AL East

The New York Yankees fan base was in a state of bedlam yesterday afternoon, when there were reports on Twitter circulating and stating that Cliff Lee had rejected the Yankees offer. Immediately, the reaction was that Brian Cashman should throw more money in the deal. But later on, the rumors settled down as many did not know what to believe. Beat writers told fans to be careful what was out there and what they read. 

If you search for "#clifflee" on Twitter, you will find an ongoing slew of tweets as folks await his long overdue decision about where he'll play in 2011.  While Ranger fans are certainly interested and hopeful, some Yankee fans seem despondent at the thought of the left-hander not coming to the Bronx.

Here are five reasons the Yankee faithful should just—as my daughter would say—"chillax!"

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With two swift moves, the Baltimore Orioles went from having one of the weakest infields in baseball to one of the best.

Earlier in the week, the Orioles acquired Mark Reynolds from the Arizona Diamondbacks to play third base. I didn’t get a chance to post on that trade, but I really liked it from the Orioles perspective.

With so many high profile faces coming to the Boston Red Sox, it seems only fitting that some big time nicknames be assigned. We need to find ones befitting the size of the contracts, power of the bats, and overall exceptional play expected from these guys.

Curt Flood was one of the most influential baseball players of all time, and he did it off of the field. 

In 1969, Flood challenged baseball's reserve clause and refused to play after being traded and took his case to the Supreme Court, thus changing baseball's free agency game forever.

Here are a few MLB players who changed baseball's free agency in some way or another.

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Don't Discount Sternberg Bailing Out     For all the anger Carl Crawford received for going to the Red Sox, fans should wonder about Stuart Sternberg's intentions as the Rays owner.

Sternberg talked about having a fire sale in spring training, and he let everyone know he wasn't kidding. The Rays are having their fire sale by letting all of their free agents walk, and Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and James Shields are going to be traded most likely.

After it was announced that Carl Crawford will play the next seven years in Boston, every Sox fan had the same thought: "Yes!  Suck it, New York!!!!"  Five seconds later, every Boston fan shared this thought as well: "Well, I guess that's it for either Ellsbury or Cameron in Beantown." The third thought that popped into every Boston fan's head was, "Oh S---!! Now the Yanks will get Lee for sure!!"

The New York Yankees have made an offer to free agent catcher Russell Martin. They have made it clear to Martin and his agent that they view him as a "starting catcher."

It wasn’t a dream. Carl Crawford, who reached an agreement with the Boston Red Sox late Wednesday night, officially signed a seven-year, $142 million deal on Friday, making him the highest-paid outfielder in baseball, and was formally introduced Saturday morning.

With news that the Angels have signed free agent reliever Scott Downs, the Angels have been removed from the amazing Rafael Soriano race.

Now that the front-runners have ran off the track, which bullpen will the veteran closer join for the 2011 MLB season?

Here are 10 possible destinations for the rejuvenated Soriano.