Braunecker knows he can shop Lee and always come back to the Yankees. That’s something Close doesn’t have the luxury of doing.
Monday, Cashman told The Post, “Our primary focus is his on-the-field performance the last couple of years in conjunction with his age and have some concerns in that area that need to be addressed in a multi-year deal going forward.”
Jeter will be 37 in June and hit a career-low .270 last season.
And though Jeter may wonder why he has to take a $6 million paycut from the $21 million he made this past season, at $15 million he would be the highest-paid middle infielder in baseball.
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The Yankees offered arbitration to Javier Vazquez last night knowing the veteran right-hander will reject it. The Yankees would then get a sandwich pick in next year’s draft, considered a strong one, from the team that signs Vazquez, a Type B free agent.
The Yankees didn’t offer arbitration to Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Kerry Wood, Lance Berkman, Austin Kearns, Nick Johnson, Chad Moeller and Marcus Thames, who has attracted interest from several teams in Japan.