Brian Cashman has many things on his agenda this week at the general managers’ meetings, but furthering talks with free agent Cliff Lee does not sound like it will be among them.
Darek Braunecker, Lee’s agent, may not be at the meetings, which begin tonight in Orlando, Fla.
“I am still uncertain of attending GM meetings,” Braunecker said in an e-mail to The Post yesterday. “[I] don’t know [if] it’s necessary in this case.”
Lee is the prize of the free agent market. The 32-year-old left-hander figures to land a contract in the same zip code as CC Sabathia’s seven-year, $161 million deal from two years ago.
The Yankees are the favorites to land Lee, with competition from the Rangers and the long-shot Nationals. Lee is a free agent for the first time, and it sounds as if he is going to take his time before making a decision. He is not expected to sign with anyone until the Winter Meetings on Dec. 6-9 at the earliest.
“I would categorize it as infancy or at best, initial stages of process,” Braunecker said.
Cashman flew to Little Rock, Ark., Wednesday to have lunch with Lee, his wife Kristen and Braunecker. The Yankees general manager categorized the trip as a “meet and greet” and no substantive discussions were held.
Braunecker would not say if any other teams have met with Lee, but he did say the meeting with Cashman went well from Lee’s perspective.
“Cliff and Kristen both enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to ‘humanize’ the organization by spending time with Brian and getting a sense of the person/people behind the organization,” Braunecker said.
Lee went 12-9 with a 3.18 ERA this season splitting the year between the Mariners and Rangers. The Yankees have lost three times to Lee in the last two postseasons. He went 2-0 in the World Series against them in 2009 while pitching for the Phillies, and beat them in this year’s ALCS Game 3 when he gave up no runs and two hits in eight innings.
Bolstering the starting rotation is Cashman’s top priority this winter. A.J. Burnett has proven himself to be untrustworthy over his two years in pinstripes and Andy Pettitte is either retiring or returning for just one more season.
The drop-off from Lee in the starting pitching free agent market is stark. The next tier includes Carl Pavano, Jorge De La Rosa and Hiroki Kuroda.