LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Brian Cashman is leaving the Winter Meetings on Thursday hoping to sign Cliff Lee — and impressed with what his Boston counterpart, Theo Epstein, was able to do over the past few days.
But he also insisted the Yanks weren’t close to signing Carl Crawford — who ended up going to the Red Sox for seven years and $142 million.
“We never made an offer,” Cashman said. “That is not a need for us.”
Clearly, it was for their rivals.
“I knew at the end it would be the Angels or Boston,” Cashman said of the Crawford signing. “I wasn’t sure which one.”
And now that he knows, he’s certain the Yankees will have their work cut out for them in the AL East next season.
“They’ve got a great team and made two huge acquisitions,” Cashman said of Boston and their additions of Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, picked up in a trade with the Padres, this week to give their lineup a new look.
“The moves are significant … It’s a significant improvement. They are a better team,” Cashman said.