Jeter, Rivera officially hit free agency Sunday

At 12:01 a.m. this morning, Derek Jeter entered unchartered, and for him unwanted, territory.

Free agency.

The shortstop, along with Mariano Rivera and the rest of the Yankees' free agents, were free to begin negotiating with all teams just after midnight.

No talks between the agents for the two Yankees icons and the team were scheduled for the weekend, but working out those contracts are priorities. Those two deals, along with an all-out pursuit of Cliff Lee, will begin this week.

The three players are central to the team's offseason plans, which are fairly straightforward - re-sign Jeter and Rivera and ink Lee to what likely would be a $100-million-plus contract.

Andy Pettitte is a separate matter. The Yankees simply will have to wait until the 38-year-old lefthander decides whether he wants to return.

Although just about everyone expects Jeter, Rivera and Lee to sign with the Yankees, the road there probably won't be without a few bumps.

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Lee will have other suitors - definitely the Rangers and possibly another team with money to spend such as the Angels - but as those in the industry point out, in recent years, who have the Yankees targeted in free agency and not signed?

Rivera, who made $15 million last season at the end of a three-year, $45-million deal, shouldn't be a problem re-signing - with a raise - though the number of years could be an issue.

Jeter, however, is the current hot topic and will remain that way until he is signed. The Yankees haven't said anything publicly other than the comments made by managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner Tuesday in two radio interviews. The headline remarks: Steinbrenner's statement that the Yankees first and foremost are a "business" - the implication being that they won't be offering Jeter a blank check - and his warning to fans to beware of the negotiations possibly getting "messy" at points.

Jeter's agent, Casey Close, responded Wednesday, saying he agrees in principle with Steinbrenner. "Clearly, baseball is a business, and Derek's impact on the sport's most valuable franchise cannot be overstated," he said. "Moreover, no athlete embodies the spirit of a champion more than Derek Jeter.''

Putting a price on that, and for how many years, will be the crux of the negotiations. Jeter, 36, made $21 million last season, the final year of a 10-year, $189-million extension signed in February 2001 that avoided arbitration. The Yankees privately acknowledge, and accept, that they will have to overpay him; it is just a matter of to what extent.

Jeter himself hasn't spoken to the media since after ALCS Game 6 in Arlington, Texas.

He passed on pretty much all questions about what is to come this offseason, but he did reiterate something he's said before.

"I've always felt that way,'' Jeter said of remaining in pinstripes. "I've told you guys that before. That hasn't changed.''

In a meeting with reporters Feb. 24 - the only day he said he would discuss his contract, which was a pledge he kept - Jeter said he couldn't envision what it would feel like to hit the open market.

"I don't know how to answer that because I've never been in that situation before," he said then. "I've never been a free agent; I've never wanted to be a free agent. That's why before I was a free agent the first time, I signed such a long deal. I felt as though the longer the better, because I didn't want to have to answer these questions."

Now those questions abound.