AL East

Via Jack Curry of the YES Network:

"[Brian Cashman] had dinner with [Carl Crawford’s] agents on Tuesday, which was a bluff and was probably designed to get the Red Sox to inflate their offer to the leftfielder. The Yankees never made an offer to Crawford, and Cashman conceded that the Yankees weren’t interested in signing him. The Red Sox made an offer to Mariano Rivera, who the Yankees then signed quickly, and they also made a seven-year offer to Lee. Cashman might have been returning the favor by feigning interest in Crawford."

Part of being a sportswriter these days is always being on top of your stuff.

I check my e-mail constantly. I’m on Twitter all day. I don’t sleep as much or as well as I used to since I’m always afraid that if I go to bed too early or sleep in too late, I might miss something important.

Carl Crawford has signed a seven-year, $142 million contract with the Boston Red Sox. He joins Adrian Gonzalez as the second huge catch the Red Sox have landed this offseason.

The Red Sox are clearly going for it all this year.

Whenever the hot stove heats up with a flurry of blockbuster deals occurring within such a short period of time, it's only natural that a number of subsequent questions arise.

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The big news today is that the Boston Red Sox massively overpaid for former Tampa Bay Rays outfielder, speed demon Carl Crawford. $126 million over 7 years. Whether or not you think that Crawford is worth that kind of money, one thing's for sure: The Red Sox are likely out of the running for Washington Nationals outfielder Josh Willingham, who once again is rumored to be on the trading block.

Despite a flurry of movement at baseball's winter meetings, free agent pitcher Cliff Lee remains unsigned.

But that doesn't mean he hasn't been fielding offers.

According to reports, both the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers are bidding aggressively for the ace and an agreement may soon be reached. However, with some of the contracts that are being handed out (Jayson Werth - seven years/$126 million, Carl Crawford - $142 million), the price for the 31-year-old left-hander has become astronomical.

Last season was a rough one for Derek Jeter at the plate. He hit just .270, by far the lowest average he’s had over a full season.

The Yankees know full well that offering Cliff Lee a seven-year guaranteed contract is a bad idea. At least, I think they do.

Lee will turn 33 during the 2011 season. Signing him to a deal that would conceivably pay him over $20 million the year he turns 40 doesn't exactly reek of fiscal responsibility.

Thank Jebus for Proctor and Gamble, because Bounty paper towels did a great job cleaning my vomit off the floor after I read about the Carl Crawford signing.

The dude is now the highest paid outfielder in history and he's not once hit 20 home runs or knocked in 100 RBI's.

Meanwhile in Colorado, Carlos Gonzalez has an erection—but I digress.

Carl Crawford has agreed to a seven-year, $142 million deal with the Boston Red Sox. But what does that mean for Boston's AL East rival, the New York Yankees?

Well if nothing else, we now know the Red Sox have big league money and are willing to spend it.

Just last weekend, Boston traded for San Diego's Adrian Gonzalez. The first baseman is expected to get a deal worth an estimated $154 million over seven-years.

The MLB winter meetings have a lot of fans glued to their technology of choice. Twitter, ESPN, XM Radio, the Internet in general are all being utilized to absorb every nugget of info on the dealings going on in Orlando. 

So, lying in bed last night, with my headphones on pumping MLB Network Radio into my ears and my smart phone in my hand to comb tweets, I was made aware of the Red Sox stunning signing of Carl Crawford almost as soon as it happened.