Yankees touch base with Lee's agent

The Yankees didn't waste any time.

Free agency officially began at 12:01 Sunday morning, and although they didn't become active quite that early, they did reach out to the agent of their No. 1 target. No offer was made, but the Yankees, a source said last night, did touch base with Cliff Lee's agent, Darek Braunecker, to let him know of their interest.

It was not a surprising development; signing Lee is one of the Yankees' three offseason priorities. The others are re-signing free agents Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. No talks with either player's representatives were scheduled for over the weekend.

The Yankees are the heavy favorites to sign Lee, 32, who was 12-9 with a 3.18 ERA for the Mariners and Rangers this season. Other teams could enter the fray, but most expect the bidding to come down to the Yankees and Rangers.

It already has been a busy last few weeks between the teams, starting with the Rangers' six-game victory in the ALCS. Then there were the negative comments made by Lee's wife about Yankees fans - the pitcher said that won't impact his free-agent decision - and the inflammatory remarks about those fans by CEO and part-owner Chuck Greenberg during the World Series. Greenberg quickly apologized by phone to Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner and team president Randy Levine.

The Rangers have publicly stated their intent to fight hard to hang on to Lee. "We're not going anywhere with a pea shooter," Greenberg said before ALCS Game 5. He later said, "We can't control what the Yankees or any other club chooses to offer. We can only control our own decisions. We know we're going to have to be aggressive financially and we're prepared to do that.''

As are the Yankees, and - as those in the industry point out - they usually end up with the free agents they target.

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