Zell's Pinstripe Blog

Wrapping up the first day of ther Winter Meetings:

-Pete Caldera reports that Andy Pettitte can expect an offer of over $10 million when the Yanks make their formal pitch to the 37-year-old lefty, according to a source familiar with the club’s thinking.

-John Heyman reports that Johnny Damon is another Yankees priority and they are expected to offer about $20 million over two years to keep him. Yankees’ backup plans are: for pitcher, Pineiro and Wolf; and for outfielder, Mike Cameron, Jermaine Dye, Curtis Granderson and possibly Byrd.

-According to Marc Carig, the team “told entire coaching staff that they’d be offered jobs again.”

-Joel Sherman reports, both the Yankees and Mets have interest in Kelvim Escobar. He might pitch in Venezuela in December to show his health.

-According to ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark, the Mariners, Giants, Mets, Red Sox, Diamondbacks, Orioles, and Yankees are interested in Nick Johnson.

-Tyler Kepner reports that the Yanks interested in Chapman, but at less than $15 mill

Chad Jennings has a ton of updates for us:

-Just talked to a source who seems to agree with most of the conventional thinking that’s floating around. He sees the Yankees going after Johnny Damon but letting Hideki Matsui slide, he sees Andy Pettitte as an early key to the Yankees offseason, and he’d rather keep Phil Hughes and give up Joba Chamberlain in a trade for Roy Halladay. He also has some Red Sox notes for us:

• Francona was asked about keeping track of the Yankees in the offseason: “They’ve got a couple of things that make life difficult for us. They’ve got a lot of money, and they have smart people deciding what they’re doing.”
• Francona has talked to Jason Bay this winter, but much like Joe Girardi talking to the Yankees free agents, Francona has kept the conversations casual and hasn’t asked about Bay’s plans.
• Someone asked if the Red Sox are interested in Hideki Matsui: “Where would we put him?” Francona said.

-Feinsand is hearing the player to be named later in the Brian Bruney trade might be the Nationals first overall pick in the Rule 5 draft. 2.

-Pettitte is not the only starting pitcher the Yankees are discussing. Cashman flew to the winter meetings with agents Seth and Sam Levinson and discussed free agent pitcher Jason Marquis. And some more notes:

• Cashman’s list of priorities: “Pitching, pitching, pitching. And then obviously left field.” Finding a DH, he said, is a secondary concern with multiple options — including in-house options — as candidates.
• Making a bullpen move isn’t off the table, but Cashman acknowledged that relievers are “volatile” and it might be better to stay in-house with ”people you believe in, who can do the job.”
• On needing a backup catcher: “Cervelli can do that job. Right now, I’m not focused on backup catcher. We have Posada. We have Cervelli. That doesn’t mean I won’t look at it.”
• The entire major league coaching staff either has been or will be offered a job for next year.
• A decision on what to do with Chien-Ming Wang hasn’t been made and Cashman said he will get the latest medical information before setting anything in stone. That said, it seems difficult at best, impossible at worst, to predict how effective Wang will be next season. ”I can’t predict because he’s not pitching right now,” Cashman said.
• Not sure I ever saw or read this officially: “It was going to cost us Austin Jackson to get Washburn (last year) so we didn’t do it.”