Brian Cashman spent the early part of this week jetting around the country addressing the Yankees’ two biggest winter targets — Derek Jeter and Cliff Lee. He ended it searching for a new pitching coach.
Cashman spent a second day speaking with candidates for the vacancy yesterday, although he will not reveal whom he interviewed. The known contenders for the job are bullpen coach Mike Harkey, Triple-A pitching coach Scott Aldred and Gil Patterson.
A baseball source said all was quiet on the free-agent front yesterday with the Yankees as Cashman concentrated on the pitching-coach interviews. Things are expected to remain quiet around Yankee Stadium for the next few days before Cashman heads to Orlando, Fla., for the General Manager Meetings, which begin Monday.
Cashman has spent the first weeks of November planting the seeds for further discussions. He met with the agent for Mariano Rivera, as well as meeting with Jeter and Lee. Cashman described the Jeter negotiations as in the “infancy stages,” and it sounds like his other targets fit the same description.
“We have the winter to work though all the conversations that are necessary,” he said.
Cashman showed how serious the Yankees are about landing Lee by being the first general manager to visit him at his home in Little Rock, Ark., on Tuesday.
“Little Rock is an example of us trying to hit the ground running this particular winter,” Cashman said on the YES Network.
The day before, he and other members of the Yankees brass met with Jeter and his agent, Casey Close, in Tampa, Fla. Neither side divulged what was said, but it was believed to be the beginning of what both sides hope is a tidy negotiation.
“I personally like getting in front of players,” Cashman said. “I just think face-to-face is the best way if you can do it.”
While Lee is getting the most attention, Cashman said the Yankees have contacted a number of free agents.
“Our name’s on the board north, south, east and west,” Cashman said.