Yanks Go Yard Live Blog: 2014 Winter Meetings Day 1

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for our all day coverage of the 2014 Winter Meetings from San Diego, California. We will be providing updates throughout the day. Senior staff writer Ricky Keeler will be at the controls during the day, and editor Jason Evans taking over for the night shift. As Yankees news rumors, etc., breaks, it will be posted here. We already saw late last night that Jason Hammel is close to a deal on returning to the Chicago Cubs, according to CBS’ Sports Jon Heyman. What other surprises are in store during Day #1?

Editor Jason Evans will be taking over coverage of our live blog today at 6:00 P.M ET., with staff writer Jacob Winters returning in the morning for Day #2 of the Winter Meetings.

5:30 PM ET: In other free agent news, could Melky Cabrera be heading to Seattle and joining his old Yankee teammate, Robinson Cano. CBS Sports and MLB Network’s Jon Heyman has the latest:

  5:27 PM ET: Chris Cotillo of SB Nation tweeted earlier about how once Lester signs, there is going to be a lot of action around the other free agent pitchers. Yankees’ fans need to pay close attention to this, especially with Brandon McCarthy as one of those players who can get a lot of interest:

  5:06 PM ET: According to Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com, the Red Sox are not out on Jon Lester and actually plan on talking with his agents tonight:

  4:50 PM ET: Rob Bradford of WEEI tweets that the Red Sox are not out on Lester yet, according to his agent:

  4:40 PM ET: According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports and MLB Network, it appears that the Jon Lester sweepstakes is down to two teams: the Chicago Cubs and the San Francisco Giants, meaning that his old team, the Boston Red Sox, would be out:

  4:37 PM ET: Brendan Kuty of NJ.com tweets that Yankees’ general manager Brian Cashman as well as manager Joe Girardi are likely going to be speaking with the media tomorrow in San Diego.

  3:17 PM ET: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports and MLB Network just did a segment on MLB Tonight saying that “the Yankees are the strong favorites” for Chase Headley. Part of that is that the Giants are focusing on trying to get Jon Lester and are not as aggressive on Headley at the moment. 2:50 PM ET: According to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, Yankees’ General Manager Brian Cashman has arrived in San Diego.

  2:11 PM: Today, the Golden Era Committee announced that there was nobody elected out of the 11-person ballot into the Hall Of Fame. One of the names on the ballot was former Yankees’ pitcher and  broadcaster Jim Kaat. He was only two votes shy of the 12 that are needed to get in from the 16 on the committee.

  1:50 PM ET: Could the price for Headley be too much for one team? According to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com, that could be the case for the San Francisco Giants, who lost out on Pablo Sandoval, should New York go to a certain point with a contract offer:

  1:43 PM ET: Will the Yankees be in on Jon Lester or Max Scherzer to improve the rotation? Bill Madden of the New York Daily News doesn’t think so. Madden said on MLB Network’s High Heat, hosted by Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo  that he is convinced that New York will not go after the two premier starting pitchers on the free agent market. He also said that the four-year, $65 million contract that was rumored to be offered to Headley last week is from the Houston Astros. 1:36 PM ET: As the Jon Lester watch continues, there’s a team out on the West Coast that is getting some major consideration according to FOX Sports and MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal:

  1:30 PM ET: An update on the Chase Headley sweepstakes: According to Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, the Houston Astros, who were in on Andrew Miller and are one of the suitors for David Robertson, may be entering the running for the free agent third baseman:

  1:06 PM ET: Update on the Jon Lester sweepstakes and when a decision might be coming, according to ESPN’s Buster Olney:

  12:32 PM ET: Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports was the first to confirm that a trade is now done between the Oakland Athletics and Cleveland Indians. The Indians get first baseman/outfielder Brandon Moss from the A’s for second base prospect Joe Wendle:

  12:24 PM ET: Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York has an update on how far the New York Yankees might be willing to go to bring back David Robertson and Chase Headley:

In addition, ESPN’s Buster Olney tweets that the Yankees may be feeling more confident that they could get Headley if they get the offer to four years:

   11:50 AM ET: Could the Boston Red Sox possibly add both Cole Hamels and Jon Lester to their Opening Day Rotation in 2015? FOX Sports and MLB Network’s Ken Rosenthal tweeted that might not be out of the question:

  11:35 AM ET: SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo gives details on what the deal might be for Jason Hammel as he has officially agreed to join the Cubs. One of the options that the Yankees were interested in bringing into their rotation earlier this offseason is now off the board:

  9:50 AM ET: Last night, Andy Martino of the New York Daily News tweeted the Yankees have not called the San Diego Padres about any of their starting pitchers (Andrew Cashner, Tyson Ross, or former Yankee Ian Kennedy). In fact, are they really available to be traded?

9:26 AM ET: ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted an article from the New York Post’s George King III that names the White Sox as a team that could get involved in the David Robertson sweepstakes. If the White Sox were to sign the former Yankees’ closer, they would not have to give up a first round pick due to their pick being protected.