NEW YORK — Free-agent season opened today with the New York Yankees planning to give CC Sabathia a record offer for a pitcher.
The Yankees formulated a proposal to the big lefty that would exceed Johan Santana’s $137.5 million, six-year contract with the New York Mets both in total and average, a baseball official familiar with the negotiations said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge details.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman was to make the offer to Sabathia’s agents, Greg Genske and Scott Parker, either today or in the next few days, the official said.
New York, whose streak of 13 consecutive playoff appearances ended, also plans to make offers to pitchers A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe, the official said.
Cashman and Genske did not return telephone calls seeking comment.
Sabathia went a combined 17-10 for Cleveland and Milwaukee this past season after winning the 2007 AL Cy Young Award, and is considered the best starting pitcher in this year’s free-agent class.
Other top free-agent starters are likely to wait for Sabathia to set the price for pitchers.
“The signing of CC is going to create probably a truer market for a number of the pitchers, mainly because the clubs that are bidding on CC didn’t get him, and the demand for the other pitchers will be greater,” said agent Scott Boras, who represents free agents Oliver Perez and Lowe.
The 171 players who filed for free agency after the World Series could start negotiating money with all teams starting at 12:01 a.m. EST Friday. Boras, based in California, said his phone was ringing repeatedly late Thursday night.
“I got eight phone calls. They didn’t wait till the business day. You’re talking about owners, your talking about general managers, people taking very aggressive stances with particular players,” said Boras, who also represents outfielder Manny Ramirez and first baseman Mark Teixeira, among the top free-agent sluggers.
“They wanted to make sure they were on the board making offers.”
Francisco Rodriguez tops the available relief pitchers, a group that also includes former Rockies closer Brian Fuentes and Kerry Wood. Other high-profile free agents include pitchers Ryan Dempster and Trevor Hoffman; first baseman Jason Giambi; outfielders Garret Anderson, Bobby Abreu, Milton Bradley, Pat Burrell, Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr.; catchers Jason Varitek and Ivan Rodriguez; and third baseman Casey Blake.
