Monday, November 12, 2012
CBS Sports: Heyman: Yankees have faith they can keep Mo, Kuroda and Pettitte
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.
The Yankees seem to have a fair amount of hope, too, that Kuroda will stay with them on a one-year deal, especially if he desides to stay in the states. The team sees Japan as its major competition, not the Red Sox or even nouveau riche Dodgers, who are among the interested teams in the majors. The Yankees would enhance the $13.3-million offer Kuroda rejected a bit if it meant keeping Kuroda, who is said to have enjoyed his year with the Yankees and is very willing to do a one-year deal.
I can’t imagine the Yankees would even be considering re-signing Soriano but I suppose Boras’s mouthpiece needs to leave the possibility open. To me, Kuroda is the key to the offseason. They don’t have to commit to him past 2013 and CAIRO thinks he’s the best available free agent starting pitcher for 2013, even better than Zack Greinke. There’s pretty much no other way the Yankees can add four wins without either trading something of value or going beyond 2013 for a contract.
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