New York Yankees

After months and weeks of speculation, rumors and debates, the Yankees are breaking out their checkbook for the biggest prize on the free agent market.

The Yankees and general manager Brian Cashman officially made their first offer to free agent left-handed pitcher Cliff Lee for a six-year deal and a contract ranging anywhere from $138-150 million dollars.

Since the Baseball Winter Meetings began on Monday in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, the Lee rumors to different teams have been running rampant.

The New York Yankees have fierce competition in the AL East. Only the Baltimore Orioles finished beyond 10 games out of the playoffs. The Boston Red Sox have proven their goals this offseason by acquiring Adrian Gonzalez, and the Tampa Bay Rays are looking to bring back talent from last year's postseason squad while adding some new pieces.

While the Yankees have free agent pitcher Cliff Lee directly in their sights, the Winter Meetings continue around them.

Teams are trying to find talent wherever they can in the hopes of bolstering their respective team for 2011.

While Lee is the biggest free agent on the market, outfielder Carl Crawford is a close second.

Via Ken Davidoff of Newsday:

The Yankees met today with the representatives for free-agent LHP Pedro Feliciano.

Via Chad Jennings of the Journal News:

Girardi said this afternoon that [A.J. Burnett] has already reached out to [Larry Rothschild], and the two will get to work this offseason. The problem is easy to diagnose but not necessarily easy to fix.

Never a dull moment in the land of the New York Yankees, and this offseason is no different.

The early talk was Cliff Lee and Derek Jeter. Now that Jeter is signed, all the attention is focused on the big name lefty, Lee.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman was apparently frustrated and somewhat annoyed with the pace of the Lee negotiations.

Carl Crawford and Cliff Lee are still available in Major League Baseball Free Agency. Some of the major names have already landed with new teams including Jayson Werth and Victor Martinez.

That leads to the question of who are the best remaining free agents. While it is a simpler process to measure these players from a numbers standpoint, who are the best value players remaining. In other words, who provides the most "bang for the buck".

Let's take a look at the 50 most valuable players still available on the market.

Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner had surgery on his wrist yesterday to remove some inflammation and everything went well. The Yankees expect that he’ll be ready to go by spring training.

Stop the presses: Derek Jeter said something interesting.

We've waited a long time for this; sat through 15 years of interviews and press conferences devoid of even the slightest semblance of insight or intimacy.

Free-agent ace Cliff Lee is burning his talents right through the MLB winter meetings this week.

Just a week ago Lee was on his way to New York, unless the Rangers could convince the southpaw he had good reasons to stay in Texas.