AL East

After being spurned by Cliff Lee, who will now sign with the Phillies this week, the Yankees need a Plan B.

Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman needs a Plan B right now.

They made a couple of small signings today, which included signing catcher Russell Martin to a one-year deal to potentially be the starting catcher for 2011.

The Yankees also signed oft-injured pitcher Mark Prior to a minor league deal worth about $750,000 plus possible incentives.

Everyday on the way to school, I pick up a copy of AM New York, a local newspaper in New York City. While sifting through the pages, I see an article entitled “Yankees wait on Cliff Lee.” Just then, my phone vibrated. It was an e-mail from my fellow writer Steve Lenox. “I was right,” he said, and went on discussing the Cliff Lee deal.

The Yankees didn't get their man this winter, but who might be heading to the Bronx next offseason?

Cliff Lee is a great pitcher and makes the Phillies the clear cut favorite to win it all next season in my opinion, but the Yankees are still a very talented team, and if they can swing a few trades here and there, they could easily wind up right in the middle of the playoff picture.

The big news today is that Cliff Lee rejected the Yankees. Red Sox fans have every right and reason to be delighted by this news. However, the Yankees did quietly sign Russell Martin this morning. The ramifications of Martin going to New York are not nearly as intriguing as those of Lee not going to New York, however they are still of particular interest to Red Sox fans.

If there's one team that has history, it's the New York Yankees. For over 100 years, a myriad of players have passed through New York, many of which have ended up in the Hall of Fame. However, while fans give all of their attention to the Jeters, Mantles, and DiMaggios, many forget the effective players who put up great numbers, but stayed out of the spotlight. That being said, I'm giving you readers a list of the 10 most underrated Yankees of the past 20 years!

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The Yankees reportedly reached an agreement with free agent catcher Russell Martin, and with so many possible backstops already in their system, this raises some questions.

In the middle of the night, while many East Coast baseball fans were sleeping, possibly dreaming of the glorious news that the Yankees had finalized a deal to bring Cliff Lee to the Bronx, the unthinkable occurred: somehow, the Yankees didn't get their man.

George Steinbrenner was more than a mere baseball mogul. For better or worse, his time at the top of the New York Yankees ladder changed the game forever. During the latter years of the Steinbrenner era, as the landscape became the free market free-for-all Steinbrenner so encouraged during the first two decades of free agency, the Yankees became a symbol, an empire that ruled baseball with an iron (golden) fist.

Well, after a much ballyhooed week of throwing money on the table at Cliff Lee, both the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers ended up coming home empty handed as the Philadelphia Phillies came out of nowhere to win the sweepstakes.

Now, the world seems to have stopped considering the fact that four nine-figure contracts have been doled out so far this offseason, and none of them are being paid for by the Yankees.

On a night when Brett Favre’s record for consecutive regular-season starts finally came to an end, Major League Baseball and pitcher Cliff Lee stole the spotlight.

As one of the hottest free agents on the market this offseason, much of the speculation about Lee’s new home pointed toward the New York Yankees.

After all, the Yankees have seemingly had their way in free agency with the ability to throw money at any superstar they thought might help them add to their trophy case.