If the Yankees don’t get Cliff Lee, they’re not going to go with the so-called second best options on the market to bolster their rotation. Mostly because those second best options are allegedly Jorge De La Rosa, who isn’t that good, and Carl Pavano, who the Yankees wouldn’t sign again if he was the last ballplayer left on Earth.
Nope, According to Ken Davidoff of Newsday, the Yankees will pursue Carl Crawford if they are unable to sign Cliff Lee. The thinking being that they can then trade either Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson or Nick Swisher for a starting pitcher. That’s certainly not ideal, in that the Yankees would no doubt love to keep their relatively low-cost outfield intact and spend to get Lee instead. But it sure beats trying to sift through a bunch of unpalatable options on the free agent market.
This may all be academic at this point, of course, because I’m still having a hard time seeing the Yankees not get Cliff Lee.