The rivalry between the Yankees and Red Sox fizzled on the field this past season, with Boston suffering through an injury-filled campaign, but the bad blood is boiling this winter.
The latest came at the Winter Meetings last week when the Bosox offered Cliff Lee a seven-year contract for insufficient money just to provide a negotiating edge for Lee with the Yankees on the length of the contract.
The Red Sox were never serious about signing Lee, targeting outfielder Carl Crawford instead. They just wanted to drive Lee’s price up.
After initially offering six years, the Yankees gave Lee a seven-year offer early Thursday for around $160 million. They have spent the last few days anxiously awaiting an answer. The Rangers, not the Red Sox, are the Yankees’ competition for Lee’s services. The Yanks believe Texas’ offer is for less guaranteed money and one fewer year.
The Red Sox’s role in raising Lee’s terms shows the rivalry does not end when the season does. This winter, the Red Sox made Mariano Rivera an offer before the Yankees re-signed their closer. Then, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman took Crawford to dinner a day before the Red Sox locked him up.
Past wars over Mark Teixeira and Jose Contreras have moved the enmity between the teams from the dugouts to the boardrooms.
Darek Braunecker, Lee’s agent, has played this negotiation perfectly. He has used a four-corners offense that would make Dean Smith proud, slowing down the process and driving up the bidding.
Braunecker and Lee spent the first weeks of free agency talking to teams, but not accepting any offers. It turned out to be brilliant strategy when the Winter Meetings opened last week with Jayson Werth nabbing a seven-year, $126 million deal from the Nationals, and Crawford a seven-year, $142 million pact from the Red Sox.
Instead of Lee being the first domino to fall and set the market, he watched as lesser players walked away with monster contracts, giving Braunecker more leverage to argue his value.
With the help from the Red Sox bid, he has pushed the Yankees and Rangers into territory they vowed not to go when the winter began. The Yankees offered him a seven-year contract after saying they would not go past six.
Texas was skittish about going to five years in the beginning, and is now at six, and the Rangers’ offer may have a vesting option that turns it into a seven-year deal, according to an SI.com report.
Rangers manager Ron Washington was asked his gut feeling on Lee today.
“That he’ll be here,” Washington told the Associated Press.
But he’s guessing just like everyone else.
The raised stakes is risky business because of Lee’s age and the history of long-term contracts for pitchers. If he signs with the Yankees for seven years, he will be 39 at the end of the contract.
Only Kevin Brown signed seven-year deal at an older age than Lee. He was 34 when he began his seven-year deal with the Dodgers. Brown’s body broke down midway through that contract, even with the help of performance-enhancing drugs, as the Mitchell Report revealed.
Very few pitchers thrive into their late 30s. Since 1990, only eight men have won 20 or more games at age 35 or older. Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Jamie Moyer and Roger Clemens have each done it twice, and Jack Morris, David Wells, David Cone and Mike Mussina did it once.