Twitter is on fire with reports that Darek Braunecker, agent for highly-sought after free-agent starting pitcher Cliff Lee, has left the Baseball Winter Meetings.
What the heck is the deal with that? We are into the second week in December, the guy has not allowed the New York Yankees or Texas Rangers — or probably anyone else for that matter — to submit real bid for his client yet, and now he bolts the place where all the people he needs to negotiate with are located?
This whole Lee ‘negotiation,’ if you can call it that at this point, is getting to be a major pain in the neck. The Yankees have other things that they need to do this offseason, like acquire veteran catching help, add a spare outfielder (or maybe a big-time one), construct a bullpen and maybe find an additional starting pitcher.
Lee, however, remains their primary target. It sure would be nice to know how much he is going to cost before they try to fill other needs. I certainly hope there is a good reason for Braunecker to bolt the meetings, because it sure would be nice Braunecker and Lee would actually allow the bidding process to begin.
Right now, they seem to be just fiddling around and holding the Yankees and Texas Rangers hostage.