They're in the game.

Unbalanced quotation marks. Relevant: http://xkcd.com/859/

They're gonna be in on lots of FAs. Right now they've got no C, no RF, no DH, no bench, no closer and only 3 starting pitchers (only 1 of them good). That there's a good chance the FAs they sign will have been 2012 Yanks (Rivera, Pettitte and Kuroda almost for sure, Martin likely I think) doesn't really change things. Granted, I think they're likely to pass on the big names this offseason but Hamilton's the only one who strikes me as a particularly good fit. I could see some possibility of them signing Sanchez.

I don't think they're signing Kuroda for sure. He might go back to the Dodgers or back to Japan. They might have to do two years, and I don't know if they will.

2 years is certainly possible although, if he wanted it, you'd think he could have gotten a 2-year contract in any of 2010, 11 or 12.

As to the Dodgers -- for all I know they're going to spend $300 M this year but they already have under contract for 2013: Kershaw, Beckett, Billingsley, Harang, Capuano and Lilly (who's probably done). They could probably sign Kuroda then trade one of Harang/Capuano but it seems like an awful lot of effort.

I'm actually not expecting the Dodgers to do a whole lot more. They've already got 17 guys on guaranteed money, 3 arb-1 guys and a bunch of pre-arb relievers. They could use a starting SS/3B and have too many backup IF but their roster is pretty much set already.

Perhaps I'm just reading way too much into this, but is this a topic where Cone should be speaking so authoritatively? I mean, shouldn't there be at least some hint of deference to the actual GM; i.e. "I don't know for sure what Brian Cashman intentions are for any specific free agent, but it seems to me...." rather than "“Free agents do not need to apply (with the Yankees), as far as right now...."

Or, again, am I just reading way too much into this?

DB

Or, again, am I just reading way too much into this?

Both? :-) Yes, he shouldn't be so definitive but he's also just a televised version of a guy posting on the internet. We overstate stuff all the time.

As I nitpicked, if asked about it, I'm sure he'd make it clear he's really only talking about the "big" names. I'm pretty sure he "knows" they're going to sign Pettitte, Rivera, etc. all of whom are FAs. All he's really saying is "the Yankees are not gonna sign anybody to a huge long-term contract this offseason." And that's almost certainly the case although it's possible they'll work out a Cano extension this offseason rather than wait.

Hmmm ... is that a way to avoid at least a little bit of the tax threshold? Cano will make $15 M in 2013. Let's say they negotiate a 5/$125 extension for 2014-18. (Actual years/dollars aren't important to the example.) That 5/$125 would count as $25 M against the threshold each year. But can they instead void the 2013 option and call it a 6/$140 contract that starts in 2013 (maybe even paying him $23 M in 2013) and then it counts only as $23.3 M against the threshold for 2014-18? Not a big difference but every little bit helps.