Yankees still in holding pattern with Lee

Have not. Will not.

Those were general manager Brian Cashman's responses last night when he was asked if the Yankees had increased their offer to Cliff Lee over the weekend and if they planned to.

And so, all Cashman - who did speak to Lee's agent, Darek Braunecker, over the weekend - and Rangers officials can do is continue to wait.

Sunday was the third straight day since Lee received huge offers from the teams Thursday - including the Yankees' seven-year deal for about $160 million - that no word came from the pitcher's home in Little Rock, Ark.

"The guy's entitled to take his time," one Yankees official said as the weekend began. "It's a big decision."

It's a decision a current Yankees lefthander has tried to impact, though one he said he had no update on.

"I got nothing, man," said CC Sabathia - a close friend and former Indians teammate of Lee's - when he was approached courtside by reporters Sunday at the Knicks-Nuggets game at Madison Square Garden.

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Cashman left his Yankee Stadium office Friday content that the Yankees had put their "best foot forward" to get Lee. "We've done a full-court press," he said. "You just kind of wait and see what's next."

Privately, the Yankees are concerned about what's next if they lose the Lee sweepstakes. If he goes elsewhere, the Yankees will be in scramble mode to improve the rotation, which manager Joe Girardi didn't undersell as being critical when he was asked about it at last week's winter meetings.

"I see him as important to us, I do," Girardi said of signing Lee. "It's a rotation that right now, you look at it . . . It's a pretty young rotation with CC at the top of it. So I think he's pretty important."

The market for free-agent starters is weak beyond Lee. Losing out on Lee might force the Yankees to explore a trade for Royals ace Zack Greinke, but the pitcher's battle with social anxiety disorder has people in the organization questioning his ability to handle New York.

There could be a third team - possibly the Angels - involved in the battle to sign Lee, though there's been speculation about that, with no more specifics, since early last week at the winter meetings.

Rangers manager Ron Washington said at an event Saturday that he has a gut feeling Lee will stay with the Rangers, but he was just guessing.

"I think everything that needs to be done has been done," Washington said. "We just have to wait."

As of last night, he, and everyone else, continued to do just that.

With Anthony Rieber