The Yankees have faith they can make deals with pitchers Mariano Rivera, Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte -- surely more faith than they can do a deal with Rafael Soriano at the moment.
The Yankees expect to try to work something out with Rivera in the coming week, especially now that Soriano has rejected the $13.3-million qualifying offer. The club’s hope is to get Rivera done at a bit of a pay cut from his $15-million 2012 salary, as he is 43 and coming back from a knee injury.
Pettitte hasn’t completely committed to returning for the 2013 season, but the expectation is that the veteran left-hander eventually will.
And it’s highly doubtful that he would agree to pitch for any team other than the Yankees at this point.
Kuroda may be a little trickier because of the amount of interest he has already attracted from teams like the Red Sox and Dodgers. But Heyman says the Yankees are viewing Japan as their primary competition.