The Yankees wasted no time declaring their interest in Cliff Lee. Free agency officially began at 12:01 am November 7th. At that time, teams could start talking contract details with any player on any team.

Early that morning the Yankees contacted Cliff Lee’s agent, Darek Braunecker and told him that the Yankees would present an offer later to the lefty Lee. The Yankees have no other solutions to their pitching woes, so getting Cliff Lee is the ONLY move they can make. Establishing their interest right of the bat, lets Darek and Cliff know, the Yankees really want him. I’ll guess we will have to see what happens down the line.

In other baseball news, Jhonny Peralta signed a two-year, $11.25MM contract, according to an AP report (via ESPN.com).  The contract will also include a third year as an option, and a buy-out. Those terms were not included. Peralta did reject his one year option for the Tigers, but the Tigers were very optimistic they could re-sign Peralta at a discount.