BryanHoch: Cashman says the Yankees are "on the one-yard line" with more than two players.
Guessing the completion of Ellsbury & Johnson's deals, and Kuroda, who Cashman said yesterday wanted to come back and is reportedly close to re-signing.
The Yankees have officially announced the re-signing of RHP Hiroki Kuroda to a one-year, $16 million deal.
The 38-year-old went 11-13 with a 3.31 ERA (3.56 FIP) in 201.1 innings for the Yankees in 2013.
Glad he's back despite falling apart at the end of last season.
I'd like to see the team use him in more of a "Andy Pettitte" role this coming year, maybe skipping a few starts here or there and not relying on him quite as much.
BNightengale:
• The Yankees would like to grab Indians' Masterson in a three-team trade involving Gardner if they can pull it off.
• There needs to be third team involved for Yankees to land Masterson since Indians don't need Gardner.
The 28-year-old went 14-10 with a 3.45 ERA (3.35 FIP) in 193.0 innings with the Indians in 2013.
JonHeymanCBS: Yankees turned down a Brandon Phillips for Brett Gardner offer.
The Yankees were not attracted to Phillips because he has four years at $50 million left on his contract, has had declining offense and has had some public skirmishes with Reds ownership. Also, anticipating that Robinson Cano might leave, Phillips and his reps put the Yankees on what is believed to be a 12-team no-trade list. It was possibly intimated to the Yankees that for Phillips to even consider a deal, he would have to have his contract extended. If the talks weren’t dead before that, they were at that point. (LINK)