Rob Bradford of WEEI is reporting that Mariano Rivera's agents were the ones who reached out to the Red Sox, and not the other way around as it may have appeared. His agents were able to elicit a 2 year, $30 million dollar offer from the Red Sox, which forced the Steinbrenners hands to match that offer. Mo had no intention of signing with the Sox, and the Sox had no intention of non-tendering Jonathan Papelbon had Mo accepted the Red Sox offer. Theo wants those draft picks when Papelbon follows the money train.
Theo is really pummeling the Yankees this winter. First it was signing Adrian Gonzalez. Then 2 days later came the blockbuster Carl Crawford signing at the end of the Winter Meetings, scuttling the Yankees' plan B were they not able to land Lee. Crawford's signing and a Red Sox 7 year offer to Cliff Lee forced the Yankees to go outside of their comfort zone to extend their own contract offer to Lee to 7 years. Can't forget all the media hoopla over Jeter's negotiations, while the Sox quietly reached an agreement with their own Captain, Jason Varitek. Finally, the Red Sox dangle a 2 year contract in front of Mo forcing the Yankees to up their offer to the venerable closer.
I think we're gonna have a lot of fun during the 2011 campaign!
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