Thursday, November 4, 2010

Yankees Not Planning to Pursue Crawford or Werth

From Mark Feinsand:
According to a source, the Yankees aren't planning to make a hard charge for Crawford or Jayson Werth, the top two offensive free agents available this winter.

Brett Gardner's breakout year, Nick Swisher's solid season and the late-season emergence of Curtis Granderson have the Yankees convinced that paying top dollar for an outfielder isn't the most sensible way to spend their money.

"Unless they parted with one of those guys, I'm not sure where they would fit," the source said of Crawford and Werth.

...

While the 29-year-old Crawford is expected to command a six- or seven-year deal worth $15 million-$18 million per year, Gardner - who is two years younger than Crawford - will earn about $500,000 in 2011 and has three years of arbitration after that before becoming a free agent.

"We are better with Crawford, but at that price?" a Yankees source said. "I'm not sure it's that good of an upgrade."
...

Werth, who hit .296 with 27 home runs, 85 RBI and an NL-leading 46 doubles, could be of interest to the Yankees if they were to deal Swisher, who is set to earn $9 million next season, a jump of $2.25 million.
This was pretty much what I assumed the Yankees position would be regarding the outfield. They know the real area of concern moving forward is the starting rotation and that's their no. 1 priority.

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